This is kind of embarrassing. I recently bought a book that had been getting some good reviews for a number of months. It’s Scott Citron’s Professional Design Techniques with Adobe Creative Suite 3.

As I started reading the book, parts of it seemed awfully familiar. Yesterday, I found out why. Turns out I had bought the book months earlier and started it, but had put it in a pile to finish later. That pile had grown to the point that I finally had to go through it this week and there it was… the first copy of the book I bought.

So, that leaves me with two copies of the same book. I could simply throw one copy in the trash, but that would be a waste of knowledge. I could sell it on eBay, but I have no desire to go through that process. I could travel a couple of counties over and sell it to a used bookstore, but the amount of money you get for computer books wouldn’t cover the gas to get there and back.

Instead, I’m going to offer it as a give-away here on the blog. The details are pretty simple:

1. From now until the end of the month (June 30th, 2008), I’m going to collect e-mails from people who want the book. Go to www.mikeklassen.com, click on the e-mail link and send me an e-mail with the heading “Free Book Giveaway”.

2. Your e-mail should contain your name and shipping address. If it doesn’t, your e-mail gets dumped. And sorry to say, but this offer is only for U.S. addresses.

3. I will not be confirming your e-mail, so don’t expect a response. I don’t mean to be anti-social about it, but I’m juggling a lot of things at the moment and need to stay focused on some high-priority tasks.

4. On July 1st, I’ll take all those e-mails (which will be in a folder on my computer), close my eyes and use the mouse to point at one of the e-mails. That’s the person who will get the book. Not a fancy method to pick a winner, but it’ll work.

5. I will tell the winner via e-mail that they’re getting the book, but make sure my e-mail address isn’t considered spam on your end. If you miss the e-mail, you’ll probably get the sense you won when a book arrives in your mailbox.

6. The book it completely free… I even pay the shipping. If, for some reason, the post office loses the book, sorry. But since I’m covering the costs, I’m not going to bother with insurance and what-not.

Just so you know, I’m not collecting e-mails for any other purpose. I’m not going to market to you, I’m not going to put you on some e-mail list, and I’m not going to sell your e-mail address. Once I have a winner, all the e-mails get deleted.

I’d prefer that you only send an e-mail if you feel you can use the book. I’d like the book to go to someone who can put it to use.

Here’s a link to the publisher’s site where you can learn more about the book and see the table of contents so you know what’s covered. (Note that Adobe Press also sells a PDF version of the whole book. The one I’m offering here is a print version.)

Speaking of books…

I’ve updated and trimmed my Recommended Book List. I got rid of most books that were specific to a single software title. The list is now down to 18 books covering layout/design, the print process, and motivation.

Related to that, this blog now includes some quick links to those books. You should see those links on the right.

These are all books that I own or own a previous edition. (In fact, the list includes the Citron book I’m giving away.) I don’t take book recommendations lightly and I realize a “great” book to one person may be a “waste” to another. But these are all books that have helped me to be successful as a direct market designer, so I’m letting you know about them.