When you think iPad think couch

This past weekend I read and watched many reviews on Apple's new iPad. What many of the reviewers were trying to figure out was how this new device would be used. Some looked at it as competition for the laptop. Others said it was like a oversized iPod touch. Still others wondered why the iPad did not have a built-in camera. Finally one reviewer said something that made sense to me. He said the iPad was for use on the couch because it is more a receptive device than a creative device.

Perfect.

He is right. I would not use an iPad as a replacement for my laptop. Instead I would use it while relaxing on a couch. Much like I'd read a book or watch television. In fact, I'd use it instead of paging through a book or flipping through the television remote.

From a publishing perspective, if people use the iPad in place of a conventional book then it is important to publish in all formats from print to digital. Early evidence shows during the first weekend over 200,000 books were downloaded. With around 300,000 total units sold during that time this means two book downloads for every three iPads sold. A huge number given the general slow pace of digital downloads sold in relation to how many e-books have sold industry wide most weeks.

Beyond the number of books downloaded so far, growth in iPad book sales will undoubtedly explode over the next several months. The reason is because, unlike other so-called e-readers, the iPad has a full color display and allows added content to be embedded in its pages. For example, imagine reading a cookbook and being able to click on a color photo and have a video screen appear showing the actual preparation of the recipe. Or how about a book about a famous musician whose recordings can be accessed from the pages of the book.

In the next several months, as developers are able to create new apps, the iPad will benefit from a wealth of new programs that no one yet has imagined.

We are only just scratching the surface on the capabilities of this ingenious device.

What do you think about the Apple iPad?

Can you see yourself owning an iPad at some point?

How would you use an iPad?

Achieving quality in all aspects of the book publishing experience

Okay, why am I writing about customer service on a blog that is mostly dedicated to book publishing?

I'll answer that in a minute.

First, today's encounter. I am an avid bike rider. My bike shop, Rock n' Road Cycle, is located here in Grand Haven, Michigan. This past weekend my bike began making grinding sounds. Fearing the worst I took it to my mechanic, Phil, at Rock n' Road. He took one look and determined my two year old bike needed a total rehab from a complete tune-up and the replacement of several key parts. To make matters worse, it would cost nearly two hundred dollars and would take the entire week to repair. This is something I expected since I ride my mountain bike around a hundred miles a week, mostly on dirt roads, and takes a quite a beating. Still, I wished I could have it back sooner.

Today, on the day I expected the bike back, Phil called to say the bottom bracket connected to the pedal mechanism unexpectedly needed to be replaced. And, he would have to order the part and it wouldn't arrive for nearly a week. He assured me, however, that I could ride the bike this coming weekend though I'd have to put up with a terrible grinding sound.

Late this afternoon I headed to the bike shop expecting to pick up a bike that was not quite right. To top things off, when I arrived at the bike shop, Phil was busy with another customer. He asked if I could wait. I replied rather caustically that I was getting used to waiting.

When Phil finally got to me he had a smile on his face. He told me he knew from my voice earlier in the day, that I was disappointed and decided to take one more look at my bike before I arrived. As a result he had found what had caused the noise and fixed it. My bike was now one hundred percent. He also noted on my receipt if the part in the bottom bracket gave me a problem he would repair it for free.

I left the bike shop giddy with excitement looking forward to tomorrow's ride.

Had I purchased my bike from a catalog or large chain store I probably would not have received the same kind of service.

Now, let me attempt to connect the dots between my bike story and book publishing.

Great books done right will provide readers with a satisfying experience. In the world of book publishing, where more and more books are self published, it becomes the job of the author to see to it that the reader (customer) is provided with an exceptional product (book). This means the book has to be well written, expertly edited, properly proofed, designed professionally, superbly printed, priced right and delivered on time.

Beyond the quality of the book it is also important to identify exactly who the target audience is and then efficiently engage that audience through effective marketing.

Sadly, today many authors are publishing through large self publishing houses that will pretty much release any book regardless of quality. Their junk in, junk out mentality with little emphasis on quality can result in a bad experience for both the author and reader.

Like Phil at Rock n' Road Cycle, it is important to go that extra mile to assure maximum satisfaction.

Take away thoughts:

• Are you providing great customer service?
• Do you give proper attention to quality in all aspects of the publication process?
• Have you identified your target audience and developed a realistic marketing plan?

The price of chasing your dreams

There are over two thousand Olympic athletes gathered from around the world in Vancouver for the 2010 games. Each athlete has a story and most have involved great sacrifice on the part of their families, friends and themselves. One such athlete is twenty-nine-year-old pairs skater Mark Ladwig who, with partner Amanda Evora, placed tenth in this years' Olympics.

Mark Ladwig was born and raised in Moorhead, MN, just across the Missouri River from Fargo, North Dakota. Like many kids in his town, Mark first laced on skates to play hockey but switched to figure skating when he was twelve. While in high school he met future wife Janet and they attended prom together, but just as friends. After graduation they stayed friends as Janet went on to college at North Dakota State and Mark pursued his dream to become a Olympic skater and moved to Bradenton, Florida to begin training at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex. They married in 2006 and their son Holden was born this past September.

Since leaving home ten years ago, Mark has worked as a busboy and server in several restaurants, driven the Zamboni at the ice arena and even was a part time disc jokey at a country radio station all the while training full time. A typical day finds him starting his training at 7 a.m. completing just in time to work at the Beach Bistro restaurant from 4 p.m. to midnight. Wife Janet worked as an interior designer until being laid off early in 2009 eventually taking a job at a local Target store. To pay for his training, which runs about twenty-thousand dollars a year, the couple has had to juggle finances and credit cards plus work odd jobs to make ends meet.

Mark and Janet Ladwig are just one example of what it takes to chase a dream.

In publishing, each day I receive several submissions from prospective authors. While some understand what it takes to achieve their dreams it is amazing how many have no idea that the road to publishing success is filled with hard work, sacrifice and even street smarts. Writing a book is just the beginning. Making the book content as good as can be requires a talented support team of editors, designers and proofers. Success in the marketplace is often dependent on the author's willingness to invest in and to work countless hours to get his or her book content in front of the right audience. It is every bit as difficult as the dream millions have of one day becoming an Olympian.

Take away questions:

• What are your dreams?
• Are they realistic?
• How are you pursuing them?
• Do you have the willingness and determination to chase your dreams?

Final thought:

Ray dropped out of school at fifteen. He had many jobs from ambulance driver to salesman. In his early fifties he decided to chase his dream and talked the owners of a California drive-in restaurant to sell him a franchise. Today the restaurant chain Ray Kroc founded, McDonalds, has over 31,000 restaurants serving 47 million customers each day.

Don't give up, it is never too late to chase your dreams.

Breaking the double space habit

As someone who reads a lot of author submissions, one habit I'd like to see broken is that of double spacing after each sentence. For anyone born during the personal computer age this is not an issue but for those who learned to type on a typewriter it is a hard habit to break.

To give a little history, double spacing was common during the time when all typefaces were mono spaced. A typewriter did not distinguish between the line width of a period an N or an M. All were tracked at the same width. Users put in two spaces after each sentence because it looked better. During the same era, when printing text was set by a professional typesetter, the typesetting machines only required one space after periods because the machine set type according to width and double spacing left too much space between sentences.

Enter the personal computer and so called desktop publishing. The software used for both design and in word processing use proportional type. This eliminates the need to double space between sentences.

So if you are in the over 40 age group and still double spacing it is time to adapt to modern technology in order to make your documents more readable and more conducive for the Web, communications materials and manuscripts.

Take away points

• Change is difficult and old habits die hard

• Adapting to new technology is important

• Being up to date is crucial in today's tech driven world

How will the iPad affect book publishing

I don't know about the rest of the world, but this past Wednesday I was following the minute-by-minute reports posted by CNBC covering the announcement of Apple's iPad. As an Apple devotee and a Mac user since the mid 1980s, I have learned that Steve Jobs is a visionary leader whose company produces products that work right out of the box. Every Mac (or for that matter, iPod) I've owned has performed beautifully and held up nicely. As someone in publishing I also know that e-books represent the future of many genres of book publishing.

A couple years ago I was intrigued by the introduction of Amazon's Kindle book reader. I've followed published reports on the sales success it has had and have heard from many friends and colleagues who not only own one but also love it. Some of them thought they would never use it but soon found it to be indispensable. The only drawback for me is that the Kindle is a dedicated single-function device in a world that is increasingly wanting multiple functions in their technology products.

In contrast the iPad is a multi-use device combining a book reader with so much more. The iPad will also have an iBooks store that will operate much as iTunes does for music and videos.

The iPad display is full color with the capabilities of adding publisher content such as author interviews, study questions, videos, etc. This enhanced content will allow users to have an enriched book reading experience. Imagine, too, if audio were combined with the printed content so the user could switch between text and audio depending on what works for them at that moment. So, for example, let's say you are in the middle of a novel and needing to head to work. Imagine getting in your car and being able to listen to it? From a publishing perspective the capabilities are endless.

Bottom line: For book publishing the iPad represents disruptive technology at its finest. Roll over Guttenberg, the iPad is on its way.

Are you keeping up with your new year's resolutions?

Okay, here we are only five days into the new year. By now, according to many studies, most of us have given up on our new year's resolutions. Why is that? Because as people we are habitual and we don't like change. New year's resolutions are all about change. There in is the conundrum.

For myself I have made all the standard resolutions from watching my diet to more exercise to keeping my office straightened. This year I also resolved to be more disciplined in posting my blog. Now here it is the fifth of January and I'm just now getting around to my first post.

I don't know about you but my work life is filled with business writing as part of my daily tasks. Some devices, such as my email inbox, are invasive technologies in that are right there in front of me whenever I log in to my computer. It is next to impossible to avoid checking my email. My phones, both the land line and cell, are also invasive. When my phones ring I answer.

There are other items in my work life are purely elective. If I don't schedule them I may not get around to doing them. My blog, for instance, is purely elective. My world is not going to come apart if I fail to post a new one. Other purely elective tasks include filing paperwork, upgrading my software and checking the toner in my printer.

Between invasive and purely elective are other work tasks which I'll call required tasks. These include doing the work I'm supposed to do in my regular workday. For me these include reviewing submissions from perspective authors, keeping on top of current projects and keeping up with current news so that I can continue providing value to my clients.

Conceptually there are three primary items that make up my work life:

Invasive technologies -- things that interrupt the daily work flow yet are so important they cannot be ignored

Required tasks -- those items I've been hired to do and must complete in order to earn my keep

Purely elective tasks -- those things that can be, and often are, ignored or put aside in the course of my daily work life

Think of your own work life.

What are your required tasks, your purely elective tasks and the invasive technologies that cannot be ignored?

What tricks or tips have you learned through your own experience?

And, as another year begins, what changes are you hoping to make to manage your daily work life?

Lessons from To Kill a Mockingbird

My favorite novel of all time is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I’m not alone in my adoration of her book. In fact a survey in 2008 in Britain ranked it above the Bible by respondents.

In the years since its publication in 1960 To Kill a Mockingbird has sold over 30 million copies, been translated into 40 languages and never has been out of print. Perennially it is on the New York Times top 100 books in terms of sales.

To put it mildly, To Kill a Mockingbird has been a phenomenal success.

From a marketing perspective what lessons can we learn from Harper Lee’s classic?

First, to provide a little context I’ve copied the following from its Wikipedia posting.

“Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up in the Southern town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she became close friends with the soon-to-be famous writer Truman Capote. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944–45), and then studied law at the University of Alabama (1945–49). While attending college, she wrote for campus literary magazines: Huntress at Huntingdon and the humor magazine Rammer Jammer at the University of Alabama. At both colleges, she wrote short stories and other works about racial injustice, a rarely mentioned topic on such campuses at the time.[3] In 1950, Lee moved to New York City, where she worked as a reservation clerk for British Overseas Airways Corporation; there, she began writing a collection of essays and short stories about people in Monroeville. Hoping to be published, Lee presented her writing in 1957 to a literary agent recommended by Capote. An editor at J. B. Lippincott advised her to quit the airline and concentrate on writing. Donations from friends allowed her to write uninterrupted for a year.[4]

Lee spent two and a half years writing To Kill a Mockingbird. A description of the book's creation by the National Endowment for the Arts relates an episode when Lee became so frustrated that she tossed the manuscript out the window into the snow. Her agent made her retrieve it.[5] The book was published on July 11, 1960. It was initially titled Atticus, but Lee renamed it to reflect a story that went beyond a character portrait.[6] The editorial team at Lippincott warned Lee that she would probably sell only several thousand copies.[7] In 1964, Lee recalled her hopes for the book when she said, "I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird.' ... I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected."[8] Instead of a "quick and merciful death", Reader's Digest Condensed Books chose the book for reprinting in part, which gave it a wide readership immediately.[9] Since the original publication, the book has never been out of print.”

Discussion points:

• Note that Harper Lee took two and a half years to write her book proving the importance of dedication both in time and writing excellence manuscript. Marketing rule number one: there is no substitution for talent.

• Ms. Lee used her friendship with a well known friend, in this case Truman Copote, to gain access to a top literary agent. In return, her agent sold her work to a large New York publishing house. It is important to use whatever connections we have to reach our intended audience. Marketing rule number two: use your connections well.

• Her publisher was able to get her book into the hands of Reader’s Digest which, at that time, was the most influential publication in the book publishing world. From there the book went viral. Times have changed, today the blogosphere is the place to get the word out about a promising book. Marketing rule number three: going viral is key to sales success.

It would be presumptuous to think that the works written by most authors measure up to Harper Lee’s classic. But the takeaway points are instructive to everyone whether they are publishing a book or about to have a job interview.

In summary:

• Talent and determination are important
• Connections matter
• Getting the word out is vitally important