And I just raised $27,000 to fund writing my first book [1]. I'm a first time author and despite my best efforts agents and publishers wouldn't touch the project.

The world is changing rapidly, and traditional publishing just doesn't make sense for many authors anymore. Also of course refer to the recent discussion on O'Reilly's changing practices [2].

[1] http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/605480326/beyond-connect... [2] http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=1521