Being Strategic


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Being Strategic
Plan for Success; Out-Think Your Competitors; Stay Ahead of Change
By Erika Andersen 

Related Blog Posts
Pow Wow 2011
Posted Dec. 9, 2011 10:48 a.m. by jon
In - 800 CEO Read Blog

A few of us just returned from this year's Author Pow Wow in Austin, TX at The Driskill. As for me, I'm exhausted, but also refreshed with a sense of perspective. In support of my previous post, I do feel empowered, and I know others that attended do as well.

How are we empowered?

We heard from Erika Andersen, author of Growing Great Employees and Being Strategic about Being CEO of your book, which included great added comments by upcoming author Dick Cross. We participated in a great discussion with Nena Madonia about agencies being a hub for an author's platform, and how they act as both communicators and creative assistants to serve and develop an author's brand.

We listened to a great panel of publishers, including Ray Bard, Clint Greenleaf, and Karen Murphy discuss their different approaches to publishing, which culminated in a discussion about how publishers and authors do, and need to, view their customers to determine how to shape and develop the pool. We joined in a discussion with Tanya Hall and Erika Heilman about digital publishing, and how ideas can be distributed in different ways, and what limitations and opportunities exist in working with such a flexible medium.

Next, Will Weisser, David Hathaway, and Bill Roth talked about selling books, selling ideas, and the critical things for authors to understand and build in order to be profitable from sales of their ideas. It was a fascinating and serendipitous occasion to have Dave Hathaway present. Prior to his time at Greenleaf, Dave served as Barnes & Noble's buyer for over 10 years, and his insight into what retail looks for, how they make predictions, and the growing challenges they face, was eye-opening for all involved.

Noah Rickun and Victoria Labalme both gave compelling presentations about speaking, showing what works, and what doesn't, in smart and interesting ways. From slides to body language to content to value, they covered a lot of ground in a short time while remaining clear and entertaining. A perfect lesson. They certainly made it all look much easier than it is. And to boot, I got an official Victoria Labalme lip balm, which has me protected all winter, and a reminder of her awesomeness each time I use it.

By now, we were all nearly at mental capacity. Then Tim Sanders hit the stage and literally worked us over. Part re-energizing, part mind-boggling, and 100% amazing, Tim's insight and research into human behavior, digital practices, the publishing industry vs. similar and disparate industries was captivating, enlightening, and at this point, nearly overwhelming. Ever hear the term "drinking from a fire hose?" This was like getting blown down the street by one. It was awesome.

We celebrated Day 1 by busing miles out of town to Salt Lick BBQ, and quickly filled our stomachs to the same level as our heads. Now, completely stuffed on all levels, we headed back to the hotel to rest and prepare for Day 2.

 

Day 2 was more focused on getting to work, as

Barbara Cave Henricks, Adrienne Lang, David Hahn, Rusty Shelton, and Phil Gerbyshak discussed publicity angles, social media strategies, marketing, branding, communications, media placement, and a variety of other outreach endeavors authors are doing, and need to be doing more of, in order to spread their ideas.

Erika Andersen recapped the 'ownership' segment she began with, and everyone in the room teamed up in various groupings to talk about Doing - new ideas, project help, platform partnerships, and more. It was a great way to extend all the information and knowledge into action.

Arriving back home, I quickly set up a Pow Wow! group on LinkedIn, in order for us all to continue the conversation, and add to it moving forward.

The Pow Wow family grows further!

Thanks to Noel Weyrich, Kalina Mazur, Les McKeown, Jennifer Ferrasci-O’Malley, Paul Sliker, Alexandra Kirsch, Rajesh Setty, Kevin Kruse, Denise Lee Yohn, David Osborn, Terry Doerscher, Richard Imperiale, Richard Hunter Cross, Erika Heilman, John Moore, Richard Shapiro, Judson Laipply, David Edward, Jennifer Whitt, Dain Dunston, and David Nour for being there, listening, engaging, and helping make the event so great!

And I can't resist adding this poetic recap by attendee Judson Laipply:

Twas weeks before the Holidays

When we arrived at  PowWow

To learn about the book world

And answer the question “How?”

We mingled with each other

Then said our goodnight

Some awoke in the morning

With no power or light

We started by learning

To be CEO of your book

And we’d better be ready

For the Ipad, Kindle, and Nook.

We heard from some insiders

Who helped lay out a plan

You have to build a platform

To help drive demand

Is your book market

An ocean, well, or lake?

If it’s a bayou or puddle

Then publishing’s a mistake.

They helped us to see

That the book world is unusual

To be really, really successful

You have got to be delusional

Sales!Sales!Sales!

Supply no longer drives demand

You have to give content away

And create book-buying fans.

Then it was Noah

With his presentation skill

Who help us realize

What it takes to absolutely kill.

Victoria helped us to see

The 3 parts of a show

Seen through the prism

Of feel, do, and know.

A few more insights

They did say

Like never end your show

With Q and A.

Tim was up last

Before we went to dinner

And he was a force to be reckon

No wonder he’s a winner.

From Yelpification

To the digitizing age

Soon E-books will dominate

And be all the rage.

To Salt-Lick we went

On a bus that swaying

But the best thing of all

Was that we were not paying.

Then some sleep we did get

And awoke to full power

We started right back in

To maximize every hour.

Publicity was up next

And some stories were fun

But we learned that after p-date

The work has just begun.

Twitter! Link’d

Facebook and more!

Get yourself a Social Media Strategy

Or you’ll seem like a bore.

We discussed the merits

Of authentic tweeting

But had to stop short

To wrap up the meeting.

Then it was over

So much to digest

That our brains are not likely

To soon get any rest.

#PowWow11

Had come to an end

We meet lots of new people

Made some new friends.

But the information was key

And in abundance it was dished.

So that we all might fulfill

Our publishing wish.

Thanks to Rusty’s, Hendricks,

Greenleaf and 8CR

For hosting the PowWow11

That will make us a star.



Friday Links
Posted Sept. 3, 2010 11:10 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog

➻ Chris Guillabeau's The Art of Non-Conformity will be released on Tuesday—a book I hope everyone reading this blog will pick up. On his blog yesterday, he briefly discussed Seth Godin's departure from traditional publishing before laying out the Strategy, Tactics, and the Plan for the Next 97 Days he has devised for entering the publishing arena that Seth is leaving. And his plan is the only plan that has ever succeeded: think big; work hard. Responding to the notion that “The only authors who sell books anymore are those who have popular blogs,” he writes:

Where does a popular blog come from—does the blog fairy descend from the sky with a passionate group of readers, all eager to support a new writer?

It's a valid question, and we are glad this dedicated, unconventional (indeed, dedicatedly unconventional) individual has taken a step into traditional publishing, and we wish him the best on his Unconventional Book Tour.

If you'd like to learn more before picking up a copy of his book for yourself, you can read the interview Callie Oettinger did with him over at Steven Pressfield Online, or dig into some of his online offerings.

➻ Scott Stratten's UnMarketing also comes out next week, and in true social-media guru fashion, he did a 140-character interview on Twitter with new PR pros. Some advice:

@ssiewert: How can young pros/Gen Y apply their years of personal experience online to achieve business objectives?

@unmarketing: You have the advantage, since you’re already online. Be yourself, have an opinion but also be humble. You don’t know everything yet.

➻ The Bullish on Books blog had a great guest post from our dear friend Erika Andersen today, entitled You’ve Been Laid Off – Now What? She used the space to discuss how, once you declare an intention, or "put up your sail to catch the wind you’re looking for—it makes you available to other winds, as well." And Erika knows. She is one of the best advisers in country and the author of two outstanding books, Growing Great Employees and Being Strategic, the latter of which was recently made into a PBS special (Check your local PBS listings for the airtime, or purchase the DVD at shopPBS.org).

➻ The Economist recently took a look inside The innovation machine, reviewing Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble's book recently released on the topic, The Other Side of Innovation. From the article:

Many would-be innovators deal with the trade-off between efficiency and innovation by rejecting traditional management entirely. They repeat mantras about “breaking all the rules” and “asking for forgiveness rather than permission”. They set up skunk works (small, autonomous units with a remit to innovate) and mock the boring corporate types who write their pay-cheques. But again this is counter-productive. Mocking the corporate establishment only encourages it to starve you of resources.

They also touch on Warren Bennis's Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership briefly, and thought it looks like a great book, I think they did so only to have an excuse to introduce the topic of innovation by writing "Today there is no hotter topic in management theory than 'sperm in the air.'"

➻ Bob Sutton, author of the soon-to-be-released Good Boss, Bad-Boss, wants to know... Is Your Boss A Certified Brasshole? And he has devised a test for you to find out.

➻ Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, writes a twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun. His most recent post discussed the 10 Best Books For Back To School Business Reading, and his list is very solid:

I personally think that if you have read all of these books, just go ahead and forgo going back to school and get on out there and start conquering the world.

➻ The 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style went on sale this week, but you can get the original edition (1906) for free. Head on over to Papercuts to figure out how.

➻ "In addition to being a bullfighter and magician, he's a lazy river, a slow moving train, a future hall-of-famer playing through the pain, he's a grizzly bear." And his son is a book reviewer.