A little feedback for my book

Hey everyone

I cant remember the last time i asked a question here, its normally me trying to help out. So here we go....

I have started writing a book on how to grow cannabis. Im yet to read a book that i feel covers enough detail that would mean a beginner or an advanced grower could pick up and use to his or her advantage.

The focus on the book will be on indoor growing only as that is my expertise. I will cover everything from germination of seeds, cloning, building rooms large and small, setting tents up, differsnt styles of lighting, training techniques, hydro, soil, autos, photoperiod. And much more.

I guess what im tryinh to produce is an encyclopedia on growing. Now i have years of experience and consider myself an expert hydroponic grower. Having said tbat i am alwaysearning new things and evolvinh and i am open minded.

My question is simply this...

What would you look for if youbwere buying a book abouy growing cannabis? What would you the buyer wNt more guidance in? What good and bad books have you read and why? Would you buy a book?

I am working on a digital version also which will be very interactive and hopefully linked with 420mag in a positive and interactive way. But first the paperback version will be done.

Id like any and all ideas. Nothing is stupid or taboo. It will be illustrated ofcourse.

I have vast grow experience but sometimes i skip over the little guys and the small grows so im interested to hear from pros to complete beginners.

One thing is for sure my book will be full of real info thats tried and tested successfully and i hope easy and enjoyable to read. Im still months away from a first draft being published as its a big project.

But lets go and start sharing yout tboughts and ideas to me. Please dont pm, keep it in the tgread so we can bounce ideas around.

Thankyou.
 
I've read a couple of books. I like Jorge Cervante's, but he tries to cover too much scope without enough substances. So for example, he gives you a brief overview of different hydroponic methods, but very little information on how to actually setup and run such hydroponic setups. Other books like Greg Green's are just super out of date. Meanwhile, Jorge has a tendency to contradict himself from page to page because he's gleaming information from different growers who don't agree with each other, so that could be where having your book from your own expertise will really shine.

Personally, I would be far more interested in seeing a guide for intermediate to advanced growers showcasing your expertise on hydro and coco. It's not that I don't think you have plenty to teach people about the basics, but that information is so ubiquitous that there's literally no boundary to basic grow knowledge that exists past a simple Google search. Now, try to figure out how to setup an ebb and flow hydroponics table, and that is a little specialized. If you had a book which had detailed, demonstrated hydro systems people could setup and use, I feel that would fill a much needed niche for information that most books fall far short of.

So I wouldn't consider myself an "advanced" grower, but even I feel a need for far more specific, goal-oriented information versus these books like Jorge's that try to be a jack of all trades, but master of none.

What I'd love in terms of information is basically be a small collection of setups that are illustrated with pictures and diagrams, and setup around an assumption of basic equipment--I'd say a 4x4 tent and a 600 w light, since those seem to be the most popular choices and right in the middle ground of extremes in what people will have. So then you take your 4x4/600 W basic setup model, and then show people how to build DWC, RDWC, ebb & flow, NFT, and coco setups while assuming basic grow knowledge.
 
Yes we are on the same page and you have basically just written what i want to hear. Ive already started writing. In the systems section inwould explaon briefly what each set up does then do xetailed set up of each ome also explaing how to scale up or down.

It would suit all levels as long as you can read and foĺlow instructions. I will be specific in my knowledge and experienve of the diff set ups and gibe my views on pros and cons.

It will be detailed in the beginninh of the bookz
That evwrything will be based on real scenarios but i will put info from other sources tontry balance it out.

What does an average jorges cervantes book cost to buy retail.

This book will be like a bible cor growing based on real experiemces. Im not a grand master but im certainly an expert at commercial stealth growing in hydroponiv mediums. I have so many ideas.
 
A book that I would want as a beginner would be in 3 parts. The first section would address the basics and be an introduction to gardening in general and weed in particular. It would cover types, life cycle, nutrient requirements, and bio mechanics of feeding, growth, and death. The second part would be an actual grow from beginning to end broken into the relevant stages. I would pick coco or soil and follow it through since the methodology is mostly the same and coco is one of your faves. The 3rd part would be reference sections where you could separately detail different methods, mediums, and materials, various charts, sample schedules, etc etc.

I'd buy the book, because I would be able to use it as a reference after I absorbed the material as a beginner.
 
Yes we are on the same page and you have basically just written what i want to hear. Ive already started writing. In the systems section inwould explaon briefly what each set up does then do xetailed set up of each ome also explaing how to scale up or down.

It would suit all levels as long as you can read and foĺlow instructions. I will be specific in my knowledge and experienve of the diff set ups and gibe my views on pros and cons.

It will be detailed in the beginninh of the bookz
That evwrything will be based on real scenarios but i will put info from other sources tontry balance it out.

What does an average jorges cervantes book cost to buy retail.

This book will be like a bible cor growing based on real experiemces. Im not a grand master but im certainly an expert at commercial stealth growing in hydroponiv mediums. I have so many ideas.

I remember seeing them for about $30 give or take depending on if you got the hardcover or not. I can't really knock Jorge's book too much for what it's trying to accomplish since it is advertised as an encyclopedia, but I guess what I'm saying is that a far more tailored and specific approach hasn't been done before. I've never seen a book that even focuses primarily on hydro, let alone has full demonstrated, practical setups.

As far as the medium goes, I really like the idea of a digital copy. I have a physical copy of Jorge's book, but all my others are eBook. I find it really handy because I can read them all on my tablet and switch back and forth with ease, not to mention access the same files on multiple devices wherever I am.
 
I have a really good idea kf the direction of the book. Its quite an exciting prospect.

My main focus now is doing the physical copy bit once that is published the plan would be to do a digital copy with everything the book covers but also with links to 420magazine for examples of grows etc and also links to places to purchase items etc depending where you live.

Its a huge project for me and i am alteady started but i dont want it to be half hearted. I have alot of grow experience bit there are still gaps of knowledge, for exampple there are some pests and diseases i have never encountered and although i can grow in soil my level is a million miles from my hydro knowledge bjt thats where the beauty of a community like tbis comes in, i have lots of help and anyone that does contribute will be mentioned in the book.

Its a long way off but for def i will get a first edition published tbis year. Author is definately not sometbing intjought would ever be on my resume haha.

I have some health problems that arw starting to get worse. Hopefully they can be fixed but we all die in the end. It would be nice to leave sometbing positive behind that lasts the test of time.
 
If Ibwere buying a book abouy growing cannabis I would wNt it to be copy edited so there weren't a whole bunch of typos. ;)

To be fair I wouldn't be writing a book using a shitty phone thats hard to write bulk of text fast. Obviously the book will be edited and formatted until its suitable for the shelves or platforms online.

Ive already written an awful lot.. All I really would like to know is anything they would like added in or left out or approached differently based on what they have read in other books etc.


But don't worry I will leave the typos, grammar and spelling to someone who knows what they are doing in that field......
 
As always the devil is in the details. The basics remain the same, but there have been hundreds, if not thousands of businesses trying to enter the cannabis grow space. This is only going to get worse as the move to full legalization progresses throughout the world. Everything from nutrients and supplements to strains, lighting and ventilation to tents are in a constant state of flux, as the newcomers try to grab market share. You can produce a book that's a snapshot of current best practices, but it will soon be obsolete. An electronic edition that's updated regularly would, in my opinion, be the way to go.

Whether growing for yourself, or commercially there are trade offs. As an example you can spend from $80 to $300 on an in-line 6" fan. What benefits come with the higher priced units? As far as I can tell they're longevity and much lower noise levels. LEDs are making huge inroads to the lighting market. There are some that aren't worth the powder to blow them up, some with a sky-high price tag, and others in between these extremes. These both are examples of items that need to be updated fairly regularly.

Something else that needs to be addressed is the casual attitude many have to measurement. Everything from water volume to TDS and pH, nutrient volume or weight are often measured with uncalibrated devices. Many people get confused between precision and accuracy of their devices. For example, a pH meter with an accuracy of ±0.05 pH and precision of two least significant digits that reads down to 0.01 pH will give a reading that is within ±0.07 pH provided it has been calibrated. An uncalibrated pH meter can easily be off by more than 1 pH in addition to that 0.07 pH. Accurate measurement is the key to repeatability in your grows.

When you market your book, consider selling the hard copy, and an electronic subscription as a unit.

Confusion reigns in the marketplace. I for one would welcome some definitive answers.
 
thank you old salt. we are on the same page with what you suggest. especially about the hard copy with subscription to the digital version.

there are some things that will remain constant in growing and its the details in these areas that matter. products come and go as you say and popularity changes over time with diff products.

I have a solid vision for what I want to produce and I have written a lot already. its headed in the right direction I think and I think there is a gap in the market for book from a grower with my experience that can cover most bases from experience and tap into resources of people who can fill in the gaps of the weaker areas. for example I wouldn't leave soil section out of the book just because I don't favour it and don't have the same base knowledge as hydroponic mediums. I have a huge net work of growers to tap into for advice and by now I know who talks it and who walks it so im confident I can produce something worth spending your money on and your time reading.... Im not biased at all :tokin::yahoo::thanks:
 
If I were you I'd devote a quite a big chunk of the book to fact-based gardening as opposed to myth-based gardening, which basically means going through every peer-reviewed botanical, microbiological, biochemical and bacteriological study to establish FACTS and then confront them with what cannabis growers commonly believe in. I think you'd be the first one to do so :)
 
If I were you I'd devote a quite a big chunk of the book to fact-based gardening as opposed to myth-based gardening, which basically means going through every peer-reviewed botanical, microbiological, biochemical and bacteriological study to establish FACTS and then confront them with what cannabis growers commonly believe in. I think you'd be the first one to do so :)

Except no one would believe him.
 
If I were you I'd devote a quite a big chunk of the book to fact-based gardening as opposed to myth-based gardening, which basically means going through every peer-reviewed botanical, microbiological, biochemical and bacteriological study to establish FACTS and then confront them with what cannabis growers commonly believe in. I think you'd be the first one to do so :)

That in itself would be a huge body of work! However there are definitely fact over fiction scenarios that I will try to address. Whether people believe me or not is their choice. One of the benefits of documenting work in journals on forums such as this and keeping images and grow charts and different things that I have myself done as grower over the years on my computer so is that I have a huge reference bank of data that is fact based on what I have tried and tested. I can say what worked and what didn't and what was most likely down to user error and what was down to errors outside of my control.

I have documents of grows with a couple of plants and I have documents of grows with 100's of plants so at least I can show I have been at both ends of the spectrum of cannabis growing. I have been a little man grower and I've done commercial grows worth serious sums of money. so I can talk from experience on both scenarios then show the key differences.

I've written alot so far and my initial though was 1 book but im thinking a series of books may be better suited, just my notes alone has sobered me up to the task ahead of me. Or I do a large book covering as much as I can but use that as the stepping stone to the digital book which will be constantly updated and added too.

All I know is that I've started the book and I mean to finish it. I guess theres no right or wrong way because a lot of growing cannabis is open to different approaches and theres so much bad info out there that all I can do is try and minimise that in my book. At the end of the day it will be based on my own experiences as well as taking a calculated unbiased approach to each section of the book. I will do my utmost to write this book with an open mind and be as unbiassed as possible.
 
That in itself would be a huge body of work! However there are definitely fact over fiction scenarios that I will try to address. Whether people believe me or not is their choice. One of the benefits of documenting work in journals on forums such as this and keeping images and grow charts and different things that I have myself done as grower over the years on my computer so is that I have a huge reference bank of data that is fact based on what I have tried and tested. I can say what worked and what didn't and what was most likely down to user error and what was down to errors outside of my control.

I have documents of grows with a couple of plants and I have documents of grows with 100's of plants so at least I can show I have been at both ends of the spectrum of cannabis growing. I have been a little man grower and I've done commercial grows worth serious sums of money. so I can talk from experience on both scenarios then show the key differences.

I've written alot so far and my initial though was 1 book but im thinking a series of books may be better suited, just my notes alone has sobered me up to the task ahead of me. Or I do a large book covering as much as I can but use that as the stepping stone to the digital book which will be constantly updated and added too.

All I know is that I've started the book and I mean to finish it. I guess theres no right or wrong way because a lot of growing cannabis is open to different approaches and theres so much bad info out there that all I can do is try and minimise that in my book. At the end of the day it will be based on my own experiences as well as taking a calculated unbiased approach to each section of the book. I will do my utmost to write this book with an open mind and be as unbiassed as possible.
So it's more of a How To book then, isn't it?
 
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