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Posted April 9, 2010 6:08 p.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
➻ Nick Summers delivered a great review of Rework for Newsweek. It's an even-handed take not only of the book, but also the company its authors founded and lead—37signals. My favorite line in the article is actually a criticism of the authors: "They can sound like the business equivalent of kids in Clash T shirts, sneering at phony acts who have sold out."
We're all big fans of the book here, possibly because most of us are or were the equivalent of those "kids in Clash T shirts" in some way, so we can relate to the sentiment. But, also, because it's just a damn fine book that is as accessible as any you'll come across and doesn't pretend to be something it's not. The metaphor Summers ends the article with nails it:
It all comes down to one of its many management rules: emulate chefs. Great ones, like Julia Child and Mario Batali, share everything they know, from recipes to technique. Rework, write Fried and Heinemeier Hansson, is their cookbook.
➻ Jason Fried described himself in his first article for Inc. Magazine: "I think of myself as wildly ambitious and unapologetically lazy." (I don't know if that's all that different from the "kids in a Clash T shirt," actually.) He also offers this sage advice:
Instead of spending your time worrying about what could, might, or may happen, spend your time on what matters now. Are your customers thrilled with your service today? Is your inbox flooded with word-of-mouth referrals today? Do your employees love their jobs today? Can people find what they're looking for on your website today?
➻ One of my favorite articles this week was Edan Lepucki's Ceasing to Exist: Three Months in the Social Media Detox Ward in The Millions. After kicking an addiction to social media in an attempt to concentrate on writing for a few months, she developed a very different point of view of the medium:
These days, I feel no pull whatsoever toward Twitter, despite the number of fabulous people there. In my mind, it’s a crowded elevator where everyone’s talking over one another. They’re all saying interesting things, but who can keep track?
I couldn't agree more with those words, but I think Carolyn Kellogg is right to consider the following (especially for business book authors):
On the one hand, a writer should walk away from anything that keeps them from writing, be it alcohol, a lousy boyfriend or the insta-communication social networking maw of Twitter. On the other hand, I wonder whether it's particularly vital for new writers to stay connected online.
➻ John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison, authors of The Power of Pull, ask Are All Employees Knowledge Workers? The article ends with some helpful questions to ask yourself:
What about your own role? Does it have creative aspects that are less than fully recognized or acknowledged? In what ways could your employer help you develop the creative aspects of your job? Where would you draw the line in your company between creative talent and the rest of the workforce?
➻ Is your copy of Seth Godin's Linchpin missing the index? So is every other copy. Lucky for us, making indexes is a hobby of Groundswell author Josh Bernoff. He's provided the missing index.
➻ The prize for the best headline of the week goes to Publishers Weekly for Calvin Reid's article, Fat Vampires, Sexy Werewolves and the Future of Teen Reading.
➻ Nicholas Carr is "not under any illusion that progress gives a damn about what [he] want[s],” which is what makes his take on the iPad one of my favorites. He also wrote recently about the iPad as the post book-book, saying "As a text delivery system, the iPad is perfectly suited to readers who don't read anymore."
➻ "Yellow is the color of my true love's crossbow."
In the Books - Off to the Printers IX
Posted Jan. 11, 2010 8:01 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
In our second to last installment of articles from past editions of In the Books, we have a short essay from mister Jon Mueller. In it, Jon shares some of his insights on an oft-discussed topic around these parts—the future of the book and distribution of ideas.
The Shifting Landscape of Moving Ideas: The Art of Publishing in a Socially Empowered World BY JON MUELLER
The book remains the definitive source for deep exploration of knowledge on a topic. Whether developing a fictional idea, characters and events, or explaining a non-fiction theory or process, the potential size and portability of books allows them to continue to function as a useful tool of communicating information. All in all, books haven’t changed much. But the ways people receive information sure have.
Each year the number of book titles produced rises as publishers attempt to increase their odds of having a bestseller. But is it working? With each title, there’s less time to create an impact, yet a greater number of opportunities to communicate the idea as readers find more methods to receive information. Within that irony is a solution to publishing’s dilemma.
Random House publisher Jonathan Karp existed in a title-saturated world for many years before forming his own imprint called Twelve. As the name of the company suggests, it produces twelve titles per year, and invests more time and energy into each title than larger publishers, which might produce hundreds of titles per year. This focused method allows Twelve to examine many different ways to spread the idea and spend more time implementing those methods, which greatly increases the chances that more people will hear about and support the idea—in whatever forms it takes on. In an August 2005 BusinessWeek article, Karp explained, “Most writers I know don't think of themselves as working in only one format. It's entirely possible that something will begin as a magazine article in Time, then become a book, then become a movie, then become a television show.”
For publishers like Twelve, the rules seem to be: Know your audience, produce fewer titles and do more with those titles. As audiences are continually introduced to new ways to receive content, there are great possibilities for authors and publishers to make an impact with their work. If an idea is revealed when a reader holds a book, gets online, reads a magazine, watches television, sees a movie and more, that idea, that author and that publisher will have communicated a variety of things to their audience, and captivated its attention in ways a single format could not.
This year, The Word of Mouth Manual by Dave Balter was published online. This 128-page book was offered for free to anyone as a digital file, and word spread rapidly as people began downloading and reading. A physical edition of the book was also produced. Featuring a waterproof cover, and an original piece of art from an artist-in-residence at the author’s company, the physical version fully utilizes the tactile experience absent from reading the text online. Though the physical book carried a price tag with it (as opposed to the free download), the point is that different people want different things. Fortunately, for author and publisher, whichever version the audience members use, it’s likely they will tell others about the great free book they read, or the interesting presentation, touch and interaction with a book unlike any they had read before.
Those conversations are the goals of marketing, and are essential for authors and publishers to be able to continue to do what they do. Offering various formats is a trend not only practiced in the book publishing world, but in many mediums, as blog writers acquire book deals, recordings are paired with exclusive film work and further conglomerations of all angles from all media are formed. Addressing all these formats takes time, so it makes sense that a lesser amount of titles would be published to put these to full effect. In this scenario, ad hype will give way to a clear understanding of what is good, and what isn’t, as those absorbing content will understand it deeper than they might have from traditional methods of promotion. In other words, you can’t reveal the content any clearer than by offering an entire book for free. Then it’s up to the audience to decide which other ways they want to see that content. Some will be content to simply read it once online. Others will want a reference guide on a shelf that they can pull, reread, take with them places and not require any sort of electricity to activate.
Multiple formats are not only beneficial for digesting ideas, but also for spreading them. As more people are getting information from different sources, more people inevitably are talking about that information. As Deirdre Breakenridge states in her book, PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences, “Social networking empowers the twenty-first century consumer to choose what is newsworthy and relevant to them. Consumers are leading a 2.0 revolution in their social networking communities. They pass more and more information back and forth through connections; relying on an extended network of family, friends, business associates, and acquaintances. The movement toward social media enables easy information sharing” (141). As publishers and authors utilize social networking, the ideas spread in ways that previously would take much longer to work, and to a much lesser extent. This process also teaches publishers and authors more about their audience.
As Bill Tancer states in his book Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters, “In our increasingly connected lives, we’re bombarded with news and information from a multitude of channels (television, print, radio, and the internet), some useful, some not so useful. It gets interesting…when we react to that information by interacting with the source itself. What information we react to and how, when viewed collectively, reveals insight into what affects us. From a business perspective, having a view into the feedback loop is invaluable – from the simple, tactical use of planning when to promote products online, such as prom dresses and engagement rings, to the visualization of Malcolm Gladwell’s tipping point…” (201).
Through the human/technology interaction, there is a substantial growth of opportunities for authors and publishers. As content gets into the heads and hands of the audience, it has the potential to flourish, creating a scenario where the content creator can explore other methods of generating income. As Dave Balter states on his web site, “The publishing industry, much like the music industry, is teetering on a massive change in control—from publishers to authors and consumers! The distribution of the book itself is an indication of the power of Word of Mouth.” As this change continues to occur, the process isn’t necessarily becoming easier to manage, but for those dedicated to spreading their ideas, the resources for getting those ideas to people (who will hopefully become evangelists), are more plentiful than ever.
Books from 2008 that can help.
- Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin, Portfolio
- Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Harvard Business Press
- Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky, Penguin
- Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0 by Sarah Lacy, Gotham Books
- The Spider’s Strategy: Creating Networks to Avert Crisis, Create Change, and Really Get Ahead by Amit S. Mukherjee, FT Press
Social Media University Reading List
Posted Aug. 13, 2009 5:48 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Marketing - 800 CEO Read Blog
I had the opportunity to speak at Social Media University - Milwaukee a few weeks ago. Some of the follow-up email has been asking for the recommended reading list I gave out during my Blogging For Success session. Here the list and some reasons these are worth your time:
Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky - This is the big idea book; it's the one that examines social media from a sociological viewpoint with outstanding examples the reduced friction the Internet provides. Here is what we said in our Jack Covert Selects - "Technology allows more loosely formed groups to accomplish more complicated tasks to greater effect, whether sharing tips for hacking new features on iPhones or staging boycotts after complaints go unaddressed. The rules are changing and, as Shirky says, 'What the group does with that power is a separate question.'"Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff - There is no question that this is the book to read if you are in a corporate environment. The book was written by two analysts from Forester Research that provides a framework that executives recognize and language that fits the Fortune 500. Download an excerpt of the book to get a feel for the book. There is also a new condensed version of the book called Marketing in the Groundswell which contains a new introduction and three chapters from the original book.
Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin - Seth's premise is pretty simple: most of the products and services are not designed to be used with the new tools and techniques that are available to marketers. The call for corporate blogs and the creation of viral videos leads to meatball sundaes. Seth wrote a great ChangeThis manifesto based on this idea called Marketing Mismatch: When New Won't Work With Old (Riffs on Meatball Sundae). I also did a podcast with Seth when the book came out.
Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith - I am recommending this a bit on faith because the book comes out later this month. Chris is certainly one of the leading voices on social media and if you need proof go read this.Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg - I recommended this specifically for my blogging session. Rosenberg is a journalist and writes about the evolution of blogging. He talks about the players who have shaped the medium (Heather Armstrong, Robert Scoble, Evan Williams, and Dave Winer to name just a few). It is a good book to catch up on what has been happening over the last decade. There are also excerpts from the book available on the book's website.
The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein is a simple book that teaches what you need to know about Twitter and also takes the next step providing tips for using the service to its full extent. - Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel extolls the power of connecting with your customers online. It's not written for alpha geeks and instead describes uses language business people will understand.
Books for Understanding Social Media
Posted June 5, 2009 7:51 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Information Technology - 800 CEO Read Blog
Everybody has been asking us what books they should read to understand social media. People are trying to make sense of this newly connected world. How does Facebook affect my business? Should I be tweeting? Do blogs still matter?
"Yes" is the answer to all three of those questions. Open a facebook account. Step up a search on Twitter. And for Pete's sake, keep in the blog going.
Books provide context. They examine the broader implications. I am not sure we have worked out all the broader implications and with the snail pace of books, publishing is just catching up with the product.
Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky comes the closest to making these complicated issues apparent. We reviewed the book in April for Jack Covert Selects.
The impetus behind this post was from a list I ran across at bpodr.com (post one and post two). The list is pretty good and if you are not familiar with these, you have some reading to do.
- The Cluetrain Manifesto by Levine, Searle, Locke, and Weinberger
- Naked Conversations by Scoble and Israel
- Groundswell by Li and Bernoff
- The Search by Battelle
- The Long Tail by Anderson
- Now is Gone by Livingston and Solis
- The New Rules of Marketing and PR by Meerman Scott
- Purple Cow and Meatball Sundae by Godin
- Always Be Testing by Eisenberg & Quarto-vonTivadar with Davis
International Best Selling Books for May!
Posted June 4, 2009 9:58 a.m. by the-roy
In International Bestsellers - 800 CEO Read Blog
Want to keep up with what's going on in other countries? They do too!
Check out what others are reading about outside the US:
[caption id="attachment_3970" align="alignleft" width="124" caption="Mavericks at Work - Chile"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3969" align="alignleft" width="125" caption="Immunity to Change - Germany"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3968" align="alignleft" width="124" caption="Brand Bubble - Australia"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3967" align="alignleft" width="122" caption="One Billion Customers - Korea"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3966" align="alignleft" width="124" caption="Career Distinction - Australia"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3965" align="alignleft" width="121" caption="Behavior Change - Spain"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3964" align="alignleft" width="126" caption="Seven Secrets of Great Entrepreneurial Masters - Great Britian"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3963" align="alignleft" width="120" caption="Groundswell - Switzerland"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3962" align="alignleft" width="124" caption="Innovation Nation - Turkey"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_3961" width="129" caption="The Forgotten Half of Change - France"]
[/caption]
