Web Ink Now

Kindle Fire delivers a new kind of business book

Today the long awaited Kindle Fire is released. I am looking forward to getting mine.

The Kindle Fire is the new full-color tablet from Amazon. It is part of the Kindle family, which I've continually upgraded upon new releases. I take my Kindle on all my air travel, for me it is the ideal way to consume content on the road.

The Kindle Fire (as well as the Apple iPad and Barnes & Noble Nook) bring a non-linear experience to reading a book. You can instantly jump from one part of the book to another. And it is in full color.

Kindle Fire delivers a new kind of business book

I specifically wrote my new book Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage to take advantage of these full color interactive components. Newsjacking was conceived, written, and published as an e-book only publication.

Amazon leads the way in this marketplace for one simple reason, content. Amazon is a content company that happens to create technology. The Kindle is built to serve the content, not the other way around. For that reason, I predict it will become very popular.

Most tablets are just technology. The computer is built because every company needs a tablet but it is not purpose built to drive a content experience. Apple (with the iPad) and Amazon are both pioneers in this new world of optimized electronic content.

As an avid reader, one of the most compelling aspects is interactivity – you can instantly link from the book to external content. It means a book read on an iPad or Kindle Fire is like reading a blog post with links to valuable content from other places. It means you can check out the Twitter feed of the expert cited in the text or watch a video that provides context to a concept.

As a content creator, it is fantastic to work within these platforms. Readers get a terrific experience.

Incidentally, I'm not advocating that print is going away. Heck I read a daily print newspaper, many print books, and a bunch of print magazines. But strongly believe there is room for both print and optimized e-content.

Another important aspect of the Kindle Fire and iPad is the instant nature of content consumption. I’ve heard from about 50 people who, in less than a day, saw my new book, downloaded Newsjacking, read the entire thing (which takes about an hour) and wrote reviews, blog posts, or tweets about the book.

Now that's real-time.

Are you getting a Kindle Fire? Do you read books on an iPad?

Newsjacking!

Today my newest book is released.

Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage

The traditional PR model -- sticking closely to a preset script and campaign timeline -- no longer works the way it used to. Public discourse now moves so fast and so dynamically that all it takes is a single afternoon to blast the wheels off someone's laboriously crafted narrative.

Enter newsjacking: the process by which you inject your ideas or angles into breaking news, in real-time, in order to generate media coverage for yourself or your business.

A new kind of business book

I wrote Newsjacking to take advantage of the many features of the ebook format used by Amazon’s new Kindle Fire, Apple's iPad, and the Barnes & Noble Nook. Here's the book on Amazon. and here it is for iPad. For example, with the interactivity to Web content built into these readers, when I talk about a blog post in the book, I link directly to the blog post.

Newsjacking is in full color and contains infographics to illustrate the important points.

While Newsjacking is ebook only, it is from Wiley, my long-time publishers. Newsjacking will not be printed on dead trees. It is a short and punchy book (you can read the entire thing in about an hour) and is priced right. Read more about my ideas (and the many excellent comments from others) on the transformation of books.

You can get your copy of Newsjacking and begin reading right now via Amazon Kindle, Apple iBook (for iPad and iPhone), an Android edition, and Scribd. It is coming very soon for Barnes & Noble Nook and Sony ereader.

Anybody can Newsjack.

As journalists scramble to cover breaking news, the basic facts -- who/what/when/where -- are often fairly easy to find, either on a corporate website or in competing media outlets' copy.

The challenge for reporters is to get the "why" and the implications of the event.

Why is the company closing its plant? The corporate website may offer some bogus excuse like "because it wants to spend more time with its family." Competitors may quote some expert's speculation on the real reason, but a reporter can't cite that without adding something self-demeaning like "according to an expert quoted in the New York Times."

When a story is breaking, journalists need original content—and fast.

Enter newsjacking.

If you are clever enough to react to breaking news very quickly, providing credible second-paragraph content in a blog post, tweet, or media alert that features the keyword of the moment, you may be rewarded with a bonanza of media attention.

Newsjacking creates a level playing field —- literally anyone can newsjack —- but, that new level favors players who are observant, quick to react, and skilled at communicating. It's a powerful tool that can be used to throw an opponent or simply draft off the news momentum to further your own ends.

I stuffed Newsjacking with tons of examples: Rick Perry, Larry Flynt, Oakley, and the London Fire Brigade to name a few.

There's an action plan for how you can newsjack and own the second paragraph of the news story that everyone in your market is watching.

Newsjacking is both a new PR technique and a new kind of business book.

I'm interested in your thoughts.

The transformation of books

What is a book?

Seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? Everyone knows what a book is.
Or do they?

Books used to be made out of dead trees. Lots of paper and ink.

Then we had audiobooks.

Ebooks became quite popular first as PDF style documents and later via readers like Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, and a few others.

I see a new transformation happening right now.

It was started last year with the iPad. And from next week's release of Kindle Fire, Amazon jumps into the world of interactive books.

Interactivity means business books come alive! As an author, that is a terrific opportunity.

The Apple iPad and Kindle Fire bring a non-linear experience to reading a book. You can instantly jump from one part of the book to another.

Of course it is in full color.

Better yet, now you can instantly link from the book to external content too. It means a book read on an iPad or Kindle Fire is like reading a blog post with links to valuable content from other places.

The new book experience means watching the video the author mentioned with one click. It means you can check out the Twitter feed of the expert cited in the text. You can see the cool picture that was once worth 1,000 words.

I'm convinced that this new business book paradigm will aid anyone in learning. It means university curriculums will need to adapt. Textbook authors must scramble. It is a new world.

Watch this space. There is more to come.

Images:
Old books via Shutterstock / Ferenc Szelepcsenyi
Kindle Fire via Amazon

We Are All Weird

Seth Godin's latest is a little book with big ideas about how to live your life. For marketers and business owners, We Are All Weird is also a wakeup call for how to reach buyers of your products and services.

Seth argues that the one-size-fits-all mass market is dead. But you know that already because you probably don't listen to top 40 radio or watch the evening news. This idea of the end of "normal" is essential to work because if you're selling ads at a top 40 station, work probably isn't much fun these days. Embrace the weird and it can be!

I love this quote from the book: "The epic battle of our generation is between the status quo of mass and the never-ceasing tide of weird."

Weirdness takes many forms. When everyone else is carrying nylon computer bags and sporty backpacks, weird people insist on an "old-fashioned" leather briefcase (guilty). Many people think it is weird to go to over 50 Grateful Dead concerts and own recordings of hundreds of their concerts (also guilty).

Is it weird to spend six hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in a dingy rec room playing Dungeons and Dragons? To collect chewing gum wrappers and own over 2,000, with examples from over 50 countries? To read instead of watching television? To ride a bike instead of driving?

The weird is us. And the weird is you. (What would they think if they knew?!).

In other words, weirdness is a huge market. I'd argue that unless you sell a commodity product - like paperclips - that you need to embrace the weird buyer in your marketing efforts. Heck, there are animal shaped paperclips and colored paperclips and huge paperclips so even commodities can be marketed to the weird.

Brian Halligan and I wrote about this idea of marketing to the weird in our book Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History (although we used the term “eccentrics”). We looked at companies like New Belgium Brewing Company and how they embrace the weird.

New Belgium Brewing Company: Fat and Happy

In the world of beer, the offerings of the huge breweries are fine for the masses. Most people are perfectly happy sipping a cold one from the likes of Anheuser–Busch InBev or Miller-Coors.

But the eccentric is looking for something different. Much different. Something like Fat Tire Amber Ale from New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado. Fat Tire was named in honor of New Belgium founder Jeff Lebesch's bike trip through Belgium, visiting breweries. He learned about the way Belgian beers use a broader palette of ingredients (fruits, spices, esoteric yeast strains) than German or English styles. Fat Tire won fans who appreciate the interesting taste (as well as those who are drawn to the weird name).

To encourage the eccentric fans who enjoy Fat Tire Amber Ale, New Belgium sponsors an annual Tour de Fat bicycle parade and festival. Like the Grateful Dead, New Belgium Brewing Company has built a vibrant community for lovers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and the brewery's other brands. The community of eccentrics comes together for physical events (like the Tour de Fat) and tours of the "Liquid Center" (the brewery). And the company also encourages its eccentrics to "Follow our folly" on social networking sites. By creating products (and a community) for eccentrics, New Belgium Brewing Company has grown quickly from its beginnings in 1991.

Mass = Normal. Weird (or eccentric) = Rich.

You can read We Are All Weird in an hour. Or savor the book in small bites over a day (as I did). It is an important book with a very simple idea. Yet so far, only true weirdos really understand the implication of these ideas for life and work.

Incidentally, Seth produced only about 10,000 hardcover copies of the book and they selling fast. There will be no reprints. Of course, the ebook version is available in unlimited copies. Isn't it weird to limit copies of a product? Hmmm... Yep, we are all weird.

Now is the time to embrace your weird.

How to work with a book publisher

Last week I wrote about the beginning of Summer Land's journey to reach her goal of landing a book deal with a major publisher. If you missed it, you can read my post How to get a book deal and download Summer's new ebook Fried Chicken For The Drunk Girl's Soul.

I often speak with people who have attracted the interest of publishers and I offer my advice on how to best work with a publisher.

Of course, you don't even need a publisher. You can publish an ebook book yourself. That’s what Summer did. You also have the option to publish a print edition on your own.

I've published books many different ways: my own free ebooks (I usually do one free ebook each year), a self-published novel called Eyeball Wars, and books with small and large publishers. My latest books as well as my series have been with John Wiley & Sons and the model has worked great for me (but is not right for everyone).

Let’s assume you’ve done the homework, you’ve got a nonfiction book, and you decide a publisher is right for you.

In my opinion, the most important thing to consider when choosing a publisher is distribution.

Where will they get your books placed? Will they only sell it on Amazon? Will your book be sold at physical bookstores? How about international?

I worked with Wiley on my last ten projects because they provide me distribution that I simply could not get on my own or with other publishers I considered. In North America, my books are in hundreds of physical bookstores (including chains, airports, universities, and independents). My books (in English) are sold in dozens of countries and Wiley has cut deals on my behalf to have them translated into more than 25 languages. The New Rules of Marketing and PR is used by professors as text at nearly 1,000 Universities. And my books are on all the major ebook platforms - Kindle, Nook, Sony, Apple and also in audiobook format.

This sort of distribution is next to impossible through self-publishing.

Never take more than a nominal advance

Many people spend all their time and effort negotiating an advance. Or they play one publisher off another to see who will pay the biggest advance. Many also pay a literary agent to help them negotiate and it is in the agent’s best interest (but not yours) to maximize that advance, because the agent earns a percentage and is delighted to get that money up front.

But an advance is just a loan that you have to pay back from your ongoing royalties. Because so many people misunderstand this simple concert, I want to repeat this: An advance is simply a loan that you have to pay back from your ongoing royalties. At the miniscule interest rates in our economy today, it doesn't make sense to take money now that you have to pay back later. But more importantly, taking an advance is a risk because if you don't earn the advance back from your royalties because you sell fewer books than you expect, it is highly likely you will never be asked to do a book from a traditional publisher again because you are seen as too risky.

Hire your own editor to work with you

You need to write an excellent book and you normally aren't given a whole lot of time to do it. So you want to find a skilled editor who can work with you as you are developing and writing the manuscript.

Don't rely on the publisher to do your job -- you need to submit a clean manuscript on the due date. Yes, your publisher will assign you an editor and a proofreader. But to get the most out of that help, you need to submit your work in first class shape to begin with.

Your editor will help you see the big picture of your book and will give you the tough love you need in order to make your book better. Only a fool edits themselves.

Spend as much time and effort marketing your book as you do writing it

The only person you should consider to market your book is you, the author. Never choose a publisher based on what they say they will do for you in the marketing and promotion area. That's your job. Your book is one of dozens or hundreds they publish so it is best to assume that any marketing, PR, or promotional help the publisher provides is an added bonus.

You need to begin marketing the book now - years before release date. Don't wait. Build your platform. Develop a reputation, get speaking gigs, create content that brands you as an expert.

Back in 2006, Seth Godin wrote a blog post that I still refer to from time to time. Seth offers 19 points, all valuable. Read Seth's post here: Advice for authors.

Image: Shutterstock / Tribalium

How to get a book deal

About five months ago I met Summer Land at a speaking gig in Australia. She's a writer who wanted to get a book deal and she wanted my advice.

I've heard this before. Hundreds of times. Many people want to know how to get published and because I’ve got seven of my own books and have produced five others, they quiz me on what it takes.

While many people want to talk about it, almost nobody wants to know the hard truth of what it takes to get a book deal: HARD WORK.

Very few people are willing to make the effort. I figure way less than one percent of people I speak with are willing to do the hard work required to have their work published by a major house.

Summer is one who is willing to do what it takes to get a book deal. Today she released her ebook Fried Chicken For The Drunk Girl's Soul. (More on that in a moment.)

How to get a book deal

Here is a greatly simplified version of the four steps required. (I'm assuming you can write and are a good storyteller).

1) You must publish yourself first. Unless you are already famous and want to write your memoirs (like Dick Cheney for example), no publisher will to take you on. You need to publish your stuff yourself in a blog or an ebook that you give away or some other way.

2) You have to build an audience. You need to get your stuff out there and get people interested. Your platform might be through video, television, blogging, or other ways. This takes a lot of hard work.

3) You get your fans to help you. You create content that's worthy of being shared. You figure out clever ways to get your fans to spread the word for you.

4) Then you take your success to publishers. Believe me, if you've built an audience of people who love your work and share it and you can show that success, publishers will be eager to work with you and to cut a book deal.

Lisa Genova followed this route. She used social media to turn Still Alice, her self-published book, into a deal for just over half a million US dollars with Simon & Schuster and then made that edition into a NY Times bestseller.

I got my first book deal with John Wiley & Sons because I wrote a free ebook called The New Rules of PR that had 50,000 downloads in the first month.

I gave Summer this advice and figured I'd never hear from her again because its so much work. I was wrong.

Fried Chicken For The Drunk Girl's Soul

Today, Summer launched her ebook Fried Chicken For The Drunk Girl's Soul. You can download it for free. I loved this ebook. I laughed so hard at one point while reading it that I spat my lunch on my computer screen. Really funny stuff.

Summer also launched a new site today to support her writing efforts. It's well-designed and showcases her nicely.

Some weeks ago, she built momentum towards the launch by creating a Facebook event to promote the launch among her friends. As of the morning of the launch, 1,124 people are attending.

Did I mention that Summer Land is 24 years old?

Here are some of Summer's Lessons Learned:

• Zodiac tattoos are never a good idea.
• Drive. Then drink. Then don’t drive. But bring road soda. I really mean a soda. No, really. A soda.
• No one will buy the cow if you’re passing the milk out for free. Even if that cow is super cute, educated, funny, and a “strong and independent” woman.
• Dressing up as a Playboy bunny for Halloween, when you’re 8, may be frowned upon.

Summer is just starting her journey to getting a book deal. She's doing it right so far. I have confidence if she continues along this path that she will see her book in print from a major publisher before her 30th birthday.

Summer is willing to do the hard work required to set her on the path to achieve her goals.

Are you?

Book Image: Shutterstock / Luchi_a

THIRD EDITION of The New Rules of Marketing and PR released today

I'm psyched to announce the latest edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR!

I've been blogging since well before I started writing the very first edition way back in 2006, so in a way, we’ve shared this journey together on this blog.

At the time I was writing the first edition Twitter did not even exist and Facebook was only for students! Seems like the dark ages.

Thank you for your support. Thank you for providing me with ideas and examples. And thank you for steering me back on track when I sometimes go down a rathole.

The newly revised and updated third edition has started shipping in paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online booksellers today and is available now in Kindle, Nook, and Apple iBook formats.

The third edition of The New Rules of Marketing & PR will be "officially" published in early September (meaning that physical bookstores in North America have it in stock). It will appear later in September in bookstores around the world.

Some are now calling The New Rules of Marketing & PR a modern business classic. I'm not sure about that, but I can say that previous editions spent six months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list and there are more than a quarter million copies in print in over 25 languages from Arabic to Vietnamese. In addition, many hundreds of universities now use the book as required text in marketing, communications, PR, and business programs.

Many things have changed since the first edition was published way back in 2007. The biggest difference is that these ideas are now mainstream. People no longer question the importance of marketing online. The credit for that goes to you—for implementing the ideas, pushing your organizations to implement, and sharing your success. Wow – we have come a long way together!

What's new in the third edition?

New examples and stories
In the past few years I’ve met thousands of people around the world who have shared their stories with me, so I have drawn from those experiences and included many new examples of success, and I’m convinced they are even more valuable.

How-to information on measuring success
The most common questions I’ve been asked since the release of the second edition are ‘How do I measure success?’ and ‘How do I get started?’ To respond, I included new sections dedicated to marketing and PR strategic planning and implementation and tools for measuring these efforts.

A new chapter on mobile marketing
The explosion of mobile marketing is being driven by GPS-enabled mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and other devices. Since the second edition was published, the importance of location-based marketing has gown significantly so I needed a new chapter. When the second edition came out a little less than two years ago, Foursquare and other GPS-enabled mobile sharing apps were just coming on line and I did not talk about them. Now they are mainstream so I am including a lot in the mobile chapter about how to market with these tools.

New chapter on real-time marketing & PR
The idea of communicating instantly is essential, so a chapter on real-time was added. Readers of this blog know that I've been talking about the importance of real-time for several years now. I made it a point to make the case examples for this new chapter all new - none were re-purposed from my 2010 book Real-Time Marketing & PR.

What did not change
One thing that doesn’t change in any of the editions is the concept that the Web is an essential way to market. The idea that you no longer have to rely exclusively on buying advertising and begging mainstream media to cover you is liberating! Creating great content (a YouTube video, blog post, ebook, photo, infographic, and the like) truly brands an organization as one that’s worthy of doing business with.

Thanks again for all of your help and support. It has been such a fun journey. And we have much farther to go together in the coming years.

Seth Godin channels the Grateful Dead to launch his new book Poke the Box

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

I've been a Seth Godin fan for more than a decade and have read every one of his books at the earliest possible moment. Seth has an uncanny ability to channel what I'm thinking into a neat package so I can reflect.

That's certainly true with his new book Poke the Box which I loved.

In this video, we discussed how to manage fear and how to embrace failure. These are two things I try to do and it is always great to be given a "poke" or a swift kick in the pants as the book does.

Guess what? You don't need permission!

Towards the end, we also talk about the similarities between the Grateful Dead's marketing and the marketing for Seth's new Domino Project, the publisher of the book (watch the video and then see below).

Direct link to the video interview here.

The Domino Project, publishers of Poke the Box is an independent publishing imprint founded by Seth and powered by Amazon.

For the past several of his books (including Tribes, Linchpin, and The Dip) Seth had been publishing with mainstream publisher Portfolio.

Seth says The Domino Project is an opportunity to publish "idea manifestos" committed to readers, rather than being bookstore friendly. It’s named after the domino effect--where one powerful idea spreads down the line, pushing from person to person.

"I have two audacious goals," Seth says. "I want to change the people who read (not enough do) and I want to change the way books are published (they're too hard to find and spread). I honestly believe that a book can change a mind like nothing else, and that’s our focus. To help anyone to do work they’re proud of and to make a difference."

I was fascinated by the parallels of The Domino Project and the launch of Poke the Box to Grateful Dead style business models and marketing techniques.

Seth is a fellow Deadhead.

• The Grateful Dead started their own label (like Seth).
• The Grateful Dead gives away tons of content for free (like Seth).
• The Grateful Dead gave amazing live performances (like Seth).
• The Grateful Dead has deluxe special editions (like Seth).

Early this Year, the Grateful Dead announce a special Europe 72 box set containing every song they played live during their 1972 Europe tour. The 72 CD set sold out all 7,200 copies at $450 each. Hey! This is music that you can get for free on the Web!

Seth is doing the same thing with a limited edition $75.00 deluxe version of Poke the Box (that I happily own).

Why in the world would anyone pay $450 or $75 for something they can get for much less or even for free? Indeed. We can all can learn from Seth and from the Dead.

The Joys of JELL-O and brand journalism in the 1960s

I ran across a terrific little 96-page book called Joys of JELL-O published by General Foods Corporation.

It features dozens of recipes, tips and tricks for molding, flaking, and cubing, and ideas for party planning all using JELL-O BRAND Gelatin Dessert. Based on the images in the book my guess is that it is from the late 1960s.

Turn on some Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, we're having a party! Let's play Twister!

It's very interesting to me that companies have been marketing via brand journalism for many decades before the Web made it so darned easy to do.

In the case of JELL-O, interested people would send in a quarter and some proof of purchase and receive the book.

Okay, so let's talk about the recipes for a sec. Some look rather tasty indeed.

But others are downright revolting...

Ring-Around-the-Tuna anyone?

While the book is clearly a publication of General Foods, and does mention JELL-O BRAND throughout, it is no hard sell.

By providing information of value, JELL-O becomes a trusted brand. General Foods helps people solve problems: "What shall I serve on Saturday night?"

The same thing is true about brand journalism today – 40 years later. But today it is much easier to create valuable information and publish it on the Web (for free).

Brand Journalism at Monster.com
Brand Journalism at Boeing
Brand journalism in the U.S. Military

Many companies are jumping into brand journalism. Are you?

Content Rules

Today, the new book by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman
Releases: Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.

Content Rules is part of my New Rules series and I wrote the foreword to the book.

Here is the Content Rules companion site to learn more.

"Marketing is about publishing great content."

How many times have you heard a statement more or less like this? Tons, right? I know I've said probably a thousand times myself! By now every marketing professional and entrepreneur on the planet understands this fundamental truth. We don't need convincing.

But what the many content-marketing experts have failed to do is tell us how to create that content.

What, exactly, should I do?

In my experience, the art and science of creating content had never been adequately explained to marketers. Perhaps you would build a Web site and spend a bunch of cash on the design. But the best that the designers could do with the content was put in some filler text.

Okay, then what? You stared at "Lorem ipsum" for days not knowing what to write and then defaulted to some gobbledygook-laden drivel about your products and services. Ugh.

There is a better way.

Ann and C.C. show you how!

Throughout Content Rules, Ann and C.C. show how to construct interesting and valuable information using many of the same skills that journalists and storytellers use. They show how to identify an audience, how to develop a distinct point of view and voice, and how to construct a narrative that is exciting and engaging.

Content Rules includes many success stories from consumer brands, B2B outfits, government agencies, and other organizations—together with "ideas you can steal" from each. (Love that part).

When I created the New Rules Social Media Book Series with John Wiley & Sons, I said that it was essential to have a book about how to create killer content. And I knew just the people to do it.

Ann and C.C. are storytellers, journalists, and marketers. In my opinion, that's the perfect combination of skills and expertise to identify and deliver rules that we can all use to create killer blogs, podcasts, videos, e-books, Webinars, and more.

Ann Handley @MarketingProfs is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, an educational resource for marketers with nearly 400,000 subscribers. She also writes for American Express OPEN Forum, Mashable, and The Huffington Post. Previously, Ann was the co-founder of ClickZ, one of the first sources of interactive marketing news and commentary.

C.C. Chapman @cc_chapman is the Founder of Digital Dads, "where a Dad can be a guy." He is also the creator and host of of the widely popular Managing the Gray podcast and is also a member of the Media Hacks and Cast of Dads podcasts.

I've followed the work of both Ann and C.C. with keen interest for nearly five years, learning from them as they pave the way forward to new forms of marketing. They must have more than a thousand blog posts, hundreds of videos, and dozens of articles between them.

Now, in one place, you have access to their greatest hits.