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Showing posts from July, 2012

Practical Advice for eBook Authors

John Locke has become one of the most successful Kindle authors in the world.   He’s created two popular series with an action hero series (Donovan Creed) and a re-invention of the Western with   the Emmett Love series.   In How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! he provides practical advice to authors who are writing for eBooks or other self-publishing vehicles.In full disclosure, let me begin by saying that I’m a Kindle author (albeit barely, my book Jobs Over Fifty, the Guide to New Employment for the Experienced Worker , has yet to hit the best sellers list.   But there is still hope).   Locke is a savvy marketer and has given a lot of thought to using data and new media to promote his books.   He links blogs, Twitter and email marketing campaigns to drive purchases and build a following.   He used some very clever techniques, particularly in blogs and emails, to link his brands to other more powerful brands.   While one of his examples ...

Book Review - The Mongoliad Book 1

Neal Stephenson speaking at Google, (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I’ve been wondering if Neal Stephenson has decided to write a best seller of every genre’.   Diamond Age is cyberpunk. The Baroque Cycle is picaresque. Reamde and Crytonomicon are action/adventure.   Anathem is science fiction/fantasy.   If we see a romance and a murder mystery come from his inventive pen, we’ll know that my conjecture is indeed correct. In a way, Mr. Anderson is crowdsourcing his latest work, with the first book of The Mongoliad Trilogy recently published with co-authors Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey and Cooper Moo.   Or perhaps he has seen the commercial success of Game of Thrones, and is creating the script writing team for the series.   (His books would be rather complicated to turn into a movie.   A Lord of the Rings series would be more appropriate.   The Baroque Cycle would have to be a series.) I continue to view...

Book Review: How the Mighty Fail

English: Jim Collins (James C. Collins), an American business consultant, author of "Built to Last" and "Good to Great". (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 27: Clayton M. Christensen Founder of Disruptive Innovation Theory attends the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival at the NYU Paulson Auditorium on April 27, 2012 in New York City. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife ) Cover via Amazon As I’ve said repeatedly in previous reviews, there are certain business-book authors that are automatic purchases for me including Tom Peters , Geoffrey Moore , Gary Hamel , Ram Charan, Adrian Slywotzky , Clay Christensen , George Stalk and Jim Collins.   Since I buy all their books, I get behind, pile other books on top and later find a book that I’d forgotten.   Such is the case with How the Mighty Fail by Jim Collins which I recently discovered in my stack of books to get to.   Collins dramatic...

Listening and Leadership

Nice post by positive corporate culture guru Ron Potter on the importance of leaders asking questions and listening carefully and thoughtfully on the answers.  Supports and amplifies Jim Collins' research for How the Mighty Fail. http://www.tlcllc.com/