Archive for the ‘book’ tag
Podcast: Bitcoin’s First Book | Mapping Foursquare and Instagram
On today’s social media edition of the Morning Media Menu, GalleyCat editor Jason Boog talked about how marketers are using geotagging on niche sites like Instagram and Foursquare.
Boog was impressed by how much Foursquare has grown, even surpassing Pinterest in reach. Even more intriguing was that marketers are using location-based data from Instagram just like they do on Foursquare.
Finally, Boog shared how one author has embraced a new digital currency by making his new book the ”first book ever to be for sale ONLY on bitcoin.”
Press play below to listen on SoundCloud. The show was hosted by GalleyCat editor Jason Boog. Click here to receive the Morning Social Media Newsfeed via email. Image by prapass via Shutterstock. Music by Kevin MacLeod.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
From Z.E.R.O. to Hero via Kickstarter
It's hard to resist making this a looooooooooooong post, so instead I'll do my best to be as brief and succinct as possible, so here goes…
My good friend and ex-client, Maarten Albarda and I are co-authoring a book together. It's my 4th book (after Life after the 30-second spot, Join the Conversation and Flip the Funnel) and Maarten's first. Besides sharing the same vision and passion for the subject, we're bringing a 1-2 punch to the table in the form of advertising-agency perspective on the giant elephant in the room: media or rather paid media.
The book is called z.e.r.o. and the sub-title, "zero paid media as the new marketing model" kind of says it all (and in less than 140 characters).
The book posits that in a perfect world, your paid media budget would be z.e.r.o. – literally, but also figuratively in the form of an acronym which stands for Zealots (advocacy), Entrepreneurship (innovation), Retention (customer centricity) and Owned Assets (moving from tenant to landlord)
On one hand, it's me returning to my "Life after" roots, but on the other other (and more poignantly), it's our set up of our premonition of a perfect storm approaching in marketing; one in which the bottom could conceivably fall out of the media model. Fortunately, the world is not perfect and change takes longer than we expect, but then again…just look at how your world has changed in the past few years to validate the fact that sitting and doing nothing is not a viable solution.
For me, it's a bold move for two reasons:
- I've made the move from being a 3-time published author to self-publishing (thanks to Richard @ Wiley for everything to get me this far and props to my new home, Archway Publishing)
- We're kickstarting this revolution and here's how you can play a key role.
Kickstarter component:
- Go to Kickstarter and visit our page or just search Kickstarter for Z.E.R.O. or zero
- Check out the video and the overview of the book
- Review the various pledge rewards and become a backer. We've named them after famous misers.
- From the Hetty Green and Warren Buffet (digital and hardcover copies respectively) to the maximum reward, which delivers 10 autographed books and an in-person keynote from either Maarten or myself (only 2 available per person)
- The no-brainer and value rewards are the Mr Burns and Mr Krabs respectively, that also include a 140-character acknowledgement (plug) in the book itself
We just pre-launched the book and Kickstarter campaign at the Festival of Media in Montreux, but here's the crazy part…in just over 24 hours after I hit the publish button (in stealth mode), we've almost hit our initial funding goal of $10,000. With your help, we'll push this over the edge and see how far we can take it.
The wild thing is that the book will become it's own case study insofar that it will demonstrate how we were able to self-publish our book for "z.e.r.o." by tapping into our advocates and leveraging our owned assets. It's U.N.M.2.P.N.M. circa 2005 retooled for 2013.
So…if you're part of my community and/or appreciate my content, show your support on Kickstarter with the pledge amount (or more if your heart desires). I will post regular updates over the 6 week period to acknowledge my backers (which would be you)
And all things being equal, Z.E.R.O. will launch in September of 2013 and will contain the 10-point action plan towards implementing this bold vision towards helping marketing evolve, normalize and allocate scarce resources to a re-prioritized hierarchy of connection points.
Bookshout! raises $6M to amplify authors’ digital voices
Reading is generally a quiet activity, but today Bookshout! is proclaiming that it has raised $6 million.
Bookshout offers multiple tools to support reader engagement.
On the consumer side, Bookshout has a social reading app where people can discover books and connect with their friends and authors. However, the company has shifted to a stronger focus on publishers and authors.
On Bookshout’s platform suite, publishers and authors can promote their content and deepen engagement with audiences. Authors create branded pages that highlight their work and form communities around the pages, known as “circles.” Whenever someone buys a book through Bookshout, they are added into the author’s circle. Authors can communicate directly with their fans regarding announcements, upcoming events, new releases etc…, and distribute branded promotional codes and gift cards for their books.
Bookshout recently added a channel for publishers to conduct digital bulk, custom, and corporate sales and gather analytics. The Dallas-based company said it works with more than 250 publishers and is currently generating revenue. This round, which was led by Texas venture capital firm Ambassador Enterprises, will build out the bulk sales and analytics for e-books tools.
This is Bookshout’s second round of funding, and significant for the North Texas investment community which the Dallas Morning News called “lackluster.” The company previously raised $2 million from Ambassador in 2011. It is based at the Plano incubator Gravity Centre and has 12 employees.
Photo Credit: Puuikibeach/Flickr
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Two Jaffe Juice Podcasts with Mitch Joel and John Wall
Daily Double Dose of Jaffe Juice podcast (especially for those asking where they've been)
The first is one of the semi-regular podcast debates with Mitch Joel. This one is on "The New Creativity".
Click here to download/listen.
Join the Conversation dammit (it's not a cliche when I coined the term and wrote the book on it!) @jaffejuice on Twitter and @mitchjoel on Twitter.
The second is an interview with friend, podcasting veteran and now author, John Wall, where we discuss his new book, "B2B Marketing Confessions."
Click here to download/listen.
Follow John Wall on Twitter.
And be sure to forward this to any brand marketers you think would
benefit from the discussion and ultimately give their perspective on
the theme at hand.
Subscribe to the show via iTunes here
Social Media August Book Club: Social Marketology by Ric Dragon
Introducing our August Book Club selection, Social Marketology: Improve Your Social Media Processes and Get Customers to Stay Forever by Ric Dragon, CEO of Dragon Search. 
“CEO and co-founder of DragonSearch, Ric Dragon has more than 20 years of extensive experience in graphic design, information architecture, web development and digital marketing. He is a sought-after speaker, having spoken at numerous marketing and technology conferences.
Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #112
Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- Human cycles: history as science – Kurzweil. "Look for patterns in enough places and you’ll find them. And three iterations does not make a cycle, so take this with a grain of salt. But according to Peter Turchin, who studies weather patterns, upheavals in human society come at regular intervals. And the next one is due in 2020. Stockpile some canned food and stuff money in your mattresses." (Alistair for Hugh).
- Pocketful Of Dough – Gourmet. "Ever wonder how to tip your way into a restaurant? This Gourmet Magazine piece by an intrepid reporter explains what it feels like to jump the queue at some of the world’s best tables. Far from feeling slimy or underhanded, he found himself empowered, part of a secret elite. As much a study of restaurant dynamics as good advice. It’s a fun read." (Alistair for Mitch).
- How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking – Wired. "I’ve been waking up in sweats after reading this. The horror of losing control of my digital life is… horrifying. And then today: my Mac died. People: back things up, and have a sensible security approach to your digital life." (Hugh for Alistair).
- Two Weeks of Nothing: Random Thoughts After a Relaxing Vacation – Arjun Basu. "Remember when people blogged, and you knew them, or got to know them online, and they got to know you? I miss those days. This is just a nice old fashioned blog post from my pal, Arjun Basu, about a bunch of stuff he was thinking about during and after an unconnected holiday. Refreshing to read." (Hugh for Mitch).
- Before Green Eggs: See The Advertising Work Of Dr. Seuss – Fast Company. "What The Beatles are to music, Dr. Seuss is to children’s book. You come to that realization pretty quickly once you have young kids and start reading to them on a nightly basis. Nobody does it better than Dr. Seuss. Period. End of sentence. As you read to your kids, you will marvel not only at his words and art but – and, much more impressively – where his ideas came from. They are not only ‘out there,’ but they’re amazingly clever and warming. In the past while, I’ve become interested in obscure art and some strange pieces. One of my potential areas of interests was to start picking up some Dr. Seuss prints. After seeing this, it’s clear that before buying anything, I should probably read his biography. I had no idea he was in advertising, and I had never seen some of these amazing pieces." (Mitch for Alistair).
- The 5 Things People Regret Most Before They Die – Business Insider. "The contents of this news item could be a blog post (or three) unto itself. We get caught up in our daily work and the anxiety that comes with it. So few of us ever really sit and ruminate on our final days. While there’s nothing mind-blowingly new on this list, it would probably be wise to print it out and stick it somewhere visible. Thinking about these five regrets on a daily basis could well inspire a change in your moral compass. The majority of us think that we’ll go to bed one night and never wake up. That’s glamorous, but unlikely. Imagine having years of sitting around and waiting for your final day to arrive (with little to do but wait)? What do you think you will do with that time? What type of regrets do you think you will have? Take a look at this list and have a serious chat with yourself." (Mitch for Hugh… and everybody else).
Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.
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Amazon eBook Sales Surpass Print Book Sales in the UK
“Amazon said it had sold 114 ebooks for every 100 print books in the UK so far this year.”
That news comes from ZDnet and it’s very good news for content marketers. Here in the US, ebook sales topped print sales in May 0f 2011. But Kindle EU chief Jorrit Van der Meulen said that it took four years after the release of the Kindle to hit that mark in the US. It only took two years to get there in the UK.
What it means is that more and more people are ready to make the switch to digital assets and not just in books. Digital music has nearly replaced the CD. Digital movie downloads are now taking a bite out of the DVD market and when was the last time you bought a hard copy of a piece of software?
For authors and publishers, the digital revolution means you can get from concept to reader in a short period of time. No more print runs, no more warehousing or overstocks. It means a publisher can afford to put out a niche book and wait for sales because there’s no end to the shelf life. Make no mistake, the cost of producing an excellent ebook can be just as expensive as creating one in print, but that should change as we get more systems in place and people change their notion of acceptable price points.
But while ebook authors are climbing the profit ladder, newspaper publishers are still struggling. PaidContent.org created a chart showing the decline in UK newspaper subscriptions compared to the rise in online users. The tipping point was around November 2010. At that point, online crossed over subscriptions. Since then, subscriptions have continued to decline at a steady rate, while online reader growth is accelerating.
This sounds like good news, right?
Yes, and no. It’s good because, once again, it proves that online content is a valuable commodity. How valuable is the problem. The majority of newspapers have traded subscription dollars for free views online. They’ve attempted to capitalize on the traffic with online ad sales but still, they’re ending up in the red. Take a look at this chart posted by Reflections of a Newsosaur:
It’s looking bad for newspapers. But why? Why are we willing to spend $1.99 on a digital mystery novel but not on the daily news. You could say it’s because news is all over the web, so why pay for it? But by that token, there are plenty of free books available, too. People buy books because they want that author’s take on a story. Shouldn’t we be buying into newspapers for the same reason? Or are we long past the days where people looked forward to reading the work of a single columnist.
Books or newspapers, it’s all words, but while ebook authors are gaining fame and fortune, the well-respected journalist is becoming a thing of the past. As both an ebook author and a journalist, that makes me sad.
What do you think? Why are ebooks thriving (without ads) while newspapers can’t make a dime online?
StoryBundle Pay-What-You-Want Book Sale Launches With Sci-Fi Titles
StoryBundle is just one of a few new “pay-what-you-want” book deals blossoming from the ashes of traditional publishing like ferns after a forest fire. This service, run by former Gizmodo pop star Jason Chen, is one of the cooler offerings out there right now and they started out with the Big Bang package featuring up to seven sci-fi books for your perusal and purchase.
You can donate as much (or as little) as you want and a portion of your cash can go to a charity. You can also stiff StoryBundle itself, giving all the cash to the author. Your choice.
“My dream is two-fold,” wrote Chen in a blog post. “As an avid reader, I wanted to make a place where independent authors can get exposure and readers can get quality ebooks without having to sift through list after list of titles. With StoryBundle, voracious readers will always have great reads easily within their reach.”
Services like this closely mirror similar services in the gaming and media space including the Humble Bundle aimed at raising awareness of indie games and music. The Humble Gaming Bundle, for example, regularly hits over $5 million in sales. Arguably, books require “imagination” and “literacy” and are therefore lesser cultural artifacts than games, but good on Chen for trying.
We covered competitor Snug Nugget last week but I think StoryBundle is definitely a bit prettier on the surface and the book offerings seem a bit more polished. As a fan of books, however, I’d recommend checking out both over the next few bundle iterations because it’s of paramount importance to support these nascent services.
Social Media July Book Club Webinar Recap: Navigating Social Media Legal Risks
Last month we introduced our July Book Club feature Navigating Social Media Legal Risks: Safeguarding Your Business by Robert McHale. This topic has proved to be an area often unknown to many small business, entrepreneuers and freelancers simply because they don’t have a large legal team to tap for advice. Consider Robert your new go-to social media compliance source, as this book offers a deep dive on frequent legal issues faced by businesses everyday when using social media. From HR compliance to specific sites terms of services (TOS) guidelines and COPPA to defamation, Navigation Social Media Legal Risks serves as a great resource for our burning social media legal questions.
Brewster Beefs Up Your iPhone Address Book with Search Powers, Social Networks [Address Book]
iOS: Brewster is a beautiful address book app that syncs tons of information with your social networks, gives you multiple ways to contact your friends, and helps you organize everyone by location, workplace, and more. More »