netmex » Networking

Communication Through the Ages

External Author — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:30:16 +0000

click for ginormous version

The Literary Agent’s Indie Ebook Roadmap

External Author — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:42:00 +0000

I mentioned previously I think the next chapter of the indie ebook revolution will be written by literary agents. It's starting to happen. In the last few months several literary agencies began working with Smashwords. I look forward to welcoming others in the months ahead. Today I posted a presentation at Slideshare titled, The Literary Agent's Indie Ebook Roadmap to review the opportunity I see for literary agents and their clients. As I mentioned in my prior post on agents, literary agents can add a lot of value to the publishing process. They're the trusted author advocates charged with helping authors maximize the commercial potential of their works. A great agent brings passion, smarts and relationships that can multiply an author's success several-fold. Literary agents represent some of the most commercially successful authors and author estates. In the presentation below, I share my ideas for how literary agents can better serve their clients by adding e-publishing services to their clients services mix.

The Literary Agent's Indie Ebook Roadmap

Access the complete collection of Smashwords presentations here: Smashwords Slideshare Library

I view the publishing services ecosystem as a spectrum.At one polar extreme you have traditional publishers who provide a wide range of service capabilities to authors, including editing, production, sales, distribution, marketing to accounts payables/receivables, and more. Publishers take risks on books by investing their resources to bring them to market. With the rise of ebooks and self-publishing, authors now have the opportunity to perform many of these publishing functions on their own, should they choose.

On the extreme left side of my spectrum I have what I call the "DIY Anarchists." These are the rare minority of hermits who do everything themselves and only sell on their personal website for fear of sharing a cut with a retailer or other intermediary that sits between them and their reader. The vast majority of indie authors are somewhere in the middle. Many might use Smashwords for ebook conversion, publishing and distribution, then use POD printers for their print book. They might perform some responsibilities themselves, or they might farm out roles to specialist freelancers or service providers. Some indie authors, basking in the new-found freedom to publish on their own terms, have an inclination to take on more than they should. Just because you have the power to assume all the responsibilities of a publisher doesn't mean you should bear the burden alone. This is where the publishing services specialists come in. In the end, the decision to outsource some or all of your publishing services to an intermediary comes down to time. How can you best utilize your time? For many authors, as I noted in my post, The Seven Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success, their time is usually best spent writing great books. Focus your energy on writing a book that sells itself. If your book sparks intense passion with readers, they'll market your book for you. I tell folks if they have $2,000 to invest in marketing they're probably better off investing that money with a professional editor who can help drive the next revision (I also advise authors to pinch their pennies; never spend money you don't have; and never go in debt to publish your book). Literary agents have a unique opportunity to do for their clients what many of them do not want to do - or cannot do - for themselves. What does the entry of agents into the publishing services field mean for you, the author? I think it's great news. Over time, it should allow agents to take more risks on more authors. I've spoken with numerous agents who've shared how they loved an author's work but were unable to sell it, or unable to rep it because publishers wouldn't buy it. For agents who got into the business for their love of books and helping authors, it's a soul sucking experience. Now agents have another reason to say yes. They can help release books think readers would want to read, rather than being forced to focus on books they think they can sell to a publisher. What publishers want to buy and what readers want to buy are usually VERY different things. It's in every indie author's best interest, as well as the best interest of readers, that more agency-repped authors release their books as indie ebooks. Books usually get better when touched by an agent. Speaking from personal experience, I know the novel my wife and I wrote got better thanks to the feedback of our former agent at Dystel & Goderich. Every indie ebook released by an agent creates a rising tide that lifts all authors and brings new credibility to this humble practice otherwise known as self-publishing.

Roger McNamee: Everything is changing

External Author — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:00:26 +0000

Hat tip Business Insider * Microsoft is toast because we’re moving to a post-PC era; * HTML5, the new web standard that allows to make interactive web pages, is going to revolutionize the media and advertising industries; * Social is “done”, it’s now a feature, don’t go do a social startup. roger mcnamee elevation partners Image: Screenshot Here’s what we thought were the most interesting points and assertions from the speech (quotes are paraphrased): * Microsoft’s share of internet-connected devices has gone from 95% to under 50% in 3 years; * Windows no longer provides measurable ROI to enterprises, who will shift spending to other products and services; this is a huge opportunity; * Google is a victim of its own success: its search has become polluted by SEOs. What shows that Google has failed is all those “non-search” services that really solve a search problem, like Match.com or Realtor.com. If you add them all up, they account for 50% of searches. * HTML5 is going to change everything. “In HTML5, an ad is an app, a tweet is an app, everything is an app.” “It’s a blank sheet of paper, and creativity rules again.” * For example, “my band is putting out a full HTML5 site. You can watch all of our shows on an iPhone, live.” It’s very cheap and it changes the game because they don’t have to pay anyone anything. * In HTML5, you don’t need to have display ads: Amazon can have a section of its store as an ad. So if you’re reading a book review, you can buy the book right from the page. * Because HTML5 can make sites rich and interactive, engagement on a site can go from seconds to minutes. * So a site could say: we have 5 sponsors today, which one would you like, and the sponsor follows you around throughout your experience on the site. “The fact that you can create and satisfy demand in the same place is only true in infomercials today, but it will be true on the web.” This, in turn, is highly disruptive to TV advertising. * “The iPad is the most important device since the IBM PC.” * “Apple will sell a hundred million internet-connected devices this year. That’s two thirds of the PC market.” If you add the other non-PC internet devices, that’s more valuable than the PC market. * The iPad is the training wheels for HTML5. iPad apps show us what we need to beat in terms of creating a better experience on HTML5. * Apple is an unstoppable freight train. In terms of tablets, it has no competitors and will probably end up with iPod-like marketshare. “It’s like IBM in the 60s; I can’t predict what that means; you need to find a way to play with it, but you also need to find a way to play over it” with HTML5. * The fact that most people now have more than one device means the cloud is vital, because you want to have all your stuff on all your devices. It also means the old PC paradigm is dead, because the old PC paradigm means everything stored on one device, instead of everything in the cloud synced to many devices. * In terms of keeping your stuff in the cloud, “Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple have completely failed to get the mobile experience right.” (We’ll let McNamee stand by that statement.) * “Facebook has decided that they’re Twitter on steroids”. * Currently Facebook Connect is free; eventually they’ll charge for it because it’s access to their social graph which publishers need, and that’s how they’l make money. * Don’t try to be “social”: the big social platforms are created. You can’t create a social company, it’s just a checkbox. “The last 500 social companies funded by the VC community are all worthless. I’m serious.” * But this creates an opportunity: while everyone is focused on social distribution, there’s a huge opportunity to get content right with HTML5. “Let’s create a new product, the way music videos were a new product.” * Apple makes more gross margin per iPhone than most Android phones make in gross revenue, McNamee says. * “Television is the last protected media business,” but it’s going to get disrupted. For one, once televisions are computers, analytics of who watches will get more accurate than Nielsen panels. “Everyone knows that if we go to actual measurement, ad rates will collapse because the numbers aren’t as good as Nielsen makes them look.” * McNamee also had a few words about the economy: “we’re about 40% of the way of deleveraging the global economy, but we’re only 10% of the way of deleveraging the US consumer…I don’t care what your politics are, removing government demand from the economy when it’s struggling is ridiculous.” And to prop things up, the Fed is printing money and inflating bubbles, “but for us, that’s great!”: capital is very cheap; consumers are acting like the party’s on, so there’s lots of opporutnities. * McNamee says he does “full contact investing”: he proves the concepts of what he invests in by trying them out with his band. So he knows HTML5 is going to work because it works for his band. Then he added, to audience laughter: “You’re going to say it’s a dipshit little band, yeah, it is, but we like it and our fans like it” and it works.

Social Media Marketing

External Author — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:45:08 +0000

Dragoş Sorin Nicula:

Social Media Marketing

The Internet of Things

External Author — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 07:02:17 +0000

Ich mag ja Infografiken aber primär aus visueller Sicht. Der Aussage bzw. der Datengrundlagen glaube ich grundsätzlich nie, denn diese sind – sofern überhaupt irgendwo vermerkt – meist alles andere als repräsentativ. Umso besser also wenn der Content schon gar keinen repräsentativen Anspruch hat. So gesehen bei der sehr gelungen und umso inspirierenden Infografik zu “The Internet of Things” von Cisco.

Mehr echtes Social Media bitte

External Author — Fri, 13 May 2011 09:38:13 +0000

Eigentlich wollte ich mir eine Blogging-Pause gönnen, aber das muss ich loswerden. Gestern hat Nici über das Bilanz Ranking geschrieben. Hier wurden die stärksten Marken in Social Media gewichtet. Ich scheine ein Award-Ranking-Anti-Gen zu haben. Dafür kann ich nichts. Mir drängt sich immer die Frage auf: Wer entscheidet warum wie? Bei der Awardverleihung am Dienstag hab ich im Publikum den Satz gehört “Hat die Schweiz nicht mehr Social Media zu bieten?” und das frag ich mich jetzt auch. Platz 2. auf besagtem Ranking ist Tag Heuer. Tag wer? Ach ja, die Uhren (hat also nichts mit ver-taggen zu tun Ist das das Unternehmen, das wahrscheinlich ein Wahnsinns Werbebudget hat und drum irgendwen beauftragt, den Twitter Account aufzusetzen. Evtl. weil man Social Media machen will und es sich positiv auf SEO auswirkt, oder weil es “ein neuer Marketing Kanal ist?” Diese Überlegung drängt sich mir beim schnellen Blick auf jenen Account auf. Hier findet keinerlei Dialog statt. Es werden Firmennachrichten im Medienmitteilungsstil (heisst in Deutschland PI) wahrscheinlich automatisiert verschickt. Man folgt kaum ein paar Leuten im Vergleich zur Followerzahl, zuhören is nicht. Noch müder sieht es bei Tag Heuer Watches Switzerland (!) aus, um die Schweiz gings im Ranking) in Twitter aus. Es gibt einen Youtube Channel, der gebrandet ist der und 849 Abonennten hat. Für so eine grosse internationale Marke dürften dies in meinen Augen wesentlich mehr sein. Der Film zum 150jährigen ist optisch wirklich der Hammer. (also für Männer, denn die Botschaft hab ich nicht wirklich verstanden). Auch hier, kaum Blicke hinter die Kulissen, es werden Werbebotschaften chic aufbereitet für Youtube aber kaum kommuniziert. 25’474 Aufrufe. In Facebook findet kein Dialog statt, auf Kommentare wird nicht reagiert. Ich habe keine einzige Antwort auf Fan-Kommentare gefunden. Verpasste Kommunikationsgelegenheiten mit 204 150 Menschen. Die Nummer 1 laut Bilanz ist Swisscom. Das Unternehmen hat einen recht guten Kundendienst in Twitter. Das hab ich selbst schon erleben dürfen. Dankeschön dafür. Obwohl ich finde, man darf ruhig auch Leuten folgen, sonst hängt man im Sendenmodus fest, zum Dialog gehört für mich auch, zuhören, was die Leute bewegt und nicht nur via Monitoring oder Suche auf alles reagieren, was das eigene Unternehmen betrifft. In Facebook sieht das fein aus.

Swisscom in Facebook

Aber ein Blick auf die Homepage zeigt gähnende Leere in Sachen Social Media. Keine Hinweise auf Social Media Aktivitäten, geschweige denn, dass man dorthin eingeladen wird. Das gleiche bei tagheuer.com obwohl die Website schon sehr chic ist, zugegeben. Insgesamt inspiriert mich das Bilanz Ranking dazu, mir mehr originelle Social Meida Beispiele zu wünschen. Unternehmen, die alle Medien in ihrem Dialog integrieren, “in mir einen Wow-Effekt auslösen, dort willich Fan sein, da erfahr ich mehr”. Es gibt Leute, die nicht extra in Facebook nach “ihrer Lieblingsmarke” (sofern es sowas gibt) suchen, sondern auch mal auf einer Verpackung, Newsletter, Website oder beim Kauf direkt zum Dialog eingeladen werden wollen. Und wenn dann noch die HR Leute mitmachen, dann würde ich selbst gern mal ein Krönchen vergeben. Im Text bei der Bilanz steht noch, dass es eigentlich überrascht, dass die ersten 3 weniger Likers haben als Nespresso, die Anzahl der Fans aber schlussendlich nicht entscheidet. Bewertet wurden Dialogbereitschaft, Aktualität und Youtube. Ja die Anzahl macht es nicht aus, aber Engagement, Leidenschaft, Ideenreichtum und Kommunikation, Ihr wisst schon, miteinander reden… Nachtrag 18.05. Manuel Nappo hat bei bloggingtom einen Gast-Betrag zur Methode des Rankings gemacht, er kommt auf das Fazit “fragwürdig”.

Die “9 to 5″-Arbeitszeit ist tot

External Author — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:52:25 +0000

Seit nunmehr zwei Jahren haben wir Wohnen und Arbeiten unter einem Dach vereinigt. Meine Partnerin, mit der ich seit über dreissig Jahren verheiratet bin und mit der ich seit gut 15 Jahren in der gemeinsamen Firma zusammenarbeite, hat ihr Büro ein Stockwerk höher. Gemessen an der Zeit, die ich lesend und schreibend mit meinen Themen verbringe, könnte ich sagen: Ich wohne in meinem Büro.

Mehr Aufmerksamkeit für Vereine mit den richtigen Mitteln

External Author — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:50:30 +0000

netmex: Mehr Aufmerksamkeit für Vereine mit den richtigen Mitteln | http://t.co/7AWgLb2

How Much Each Facebook User Is Worth

External Author — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 07:59:53 +0000

So Facebook is now valued at $50 billion and it’s not even public yet. This should get you thinking about the natural question: since Facebook’s success is built on the backs of the profiles of its users, how much does that mean each Facebook user is worth?

Let’s do the math. Recent reports put the estimated number of Facebook users worldwide at 500 million (as of about July 2010). Let’s assume that’s still true (although the number is sure to have grown a bit since then, with other accounts falling into decline too).

Facebook Valuation Per Profile

.
Take the total valuation of Facebook: $50 billion or $50, 000, 000, 000.

Take the total number of Facebook users: $500 million or 500, 000, 000.

Now divide 50 billion by 500 million. Since 500 million times two is just one billion, you can see you just need to multiply it another 50 times to get up to 50 billion. So this means our answer is 100 (2 x 50).

Each Facebook user is worth approximately $100 (if our starting numeric assumptions are accurate).

What do you think – are you worth more or less than $100? And is that the question?

If you found this article helpful, please share it on sites like Twitter, StumbleUpon or Reddit. I’d also love it if you grab my RSS feed for free updates and get investment info delivered right to your reader or by email! You can also follow me on Twitter.

Related Posts

Related Articles From Other Websites

PR Trends 2011

External Author — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:47:32 +0000

netmex: PR Trends 2011 - http://bit.ly/dT4W2N