Some of you may know that I've been working on a book, together with my co-author and all round video meister Jan Ozer. The book is titled Hands-on-Guide to Flash Video and it's part of the Hands-on Guider Book Series by Focal Press.
Today I have received my first copy of the book (see pic) and it was a great feeling flipping through it (no, I did not read it!) and actually holding it in my hands - up until now it did not seem real at all and the process of writing and copy editing seems way back in the past (before christmas 2006).
I had a blast writing my chapters (about half of the book), especially since my co-writer was such a great sport and helped me out with great tips and guidance. Jan, you rock. This was my first major writing engagement (I'm more used to blogs and short articles) and I really hope that some of you will enjoy the book and learn a few things from Jan and myself.

The book (which you can preorder here) has quite a broad target audience and I think that most people will gain SOMETHING from it. I tried to keep the code part quite basic because I expect that a lot of readers will be new to Flash and not only to the Flash video side of things. On the flipside I think that seasoned Flashers can gain a lot of new knowledge from Jan's chapters as he takes a close look at codecs, shooting, lighting and encoding, to name but a few. But that's not to say that my chapters on Flash Media Server won't have anything to offer to experienced ActionScripters, too.

The content breaks down as follows:
1. Quick Start
2. The Streaming Media Landscape
3. Designing the Set
4. Lighting the Set
5. Streaming-Related Shooting Skills
6. Correcting Audio and Video Problems
7. Preparing for Compression
8. Producing Alpha Channel video
9. Encoding Your Video
10. Flash Video Concepts
11. Deploying Progressive Flash Video
12. Customizing FLV Playback
13. Using Cue Points
14. Controlling Your Content
15. Advanced Effects and Playback Options
16. Introduction to Flash Media Server (FMS)
17. Streaming Video with Flash Media Server
18. Advanced Flash Media Server Techniques
19. Case Studies

The book launches in the US in two days time (May 4th). You can also grab a copy at Streaming Media East (but unfortunately I won't be there).
Anyways, do feel free to leave some feedback if you have read and enjoyed the book or if you have any questions about it.
You can preorder the book now and it should ship very shortly. Leave a review on Amazon if you like but note that I only accept positive ones ;-)