Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

121: From a Blog Writer to a Conversational Dynamo

Filed Under 121 Conversation, Business Book, Successful Blog | 29 Comments

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Dynamo? Oh Wow!

Sure, Dawud, put me on the spot, why don’t you? . . .

Have you read, Dawud’s latest one-2-one post? He answers the question, Are You Having A Conversation With Your Niche Audience? and he invites you to help him come to his best answer. The conversation in the comments brings up some fabulous thinking on the subject.

Then what does he do? He asks me (and you folks reading) about how I got to be a conversational dynamo. I sort of feel like I’ve been asked to explain what a great kisser I am — whether I am one or not.

His actual question was.

What’s helped you go from just being a writer on a blog to becoming a conversational dynamo?

I won’t waste your time, I’ll pretend like he knows what he’s saying. We all know I can talk and that there are a few comments here and there on my blog. So let’s start from that premise. What makes the conversation happen here? Am I a conversational dynamo or is it smoke and mirrors?

I vote for the second.

Conversation is two or more people talking together. I can talk all I want. That doesn’t mean anyone will listen. Does it? Some days, I feel pretty sure that no one does. So what makes it special when they do?

It’s got to be more than me. Of course, it is. I can only guess at the recipe, but here goes.

A Recipe to Be A Conversational Dynamo

That would be my recipe for becoming a conversational dynamo, if I were to guess how.

I leave you with this question for next week.

What do you do when suddenly no one seems to be paying attention to your blog?

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your answer in the comment box below.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

One2One is a cross-blog conversation. Find the answer at dawud miracle on Monday. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.
In Case You Missed It: Writing 06-13-07

Bookcraft 2.0: 7 Reasons eBooks Are Losing Readers

Filed Under Business Book, Successful Blog, Trends | 30 Comments

eCards, eBooks, NOT eNough eTime!

Do you read eCards?
Most of us don’t. We have our exceptions. We read them — IF they come from our children or a dear friend. We read those because we love the people who sent them, and we know they spent time to choose the right one.

We also read eCards WHEN we know someone is going to TEST US. . . . Did you like the dancing bear I sent you? . . . We read them THEN, but we don’t like it. No, uh-uh, not one bit.

Do you download eBooks?
Most of us do. We download them; print them; and read them — or we set them aside and forget them. eBooks used to seem a bargain. After the third, fifth, seventh download, we’re finding they’ve got their drawbacks. The investment seems to grow with each one.

Some of us read them on our computers. But most eBooks are darn long for that.

Are you less interested in eBooks now than you were a year ago?
Another isn’t as appealing to me. Even the free eBook doesn’t do anything – because free is far from free.

7 Reasons eBooks Peaked in Their Life Cycle

Are you less interested in eBooks now than you were a year ago? Do you think it could be because an eBook isn’t really made to serve you the way quality products are?

In the world of publishing, an eBook at its core is unfinished. It’s basically what would be sent to a printer. The eBook format makes sense for the most time-sensitive, changing information, such as Aaron Wall’s SEO Book — accurate, well-designed content, which includes free lifetime updates.

The speed at which I can get an eBook no longer means much when I consider what I invest to take it off my computer. I am the printer, binder, shipper, warehouse. When I download and print an eBook

  1. I pay for the paper, the ink, and the wear on my printer.

  2. It’s my time. It’s my computer. It’s my schedule that makes room for the download.

  3. I get inconsistency and often more work than I bargained for. Would that every eBook was held to Aaron Wall’s standard of content, editing, design, and production. His book looks, reads, and prints like a dream. No I don’t know him. I appreciate quality.

  4. They are not books. Books rarely fall apart when we turn the page.

  5. An eBook takes up far more space than a bound book.

  6. No matter how compelling the content, an eBook is an unlikely gift.

  7. No eBook could hold a place of honor on an elegant bookshelf or coffee table.

As a delivery system, an eBook is unconstructed, low design packaging that benefits the author/publisher, more than the customer/reader. It’s not Web 2.0. It’s less choice than fast-food, usually with less quality control.

With what time I have to read, I read things I want to keep. An eBook is a pile of paper from my printer. It is not made to deliver reading ease or pleasure.

A traditional book is less expensive. It’s designed to be read, easy to navigate, and it fits elegantly on my shelf. If you can only do it one way, a real book serves more readers in presenting information in a printed paper format.

Time, money, paper, ink, space, aggravation . . . what have you spent on eBooks?

Yeah, I could leave an eBook on my computer and read it there. There’s a list to go with that too. It starts with using resources and keeping me on my computer even longer than I am now.

To put it plainly, I’ll pump my own gas, because it’s faster. I’ll print my own boarding pass, because I don’t have to stand in line and wait. They both save me time and don’t tie me up or tie me to my computer.

Most eBooks deliver too little and cost too much for me. For a product to win on speed and low-cost design/production value, we have to get something real in return that we want.

I’m not. Are you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you make a plan to meet your goals, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

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Bookcraft 2.0: Why No Bound Book Has 666 Pages and Get Your Free Blank Bookmap

Business Rule 13: Structure Damage

Filed Under Business Book, Successful Blog | 19 Comments

Times Are A’Changing

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It seems a good time to write about change.

Everything in life changes. If we’re not changing, we’re dead.
But then, we knew that. Knowing how we respond to the changes that can happen is key to being a leader, more importantly to knowing who we are. . . . .

I was going on a business trip.

When I travel I have all things in order days ahead. Otherwise, a little nagging voice reminds me that I’m likely to forget something that will cause me to miss my plane or get to the airport without my bags. This advance routine allows time to add in things that I forget on the first try.

I had everything arranged for a meeting. It was still two days before my flight. I got a note saying a good friend had decided to attend the same meeting. The staff assistant had changed my seat assignment so that my friend and I could sit together.

I froze. It didn’t feel good. I didn’t understand why I felt upset. I wanted to sit with my friend. The new seats were better.

Why was I ticked that no one asked? My answer was so obvious. She had done me a personal favor. I should be grateful. What was going on?

I took a walk around the building to find out. Halfway around I got the answer — structure damage. The new seat assignment had changed the picture in my head. It shook the foundation I had so carefully laid.

Everyone suffers from structure damage now and then.

I’m a fairly laid-back person, but I’ve got two places where I’m not -– when I’m getting ready to travel and when I’m conceptualizing a project. I try, but I don’t always see that I’m in high-structure mode when I am. At least, I can realize what rattled me when I give the wrong response so that I can explain and apologize. Luckily as I get older, I need less structure, because I’ve done a lot of things before.

Some people need more structure than others. What sorts of things mess with your structure? Do you know?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related
Business Rule 12: The Brother Story and the Facts about Grandma
Business Rule 11: Apples and Oranges
Business Rule 10: Is Their Urgency Real?
Business Rule 9: What’s the Value of Money?

The Blog Herald: The Independent Blogger Book Quest

Filed Under Business Book, Successful Blog | 8 Comments

Submit Your Finished Book for Review

We all know that not all books are created equal. Some have big-name authors. Some have big-name publishers. Some have big-dollar marketing plans. Other books are written after work, after dark, after the kids are put to bed.

Read the whole feature in today’s Blog Herald by clicking the logo.

The Blog Herald

It’s about blogging and real life.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Liz Strauss at The Blog Herald, The Blogging Times, and Who’s One in a Million?

Business Rule 12: The Brother Story and the Facts about Grandma

Filed Under Business Book, Successful Blog | 12 Comments

The Rules About Salaries

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Remember the three editors who were about to have their first review? They made a pact to go to lunch to make sure they got the same salary increases.

In my experience, the idea that you don’t talk about your salary is a foreign concept to well over 50% of people who are in their first business job. In a context in which most employees I trained didn’t go to business school, this number makes total sense. There is no reason they might have picked up this information.

In most companies, it’s a serious offense for an employee to reveal his or her salary or compensation details. I’ve seen it lead to written reprimand and probation. Every employee handbook that I’ve read states the company’s right to terminate an employee’s job for such an action.

Most new employees immediately can see why such a policy is in the company’s interest, but often they don’t see why the policy works to protect them. So whenever I share a company handbook, I tell The Brother Story and the Facts about Grandma.

The Brother Story

When I was nineteen and still in college, my much older, married brother sat me down to teach me of the world. He asked about my future and my goals as if I were in an interview. Then he invited me to ask him questions–any questions–I asked many. What struck and scandalized me at the time was that he answered every question, no matter how personal, except one–How much money do you make a year?
I thought he had his priorities screwed up for sure, telling me personal things, but keeping things of money secret. I told him as much. He said, “Never tell how much you make. People only need so much money to live, and the rest is gravy. If you knew my salary, it would change things.”

“No it wouldn’t. You’d still be my come-here-grasshopper-learn-from-the-master, older brother.” At the time I was too inexperienced and idealistic to understand what he was saying.

That’s why, when I relate The Brother Story, I always follow it with The Facts about Grandma. I figure if I needed something more concrete, other people might need it too.

The Facts about Grandma

“Now, listen to these facts about my son’s grandma,” I’ll say, “and decide whether my brother was right.”

Do you see how Grandma changed in five sentences? She’ll never be the same Grandma she was before I revealed the information in the last three sentences. The changes in who Grandma seemed to be are proof of the rule.

When people know how much money you make it changes how they see you.

I don’t even tell Grandma how much I make.

–Me “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related
Business Rule 10: Is Their Urgency Real?
Business Rule 9: What’s the Value of Money?
Business Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods?

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