When you try to get your words out
you need to be connected to mentors
and those who have blazed a trail in the
area you are cultivating….
In the Empower Network, Dave Wood is the
preeminent voice that gets the message across.
Along with Dave, there are mentors like Lawrence Tam,
Aaron Rashkin, Tony Rush, and Dr. Tracey Walker.
I am currently reading the book Dr. Walker wrote on
Team Building, and since I am The Book Kahuna, this
fits in well with my focus on books, authors, blogging and book reviews.
I am building a team based on the precepts laid out in Dr. Walker’s
book and will be blogging about the chapters as I go through the book.
Please join me on the journey. Here is the link to join my team if you are
A few years ago, during a very bad snowstorm, I knew that I had to go out and do some work on my vending machines. I had started the business, Skootdad Vending and Refreshments, in the early part of 2008. My girlfriend had just passed away from Ovarian Cancer, and when I got back to my work office in Colorado after the funeral in New York I was told that I had to choose someone from my department to be let go. When I began my employment with the company in 2004, the department I inherited was rife with deadwood. There were people who did not really do a day’s work, there were people who had a problem with authority; there were people who thought they were the smartest people on the planet. Over time, I was able to craft and build a department from the ground up as the original people left the company. By 2008, I had built a department that was one of the best functioning and creative production/manufacturing teams in publishing. I have no qualms about saying this outright.
When you have spent four years building a department and making it a professional and well synchronized unit akin to a Swiss watch, it is very difficult when told to choose someone because they have to be kicked out. And this is a recurring problem with this particular company. There is no focus, there is no innovation, and the end result is that every few years people get cut out. Unfortunately, the people who make the decisions are never the ones to get cut out.
You understand what I’m telling you about where I was working? The company was not a long-term career investment. I decided that it was time to look elsewhere and start building something from the ground up. I would always say to people when they asked me about the late hours that I spent working on these vending machines: an empty vendor yields no cash! This is the perspective for any businessman: cash-flow is king. If you do not have cash coming in, then you are not running your business correctly. I wanted to make sure that my customers were always able to make purchases from my machines. It all comes down to customer service in a one-on-one situation. I personally am not there, but my robot needs to work correctly to push the candy out to the waiting customer. If this part of the process does not work correctly, I have failed in my duty as the vending facilitator.
If you have empty cells without product for the augurs to push out, you are wasting valuable time because your business is based on choice. Once the choices become confined, the sales will begin to diminish. Could this be what your business looks like? Could this be a new revelation on how you should approach business and look at the transmission of goods to customers and clients? Everything comes down to maintaining that trust with the people who buy from your vending machine. I have to say one more time: an empty vendor yields no cash.
I finally got around to reading an article that I’ve been meaning to read for the past couple of weeks. It was an article in Forbes that did the unthinkable: it actually did an educated “guesstomation” on how many e-books Amazon has been selling over the course of the past few years. We all know that Amazon holds this information very close to the vest as a trade secret. The breakdown of how Forbes figured out these calculations was very telling and actually had a very scientific approach to deliver the deducted answer.
Forbes began this article by figuring out how many Kindles and Kindle offshoots have been sold by Amazon since the initial introduction in 2007.
“Amazon launched its Kindle e-reader in late 2007. Assuming a 3-year replacement cycle, we conclude that there may be approximately 30 million Kindle e-readers currently in use.” 1
Once the total number of kindles in use has been arrived at, the average of five e-book purchases and downloads per year was introduced as part of the equation. Now people have 30 million active kindles each with an average download of five per year at an expense rate of $4-$10 per download, you came up with a formula that looks something like this:
You might be asking yourself where the 30% came from. That would be the percentage that Amazon gets from every sale as a handling a distribution fee. If you read the article which I have accessed and embedded for this blog post, you will find that the estimated amount Forbes came up with was somewhere between $260 million and $530 million annually since 2007. Since Amazon is a multibillion dollar company, this amount seems paltry but will continue to grow with time. Again, you have to factor in the equation that Amazon is not really using its publishing arm to drive revenue. Amazon is using its publishing arm which is inclusive of selling kindles and selling e-books to drive customer base to other products on the Amazon website.
It’s always been known that Amazon would take a loss just to ensure a larger segment of market-share. It is nice to know that the largest e-book player is making significant sales which are transferring hundreds of millions of dollars into their corporate earnings. It’s always great when you can use deductive reasoning to pull away the drapes to reveal the underlying information range.
Information from the Forbes article was supplied by the Trefis Team.
I read with profound interest the article on the DBW website by Tom Chalmers: Rich Pickings for the Small and Beautiful and wanted to use this blog post to convey some of my thoughts on his article.
Mr. Chalmers has given us a snippet glimpse into his point of view with initial comments about his Communist- leaning father’s mindset. I think it is an admirable quality to feel empathy for those who are displaced by corporate upheavals. The immediate impact of the layoff or job loss is disastrous and financially catastrophic as well as emotionally and physically draining. Having been through this series of events four times in my career I can speak from a point of experience on this issue: the latest event coming in February 2013. Eventually I will have to thank ABC-CLIO for taking the direction they decided to take!
Not being a free market thinker, Mr. Chalmers has missed the point that a layoff or job loss can also be the staging platform for a complete transformation and career reinvention. If you continually go from day-to-day with the mindset that you owe something to a corporate structure, then that corporate structure will always have you at a disadvantage in any rational thought process about finances and career goals. Being able to process and use your own intelligence and academic credentials is something that is challenging and rewarding to the person who steps out and plays the role of maverick. The people who do not “color within the lines” are usually the ones who innovate and expand the knowledge base of the field in which they are associated. Steve Jobs is a perfect example of someone who did not play by the rule-set of the corporate and business structure model that was in place at the time. Thomas Edison did not play by the rules of his time. And even in the arena of politics, although now we think of him as a great statesman, Winston Churchill was a reviled maverick for most of his political career. It is lucky for us, that the most important five years of his political career took place during World War II.
The book publishing industry right now is going through a convulsive period. I have been lucky enough to be in this industry for the past 30 years, and also advanced my skills by getting an MS Degree in Publishing Science. I did not go back to school because I wanted to continue to be laid off and work for other corporate entities that might lay me off again. I went back to school because I am a maverick in this industry and I want to see other people succeed and breakout of the mold that the publishing industry has created. You do not have to sit and work for a company and get laid off every three or five years to be successful in this industry. The way to get ahead is to continually advance your skills, move up the ladder within corporate enterprises and then strike out on your own to create a business model that is new and innovative. Also if you can brand yourself with a catchy moniker, that doesn’t hurt either.
To summarize the article: I think Mr. Chalmers has every good intention in feeling sympathy for the people who are laid off or displaced by corporate contractions, but I think that he has a mindset that does not look beyond the workstation cubicle to envision displaced workers striking out and forming business entities that will make them successful in the market without being part of a traditional corporate publishing structure.
I was recently involved in a business conversation that was put on video when one of the participants started to ask me about my “Naked Blogging” Campaign. She wanted to know how deep into my own psyche I was going to delve to come up with pertinent topics to pass to my audience.
I thought about this question introspectively. I wondered what I could tell my readers that would make them understand who I am, why I work in publishing, and why I so desperately want to give back to the people within this industry and the authors who want to write for this industry.
At this point I am 52 years old. I’ve been married once before and now I am not. I had a long-term relationship with a woman who passed away from Ovarian Cancer. I had another long-term relationship end recently after we had been engaged for four years. I’m reaching the point in my life where some of the goals that I wanted for myself are slipping away, and that’s okay.
Growing up I knew that I had a great father. I had an equally great mother, but knowing what kind of man my father was made me realize that I could also be a great father if given the chance. I didn’t marry until I was 35 years old, and that marriage ended in divorce four years later. We had been talking about children and I was fully prepared to be a father. I was ready to love someone so much that I would give part of myself to them to make another human being. I would sacrifice everything in my life to make sure that child grew up to be a wonderful part of the American dream. Even after my marriage ended I still had hopes of finding someone who might love me and want to be a parent with me within a loving family environment. I’m not the easiest guy to get along with, but I do have some qualities that are wonderful for parenting skills.
I realize now that my calling may not be to be a parent, but to be a mentor of sage advice to those who want to know about the publishing industry. My parenting skills can be utilized as teaching skills and refocused to aid those who need a hand up to live a happy productive life. It’s not life changing or life-threatening to write a book or to work in the publishing industry, but to be a help and possibly put someone on the right track for success is as admirable a goal as any for an individual.
My figurative “children” are those people I can reach and help along the way.
I’ve been meaning to start doing this for a while now and I thought this would be the best time to get this going. I’ve been blogging for about three years now and I have put many bells and whistles into my blog-posts including photos, videos, and music videos. I thought it was time to cut to the unvarnished part of the blog structure.
What makes someone read a blog?
What gets someone interested in what you have to say?
How do you get people to look at what you’re talking about?
I think the answer to these questions is to get to the point where all you’re doing is putting words, sentences and paragraphs into the mainstream that build concentric ideas people can follow and are relatable. It’s not a difficult thing to get moving on writing about what is happening with EPUB, or why marketing is so important, or even why customer service is dead. The basic form-follows-function of the blog is to inform your readers and make sure that the content you’re producing is in a structure that is easily understood and summarily executed so that your message gets across.
No, I am not sitting in my home office naked right now doing this blog. I know that many of you are also glad that I’m not home naked writing this blog as well. It all comes down to the words, the content, and the direction on where you want your audience to go. Also, another important part of this process is what is the feeling you want your audience to come away with? Where are you driving them? What is the focus of where you are going with your written words? For the next few weeks I am going to be producing blog posts that will just be blog posts. There will be no videos, no photos, and just the logo appearing on the top of the blog post itself. I want feedback from everyone who looks at my blog. I want to know what you want me to produce. I want more interaction with my readers. I want to hear from you letting me know what you are thinking, what directions I should be pursuing and topics I should be articulating in this blog.
I received a message on Facebook the other day from one of my friends that said there was a man who is trying to shut down bloggers because they are devaluing and undermining the content streams of authors who write for traditional publishing operations. I think this is a big mistake. There are plenty of good writers who do not work for large publishing operations or write for a living for that matter.
My answer is, and always will be: I blog therefore I am!
I just recently started a marketing intensive to expand my business. I’ve often thought that getting traffic to your website was as simple as making it a “form follows function” well-designed site. The theory in my mind was that if you build it they will come. I have completely reevaluated and readjusted my thinking to the fact that you must put great content out into the field, you must have a doorway that people will find functionally easy to operate, and you must have value for those who come to your site.
I’ve had many people in the past ask me about my business. I am building digital reference materials for authors who do not want to get ripped off when having their books published. This could be in print format or could be in e-book format but there are many people out there who are taking advantage of authors, new and established, who just want to get their stories told.
My other focus is to help those who are new to the publishing industry climb up the ladder as quickly as possible. The publishing industry is notoriously slow in advancing pay for those who work within its ranks, but by taking and making some very easy changes in steps you can get to the corner office in a much more streamlined fashion.
How does marketing play at the wall of this?
What can I do to increase the traffic to my sites?
How I get the word out to as many people as possible that I am unknown quantity in my field?
I have been pondering these questions for the last few months. I have built a social media platform, and I’ve also reached out to many highly regarded executives in my field for interviews. The content I am producing is of the highest quality and includes blog-posts, videos, interviews, Google Hangout’s, and podcasts. I think the major point that I need to key on is that I’ve been looking at this as an overall process instead of 2 separate targets. When I say “an overall process,” I have been marketing to authors and new publishing professionals all in the same communications. The targets must be more focused. The content must continue to be of the highest quality. The posts must be consistently timely.
I am thinking that now I have in my power the ability to build my business the way that I want it to be built. Being a publishing leader means taking risks, challenging yourself beyond all means, and making sure that what you produce is the highest quality material imaginable.
I am learning and will continue to learn but I know one thing for sure: I will be successful!
I just came back from a trip to New York in January. I spent the holidays at my mother’s house on the East End of Long Island. My mother recently turned 85 years-old, and is probably one of the most voracious readers I have ever seen. All the librarians in her local library know her, and when I went to return some of her books they all made a point of asking how she was doing. They really love my mom and the reason is because my mom is the epitome of the “Library Lover.”
Library Lover
The term “Library Lover” can be defined thusly:
Library Lovers have strikingly positive views of public libraries compared with other groups, and with the U.S. population as a whole; they use libraries and library websites more than any other group, and believe libraries are essential at the personal as well as the community level.1
I was very much surprised to see that my mother does not really fit the demographic for someone who could be described as a library lover. People who have more time to use in various pursuits would appear to be the perfect library patrons. Since my mother is retired and has always been an avid reader, trips over to the library (that is about 150 yards from her backdoor) just makes sense. My mother does not just take out one or two books; she comes home with a bag full of books. She comes home with so many books that sometimes when the books are late going back the librarians will not charge her the penalty because she is such a great patron and library lover.
Information Omnivore
I, on the other hand, am the perfect example of an “Information Omnivore.” The definition of an information omnivore was enunciated in the article listed above in the following terms:
(These definitions are directly from the PEW Research on Libraries)
Information Omnivores are more likely to seek and use information than other groups, are more likely to have and use technology; at the same time, they are strong users of public libraries, and think libraries have a vital role in their communities. However, they are not quite as active in their library use as Library Lovers, or nearly as likely to say the loss of the local library would have a major impact on them and their family.2
I have to admit that sometimes in my haste to get information and reference materials I sometimes think only of an Amazon or a Barnes & Noble before the thought comes into my head that I can actually read the material for free from my local Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library here in Broomfield, Colorado. Why I never think of the public library first, I don’t know. My thought patterns are changing though and more and more I have found myself at the library within the last few months. When my Chamber of Commerce Leads Group started a reading club with Jeff Olson’s: The Slight Edge as the first title to be read, I immediately went online to access the library’s catalog to see if this book was available for sign-out. The library did not own a copy of the book, but when I went to check on it they actually put it on a list to be purchased. About two and half weeks later I had the book in hand to read.
Since everyone is watching pennies these days, you really cannot beat the ability to borrow a library book and have it for two weeks with the possibility of another two weeks without paying anything for it. Go to your public library and see what special events they have to offer. Take out a book, DVD movie or e-book and start to become an information omnivore or a library lover as well. The more knowledge you have the better off you will be.
***All of this information was contained in the article: Library Lovers and Information Omnivores: Meet the Most Avid Library Patrons directly from the dbw website (Digital Book World)
I wrote a blog post a few months ago that talked about how publishing needed to develop a kinder and gentler side in dealing with those who are part of this glamour industry. The rough-and-tumble of the business aside, it has always struck me that the publishing industry seems to lean politically to the left which would seem to make it a more tolerant industry for all ideas. It got me thinking that maybe this level of tolerance is not all that prevalent throughout the industry.
Now there were witch-hunts in Salem in 1692, there was the “Red Scare” in the 1920s, and then of course there was probably the most famous blacklisting event in the 1950s during the McCarthy era. These all seem to be fundamentally conservative movements persecuting those on the left. Now it may not even be correct to think about interrelationships of blacklisting in terms of right and left. The pattern may be more basic than ideological differences. It may stem from those who have large executive inter-company networking systems passing the word about individuals they find offensive.
I remember back in my first few jobs, there were a few times when words were passed that certain actions would be deemed “non-palatable” by the industry overall and you could find yourself waiting a long time for a new opportunity if you happened to end up unemployed. Any type of legal action spoken of towards a corporate structure was one of those acts that would get you “Banished to Bogey-land.” Now I’m not one who really believes that there is any centralized structure in keeping various individuals from gainful employment but there are times when I think these issues should be discussed.
As an industry, publishing right now is going through an incredible revolution that is leaving some of the executive-types in a position of powerlessness based on the technological advances we are seeing. Sometimes decisions are made without the input of those at the very top due to the nature and the quickness of the revolution. Those who do not understand what is happening or are not taking the time to find out what is happening in the field, are those that fear for their livelihoods. Anyone who has knowledge that they do not possess becomes a threat and a competitor. Dealing with fear in its basic primitive form is an interrelationship that is terrifying to those who don’t possess the needed knowledge. When people feel that they are threatened, a survival instinct kicks in and puts them on the offensive to seek out and destroy those who would hamper their career upward mobility.
Everything I have written up to this point is a hypothetical situation. I don’t know of any people who are threatened by technology. I don’t know of anybody being blacklisted on a centralized list. I do know of executives who have made phone calls to vendors when employees have left and gone for other employment situations (poaching was the terminology that was brought up for making these inappropriate phone calls). With this in mind I do not feel it would it would be a great stretch for someone to make phone calls and pass the word about various other employees to keep them at bay. Also we are dealing with personalities and if a vindictive personality gets into a position of knowledge and power I have no doubt that they would use this position to hurt another’s career.
Every industry has its share of people who are unsavory and do not follow the rules. The basic ethical tenets escape them and they work in a system of “make up the rules as you go along.” The problem with this strategy is that once you start making up the rules everyone sees that you’re making up the rules as you go. There are many great people working in this industry as well. They are the mentors, the drivers, the Sage reference receptacles of this great industry.
As I said, I have no knowledge that anything is going on. I’m not saying that any unsavory actions are going on. I just think that this is something that needs to be discussed because I have heard this mentioned from time to time during the course of my career.
The Electronic/Digital Revolution in Book Publishing: History, Industry Perspective (Print and E-book) and “How To” Publish Your E-book for Amazon Kindle
Does the publishing industry blacklist people? I can’t answer that question. Maybe you have some input on this to share? People are people in publishing as elsewhere. The only way to beat any kind of listing is to be the best you can be. I have some ideas that certain people don’t appreciate or like others within the industry, but that doesn’t mean there is an industry-wide push to exile anyone to Elba.
thebookkahuna 