Vote early and often

Cover designers may loathe this type of activity, but Bantam is doing what Wiley did some months back on our blogs and asking the public to choose a new cover for their upcoming book Super Crunchers.  Publishers are doing this as a way to quickly engage readers and buyers (I saw an ad for this on Shelf Awareness) and generally it does work.  I’d hate to think of someone NOT buying the book because his or her favorite cover wasn’t picked, but hopefully customers will still feel attachment to the title.  Me, I’m voting for red, because I’ve seen too many white cover business books fading out on the shelves, and want to declare that trend over. 

Health Foods

Texas…where a man’s a man, and a vegetable is an extra slice of bread, washed down by a Bud Light.  Or two.

 

BEA goes social…networking

Mediumatlarge.net has a blog post about BEA’s new social site, MyBEA.  Last year, I kinda got all over everyone at my company because I was one of the few on it.  I don’t think I will be doing that this year.  The site doesn’t seem to me to be very useful, although I like the feature that allows me to scroll through the whole agenda a bit easier than you can on the main BEA page.  Is this going to be an example of creating a social site when you could have put this stuff on Facebook or Upcoming?  Time will tell.  I’m going to play, and let you know what I find out.  That said, if you’re going to BEA, be sure to drop me a line on myBEA.  I’m hoping we can do some sort of a blogger meetup there. 

Blog Interview with the DC Goodwill Fashionista

One of the MANY great things to come out of BlogHer Business last month for me was my discovery of a really cool site, the DC Goodwill Fashion Blog. You may think, what does Goodwill have to do with fashion? Ah, my dear, that saddens me, because you are missing out on some incredible potential finds. A lot of people give a lot of things to Goodwill, and among those things may be diamonds in the rough! As a veteran thrift shop shopper, I know first-hand the joy that comes from finding that $400 designer purse for $25, or the vintage dress for $50.

And so does Em Hall. As the writer of the DC Goodwill Fashion Blog, she shows how you can be fashionable, while staying in your budget and helping others all at the same time. I met Em Hall at BlogHer, where she spoke about the creation and growth of her blog, as well as DC Goodwill’s Ebay store and am thrilled that she consented to be interviewed for “WhatGives!?” - she was so kind, and generous, that this is going to be a two part interview - here’s the first part….  Do check it out, she’s an amazing inspiration. 

Amazon page “autopsy” on Gary Vaynerchuk’s new wine book

I saw a tweet this morning from @garyvee, aka Gary Vaynerchuk, where he was thinking about new ways to promote his book. Gary’s a master of social media marketing, and I’ve been looking forward to reading his book for a while.   Instinctually, I went to his Amazon listing page (ok, so I maybe I was just looking to see when my pre-order would ship). and saw a couple of things that he could do immediately to help sales of his book.

1. Search inside - no, the book hasn’t shipped yet, so that’s probably why. But this is a must for any book. How can customers virtually “leaf” through your book without it? We’ve seen this make a noted difference in sales of titles, so he should make sure his publishers have this feature enabled at publication.

2. Author comments - authors can put blog posts on their pages. I know some authors who don’t like to duplicate posts, or want to drive all traffic to their own blogs. Regardless, authors should put some blog posts on their page. It’s as if you were standing at the front door of a store waiting to hand sell your customers. And who doesn’t want to hear what Gary has to say?

3. Better Together - some of these are automatically selected, some are picked by publishers as coop (can’t for the life of me remember how to tell the difference). Ideally, you want the book you are paired with to be ranked higher than yours - they’re getting more traffic, which means more visibility for your book. Right now, the Better Together is probably doing more for the Dornenburg book than for Gary’s.

In less than 5 minutes, I came up with these three things.  If I spent more time there, I would probably find even more.  Well, to be truthful, I work with the best marketers in the industry, and THEY could really do some big pimping here, along with our Amazon rep, who is also aces. 

Every author should do an autopsy on their Amazon (and B&N, and Borders eventually) pages and make sure they and their publishers are doing everything they can on them, in an effort to help the customer and eventually maximize sales. 

Now, off to find a good red zin…

I blog, therefore I am

I guess Dooce’s post was more inspirational than I thought…this post has been brewing for a little while now, it’s about time I got it up here. 

When IT Boy was born, I started a blog.  Not this one, but one for family only, to view pictures of him and sister, and to hear about what was going on in our lives.  Amusingly, the family I created it for spent a huge amount of time questioning why I was doing this blog.  You might even use the word “scorn”.   I enjoyed blogging, but wasn’t getting a lot of support on the home front and figured I would eventually let the blog go the way of all flesh.  During that time, I was conversing with a co-worker and sent him the link to view the blog.  He sent me back a note, which included the following sentence:

Amazed good that you have found the time and energy to create something that your family will value greatly in future years.

I was stunned to get that note.  It encapsulated exactly what I was trying to do and gave me support at a time I needed it.  To create a legacy for our family.  How could someone who didn’t even know my family see the value of this when my own could not?  I may not have been able to fill out the baby books, or mark where and when every photo was taken, but I could tell the story of our lives in a blog.  When they were grown, I wanted the kids to see it and know exactly what we were going through, and how terribly much those moments as a family meant to me.   Even if no one around me got it in the present, maybe someone would, someday. 

I kept up that blog, and started this one.  And I ignored what people around me said, until I saw Dooce’s post.  It made me remember what this co-worker had said - I had even saved the email, it meant so much to me.  I was so happy that someone else put into writing what I have been thinking. 

The very night I read Dooce’s post, Little IT had dinner with a friend and her family.  When they brought her back, the dad saw my “Confessions of An IT Girl” business cards, and asked what they were.  Mr. IT jumped right in and starting telling him about my blog.  But it wasn’t in the tone I would have hoped for.  Suffice it to say, he was more poking fun at this endeavor than acting like a spouse that was supportive of my efforts. 

The dad (who I should add was not mocking, but was curious in a nice way) asked why I blogged.  I wanted to burst out and say much fun blogging is.  That it’s connected me with people in ways I never thought possible.  I wanted to tell him that I was asked to blog for a new site that another company had just started up.  How I had just completed my first blog interview for that site.  How my blog got Little IT and me on a national TV show.  How I was going to be quoted in a news article a few days.  I wanted to talk about the emails that I have gotten from parents of kids going through early intervention, and how they’ve said how much my blog, *my* little blog, has meant to them.  That somehow, in this crazy experiment, I’ve managed to make a difference.

But I didn’t get to talk about any of that, because the discussion had turned into a monologue on how blogging is ego run amok, and aren’t I crazy to get caught up in all of this.   At that point, I just wanted to get off the topic and said that I blogged for work.  Genuinely curious, the dad asked more, and I answered more, but my heart wasn’t really in it. 

You see, if you asked me that question tonight, I would have told you of all the joyous highs, and a few lows that have come with the territory here.  Sure, people can say what they want, but I have a thick skin.  I get what I am doing, and I am proud of it. 

Mostly, though, I would tell you that I’m doing this to make a difference somewhere.  Be it with my job, my friends, my kids or my world, if I can have an impact or at least try, I’m happy.  Sure, there’s ego here, but I hope people see a lot more than that.  Yes, I do dream of a day when my son and daughter will come here to learn a bit more about their crazy mom.  When they do, I hope they see how very much I love them and their father, and that my legacy may not be a journal, diary or painting, but it’s crafted with as much love and is every bit as meaningful. 

In short, I blog because I want to, and I can.  I thank all of you for coming on this adverture with me.  I promise you, the best is yet to come.

Count me in

I don’t know what led up to this post.  All I know is that in it, Dooce speaks for so many of us, me included.  You didn’t see it, but my fist was in the air after reading this.  I salute her elegance and thank her for putting into words what I’ve never had the ability to articulate.

When Less = More, and even Less = Less

Less = More - Before I went on spring break, I blogged about how IT Boy’s service providers were using the dreaded “P” word - Plateau.  He wasn’t regressing, but he wasn’t progressing either.

So, we came back from vacation, and every one of them has marveled about what progress he’s made.  FROM THE WEEK WHERE HE DIDN’T SEE ANY OF THEM.  He’s played around with his balance, started taking side steps, pointing a ton more, saying “a ball” instead of just “ball”…oh I could go on. 

But what does this mean?  Is my theory that he may be getting too much therapy for real?  Did he need a break, or was he just ready to progress at that moment in time?  Did so much contact with his family bring this out of him?  I may never know, but it’s going to be something that I watch closely.

On a related note….less = less.  I didn’t workout at all during vacation, despite my best intentions and a cute running outfit in my suitcase.  When I got back to the gym, I had lost weight.  A good amount of it, even.  I tried 3 scales at the gym, and all verified the results. 

So, no workouts, Dairy Queen, and mega BBQ = a healthy lifestyle?  Or is Texas just filled with magic healing powers?  You can imagine how stumped and confused I am now. 

Freakout Friday

It’s not enough that it’s the week before Sales Conference, and the end of our fiscal year, as has been previously mentioned.  Now, the fates are ganging up on me.  In fact, exactly when I think it can’t get any weirder, it does, so I almost hesitate to post now, lest something amusing and blogable happen.  I may have to update this post if something good comes up.   

First, my babysitter called in sick today.  Not her fault, certainly, because she apparently had quite a day from hell yesterday too.  In fact, she’s NEVER called in sick, so she’s certainly owed this one.  And she reads this blog, so if I dared to say that the planets probably could not have found a worse day for her to be sick, she would feel horribly guilty about something that isn’t her fault. 

I got mom on the phone and asked her to come over here to watch IT Boy.  She first demurred, saying it would be easier to have IT Boy at her establishment.  I demurred (ok, freaked out) back, saying that 3 service providers were due today and to change them at the last minute would put all of us over the edge.  In fact, the 3 were due at 9, 10 and 11, and I called mom at 8.

So, mom gets here around 8:45.  We wait, and wait, and wait for provider #1, and she doesn’t show.  Oh, wait, no, that’s her, pulling in at 10am, right behind provider #2.  They do some sort of cage match/jello wrestling thing, and agree that #2 should stay, and #1 will reschedule.

This is a lot of work.  And requires a lot of brain power.  And in between performance appraisals, powerpoints, session agendas, objectives and salary planning, I ain’t got none of that.  Plus, IT Boy was none too happy to see ANYONE today, and sobbed through session #1, which was really supposed to be session #2, but you get the picture by now.  IT Boy calmed down at the end of the session, but provider #3 just arrived, and I could hear from upstairs that as soon as she came in the door, he just lost it and broke down.  Ah, that’s my Boy.

Finally, I track down the mom who’s kid was supposed to come here for a playdate with Little IT this afternoon.  I left messages for her at home and on the cell.  I was a little worried that we’d have to change both kid’s pickup instructions with the school office, because yesterday I heard of a mom who did that and the office never notified the kid and she took the bus home to find no one home.  The mom called me around 10am and said that she had been at school all morning.  Little IT went over to her, told her everything that was going on, and arranged to have the playdate at her house with that mom picking them up.  Without a doubt, hearing that was the best part of my day.  My kid is working for the team!  GO LITTLE IT! 

Just another day in the life of a working mama. 

Le Freak by Chic

Yesterday, I had my first, but probably not last freak out of this “week before sales meeting.”  I was trying to do something with a piece of clip art.  Seriously, it was something I’ve done before, but in my panicked haze, I couldn’t make it work.  A visit to Twitter had some people trying to talk me through the procedure, but it wasn’t until my friend Steve IMed me and held my hands through the procedure that I allowed myself to be talked off the ledge.  Thanks be to Twitter, because that did provide me with the solution.  But the freakout…no one can really help me with those.

It’s not like I haven’t been to a sales conference before.  We have 3 major ones a year, although this is the only one we travel for.   It just happens to come at the end of our fiscal year, when we have about 1,001 end of year deadlines.  So, in addition to working on powerpoints for presentions, AND coming up with agendas for sessions with channel managers, AND setting up meetings with my international counterparts, I’ve got to get performance appraisals and year end objectives done for myself and my team. 

It’s my job, so I’m not whining.  I just thought it would be helpful for anyone crossing my path to understand why my hair is standing on end, and why by Thursday I’ll be sitting at work in my comfy pants. 

That’s enough blogging.  Back to the grindstone!