Want to self-publish? Here’s my review of Lulu.com

I posted a while back with my armchair analysis (no experience) of a few of the many self-publishing outfits available. I liked Lulu the best from my initial look and, as such, went with them to publish my client’s book. Here are my impressions about the whole writing, publishing, and uploading experience.

Why Lulu?

My review post tells a bit more about why I picked this route but, to sum it all up:

• Low cost to get an ISBN and listed on books-in-print
• Great support material
• Seemed simple and straight forward

There is something to be said about a company that just puts it all out there. Between all of their FAQs and their user community, it seemed hard to go wrong with them. The most important, however, was the price. My client didn’t have any intention of building a marketing campaign behind his book besides what he could conjure up himself. Consequently, extra services, add-ons, and packages were simply of no interest. Lulu is bare-bones: you get an ISBN and you get listed everywhere important. That’s all we wanted and, for $100, that’s what we got.

How does it work?

Lulu lists out all the steps in their help section and it really didn’t stray from that (so far).

1. Purchase Published by Lulu or Published by You service and receive an ISBN.
   “Published by Lulu” ISBN’s are assigned immediately.
   “Published by You” ISBN’s take up to 3 business days to be assigned. This is because extra information needs to be processed with the ISBN Agency.
2. Revise the book to contain the ISBN number in the copyright page and add a bar code to the back cover (for one-piece covers).
3. Purchase a proof copy of this newest version of the book.
4. After receiving and carefully reviewing the book, either:
   a. Approve the book on Lulu. Go to Step 6.
   b. Deny the book and make changes. Go to Step 5.
5. Make revisions and upload this new manuscript. Go back to Step 3.
6. The book is uploaded to the distribution center within:
   3-5 business days for “Published by Lulu” distribution
   2 to 3 weeks for “Published by You” distribution.
7. Printer reviews the book to ensure it is up to standards. This can take up to 2 weeks.
   Once accepted for printing, it can take another 6 to 8 weeks before the book is available through online retailers.
   If rejected for not meeting requirements, you will be notified via e-mail that the book must be revised. Go back to Step 2.
8. The book becomes available for listing with online booksellers.
9. Online booksellers like Amazon decide whether or not they would like to list the book. (In our experience, they almost always list it.
   Once a month, online booksellers update their databases with new books. When they update (if the booksellers choose to list your book), you will see the book listed as “currently available.” This can take 6-8 weeks.

How did it go?

Step 1: “Purchase Published by Lulu or Published by You service and receive an ISBN.”

Sure enough, walk through the straight-forward form they provide, buy the publishing option (we chose “published by Lulu”), and you’re published. Wait, what?

Here was one of the few minor problems I had with this process. You’re asked for a title and an author right off the bat. Make DAMN sure that this is the title and author you want to use. The ISBN is tied to the title of the book so if you put in a title now and want to change it later, you have to buy a new ISBN. This wasn’t terribly clear and, in the end, we wanted to change the title a bit but couldn’t for fear of messing up the ISBN tie. So, word to the wise, your book content, cover, and description can change over and over but the author and title cannot.

Speaking of which, this information was in the FAQ (it was not terribly clear that the title would be finalized as soon as your get an ISBN). READ THE FAQ. Which FAQ? EVERY FAQ, READ EVERY ONE THAT PERTAINS TO YOU. I probably would have made a million more mistakes if I didn’t read that thing over and over. Pretty much every question you could have is contained in there. Don’t skip over this just because you think you know what you’re doing.

After entering in your author and title, it asks you to pick the size, binding, and color. We chose 6″ x 9″ (an odd size but it worked out in the end), perfect binding, and black and white. It doesn’t seem like it on the site but perfect binding is your typical paperback binding.

Next you need to upload the file. That came fast. This is my second minor gripe with this service. Lulu calls books “projects” which, to me, says “work in progress.” Instead, “project” means the finished product (kinda). Keep in mind, you can make revisions to the cover and text as much as you want before everything is finalized. Still, for the project to be created, you have to have SOMETHING to upload – same goes for the cover. If your book/cover isn’t complete, upload anything and come back and revise the content.

At this point, I was a bit freaked out because everything was not finalized and I was scared that I might not be able to edit. So I read the FAQs and it said that I would be able to make revisions. I’ll talk about the formatting and layout later.

Upload your book file (text, no cover) and Lulu coverts it to a print-ready file. You can take a look at the file or just move on (I never looked at their version of the file, assuming it was the same as the PDF I uploaded [it was]). Next, they ask for your cover to be uploaded, then the pricing and description. At the end you get a submit button which, honestly, was a bit difficult to press. Keep in mind, this submit button locks in your author and title but not your content and cover. Press the button and you get a the fairly exhilarating message, “You’re published!”

The work has only just begun.

Step 2: “Revise the book to contain the ISBN number in the copyright page and add a bar code to the back cover (for one-piece covers).”

We chose the one-piece cover (you design it from scratch as one big piece) so that’s what I’ll talk about.

I did all the design and layout in Photoshop CS3. It worked great for me and that’s what I would use again for the same task. You also need access to Adobe Acrobat to make the PDF file. There are free PDF making programs but Acrobat has all the document control you need (quality, size, etc). If you have neither one of these tools but want a quality cover, contact me at josh@joshcanhelp.com and I’ll help you with design and PDF-creation (or just PDF-creation if you have an appropriate file).

What you need, in the end, is a very high-quality PDF file that conforms to their size requirements. I looked to their Book Covers FAQ for information and found what I needed. Here’s the deal:

• Find your size on the chart from the link above (ours, for reference, was 6×9)
• Use their spine width calculator to find how big your spine is based on the number of pages (you’ll need to know how many pages your final version will be – if you’re one or two off, it won’t make a big difference but if you can, be exact)
• Make your new document in Photoshop or whatever program you are using. Set your resolution to 300 or higher (I used 600 and it looked perfectly clean) and enter in the dimensions (height is listed on the site, width includes the spine. For our 6×9 with 120 pages it was 9.25″ [9" + bleed, as listed] by 12.52″ [6" x 2 + 0.27" spine + bleed]).
• First thing, set guides to indicate the spine (for our 6×9, the vertical guides were set at 6.125″ [back cover + 1/2 bleed] and 6.395″ [spine]).
• Go crazy! Remember that there will be about 0.125″ cut off from every edge. If you have a picture/pattern that goes to the edges, you’re going to lose a bit.
• Now, you’ll need to add a space for the barcode and, if you want, the product number from Lulu (just makes it easy for people to find). Here is the information on how/where to place the barcode and here is where you go to generate the barcode (product code is the ISBN, I did add the auxiliary barcode [value = 90000],  I left the color settings the same, I did include the “>,” I left the font as-is and downloaded it from here, and I left the rest the same]. The barcode comes in EPS format (standard vector graphic, readable by Photoshop and Illustrator) and must be placed in the space you left. All of this seems really scary at first but it all comes together if you follow the directions.
• Saving the file was bit difficult. Make sure that the final size is correct and the resolution is what you set in the beginning. I set everything to the highest quality settings (highest quality for JPEG, reduce images to 600 DPI) and in the simplest format possible (do not retain Photoshop editing capabilities, PDF 1.5 format). The final file was 5.3MB, for reference.

The cover was a bit unnerving because I don’t have tons of print experience and this wasn’t my book! Using the information above along with the FAQs, I ended up with exactly what I wanted printed in very high quality.

Step 3: “Purchase a proof copy of this newest version of the book.”

$10.36 for ours, not too bad. I was VERY pleased with the quality:

The cover print quality was immaculate and the inside looked great. The paper is off-white (so is the cover but it has a background color) and super-smooth. The pages are not very thick but nothing about it feels cheap; it’s the real-deal. Black print was perfect but gray, because the printing is true black & white (not monochrome but “black ink or no ink”), is not smooth (see the fourth pic above). The binding is high-quality and exactly what I wanted. I was completely satisfied with the print quality… to be honest, I was taken aback by it. When I gave it to my client, he was speechless for a minute or so (this is his first real, published book).

What I wasn’t pleased about (which is entirely my fault) was the page numbers. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re making your content:

• Use their templates. That will eliminate a lot of problems.
• Be careful with your page numbers. If you have a title page and an introduction and other pages before the content, you’re not going to want page numbers on them. I made a total of 6 different Word files: one for the title page, copyright info, and dedication, one for the foreword and intro, one for a second title page I wanted, one for the first half of the book, one for the second, and one for the last couple pages. I compiled them all together in Adobe Acrobat. Page numbers in Word can be difficult to work with so make sure everything looks good when you’re done.
• Remember that you’re laying out the book from the VERY FIRST PAGE after the cover to the VERY LAST PAGE before the back cover. Leave two blank pages in the beginning (one page front and back) and one blank page on the end if you want it to be widely available (distribution services require a certain layout).
• When you read through your final PDF manuscript, pay very close attention to which side the page number shows up on (if you choose the Word option to have them switch sides). The first page in the PDF will be the absolute first page in the book. Look at that page and say out loud “right.” The next page falls on the left so look at that one and say out loud “left.” Do this through the WHOLE MANUSCRIPT, paying attention to how the pages line up and which pages are grouped together. If it isn’t right, insert/delete a page. Make sure your title page is the third page (“right”) and the copyright page is the fourth (“left”).
• I used another published book to lay out my pages and to make sure my copyright page had the right information. This was very helpful.

Step 4: “After receiving and carefully reviewing the book, either: approve the book on Lulu or deny the book and make changes”

We made a total of 3 revisions (putting us on the 4th revision edition) before approving the book. Make sure everything is golden and that you followed all of the distribution rules before you approve the book. Approving the book just consists of pressing a button and reading another satisfying message:

Anything else to know?

I just approved the book before writing this article so there might be more to say about the publishing process. All-in-all, I’m very pleased with how this came out and I look forward to doing business with them in the future.

If you’re thinking about publishing on your own, as long as you’re somewhat computer/graphics savvy, I would recommend Lulu. If you’re not, you can always hire me to help out!

Stay tuned for my review of Blurb.com (spoiler: interesting but not as good) coming soon.

Does your wifi disconnect often? Before you smash your laptop, here’s the fix…

Does this happen to you? Every time I pop open the laptop in a coffee shop and try to get some work done, I’m plagued by repeated disconnects. This would be far less irritating if I wasn’t always listening to streaming radio. It seems like it knows exactly the right track too… But I digress.

The other morning, I’m in a coffee shop.

It’s dead and wifi quality is “Good.” I’m on my old Latitude (replacing it with an EEE soon I hope…I don’t need anything fancy on the road) with the PCMCIA wifi adapter (yeah, I know). Open iTunes, open a couple documents, fire up the ‘Fox, and get cracking. Not 15 minutes later, the connection dumps. Then again. And again.

I have definitely Googled this problem before and came up empty-handed but it always makes me feel better to try. This time, I hit paydirt. It’s a question and answer from PCworld  and it goes a little something like this:

I use an 802.11g wireless connection, and I know that the Windows Zero Configuration applet searches for a new connection every 3 minutes. I have found that if this applet is disabled at boot-up, the wireless connection is not made, but if WZC is stopped shortly after a wireless connection is made, the connection stays active indefinitely, barring outside influences.

I have been using Services.msc to stop WZC (I have it in my start-up folder), but I have to scroll to the bottom of the Services window to access WZC to stop it. I would like to find a faster way to do this, perhaps in the form of a shortcut to a batch file that would start or stop the service, or a shortcut directly to WZC within the Services window. Can you tell me how to accomplish my goal?

Windows has these things called “services” that operate certain parts of the operating system. One of these services, the Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC), tries to find the best connection between your available connection and will drop you off of the network you’re on if it thinks it finds a better candidate (another preferred/automatic network). This works great for cell phones (this is actually how cellular services works, wireless hand-offs) because they know how to do it and keep the connection going (sometimes – dropped calls being the exception). Your wifi adapter, however, cannot do this so if you’re swimming in open networks and the connection you’re using isn’t the best, you might just get booted (by your own computer).

How to stop the wifi disconnect? Stop the service…

0) Make sure you’re connected to the right wireless network first. Once you disable the service, you can’t connect/disconnect unless you restart the service.

1) Start Menu > Control Panel > Administrative Tools for the Classic View (long list of items) or Start Menu > Control Panel > > Performance and Maintenace > Administrative Tools for Category View (colorful, big icons).

2) Double-click Services.

3) In this window, click the Name column header (where is says “Name”) to sort by the service name.

4) Scroll down to find Wireless Zero Configuration. Right-click this row and select Stop.

5)  Close the window and relax.

I did this and it never disconnected for the rest of the morning… bliss.

The only problem with this, as mentioned above, is that you have to go through these steps every time you want to connect. If you turn off your computer and turn it back on, the service will remain stopped and you won’t be able to connect. It’s as simple as following the steps above and selecting  Start to restart the service but how annoying, right? The  PCWorld article has the answer:

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32 (or C:\Winnt\System32 if you’re running Windows 2000). Locate the file net.exe. Right-drag it onto the desktop and choose Create shortcut(s) here when you drop it. Click twice slowly in the filename area and name the shortcut Stop WZC. Right-click on the shortcut, choose Properties, and click on the Shortcut tab. The Target field will probably show C:\WINDOWS\system32\net.exe. Append a space to this, followed by ” stop wzcsvc” (don’t forget the space before stop). If you like, repeat these steps and create another shortcut to start the service; just replace “stop” with “start”.

Wonderful! thanks PCWorld

“Customer service”

I simply don’t have it in me to write a rant about phone-based customer service. Not that I don’t have the time (actually, I don’t) or the patience, I just don’t have the will. Plus, who cares? We all have stories, many of us have worked in the industry and have even more stories from both sides, and I would guess that most people don’t want to stress vicariously.

What I want to do, however, is muse. Maybe I need to get it out to feel better or maybe I think someone with this problem is reading. (Ir)Regardless of the reason, I want to address a conversation I had with a Cox cable technical support rep yesterday.

Let me provide a frame of reference: we just moved into a new (read: much bigger) apartment and had our cable internet moved over. Plugged in the modem+router, no dice. Called Cox at 10:30pm and they answered (that was very refreshing). It was a very mild-mannered (maybe I woke him up) guy who told me that the coax outlet I was using might be bunk. I hung up and tried another outlet; the same thing happened, blinking “Cable” light on the modem. It was probably a hook-up issue so I called in yesterday to get it ironed out.

The gentleman I talked to was friendly but had a need to talk over me… not aggressively, mind you, but consistently. I’m sure I could use several more adverbs to describe his demeanor/tone but I’ll spare you.

We got to the point where it seemed logical to schedule a technician to come and look at the line. He kindLY stated that there might be an $89 charge if the problem was in the house and not on the outside. I politeLY said that I wanted the building owner to pay that fee if it was deemed necessary. Then he repeatedLY and irrationalLY ignored my request and gave me information that simpLY wasn’t pertinent to the situation.

Flash forward 10+ minutes of this ridiculous back and forth stemming from my desire to have the outside wiring checked but the inside wiring ignored. In the end, my question was answered and my request was possible but only after I got worked up enough to write this and wasted tons of time between the two of us.

*sigh*

So this turned into a rant, I guess, but let’s make something productive out of it. I taught customer service to phone reps for 2 years so here is what I would do on the other end of the phone.

• Listen. Stop talking and listen. Let the customer speak their mind, regardless of what they are saying. You can disarm someone very easily by not talking over them and just letting them get everything out. Don’t interrupt, wait for your turn, and stop sounding like you’re just looking for a gap in between words so you can start blabbing.
• Write.Write down what I say as I say it. Not only will this keep you listening but, when you get confused or it’s your turn to solve the issue, you have a bit of information to work with. If the person I talked to had written down what I said about paying the fee, maybe our conversation could have been 80% shorter.
• Explore. Either with me on the phone or by yourself while I’m on hold, run through all the possible options for the situation and be clear on what they mean. Even if you’re just brainstorming with me, I would rather hear 10 different options that don’t work instead of 1. Chances are that one out of the 10 actually WILL work for me.
• Solve. If I repeat myself eight times then you’re not hearing what my problem is (or I’m trying to hypnotize you). Solve my problem by re-phrasing yourself or repeating back what I said or offering different solutions. If we’re both repeating ourselves then there is something wrong. Since you can’t control the customer, control yourself.

Let’s make the world better one customer problem at a time.

Thoughts on conferences

• Show up early…. yes, you. Everyone needs to show up early. Depending on the amount of work that needs to be done, staff members should be on-site and setting things up AT LEAST an hour before people start showing up. Registration tables, video demos, installations, presentations… everything takes time to get ready. WHY: Because it looks silly to be dinking around with technology and paperwork while people are showing up. Have you ever gone to a great hotel and had the concierge tucking in her shirt, the computers getting installed, and the bellhop tying his shoes in the middle of the lobby? Look like you know what the heck you’re doing and be ON POINT well before the people show up.

• If you’re presenting, have some kind of back-up in case everything blows up. Have another story, have a riff on-deck, have a prop… have SOMETHING to keep that energy going. Presentations stop, internet access breaks, and wireless mouse batteries run out; be ready for it. Distract attention from the control panel windows that are going on and tell an embarrassing story about yourself. Don’t slam your OS or your software or your IT department or yourself – that gets awkward. Don’t walk people what you’re doing, multi-task. WHY: Though every great (and many good) speaker(s) can recover from a screeching halt, not everyone knows what to do DURING the screeching. If you’re lucky, there’s an IT person around who can fix the problem on the fly but you still need to keep that attention (if you even had it in the first place). Technical problems will always happen and usually at the worst times. No one is rolling their eyes at you as long as you don’t make it worse on yourself.

• Have excellent IT staff on hand. Actually, this rule is for everyone at all times. Find someone, hire someone, pay them well, treat them like they are all-important (because they are), let them work the way they want to, make sure they understand security and privacy, make sure they’re not painfully anti-social, and befriend them. WHY: There is no work-around for having a great IT guy/gal. Having someone who can quickly (and correctly) fix problems instills massive confidence. Most people (I’m talking 90% [conservatively]) don’t know how to fix fairly basic computer problems. Having someone to help these folks is very valuable. Having someone that can fix everything else as well is priceless. The IT Admin for the company I’m contracted with is smart, capable, cool, calm, collected, patient, and knows it all. It’s a pleasure to watch him work his magic.

• Does your audience need files? Documents? Installs? Data? Databases? Put all this stuff on a cheap USB and give it to them with instructions. Not possible? Sensitive data? Put all this stuff on several USBs and train your staff on how to implement. WHY: The more people armed and capable (actually capable) to help your audience, the quicker that problems will be solved and the better the conference will run.

• Give each of your staff members a pack of sugar-free gum. Tell the ones presenting that if they chew gum during the presentation that they will be fired. Then say, “Just kidding… but seriously.”

• Just saw this – if your projector isn’t fitting the whole screen on the big screen, adjust the resolution on the computer running the presentation. In Windows XP, right-click the desktop, select Properties, select the Settings tab, and drop the screen resolution down (try 800×600).

• Drink less sleep more, even if you’re having fun. WHY: Sounds ridiculous, I know, but just go with it.

How to Tame Your Technology in Four Easy Steps

Whether you’ve been here a couple of times or only once (and hopefully planning on returning), you might have seen my little tagline up in the header, “Helping You Tame Your Technology.” This should be more or less self-explanatory (as most good taglines are) but “taming,” to me, goes beyond just learning and using your electron-fueled personal possessions. Taming your technology means keeping your possessions and communications well-used, trouble-free, and to a minimum.

I’m always taking a second look at what I do and what I own (or want to own) to make sure I don’t fly off the deep end and create more work/stress for myself. Here’s what I do to keep it all together.

Taming your tech means: making it work how you want it to

The first part of this tamed tech meme is probably the most obvious. Taking control of your digital life means learning how to use what you have and using it well and fully. Buying a web-enabled phone because you want to have your email with you wherever you go and never learning how to use it or accessing your email remotely but losing the organization scheme you used before is also letting your technology tame you. Learning how to get your Gmail or Hotmail through the mail program built into your phone and managing the system when you can over the web is taming technology.

If you find a gadget, a piece of software, or a web page that can solve a nagging problem, then, naturally, you will spend the time to learn it as best you can. But so many people don’t take the extra time to learn that extra little bit and end up with more products then they need. Taming your tech means making what you buy work completely rather than throwing more money at a problem and ending up right back where you started.

How I apply this in my life/business: I do a lot of digital image manipulation and have been for quite a while (about 6 years). I pull and modify screenshots, make my personal photos look better, and make various web images. Would you believe that I just bought Photoshop? I’ve been using free programs like Paint, Paint.net, and Photofiltre. This put me at a bit of a disadvantage because, now that I actually need Photoshop, it’s hard to re-learn what I know in other systems. The upside is that I can recommend some great free programs and still got the work done.

Taming your tech means: using only what you need

This second part ties in to the first part but is more about removing than adding. Owning and using technology should do nothing but make what you’re doing perceptibly better than it was before. This could mean work, this could mean family and friends, or this could mean entertainment. If having three email accounts, two blogs, two computers, a web-enabled phone, an ipod, a digital camera, and a printer/scanner helps you do what you need to do, then it’s not a problem learning, maintaining, and replacing all of the above. If, however, having all of this only serves to distract, disturb, and annoy without improving anything, then it’s time to reconsider some or all of it.

Everyone is welcome to drown themselves in as much technology as they can wrap their paycheck around but, if your goal is productivity or a gain in personal time or effective business reach, then maybe charging and syncing everything is doing more to hold you back. Taming your technology is taking control of the gadgets you use and using only what works.

How I apply this in my life/business: My laptop is probably 7 years old, one of the PCMCIA ports doesn’t work, and is somewhat limited as to what it will run. Am I saving for a new one? Am I waiting for the right price? Is it collecting dust in the closet? None of the above. This little guy lets me write, organize files, code for the web, brainstorm, answer email, and surf the web. These are the only things I need to do while on the road these days so there is not a compelling reason to upgrade.

Taming your tech means: keeping your tech to yourself

We’ve all seen it: the cell-phone guy/gal, noise polluting an entire coffee shop; the kid with an ipod turned up so loud you can make out the lyrics; friends who talk to you while writing an email to someone else on their Blackberry. It’s so east to retreat into our own little worlds, especially when we’re fooled into thinking we’re somehow better connected because we have more channels of communication at our disposal. When we fall for this trap, though, we start to lose touch and move away from society at large. Taming your technology means being aware of the impact that your technological life has on other people. This could mean giving your phone or computer a break when you’re around others, being cognizant of the noise your device(s) are creating, or facing your gadget addiction before it saps money aware from more important things.

I’m going to take this point one step further and say that taming your technology means staying as close to sustainable as you can, even if it means making sacrifices. We all have our lives to live and our jobs to work, but if you’re leaving 2-3 computers on all night, commute in something that gets less than 20 MPG, and still replace light bulbs with incandescents, it’s time to tame your technology.

How I apply this in my life/business: I’m in the 97th percentile of energy use in my neighborhood according to the power company (LINK). I run the computer overnight sometimes but every light bulb is fluorescent, computers and electronics are on power strips that get shut off at night, and I charge things in my car (“free” electricity). When it comes to my social impact, you can find me with my phone always on vibrate, leaving the room to take a call, and my music high enough to drown out the din. I’m no Miss Manners – or Mister for that matter – but I make it a point to be aware of my surroundings enough to avoid dirty looks.

Taming your tech means: staying on top of it

Sometimes the question has to be asked: why bother? With so many work opportunities (reputation-building, networking, side projects), communication options (blogs, micro-blogs, social networks, email platforms), entertainment channels (books, social media, television, movies), productivity tools, it’s impossible to try and take it all in. It is tempting, however, to try. When we start to get mire ourselves in fabricated “have to’s” (I “have to” post on my blog, I “have to” update my profile, I “have to” sign up for that site), our priorities, work, and personal life suffer. It’s very easy to make more work for yourself by trying to be everywhere at once and keep tabs on every trend that’s remotely relevant to you. It’s also very easy to create time sinks with poor organization, poor set-up, and a lack of planning.

It’s hard for me to present a universal rule for everyone to follow but I will say this: if you’ve ever asked yourself if something should go/be replaced/be completely renovated, keep asking until it happens. If you’re not getting any benefit from it, should you keep wasting your time doing it? Also, if you can fix it or replace it for a significant benefit, what are you waiting for?

How I apply this in my life/business: I don’t spend much time on any social network and I don’t actually participate in social media beyond Digging or Stumbling the occasional site that really catches my eye (or submitting my own). I find that neither one contributes much to my life so I’m not motivated to keep them up.

A portion of my digital time is spent blogging, one of those activities that you either get and do or don’t and avoid. The few hours I spend every week staying on top of updates gives back by keeping me in touch with the industry(ies) that I’m involved in, helping my improve my writing skills, and adding a bit to my reputation by offering up a piece of myself up-front. It’s something I like to stay on top of that also serves a purpose.