Note: This blog post, of course, is now out of date. Finally. The iPhone is available now on other phone networks. A long wait for a great phone.
The Apple iPhone is gorgeous but it doesn't work in most of the Rocky Mountain states if you live more than a few miles from a major Interstate. The iPhone is great, desirable, fantastic. The network Apple chose to use is crippled, inadequate, sadly lacking in coverage.
I would have stood in line for the iPhone, but I won't stand in line for the inadequate ATT network. I can wait.
I'm sure Jobs had his reasons for choosing the cut-rate ATT network, but it doesn't serve his image for excellence. It's possible that the early implementation of the iPhone required a disabled network.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
PMA's Loss: Jan Nathan
I heard today that Jan Nathan, long-time director of Publishers Marketing Association, has died of cancer after a year-long battle.
Jan was a sweetheart, an incredibly talented and dedicated association executive, and a good friend. I will miss her a lot.
If you have benefited at all from PMA's programs, PMA University, Ben Franklin awards, distribution program, etc., you have Jan to thank for a lot of that.
Here is an image of her that I found online:
Again, I can't tell you how much I will miss her and her good heart.
Here's another photo of her. Always a good person full of fun.
Jan was a sweetheart, an incredibly talented and dedicated association executive, and a good friend. I will miss her a lot.
If you have benefited at all from PMA's programs, PMA University, Ben Franklin awards, distribution program, etc., you have Jan to thank for a lot of that.
Here is an image of her that I found online:
Again, I can't tell you how much I will miss her and her good heart.
Here's another photo of her. Always a good person full of fun.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Fun Promotions for You and Your Workers
Here are some interesting things service establishments are doing. You might find one of them that will make your books, talks, website, or company better.
The D.C. taco chain California Tortilla offered a promotional discount: any customer who beats the cashier in a game of Rock Paper Scissors receives $1 off an entree. The offer was for only one day, but personally I'd have made it policy. It'd make the day interesting for the cashier.
A wine shop in Cambridge, England, offers a student discount that can be doubled or quitsed (eliminated) on a Trivial Pursuit question.
In his blog, Seth Godin suggested that you give customer service people the ability to give a prize to the nicest person who calls in each day. As he noted, "What's the worst that could happen--they might use a little judgment, might enjoy the day a bit more, might even start to care."
Magician Chris Angel offers an incredible viral email that you can send to your friends that features their name and phone number in a video. You can create such a video by going to his website at http://www.freakyourmind.com. Once your friend views the video you had Chris's website prepare for her, the video takes her to Chris's site so she can create similar videos for her friends.
What can you do to get people talking about your book, speech, website, or company?
The D.C. taco chain California Tortilla offered a promotional discount: any customer who beats the cashier in a game of Rock Paper Scissors receives $1 off an entree. The offer was for only one day, but personally I'd have made it policy. It'd make the day interesting for the cashier.
A wine shop in Cambridge, England, offers a student discount that can be doubled or quitsed (eliminated) on a Trivial Pursuit question.
In his blog, Seth Godin suggested that you give customer service people the ability to give a prize to the nicest person who calls in each day. As he noted, "What's the worst that could happen--they might use a little judgment, might enjoy the day a bit more, might even start to care."
Magician Chris Angel offers an incredible viral email that you can send to your friends that features their name and phone number in a video. You can create such a video by going to his website at http://www.freakyourmind.com. Once your friend views the video you had Chris's website prepare for her, the video takes her to Chris's site so she can create similar videos for her friends.
What can you do to get people talking about your book, speech, website, or company?
Sunday, June 17, 2007
John Kremer's Making Friends Who Count Course
On Tuesday, June 19th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, John Kremer will present a teleseminar on how to create relationships with top media and other key book selling contacts. This teleseminar is the first of a two-part package on how to make lasting friendships with key media and other people who matter.
The full course also includes full documentation and an additional webinar where John will teach you all his secrets on how to become a friend -- not just a name in the news -- with key media people as well as other key contacts (bookstores, wholesalers, catalog directors, movie producers, bloggers, website owners, or whomever else you want to know). You will be amazed at how easy it can be to create friends in all the right places in as little as a few hours.
To sign up for this course, click here: SIGN ME UP: FRIENDS. Only $97 and worth every cent!
If you miss the teleseminar on Tuesday, June 19th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, you can still sign up for the seminar and listen to it at your leisure. Plus you'll still be eligible to attend the webinar to follow in three weeks where John will show you as well as tell you how to follow his amazing Make a Friend Anywhere System. John will not be teaching this system in any other venue, so you must sign up now if you want to take part.
Again, to sign up for this course, click here: SIGN ME UP: FRIENDS
The full course also includes full documentation and an additional webinar where John will teach you all his secrets on how to become a friend -- not just a name in the news -- with key media people as well as other key contacts (bookstores, wholesalers, catalog directors, movie producers, bloggers, website owners, or whomever else you want to know). You will be amazed at how easy it can be to create friends in all the right places in as little as a few hours.
To sign up for this course, click here: SIGN ME UP: FRIENDS. Only $97 and worth every cent!
If you miss the teleseminar on Tuesday, June 19th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, you can still sign up for the seminar and listen to it at your leisure. Plus you'll still be eligible to attend the webinar to follow in three weeks where John will show you as well as tell you how to follow his amazing Make a Friend Anywhere System. John will not be teaching this system in any other venue, so you must sign up now if you want to take part.
Again, to sign up for this course, click here: SIGN ME UP: FRIENDS
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Creating Bestsellers: Free Teleseminar
Besides my own New York Times Bestseller program described at http://www.bookmarket.com/nytbests.htm, you might also want to listen to a free teleseminar that my friend Steve Harrison will be giving on Thursday, June 14th at 2:00 pm Eastern (11:00 am Pacific) or 7:00 pm Eastern (4:00 pm Pacific).
Do you want your book to be a New York Times bestseller like Rich Dad Poor Dad? To discover how, join Steve Harrison for a free telephone seminar this Thursday, June 14th. Discover strategies behind bestsellers like Rich Dad Poor Dad, Purpose Driven Life, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
To register for the event, go here: http://www.freepublicity.com.
Do you want your book to be a New York Times bestseller like Rich Dad Poor Dad? To discover how, join Steve Harrison for a free telephone seminar this Thursday, June 14th. Discover strategies behind bestsellers like Rich Dad Poor Dad, Purpose Driven Life, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
To register for the event, go here: http://www.freepublicity.com.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
New Content Management Systems Will Put Your Website on Automatic as a Book Sales Machine
This past week I uncovered an incredible tool for building and managing book websites that really sing -- whether niche sites, sales letter sites, membership sites, or Web 2.0 sites. CMS Infusion is a content management system that can be used to build almost any kind of website you want to create and put it on automatic.
The thing that sets CMS Infusion apart form other website building programs is the graphically-driven easy-to-use interface with the potential to build and operate an entire online business by itself.
Check out this great system at CMS Infusion.
This is the website building system I will be using to create several new book marketing sites in the next few months. I'm really excited about the potential for this system.
You can get a bargain on the system if you act now (before Tuesday midnight, June 12th). It will still be a bargain after that time -- just more expensive. Way more expensive. That's why I'm writing about it now.
Again, check it out at CMS Infusion.
The thing that sets CMS Infusion apart form other website building programs is the graphically-driven easy-to-use interface with the potential to build and operate an entire online business by itself.
Check out this great system at CMS Infusion.
This is the website building system I will be using to create several new book marketing sites in the next few months. I'm really excited about the potential for this system.
You can get a bargain on the system if you act now (before Tuesday midnight, June 12th). It will still be a bargain after that time -- just more expensive. Way more expensive. That's why I'm writing about it now.
Again, check it out at CMS Infusion.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Where will you be in 10 years?
Martin Foner of NPL Consultants, a publishing broker, wrote a rant on book publishing which he posted on his site at http://nplconsult.com/archives/42. I don't agree with much of his rant. He gets carried away with depression. But his conclusions out of the rant do make sense: Publishers do have to move toward more selling online and more marketing online and more distribution online.
Unlike him, however, I do not believe that the bookstore trade is a dinosaur, about to be obliterated. And that book distribution is a dinosaur, also about to die a quick, painful death. But I do believe that smart publishers do not put all their eggs into one basket. You diversify. You find multiple ways to sell your books, via multiple markets, via multiple distribution strategies.
In his rant, Martin wrote that in ten years most publishers will be in one of four categories:
1. Sold out.
2. In business with a huge content-driven website.
3. In business with a substantial web presence and multiple channels to sell books (direct to consumers, premium sales, non-book trade retailers, web sellers, etc.).
4. Dead.
I hope most of you fall into category 3. I think that's the best plan for most book publishers, given the talents we have.
But category 2 can also be a good plan (and perhaps more profitable, especially if you hit it Google big or Yahoo middling). But you will have to be a talented software engineer or hire such talent to make this pay off in a big way. As publishers, we tend to be content-driven while most successful websites are software-driven.
As many of you know, I've become more and more of an advocate for Internet marketing. There are so many incredible opportunities to sell books via the Internet. The toughest part for many publishers will be deciding what paths to take (of the growing number of possible ways to market via the Internet). You can easily get overwhelmed by the possibilities. My advice: Focus. Don't buy into every new Internet promise, every new program. Find one to three ways that you like doing and which you find to work -- and continue to pursue and build those ways.
Personally, I'll never participate in Second Life. No interest. It could be a real time-sucker. And, yet, I know that some publishers will create great successes using this virtual world. For me, though, I'd rather focus on email marketing, blogs, joint venture opportunities, creating relationships, teleseminars, webinars.
Plus, of course, I'll keep my fingers in offline ways to sell my books: speaking, premium sales, direct sales to consumers, and book trade distribution. I suggest you do something similar if you want to be around in ten years.
Where will you be in ten years? Where do you want to be in ten years? Please choose one of the first three options Martin described. Don't die.
A sidebar: Fifty years ago, everyone said that television would kill radio. It didn't happen. During the past 15 years, radio has been stronger than ever. What happened to the naysayers? They sold out a long time ago. Lost a chunk of money in the process.
Now everyone is saying that newspapers and books are dead. Magazines, too. I don't agree. I think they will all continue to exist for many, many years to come -- both in print and in electronic forms. The smart print publishers will migrate content to the web. They are already doing that. Forbes magazine already gets half its revenue from online. The New York Times is moving in that direction. Book publishers should do this as well. But don't ignore print. It still drives the online strength of most successful publications.
Unlike him, however, I do not believe that the bookstore trade is a dinosaur, about to be obliterated. And that book distribution is a dinosaur, also about to die a quick, painful death. But I do believe that smart publishers do not put all their eggs into one basket. You diversify. You find multiple ways to sell your books, via multiple markets, via multiple distribution strategies.
In his rant, Martin wrote that in ten years most publishers will be in one of four categories:
1. Sold out.
2. In business with a huge content-driven website.
3. In business with a substantial web presence and multiple channels to sell books (direct to consumers, premium sales, non-book trade retailers, web sellers, etc.).
4. Dead.
I hope most of you fall into category 3. I think that's the best plan for most book publishers, given the talents we have.
But category 2 can also be a good plan (and perhaps more profitable, especially if you hit it Google big or Yahoo middling). But you will have to be a talented software engineer or hire such talent to make this pay off in a big way. As publishers, we tend to be content-driven while most successful websites are software-driven.
As many of you know, I've become more and more of an advocate for Internet marketing. There are so many incredible opportunities to sell books via the Internet. The toughest part for many publishers will be deciding what paths to take (of the growing number of possible ways to market via the Internet). You can easily get overwhelmed by the possibilities. My advice: Focus. Don't buy into every new Internet promise, every new program. Find one to three ways that you like doing and which you find to work -- and continue to pursue and build those ways.
Personally, I'll never participate in Second Life. No interest. It could be a real time-sucker. And, yet, I know that some publishers will create great successes using this virtual world. For me, though, I'd rather focus on email marketing, blogs, joint venture opportunities, creating relationships, teleseminars, webinars.
Plus, of course, I'll keep my fingers in offline ways to sell my books: speaking, premium sales, direct sales to consumers, and book trade distribution. I suggest you do something similar if you want to be around in ten years.
Where will you be in ten years? Where do you want to be in ten years? Please choose one of the first three options Martin described. Don't die.
A sidebar: Fifty years ago, everyone said that television would kill radio. It didn't happen. During the past 15 years, radio has been stronger than ever. What happened to the naysayers? They sold out a long time ago. Lost a chunk of money in the process.
Now everyone is saying that newspapers and books are dead. Magazines, too. I don't agree. I think they will all continue to exist for many, many years to come -- both in print and in electronic forms. The smart print publishers will migrate content to the web. They are already doing that. Forbes magazine already gets half its revenue from online. The New York Times is moving in that direction. Book publishers should do this as well. But don't ignore print. It still drives the online strength of most successful publications.
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