Going Social - Publishing article in Business Week

It’s been a hectic week, but I finally got around to reading Sarah Lacy’s article in Business Week about how book publishing needs to evolve and be more Web 2.0.

Initially, I was a bit skeptical.  Having seen first hand her interview of Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW, I’m not exactly a fan of hers.  I read bits of her book and wasn’t blown away either.  But her article has merit.  Some of it is kind of same old same old, in my opinion, but she has a number of points that people in the industry should pay attention to.

1. Make it social - Remember your mom’s “book club”?  Ok, so the only ones I know of these days are excuses to get together with other moms for “ritas and fajitas”, but it emphasizes the fact that reading is a solitary experience that begs to be social.  You read a great book, you want to tell the world about it.  That’s why sites like GoodReads, Shelfari (recently acquired by Amazon.com) and LibaryThing are getting traction.  I love the idea of Facebook apps around your titles, and we’re working on such things now - some groups at Wiley have already launched them. 

2. Take book tours out of the stores - I agree that the focus on “tours” should be less about the conventional “author goes into a store, talks about the book, and then signs mom and dad’s copy and their cousin Hugo’s copy.”  The model of the author event, outside of the true celebrities, doesn’t work.  It died in my category a long time ago, so I’m fortunate in that most authors don’t bring it up in the course of marketing planing for a title.  Work on new models for author tours.  Great advice.  Think social - webinars, partnering with established players like Social Media Club and NY:MEIG, Facebook sites.  Nothing against the corner bookstore, whether chain or indy, but pound for pound, it’s not worth your time doing in store events.  You’re much better off going social online.

3. Create stars—don’t just exploit existing ones - ah, easier said than done.  Every publisher has a mix of titles that they do every year.  Some are from new authors, or on new topics, and these are the ones where they’re taking a chance. However, the bulk of any publisher’s list has to be from sure things and close to sure things.  Of course, we would all love to sign authors who are on their way up, but that’s easier said than done. 

On her other points:

Require as part of the contract that the author blog, speak on panels, attend events. Give them incentives for delivering—say, though Web traffic of the number of followers they amass on Twitter.

Interesting idea, but we’re lucky if we even get an author questionnaire in, much less a manuscript these days.  I don’t see any author agreeing to these kind of incentives.  Authors should want to promote their books, as a part of promoting their own personal brand.  I certainly wouldn’t put this stuff in a contract, but I would be warry of signing anyone who was not interested in doing these things.

4. Go electronic from the get-go - what she’s describing is not necessarily the way we work at Wiley.  Much, if not all, of our development in electronic.  I don’t think our editors would know what to do with a printed manuscript.

5. Make e-commerce even easier - Amen to that.  Increasing the places customers can find out about and buy books is good for everyone.

All in all, worthwhile reading for authors and publishing types.

 

AP Article on Elizabeth and John Edwards quoting me

Last Friday, a call went out via @skydiver on Twitter for ordinary people to comment on the John Edwards cheating allegations and his forthcoming interview confession.  I sent a note to the reporter with some thoughts, and after a follow-up phonecall with her, I wound up quoted in the piece.

Like many in Chicago at BlogHer 07, I was charmed and inspired by this warm, intelligent and witty woman.  Why can’t we be voting for her, we said repeatedly to each other after her keynote.  When she was kind enough to join us at the closing reception, I got a chance to talk with her one-on-one and she was gracious enough to pose for a picture with Little IT and a most squirmy IT Boy.  Notice him heading straight for her necklace.  She took it all in stride - boys will be boys, I believe she said. 

Mrs. Edwards and the family

Like many, we took a fall with her when the allegations about her husband’s extramarital affair came to light.  I’m not sure what was more head-shaking - hearing that he did this when she was fighting cancer, or that she was in on the cover up.  It’s disappointing, for sure, any way you slice it.  I for one am sorry that she had to deal with it then, and has to deal with this now.  Boys will be boys?  She deserves better.

 

“Spectacle: Elvis Costello with the Police”

If you are not a fan of Elvis Costello or the Police, you just better stop reading now and skip to the next post.

If you are a fan, you are in the right place.  For yesterdsay, I had the extreme pleasure of attending a taping of Elvis’s new talk show, “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…” The “with”, in this case, was the Police.  And now, I’m going to talk about it.  But first….

OMG OMG OMG

Two of my favorite artists together on one stage.  I’m trying VERY hard to not gush here, but it’s next to impossible. So, I’m just going to get started, and if another “squeee” or “OMG” pops out, so be it.

About two weeks ago, I saw a notice posted on Stewart Copeland’s web site about a taping that was taking place for “Spectacle“.  They were encouraging “fan club” members to sign up for a ticket lottery.  Having just won a ticket to the final Police show at MSG tonight, I figured I was riding high as far as luck was concerned, and I should absolutely enter.  I also called my friend Liz to do the same, as she was a Police.com member.

Last Friday, I got the email saying that I had won a ticket.  I immediately texted Liz and told her to get to her email, pronto.  Sure enough, she had won as well.  The taping was to be August 6th at the world famous Apollo Theater in NYC. We planned to meet in Penn Station and then take the subway uptown.  I was a little delayed, but that was OK, because by this time I had convinced Liz to get a ticket for the final MSG show.  Due to my delay, she had the time to do that.

We headed uptown, picked up our tickets, visited the dirtiest Blimpie I have ever seen, then waited on the very hot “fan club” line to be seated.  While on line, security guards were walking up and down the line threatening us about not bringing in outside food and drinks, and cameras.  Apparently, there were 3 choices if we had a camera:

1. Return them to our cars

2. Mail them to ourselves from the US post office down the street “for a cost of $3.95″

3. Hand them in and lose them to security FOREVER

I started to panic.  I did have a camera with me, abeit a small one that was easily hidden.  1 wasn’t an option, as my car was at home.  I didn’t have the time or energy for #2, so I was prepared to offer my memory card and batteries if the camera was found.  I put it in a zippered compartment in my purse, blocked by my blackberry.  Needless to say, it was not found, but I never used it either.

Once inside, it became clear that the fan club people were being treated well.  We had the first 20 or so rows of the theatre to ourselves.  People from Sundance and other channels, as well as the corporate sponsors were in the balcony or in the back.  We were certainly in for a treat.

Even though the doors opened late, they seemed to stick to the promise of closing them at 3:45.  Soon after, the producer/director/whoever came out and talked to us about how to behave during the taping (don’t move around, no cell phones, photos, texting, etc).  There were a couple of funny bits:

Who has never been to a TV taping? Raise your hands.

Now, for everyone who this is their first TV taping, raise your hands…

Great, that was some of the same people

Sadly, some folks didn’t get the joke.  We then were asked to scream and applaud wildly for about 5 minutes, which surely gave them more than enough to edit in later.

The set was incredible - not sure how it will look in TV, but it was modern, attractive and really different looking.

Just as soon as the preambles ended, Elvis came to the stage with his guitar.  He was dressed typically Elvis - dark suit, porkpie hat, glasses.  He said a few words, then went into a solo version of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”.  Amusingly, the lyrics for the song were running on a teleprompter while he was singing.  He must be the only person in the Western world to NOT know the lyrics to that little ditty.  He did the song twice, the second time a little slower and more deliberate, and with different words!  He was making up the words!  Gotta love Elvis - it was his world, and we were just living in it.

He then brought out his band, the Impostors . They played “Don’t Go Please Say” and he said it was one that Andy had played and they would talk about it later.  However, I don’t think they ever did.  In fact, he never said the name of the song, but it was on the teleprompter which is the only reason I can tell you what it was.

He then did a fun intro of the the band.  You could see them offstage left, grimacing and grinning with what he was saying.  The Imposters were playing Police-esque songs in the background.  When the band came out, they waved but kept walking off the stage.  Elvis: “Was it something I said?”  Must have been how they were editing for TV.

The interview segments were first. Each band member solo, followed by the 3 together.

* Andy - this was about 15 minutes. They talked about his early gigs, his influences, and their shared love of Charles Mingus. They dueted on “Weird Nightmare.” From the teleprompter, you could see that he ran through all of his questions for Andy, and had time left over.

* Stewart - first questions were on the “Disaster Gig” post on his web site. He said that he wasn’t trying to do anything more than tell a story for his site visitors, and while it caused friction in the band, it’s all water under the bridge now. He said his son is a filmmaker (named Jordan, great name!) who put together a documentary for the upcoming tour DVD. Stewart was his usual vociferous self, and I don’t think Elvis got in even half of the questions he planned to ask. No musical performance here, phooey.

* Sting - for some reason, Mr. Tantric Yoga decided to come with his porn beard and a shirt opened down to his waist. Humorously enough, at one point the teleprompter went dark and the words “ELVIS - REMOVE THE TAPE FROM STING’S SHIRT!” came up. He didn’t, and it was up to one of the producers to do so later. Sting told about the original idea for the melody in “Roxanne”, and how he was afraid to go to the band with a song titled after a girl, until he heard Elvis’s own “Allison.” Then, it was, “Bring me my Lute!” and they dueted on a some barn burner for lute and vocal. I swear, if I never hear that lute again, it will be too soon.

Elvis then interviewed the entire band together. Some fun things came out here. Stewart talked about how a fight on stage spilled over into dueling cars on the ride home from the gig, and ended only when he saw a “hairy ass” in the window of the other car.  Elvis talked about how some bands are prone to passive-aggressive behavior, to which Stewart interrupted , “This band DOESN’T DO passive-aggressive!”

When asked their favorite Police song, Stewart couldn’t stop naming songs, among them “Born in the 50s”, “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “Message in a Bottle.” Andy’s pick was “Message in a Bottle” while Sting went cheeky, selecting “Mother” (written by Andy) and “Miss Gradenko” (written by Stewart). Naturally, Stewart called BS on that.  He did say that “Mother” was one of his kids’ faves though.

When asked their favorite Police moment, Sting said he hoped it would be the last show at MSG, Andy said Shea Stadium, and Stewart said something like he has one every night.

Then, the big wrap up.  The two bands got together for 3 songs, 4 performances.

“Sunshine of Your Love”
a mashup of Elvis’s  “Watching the Detectives and The Police’s “Walking on the Moon”
“Purple Haze”
“Sunshine of Your Love” (again, because someone “on guitar” messed up - Elvis seemed to demure, but I’m pretty sure it was Andy)

These performances were AMAZING!  Two drummers, 2 amazing guitarists, and Steve Nieve on keyboards?  Seriously?  Had I died and gone to musical heaven?

And then, as soon as it had started, it was over.  I cannot say I wanted it to end - I could have listened to the PoliceImposters play for hours.  Elvis was great in his role as “chat show presenter”.  It’s clear that he’s new at this, but he’s got his footing pretty well, and seems to be comfortable doing it his way.  I’m looking forward to seeing the final show, as well as others in the “Spectacle!” series.  Do yourself a favor - look for the series and check it out.  If yesterday’s is any indication, there is magic being made!

My thanks to the folks at Sundance Channel,  Stewartcopeland.net and thepolice.com who thoughtfully offered the tickets to “fan clubbers”.  I’m extremely grateful I had the chance to participate in this amazing event.  OMG and squeeeeee!

 

Blood Lust for Books

When I was at BEA earlier this summer, I picked up a few galleys and books to read. 

OK, if you were with me or saw me at the show, you are falling over laughing right now.  I’m well known as someone who cannot pass by a free book.  I have been known to resort to crawling through the show floor while I carry 30 or so new books on my back like a literary sherpa.  This year, I had so many, I had to have them sent back with the convention shipment.  I heard it was, ahem, a large box.  A Very Large Box.  All caps.

Anyhow, among the galleys were a bunch of teenage vampire books.  I had no idea this was a whole genre in the teen book market.   I’ve always said I’m a sucker for a good gothic novel (sucker…get it?).  Apparently, the craze was started by the Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” books.  I hadn’t heard of her or the books before, but those were the first ones I picked up.  I really liked them, and was excited to see the 4th book was coming out this month.  Sure, they’re “teen” books, but it’s not like I get a lot of free reading time these days for the deep stuff, and these were entertaining and fun.

The 4th and final book in the series, “Breaking Dawn” publishes tomorrow, but many bookstores are having midnight release parties in an effort to capture some of the Harry Potter mojo.  Today I read in PWthat ebook customers won’t be able to have their own midnight madness parties - the publisher, Little Brown, is delaying release of the ebook version to 24 hours after the print edition has dropped.  The reasoning they give is a little lame - they want to make sure that everyone has equal access to the book.  If the ebook released at midnight, someone on the West coast could get a jump on reading it online early than someone in the same time zone could get the print copy.

Seriously?  That’s the best they could come up with?  That’s beyond ridiculous.  Why should ebook customers be penalized for being adopters of technology?  Shouldn’t they be able to sit at home and download their hot new book at the time others have access to it?  Even my West coast peeps would agree wtih that one.  Not only should they have not done that, they should, in my opinion, have given ebook customers a 24 hour or more ADVANCE on purchasing.  Why not?  Don’t we want to encourage sales of ebooks and purchases of ebook readers?  Hachette, incidentally my least favorite employer ever, did say that they would try to manage these situations more efficiently in the future, but you have to wonder why they overthought this and managed to piss of all the Kindle, Sony eReader and other customers out there. 

Me, I’ve got a copy coming to me from my local non-chain bookstore.  Just hope I can find some spare time this weekend to read it.

 

Livin’ the rock ‘n roll lifestyle

We had just returned home from a weekend on the North Fork when the phone rang.  2:30pm.  Ish.

It was my friend Rina.  Rina asked what I was doing.  I told her nothing, thinking the next question would be if our girls wanted to have a playdate, which would have been fine.

It wasn’t that.

It was her offering me her husband’s ticket to see Bruce Springsteen with her that night.  Seems her oldest son was not feeling well, and they didn’t want to leave him home alone.

Umm…sounds good…let me talk to Mr. IT first.  Negociate as it were.  He’d have to take care of the kids solo, yet again. 

“NO.”

“But you didn’t even hear what I was asking.”

“Doesn’t matter.  NO.”

Apparently, Mr. IT had hit his breaking point.  Travel, working late, and the crazy “perfect storm” of concerts we’ve been in the past year had finally caused him to put his foot down. 

I protested a little, then I went to call Rina back.

“Wait.”

“What?”

“I’m fine with you going.  I just need to work through this.  I’m ok with it, I just need to say no a lot till I can get to yes.”

Did I mention he is the best husband in the world?  THE BEST! 

I’m totally working on recharging my stash of diaper whuffie to get me through next week. 

Wait.

What’s happening next week?

Well, since you asked, I’m seeing the Police.  Twice.

The first time will be Monday at Jones Beach.  I love seeing shows there.  Reminds me of fun times in high school and college.  I’m going with my college friend Liz.  Elvis Costello is opening.  When I bought the ticket, it was the last show of the Police’s second time around tour.  Then after I bought the tickets, they added another show the next day, making our show the penultimate show.  Then they added the big deal truly last show ever on August 7th at Madison Square Garden.  So that meant we were attending the penultimate Jones Beach show and the antepenultimate show of the tour, and ever. 

That was fine with me.  I saw them earlier in the summer, unexpectedly, at the Hollywood Bowl and saw them a good amount last year.  I could have gotten tickets for the MSG show but chose not to.

Then, I was looking on Stewart Copeland’s web site to see they had announced a concert for registered users to win a single ticket to the final show.  I don’t post on the site, and am a lurker in the community.  I joined to see set lists from the shows (why, I don’t know because they NEVER change, thanks to the rigidity of Mr. Sting.) Still, I’m registered as a user, and that was the only requirement.  Oh, that and being able to answer a specific question about Stewart that only a true fan (or someone who knew how to search the site) would know as a qualifier, and then asked for entries to be emailed with the winner to be announced in 2 weeks.  I sent in my answer and then forgot about it.

Last week, I got an email saying that I had won a ticket.  I didn’t quite believe it, but logging onto the site, I saw about 80 people who had also won.  Today, I picked up my single ticket at MSG’s box office.  I’m sitting in a side section next to the friggin stage!  Amazing!  I cannot believe my luck, and am so grateful this opportunity fell into my lap.   Thank you thank you thank you to Stewart Copeland and the folks who run his web site!

When I returned from the box office, I stopped by the bloodmobile truck outside of my office and made a donation.  Paying it forward as it were.  Whuffie must be accumulated by any means possible!

 

HOPE = the “Anti-BlogHer”

While I was attending BlogHer this past weekend (”Really?  You were there, because I haven’t read all that much about it on your blog or anywhere else!”) my colleague David was attending what was billed as the Last HOPE conference.   We both had the time of our lives at our respective conferences, but as we chatted real time we realized we were having very different experiences.  While BlogHer can be pink, soft, fluffy and pretty-smelling, HOPE seemed to be filled with guys in black t-shirts who didn’t smell all that good.  Nothing wrong with that in my book.  But of course, I wasn’t there, so I asked David to do a little guest posting on the blog with his report, in an effort to appeal to the testosterone laden among my readership.  Truth be told, I would have gone here in a second.  It’s in my backyard.  It’s my people.  But BlogHer got me first.  So HOPE got David.

<<

The Last HOPE Conference ran last weekend in NYC, attracting three thousand hackers from around the world.  The conference title is an acronym for Hackers On Planet Earth, and this was the “Last” HOPE because the hotel it has been in since 1994 is being replaced by retail space.

HOPE is run by Wiley author Emmanuel Goldstein, who also is the founder and editor  of 2600, the Hacker Quarterly, and the host of the weekly radio program Off the Hook.  To these attendees, he is the boy that pulled the sword from the stone, the hobbit that can be trusted with The One Ring, and the Rebel Alliance’s only hope against the Sith Lords.  Wiley was fortunate enough to sign Emmanuel to write The Best of 2600, which shipped just two weeks prior to the show.

While I was at the show to launch the book, and hundreds of attendees gladly lined up to buy that book, there was so much more going on than book sales.  Sessions started at 10 am on Friday and ran around the clock until Sunday afternoon.   I’ll get to the sessions shortly, but first a bit more about the ‘distractions’.  There were exhibitors selling soldering kits, lockpick tools, t-shirts, and assorted swag.  There was a huge Lego area for lonely boys to build dinosaurs and robots and such.  The relax & recharge area featured over a dozen hammocks.  I was amazed that these were frequently full; who sleeps in a hammock that a strange hacker was just drooling in?  One of the most exciting areas was Lockpick Village.  In this corner of the hotel vendors and hobbyists mixed, selling lockpicking tools and how-to manuals, or refining their skills with an assortment of locks.  I watched in amusement as an eight year old boy received and totally absorbed a lockpicking lesson; that kid’s teachers don’t stand a chance.

I was running the Wiley table solo, so I couldn’t get to sessions.  I would have loved to have attended the Biohacking session, which promised exciting new follow-ups to questions raised in the 2006 session “Sex Hacking”.  There was a session that discussed all of the many data-filled portable devices carried by business travelers, and what fun a bored hacker might have with these devices hanging out at a restaurant or an airport.  Another session talked about how to get out of the Feds’ new high-tech handcuffs.  The description of that session was priceless, and included this line: “everybody knows how to get out of the cuffs that local law enforcement uses, but the Feds have started to use new high-tech restraints.  Stop by and learn all about the design strengths and vulnerabilities of these new cuffs…”

If somebody manages to pull together another HOPE Conference after the hotel turns into a Claire’s Boutique, here are some tips for future attendees:

·         Be anonymous.  The badges were tombstone-shaped and no badge had a name on it.  Which reminds me, here’s a shout-out to my new friends Bunny, Shogun, Phreak, and Ph00zball; keep it real, players.
·         Wear black.  T-shirts are the way to go, and be sure to hit the Think Geek t-shirt store before heading out.  Favorite phrases on t-shirts:  “I think that stripper really liked me”  and “Resistance is futile (if < 1 ohm)”
·         Bring Red Bull, beef jerky, and adult diapers.  You really don’t want to use the restroom there.

>>

Thanks David.  That was more than I “hoped” for, especially that last line.  But don’t despair, HOPE appears to be poised to be reborn from the ashes….the NEXT HOPE is scheduled for 2010.  Mark your calendars now!

 

You say Toyota, I say toy yoda…

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.  Courtesy of A Girl and Her Mac…

 

Vote early and often

Maybe you don’t work in book publishing in the NYC.  But if you do, you’re well aware that at times it seems like there are not a lot of straight, single men working in the field.  Gawker has noticed this, and for the second year in a row is conducting the most tongue-in-cheek “Hottest Guy of Book Publishing 2008 Poll.”  As they said last year…

It’s like shooting fish in a huge, huge barrel with not so very many fish in it.

or

skinniest girl at fat camp

Trust me, they know of what they speak.  I’m married with kids, so it’s an amusement, but as a straight-outta-college single gal, it really restricted the dating pool.  I can laugh about it now, but 20 years ago, not so much.

This year, I’m proud (not really sure that is the right word, but I’ll use it) to say there are two Wiley employees in the running.  And while I can’t say whether I voted for one of them or the cool-looking surfer dude, I can call your attention to the contest to drum up votes for one of these fine gentlemen.  Sure, this is about the most un-PC blog post you will see from me, but I’ve got to support our boys.

 

BookExpo Day 1

It’s one for the books.  Day one at BookExpo was pretty great.  The crowd was just about what we expected, it being LA and a Friday.  I think traffic will be heavier today, but hopefully as manageable as it was yesterday.

We had many, MANY blogtalkradio interviews, and all went smashingly.   There were all great - Mike Robbins, of “Focus on the Good Stuff” was charming and gave a really good interview.  It was very exciting to have David Iglesias sit down and chat as well.   Marsha Collier was a total pro, as always.  Dr. Ruth, celebrating her 80th birthday shortly, also gave a really fun interview.  You can catch all of these at Blogtalkradio.com.

Erin Manning was a total rock star.  She gave a really amazing demo on how to take better pictures, which attracted a crowd of people hanging on her every word.  Seriously, the woman knows how to work a crowd.  I even learned a thing or two from her, and plan on experimenting on IT Boy when I get back. 

I also had many celebrity sightings outside of the Wiley booth.  Slash, Mario Lopez, Barbara Walters, and Jackie Collins were all seen out and about.  I also got a wonderful photo of Marsha with George Hamilton that I will post later.  You’d think she was at Madame Tussauds, but, no, he was real.

The Digital Lifestyle concept has been interesting.  The BTR interviews are going great.  Erin was super, and I love having digital photo frames on the wall to upload pictures that we’re taking real time.  No one is using the laptop for a demo area, so I have been tweeting there, but mostly, it’s not being used.  But it’s giving us a lot of ideas for what to do next year (did I really say next year?)

All in all, I don’t think I have ever worked as hard at a BEA as I did yesterday.  I did find some time to snag a few galleys, including the new Philippa Gregory book (I love me some historical fiction) and will be sharing my ill-gotten gains with my friends when I return home. 

Today, Don Felder and Hugh Hefner will be in the booth.  I predict a madhouse, even if the Girls Next Door don’t show up.  I’m off to day 2 - talk to you on the other side!

 

 

LA Stories

Yes, it has been a long time between posts.  Odds are, it may get longer.  I leave tomorrow for BookExpo, and am frantically trying to get everything done that needs to be done when you are staring down 2 weeks out of the office, plus 2 employee’s maternity leaves that are fast approaching. 

For those who wonder about these kind of things, here are the authors that will be at our booth at BEA.  We’re doing BlogTalkRadio interviews during the show, and I will post links for those who want to listen to the interviews live…

• Hugh Hefner, with his three Playmate “Girls Next Door”, Holly, Bridget and Kendra
• Steven Watts, author of “Mr Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream”
• Recording artist and former Eagle, Don Felder (Heaven & Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001))
• Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appetit Magazine, Barbara Fairchild (Bon Appétit: Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook); 
• Career Specialist Joyce Lain-Kennedy (Job Interviews for Dummies)
• Erin Manning (Portrait and Candid Photography: Photo Workshop)
• Award winning filmmaker Brian Michael Stoller (Filmmaking For Dummies)
• eBay queen Marsha Collier (Starting an eBay Business For Dummies)
• former US Attorney David Iglesias (In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration)
• author Peter Economy (Writing Children’s Books For Dummies)
• Marty Brounstein (Communicating Effectively for Dummies)
• Etiquette expert, Sue Fox (Business Etiquette for Dummies)

Audio for the shows can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Wiley

Combine that with Dr. Ruth’s 90th birthday party, many meetings with publishing partners and authors, and trying to find time to see “Sex and the City: The Movie”, well, you’ve got quite a week going.  Not to mention I leave LA on Sunday morning to head to Orlando to work at our booth at Microsoft TechEd.  Then, I return, and make a trip to Indianapolis for a Dummies meeting.  Sleep?  That’s for wimps, and the airplane.

If you are in LA for BookExpo, please stop by the Wiley booth at the show (947/1047) and say “hi”.  I’ll be the frazzled chick in the Digital Lifestyle t-shirt.