I love the folks at Changethis.com and all the magic they bring with stellar manifestos! And I was thrilled to find this recent one by Seth Godin in regard to selling your book or idea.
Fantastic article on how to use Twitter by David Risley, CEO of PCMech, as featured in Steve Kayser’s great Cincom Expert Access newsletter.
Steve also added a new expert to the roster, David Henderson, who I think is just a brilliant man and coming out with a new book as well. And for full disclosure…David Henderson is also the wonderful guru who re-designed my blog with all the bells and whistles and I’ve always been a great admirer of his career.
Now “go on” as Tracey Ullman used to say! Go and Twitter.
Oh and before I forget! Go and read Toby Bloomberg’s brilliant series on blogger relations. As a recovering tech journalist, current blogger and online publicist I can tell you the series she did is outstanding and illuminating. Let the bloggers be heard! Toby is just the best at discovering and deciphering for the rest of us how the best in social media are succeeding! Kudos!!
I learned an extremely valuable lesson today from a client that I really think is extraordinary in terms of email and its usage. Too many of us have become used to just reaching out via email and to responding to emails too quickly without really reading them for clarity. (When I say “too many of us”, I actually mean me!)
I make a living emailing and phoning journalists etc. for my clients, but this morning I learned that a rush to read and respond to emails can also lead to misreading the intention of the email. Oy vey! I did a whopper of it this morning and so here are some lessons I learned from the experience.
Tips for Email First Responders (to calm them down):
1. Don’t read an email and immediately respond, espescially if it’s a long email. Take your time in reading it, print it out and take some time in thinking what the email is asking and what you need to do on your end.
2. Email lacks emotion and because of that oftentimes you can misapply emotion to email where it really is not present.
3. If you have a question about the email then pick up the phone, don’t spend 30 minutes responding and sending back the questions, just pick up the gosh-darn phone!
4. Email should not serve as the primary interaction you have with a client, a reporter or your family. (note to self: quit emailing hubby with ‘honey-do” lists…just ask him nicely.)
5. Put yourself on an email schedule. I’ve done this and it’s actually a great help in terms of not getting mired down in email. Don’t spend all your hours in your inbox.
I’m extremely humbled to be included among the folks who will present the fantastic Fall series of classes that my friend (and new executive director of the Writers League of Texas) Cyndi Hughes put together! I’ll be teaching a class on “Blogging and Beyond” and I hope that folks in Texas turn out! For a full listing go to this link and support the Writers League by going to the classes!
Also I have to give a wonderful kudo to David Henderson, speaking of blogs, who is an extraordinarily brilliant 2.0 guy, who basically reformatted my whole blog for me! Savvy man! He also co-founded BoomerCafe.com which is celebrating its longevity on the Web and continues to grow by leaps and “boomer bounds.”
Riveting article by Boris Kachka in New York Magazine, on the book publishing world and the challenges it faces in terms of staying afloat.
I’m really sad that David Foster Wallace is with us no more. His work was extraordinary as he rejuvenated what creative writing can be and because he was so dedicated to his own craft.
I just re-read his essay “Up Simba”, written in 2000 while he rode on the Straight Talk Express with John McCain and other reporters. It’s a brilliant essay and then was subsequently turned into comic book form as well. I hope that everyone will find one essay of Wallace’s to read this week and ponder why creativity matters more than ever in our world today.
It’s extraordinarily hard to be supported as a creative person in a world that is focused on always making another buck, but that’s what makes it all the more important to strive to be creative.
Anyone can be creative and engaged like you were as a child, you just have to give yourself permission to do so. My son today was telling me (after a visit to the flea market) that he had to buy up all the toys he could because once he was an adult he couldn’t play with toys anymore. I thought this was very sad of him to say, so I proceeded to walk him into his Dad’s office and made his father put on his Darth Vader mask and he and his dad played with the matching light sabers Santa brought them last year.
When did we discount creativity and play for money, anxiety and leased cars?
Why not return to building something in the basement (like the Wright Brothers did), or taking a day off to play with your children in their rooms?
Why not pen that essay, story, play or novel “you always wanted to write” now rather than later? And don’t do it because you hope it might make you famous – do it because you are creative and will enjoy doing it for that sole reason. Don’t buy into the folks who tell you that you’re only successful if you’re famous.
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Einstein
“If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Thoreau
Advance creatively because it will make your life richer and you will lead others by your own example.
God Bless DFW.
Please pray for the Texas Coast and all of the surrounding counties. Austin is taking many of the people in and please donate to the Red Cross now.
Today is my 15th wedding anniversary and to quote Erma Bombeck, “Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery. ”
I thought in celebration of these 15 years I might post 15 things I’ve learned about marriage and PR.
1. Marriage is hard.
2. PR is hard.
3. Marriage doesn’t mean you will always agree with one another.
4. PR does not always mean you will barbecue with your clients socially, but you will always champion their book or their work.
5. Marriage does not give one license to endlessly run around in sweat pants and think one still looks hot.
6. Getting that first PR-driven TV appearance does not give one license to endlessly hound your PR person about “now being on Oprah.” This is espescially true if your book is by its very nature (think business book) one that Oprah and her minions might never read. Continue reading »
One of the things I do when 2.0 training corporate Bored-room folks, is explain that Facebook is your playground, LinkedIn is your boardroom. So let your freak flag fly on Facebook. Truly, madly, deeply! Join the Facebook crowd and hang out with your friends there.
We all like working with people we like, right? So think of Facebook as a way to connect and really find cool people you might like to work 9 to 5 with.
If you’re unsure how to get started on Facebook or what shenanigans you can employ there, then this Fast Company slideshow can kick start your effort.
And here are some other things you can do on Facebook that are fun:
my garden
my aquarium
top friends
photos
pokepro
free gifts
graffiti
compare people
moods
magnetic words
favorite peeps
fancy paint
my travels
grow a gift
famous quotes
friend wheel
candy store
magic 8 ball
blunt opinions
more about me
I liked the movie test recently on Facebook and found out I’m very compatible with a music publicist who I think is fantastic named Krista Mettler. She is so brilliant!
Also, do a little wall painting on your friend’s walls, but please don’t blast your book, music or product slogan on the Wall!
Now go face-forward and meet your peeps on Facebook.
I had a tough week last week and while in a meeting with a very respected PR practitioner whose been in it for more than twenty years, we came up with a list of what PR can and cannot do. I thought some of those might be good to share.
1. PR is not guaranteed coverage. Hiring a publicist means they will do their best on outreach to a certain number of designated sites agreed on by both parties. It does not guarantee in any shape, form or fashion coverage for those sites.
2. PR is not easy.
3. Generating a press release does not mean the press release will get coverage.
4. PR is not pay for play. Espescially in terms of reaching out to bloggers, each blog list is customized and it is completely up to the bloggers as to whether they choose to cover your book, event or news.
5. PR is arduous and good PR does not happen overnight. Again, in terms of reaching out to bloggers they actually READ the books they are sent, so getting a mention on a blog site from the initial outreach can oftentimes be a lengthy (but well worth it) delayed posting. In terms of bloggers you also have a great opportunity to actually connect with someone who truly is vested in covering what their readership wants to read about. It’s a wonderful thing that bloggers READ the books they are sent, so be patient instead of impatient when it comes to them possibly posting about your book.
6. Bloggers do not exist to be marketing entities for your next book, project or venture. They truly are citizen journalists and should be respected on the same level. That means they decide when, if and what they will cover in terms of your book, news or event.
7. PR is public relations not marketing, not fluff without a news hook, not advertising relations. It is public relations.
Some of you might not know what the term “booyah” really means and how it applies to what you are doing with your blogs.
So here’s the definition from Wikipedia.com, “Booyah or Booya is a food that is prepared like a stew, but on a very large scale. It takes many cooks to prepare the food, and it is usually meant to serve hundreds or even thousands of people. The name booyah is also used to describe the event surrounding the meal, and is probably a degenerated form of the name bouillabaisse, or as a mis-interpretation of the French word bouillon by a newspaper reporter (see history).”
As a former VP of Future Homemakers of America (junior, senior year in high school), I can tell you that Booyah is good, and it’s a great way to build community while you’re cooking your stew.
How does it apply to blogging?
The best form of blogging is the kind that comes from many chefs, diverse spices and lots of interesting ingredients. That means you start the base of the booyah with your blog posts and then you encourage others to actively contribute to the stew as well.
Here are TEN ways you can encourage folks to contribute to the feast of booyah:
1. Start each blog post with an inviting flavor and enticing question.
I really admire Carrie Brownstein and her blog at NPR. Recently she penned a great piece on 80s’ music. Read it and go grab the music too!
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