Search Results for: Please don't ask

Bookcraft 2.0: Find a Book in Your Archives the Way a Publisher Would

September 23, 2006 by Liz

Bookcraft 2.0

When his talk was over, the questions were answered, and so many copies of 10 Ways to Make It Great!were sold and signed, Phil Gerbyshak and I left the elegant Chase Tower, Chicago, for a restaurant. Through the course of the afternoon we dreamed up a service for bloggers and speakers, who wanted to put their hard-written content to work. It was a cool idea that fit my skill set. It got named Bookcraft 2.0 — a way to repurpose existing content into a book the way a publisher would.

Here is what you should know about this series/case study, Bookcraft 2.0, going in:

1. This series is crafted so that you can look over my shoulder as we repurpose content into a printed book.

2. Phil’s Archives will be the content.

3. I’ll identify approrpiate content that Phil approves, and we’ll make a book.

4. I’ll write a series about each step so that everyone can watch what we do. This, of course, is the first entry in the series.

5. The series centers on making a print book from existing content. A print version easily can be offered as an ebook. The reverse can be significantly harder.

6. I might forget to name or detail some decisions. If you have questions, please ask. I’m happy to explain what I do or how I do something.

Now let’s check Phil’s archives for book ideas. Think we can find one? two? three?

Checking Phil’s Archives

Bookcraft 2.0 began this week, and I’m delighted to report it’s progressing as expected. Here’s what has happened so far.
[Read more…]

7 Great Ways to Connect with Other Bloggers While You’re Out Reading Blogs

September 18, 2006 by Liz

Blogging Is Lonely Without Someone to Talk to . . .

It started in 1993, long before there were blogs. It was named “The Endless September.” That was when AOL unleashed masses of untrained users onto the Internet. Until then, it has only been a yearly advance of college freshmen.

Before that time, such clue-lacking lusers were a small trickle every September when the college freshman hit the computers to which they got free access when they paid their college tuition. At that time, it was manageable with suggestions to lurk a while and observe how others behaved before jumping in with cluelessness, with polite, behind-the scenes education when nettiquette was breached, and with an occasional BOFH wielding a large mallet when the polite education didn’t stick.
The Endless September

I bring this up for a reason. . . . hinky un-blogger-like things have been happening around here. I see the pattern now and it seems that the Endless September is back on.

Ew, how embarrassing to wake up one day and realize that comments and trackbacks are like diamonds . . . they last.

Burned bridges and drive-by comments aren’t pretty.

Relationships, on the other hand, are what blogging’s about.

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301 Links in a Story — Chapter 10 The Lost 18 Hours, The Prep, and the Final Round

September 3, 2006 by Liz

[For those of you just tuning in, this is based on the 301 Lists that Darren Rowse’s List Group Writing Project brought together. You’ll find Chapter 1 here –> A List Becomes 301 Links in Story Ã¢â¬â Chapter 1 ]

When We Left the . . . Studio

You might remember that at last look, our famed uncontrollable force and unpredictable influence, Lizzie and Amanda Congdon, leaving the studio of the International Blogging List Challenge! for parts unknown. The studio was in chaos after the Blogging 7th Heaven CanCan Dancers had roused the blogging audience into such a tizzy — blogging and applauding at the same time. (Which we have already established isn’t easy, if not completely impossible.)

Robert Scoble videoblogged the entire escapade.

The scoreboard read Arianna 600 Jeremy, Jeremy 200 Dave 200.

Rumor has it that the bloggers and the Blogging 7th Heaven People enjoyed a night of debauchery at 10 Rue Dante — an irony that I’d love to write about, but for once not a single blogger blogged the following 18 hours. They claimed a complete system failure — power, DS, and wireless — all out. Some spoke of eerie MySql errors written on the bathroom walls.

That lost 18 hours has gone down in blogging history as Blog Silence, Dead Feeds, and Dante’s New Level. Even Scoble’s video crew would only say, “We’re glad that MaryAm took you back to the hotel.”

Meanwhile Back at the Hotel . . .

The sun rose on a new day and gave hope to our contestants, the nationally syndicated columnist, author of ten books, international speaker and blogger, Arianna Huffington; the self-described serial entreprenuer, CEO and founder of Blog index Technorati, nationally known programmer, blogger, and blog sociologist, and friend of Janice Myint, David L. Sifry; and author, co-founder and president of b5 media, international blogger, traveler, speaker, and sometimes spy Jeremy, Jeremy Wright.

All three contestants were eating a quiet breakfast in the hotel dining room as they prepared for the show. Each was hoping not to embarrass his or her family, nation, planet, or galaxy — thereby causing an international incident of some sort. One was reading Ten Ways to Build Moats to Hold Back the Competition. Another was studying 5 Ways MyMoneyBlog Can Make You $100. The third trying to find the horoscope in the National Enquirer.

Our uncontrollable force and unpredictable influence were upstairs having their usual room service — a pizza with fresh tomato, a dozen chocolate-covered strawberries, and two bottles of Perrier-Jouet. This time they sat on the balcony discussing what to wear.

“I’ve done the black and white,” said Lizzie. “I think I might live dangerously and do deep, deep purple with a hint of pale pink.”

“That’s it,” said Amanda, laughing. “Blow that Alice-in-Wonderland image! Go for Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix. I’m wearing popurls Pearls from head to toe.”

Finally the Show Was Back On

That one day seemed to take forever. Each group had reasons why it took so long, but finally the lights, the cameras, the music, the announcements had happened and again the International Blogging List Challenge! was on.

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4+6 Things to a Product Review Even James Bond Would Trust

August 29, 2006 by Liz

What You Have Here James Is . . .

Product reviews. We all do them. We love to tell people what we like about stuff. Even more, we love to tell them what’s wrong with stuff. . . .

The President had started a discussion about a product we were prototyping. Our new product was meant to compete with one that had owned the market for 10 years.

“So, what do you think of the product that’s out there?” the President asked the editors.

Each editor was eager to respond and gave in detail the things that she saw in the existing product. The President made sure that every editor had a chance to talk.

“I wonder how it continues to sell 100,000+ units per book per year?” Then he glanced over my way and said, “That’s why no one listens to editors’ opinions. They only talk about the negatives.”

I was the only person in the company who reviewed product for the President.

Where do you get advice about products? Most people trust friends and family first. If friends and family don’t know, research says that 77 percent of online shoppers read consumer product reviews and ratings.

That means you’ve probably done that.

Product review are big business . . .

. . . if folks feel they can trust what the review says.

If you want credibility James Bond would trust, you have to know 4 things before you start and tell 6 things when you write..

. . . [Read more…]

301 Links in a Story — Chapter 8 Lizzie, Amanda, Arianna, David, and Jeremy

August 27, 2006 by Liz

At the Studio

Lizzie followed. Jeremy. Jeremy Wright across Rue Dante into the creepy brownstone-like building up the stairs to the second floor. The door at the top of the stairs was on a landing with a desk.

“I don’t have keys,” said Jeremy, Jeremy Wright. “I’ll find Aaron Brazell to let us in.”

“I’ll hang here,” Lizzie said, settiing in at the desk.

The desk had a book for visitor sign ins, alongside it were several information pamphlets. They were lined up in a little stand as if this were a bed and breakfast. The header on the stand said, “Classic Pre-Show Reading.”

“Get your post listed on 25 sites in 10 Minutes” by Fence, Emily and Evening Post.

“They should know,” Lizzie thought, getting interested.

7 1/2 pieces of Blogging Software I have used by a kid with many siblings who’s had to share everything.

Essential Books for Bloggers How books can be used to raise your monitor to eye level and to do other cool stuff.

Should I Add Your blog? Alan Greenspan tries creative economics during retirement.

How I Set Up WordPress Ben Trott outlines the plan he never made to foil a competitor.

The Secret to Blogging for Baby Poop One Gentleman Blogger’s Way of Tracking Achievement Without Using Money as a Benchmark.

How to Keep Spam out of your Blog The latest kid craze since putting sandwiches in the VCR went out with DVD players.

“I wondered what kids were doing now,” Lizzie laughed.

Aaron came through the door with Jeremy, Jeremy Wright.

“Hey, Lizzie,” Aaron said. “Could you hand me that Sailing Magazine I left on the desk?

Our new TV host passed it to our sailor friend and followed our Jack Bauer/James Bond type into the studio. Then she gasped with some emotion she couldn’t quite name.

The seats were set up as if David Letterman would walk out any minute, but the stage was different, so different. It looked as if it were a gigantic . . . [Read more…]

301 Links in a Story — Chapter 6 Intrigue and Romance

August 25, 2006 by Liz

On to the Cathedral

Lizzie left the restaurant. She looked both ways and made a run for it. She didn’t stop until she got to Notre Dame Cathedral. Peace and blissful quiet surrounded her. She was overtaken by the beauty and the history. For the hour that she sat there, you might have convinced our idealistic young lady that she was indeed a time traveler.

Even when she left, everything she was shrouded in new, and powerful mystery.

As Lizzie stood on the bridge looking back at the old church building, she wondered about the Mystical Power of CSS code and The A-Z of RSS.

A man in trench coat walked past her and handed her a piece of paper. “Destroy as soon as you read it” were the only words he muttered. Lizzie was grateful he was an introvert.

Still it was curious. The sun was shining. “Why the trench coat?” Lizzie thought. She viewed the piece of paper. It read 10 Indispensable (and Free) Web Resources for Students, Nine of My Favorite WordPress Plugins, 5 Ways to Improve your Affiliate Sales.

“What does that mean?” Lizzie wondered, leaning on the bridge and watching the water. Almost in answer a woman in a scarf and sunglasses, ala Jackie Onassis, stood near and said, “It means, I am the first of 10 Resources who will bring 9 Missives. You must deliver them to the address by 5 o’clock.” Then the woman walked off.

“What address==????” It was too late. She was gone, swallowed up by Japanese tourists reading aloud Top 12 Cameras of All Time: A Photo EnthusiastÃ¢â¬â¢s Perspctive [2006] and discussing 10 Ways to Make Your Digital Photos Last Forever.

A parade of white swans came down the water. When Lizzie looked up, the tallest, most handsome man was standing beside her. He was Pierce Brosnan crossed with Sean Connery with just a little Dennis Quaid twinkling in those eyes.

“Ah Leez,” he said. “I love your smile. Please take my hand.”

“Romance,” Lizzie thought at last. “I am Renee Russo in Paris.” Then she saw she had a List of Mouse Games in her hand and the handsome man was gone.

The third was a little girl in a blue plaid school uniform. She had a red balloon and handed Lizzie 5 games industry job interview tips.

“Do they have Star Trek Conventions in Paris?” Lizzie wondered as a Klingon walked nonchalantly to where she was standing to hand her 5 Ways to Use MySpace to Reach Your Readers. She was number 4.

Number 5 was a Darren Rowse look alike with 101 QuestionsÃ¢â¬Â¦ Consumer, Political, Humorous and Starbucks. He made her wish for her computer and for a nice cafe latte with raw sugar.

Six and seven came together. They were delivered by two kids on a tandem bicycle — 5 links to calorie-conscious fitness and a Q&A: Low vs. High pathogenic Avian Influenza.

The eighth resource came by carrier pigeon.

Lizzie thought, “You’ve got to be kidding.” But there was this bird flying to her with a scrolled list on its back that said, “NY Times my arseÃ¢â¬Â¦ Here is where I get my news.”

“Actually, these days carrier pigeon is probably more reliable. I hear you don’t change photos in photo shop ever,” Lizzie said aloud to the bird before it left.

The Five Questions You Should Never Ask seemed to float down from the air. Lizzie found THAT more than spooky.

So there, she stood on the bridge with 9 missives to deliver somewhere by 5 o’clock. It was now about 11:15 in the morning, and she didn’t know where or to whom . . . or even whether she should.

Walking to Romance

Lizzie started walking. Standing had gotten her in the middle of some plot. Walking might get her out of it. She was just beginning to get that Five Reasons Why Mornings Rock feeling, until a shadow feel in beside her.

Lizzie froze in her tracks. [Read more…]