If you’re in a band that wants to do more than play for a half-dozen friends in your basement, you’ll want to get your hands on “The Indie Band Survival Guide” as soon as possible.

Subtitled “The Complete Manual for the Do-It-Yourself Musician,” the book, which hits stores Tuesday, is the best compilation of information and advice on how to make it in the “post Net” era that I’ve come across.

It’s comprehensive and comprehendible, covering everything from deciding whether to record at home or in a studio or make a CD or just put out mp3s to putting together a press kit and getting bookings.

The reason the guide is so good is simple.

It’s written by a pair of musicians, Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan, who are members of Beatnik Turtle, “an 8-piece rock machine with a full horn section and a recording studio all its own.”

“We’re an independent band,” Chertkow said. “We’ve been together 11 years. The whole thing started when I ran across an editorial and wrote some stuff in response to it. Then Jason said, ‘We can put up something more on the Web site.’ So I was writing down all the stuff that worked for us.”

The Indie Band Survival Guide was released, for free, on the Beatnik Turtle Web site (www.beatnikturtle.com) in 2006. That release was noted by bloggers, and that attention led to articles in Billboard magazine and by The Associated Press.

Thanks to that exposure, the online version proved to be popular with aspiring musicians and, at 336 pages and updated, it is far handier in book form than on the Web. A $14.95 paperback, it’s affordable and built to be used with charts and listings of Web sites and services.

“What we found was there was a real gap of information out there,” Chertkow said. “There were a lot of people who wanted to do this themselves but didn’t know how or have any experience. When we explain things, we really try to explain why.”

In part, Chertkow and Feehan are able to explain things because of their day jobs. Chertkow is “an i.t. guy” who works on computers for Fortune 500 companies, and Feehan is an attorney. “Those professional areas really drive what’s going on in music more than anything else today,” Chertkow said in a telephone interview from Chicago, Beatnik Turtle’s home.

After an introduction that explains their view of “pre Net,” the old major-label-dominated, hit-oriented music business, and “post Net,” the new digitally driven world in which music is widely available around the globe, and some advice on building a network, the first half of the book is dedicated to the Internet.

That includes easy-to-follow information on how to set up a Web site and tips on increasing a band’s visibility across the Web.

“Even if your goal is playing live in your own area, you need that Web presence,” Chertkow said. “There’s no question it can help every single area you do.”

Among the primary pieces of advice: Don’t just put up a MySpace page and call it good. Instead, the authors recommend every band have its own Web site where it can control the content and graphics and not have to contend with unwanted advertising.

They also include proven strategies for getting noticed by bloggers, getting songs in podcasts, using e-mail to build fan networks and communicate within the band and finding ways to link music with other products.

 Beatnik Turtle, for example, did a CD of songs inspired by the off-the-wall board and card games of Seattle manufacturer Cheapass Games. “The Cheapass Album” sold well not only to Beatnik Turtle fans, but to fans of the games.

The sections on recording and “your rights” are the clearest explanations of both that you’ll find in any music guide. The recording breakdown offers one of few cogent explanations of “mastering” a recording I’ve read, and any book that can make copyright and trademark law understandable in the download era is a keeper.

Chertkow and Feehan even provide some words of wisdom in an area where it wouldn’t seem necessary — rehearsal and live performance.

A major point: The sound will never be as good on stage as it is in the practice room. A second emphasis: the need to entertain.

Many bands, and we’ve all seen them, are “shoegazers,” never engaging the audience. That’s not going to work for long. Developing a live connection is a must, and that comes via a show that has some energy and a well-planned set list. And it doesn’t hurt to take a hard look at your shows yourself.

“That’s why we tell people it’s a good idea to have game tapes,” he said. “You learn a lot when you watch yourself. It’s really helped us a lot.”

The “post Net” era allows bands to sell their music to fans around the world. But the old model of trying to make lots of cash off sales of CDs or downloads is rapidly becoming obsolete.

“It’s tougher all around to make money,” Chertkow said. “I think the most consistent area is still the live gigs, if you do it right, if you have a draw. If you can really make a great live performance, you’ve got a shot at doing very well with it.”

You’ll have an even better chance if you pick up on the advice in “The Indie Band Survival Guide,” a book and Web site (www.indiebandsurvivalguide.com) I’ll be recommending for years to come.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.