Category Archives: On writing

Influence: Art, Religion, Government, You

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I had an idea to start a blog called “you are what you read,” and perhaps do book reviews and stuff like that.  I’m an avid reader and I have a few writing projects, and the idea of the content you consume (food or the written word or music, etc.) influencing who you are, what you think, how you act, what you believe, etc. is really interesting to me.

I did a quick google search to see if the domain was taking (it is) and who was using this brilliant phrase that I thought I came up with :p  I found a post on the rt:21 blog titled You Are What You Read that intrigued me.

It starts off with the question: “what are the ethical implications of using live animals in art?”

The post focuses on an artist in Nicaragua who supposedly tied a dog up and left it to starve… the “art” was watching the dog starve. Why?

According to hundreds of blogs and news articles circulating on the Internet, the artist intended for the dog to starve to death during the course of the exhibition. Vargas intended to raise awareness of the public’s hypocrisy by comparing what happened to this dog to a burglar named Natividad Canda Mayrena, who was mauled to death by two rottweilers in Costa Rica while the police and onlookers watched.

Interesting… and of course, beyond contraversial.

Apparently the dog didn’t starve… they fed it regularly.  This is where it gets really interesting.  The stories online, in news, etc. were all very critical and decried the outrage… without knowing or reporting the dog was not starving.

It seems the art was less about a dog and more about YOU and ME.

Exposición No 1 (the name of that work of art) is one component of a larger work of art called Eres lo que lees, which employs misinformation and manipulates mass media via the Internet.

I remember reading something from Chris Knudsen (I think) about Twitter, in the very early days… his concern was that something could get picked up and BELIEVED in a mob mentality manner, without any facts, basis, etc.  I tried to find it on his blog but I couldn’t… anyway, the point is, misinformation has the ability to manipulate what we think…. read on:

One of the aims of this project was to demonstrate the hypocrisy in real world and art world ethics. Take a dog off the streets and put it into a gallery and it becomes an ethical phenomenon, while stray dogs and most real human suffering are ignored or given minimal attention.

There are plenty of headlines TODAY that are getting front page news while real, bigger issues are getting minimal attention… 🙁  Read on:

This illustrates how easily we can be manipulated into believing what news outlets want us to. The title, “You Are What You Read,” illustrates this point very well. If one artist can manipulate over four million people around the world, imagine the ability that governments, corporations, and religious entities have to do the same.

That last sentence has stuck with me over the last week.  PR and marketing and information and misinformation… how powerful!  And many times, we’re just tools…. right?

You can read the original post that inspired this one right here.

Bloggers: Ready for hate?

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I came across an article in the online San Francisco Chronicle titled 20 habits of highly effective job seekers.  This was written based on Ford Myers stuff… I have met Ford a few times at conferences and we’ve communicated outside of that.  Nice guy.

I didn’t read his article (too long for my attention span), but I skimmed it to see if he mentioned JibberJobber again (that would have been cool!).  He didn’t 🙁

I was interested in the 60+ comments the article got, though… they were… scathing!  Hardly anything good from those comments!  From accusations of being self-serving to “utter twaddle,” from BS to “worst article I ever read in my life…”

I’ve felt for a long time that getting comments from a newpaper article compared to comments on a blog is night and day… I don’t know who is reading and commenting on the regular articles but if you read it too long you’ll lose all faith in humanity.  These people are mean, and cruel, and unforgiving.

And, they can provide an opportunity for growth as a blogger.

From the feedback I see in Ford’s article I see a grand opportunity to tighten the writing and message.  Instead of 20 points, how about go with Covey’s example and do 7 habits?

Instead of calling these “strategies,” maybe they should be called mindsets (many have to do with attitude), or tactics?

How about drilling down on some of them and going into more depth, instead of just presenting them at a high level?

As blogs become more commonplace, and bloggers get their material in more traditional media, you better:

  1. Be ready for scathing, hateful, unintelligent comments and feedback (and a few nasty stalkers),
  2. Figure out how to improve the quality of your writing (grammar, spelling, word choice, etc.),
  3. Ensure the message is high quality,
  4. Figure out how to not be self-promotional… or not overdo it.

What do you think?  Do bloggers need to step up (especially when not writing on their own blog)?

Want to be an author?

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This is one of the most interesting reads I’ve seen on being an author and the publishing industry.

I’m working on my third book (Eight Lunches) and have a fourth on the back burner. I’m addicted to writing books, I guess.

Check out Thom Singer’s experience and learning from a publishing industry conference: The Changing Faeces of the Publishing Industry.

Eight Lunches Update

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Folks… WOW.  I asked for help and you came through, thank you!

I closed the comments from the original post because feedback is coming in and I need to digest it all and take time to rework the book.  This will be the third draft… and then I’ll send it out for another round of review.  Anyone who leaves a comment on THIS post will get an email with that draft, hopefully in the next few weeks.

I’ll share some feedback that I’ve gotten as soon as I get permission from the people who have given feedback.

THANK YOU!

Eight Lunches Excerpt & Request for Feedback

UPDATE: I am not sending out any more versions of THIS draft, but will send out versions of THE NEXT draft… just leave a comment on this other post and I’ll shoot it to you when I’m ready.  THANK YOU so much for helping me get this far!

I just finished editing (second draft) my third book, which is titled Eight Lunches.  You’ll see why it has that title in the excerpt below, which is essentially the intro (or, chapter zero).

Writing a book is easy and hard.  Okay, maybe it’s just hard… writing isn’t hard for me, but when SHARE my books/ideas with people, very smart people, I become vulnerable (an easy target).  But that’s the way it is… and it’s time to become vulnerable… so here goes… if you want to review my draft just leave a comment on this post and I’ll send you the book (I had people contact me directly but it’s going to be easier if you leave a comment). What I’d like is this:

  • an HONEST review – what did you like or not like?
  • SUGGESTIONS?  What needs to be beefed up?  What am I missing?
  • any grammar fixes needed.
  • confidentiality – please don’t share the book with anyone YET.

I’ll share more of my vision for this book in a future post… here’s the excerpt:

EIGHT LUNCHES

“I’m about ready to wrap it up and get a job,” said Paul, clearly dejected.

“Why? I thought things were going pretty good… what’s really going on with your business?” asked Jason. They were at Kneaders, a local sandwich shop, for their almost-monthly lunch. They started these lunches about a year earlier, after they met at a network meeting and realized they lived in the same neighborhood.

Jason’s business was a couple of years older than Paul’s and Paul asked if they could meet regularly to compare notes and share ideas and leads. They both worked out of home offices so they didn’t get the face-to-face socialization they had at their corporate jobs. There’s nothing wrong with a workday without a commute, or unnecessary interruptions by colleagues, or sharing a community fridge, but both agreed that meeting for lunch with someone who has similar business challenges is more than refreshing.

“Considering how well your business is doing, I’m embarrassed to admit where I’m at. I mean seriously, I read your blog and see all the comments and announcements and can’t even imagine having a business as successful as yours.” Paul was desperate to know how to fix his business but it was hard to open up, or ask for help, from Jason.

“Ha, that’s funny,” Jason said with a big grin, “looks can be deceiving!” Everything can be deceiving, he thought – from website traffic to blog posts to buzz about your business.

“I’ve really been thinking about my business and where I’ve come from over the last few years. I actually started writing down some ideas… principles of my success, that have helped make my business what it is today. What if we meet more regularly and talk about these principles and how they apply to your business?”

“Sounds intriguing Jason, but I’m not sure doing what you have done will help my business-our businesses aren’t even in the same industry. You market online, I sell locally. Yours is a web-based product, mine is not technical at all.”

“I realize that, but remember, I’m talking about principles. It shouldn’t matter what industry we’re talking about, or how big your business is, or even who your customers are. I’ve actually been thinking about developing a system for entrepreneurs to help them with their business. I’m not a business coach, and I don’t plan on becoming one, but I love to understand business strategies and systems. Talking about these success principles will allow me to test the ideas in a totally different industry – what do you think?”

“Sounds too good to be true,” said Paul, chuckling as he’s thinking it probably won’t help.

“Maybe it is too good to be true, but I’m game to try it! I’m sure it will help my business too, as I’ll have to critically evaluate my own business and how well I’m doing with these ideas.”

“Okay, I’m sold… what next?” Said Paul, thinking it couldn’t make his business any worse.

“How about we start next Friday? We can have lunch here every Friday from one to three, for the next eight weeks.”

“Perfect. What do I need to prepare for next week?” asked Paul.

“I don’t know – let me figure out what we’ll talk about next week. One thing, though. To make this work I want you to be comfortable sharing stuff you might not have shared with anyone else. I might ask you some tough questions and to make this work you need to be honest with me and yourself. I’ve had to ask the same questions of myself as I’ve grown my own business… agreed?”

Paul didn’t even hesitate. “Not a problem Jason, at this point I’m willing to do what I need to get my business back on track.”

“Cool – see you next Friday,” replied Jason, wondering if he knew what he had just committed to!

And then we jump into the first lunch (aka, chapter 1)!

You don’t “write a blog” … #petpeeve

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My heavens, every time I hear this I cringe.

“I wrote a blog…”

No, you didn’t, you newbie!  You wrote a BLOG POST.

You don’t write an envelope, do you?  NO.  You write a letter.

“Hold on, I’m writing an envelope to grandma!”

Get it?

Blog vs. blog post.

If you blog, learn the difference.

(now, someone find me a ladder so I can get off the soapbox :p)

Do You Use Blogs As Marketing Tools

I started my business with lots of money… no wait, no money.  No money.  Lots of time, but no money.

No one wanted to talk to me, because I was a nobody and people were waiting to see if I was a flash-in-the-pan entrepreneur.

So, with no money, and nobody wanting to talk to me, and lots of time, I wrote.

And I wrote, and I wrote.

I wrote blog posts and articles, and I wrote lots and lots of comments on other blogs.

This became what I now call part of my Blog Marketing Strategy.

If you want to get your name and brand out there, and find evangelists and customers, and get traditional press and new media buzz, you NEED to incorporate blogs into your marketing strategy.

I put together a video recording, about 2 hours, of what I did as part of my blog marketing strategy.  You can get it for $50.  It is one of my favorite recordings, because I LIVED this stuff.

And it worked for me.  And it can work for you.

Here’s what Kathy Bitschenauer, Certified Career Management Coach, had to say about it:

GREAT webinar, loved the way you presented it, and gained a ton of new information and explanations of things that I had not understood, such as what’s the value of Technorati, or the ways to use Google Alerts to your advantage. This is one I’ll review over and over. And I learned how important it really is to get going on creating a blog and writing in it.

Tools.  Your own blog. Other blogs.

Strategy and Tactics.

This webinar is AWESOME (yeah, I’m biased).

If you want it you can order it here.  Or learn more here.

(update: 12/28/09 – had to turn off comments as something with blogs and marketing gets a TON of spam comments.)

Blog Etiquette – How To Write About Someone Else

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My mind is in online etiquette (netiquette) as I’m finishing up my netiquette book.

This morning in my Google Alerts I found out about a post someone wrote that referenced my book.  I have had the post up in a tab for a few hours trying to figure out how to handle it.  I was going to put a link to the post and a screenshot but I really don’t care to “out” this person… since it might be embarrasing to him.

I do, however, want to voice the issue, and share some blog etiquette 101, as I know a few people follow my blogging stuff.

There are specifically two things that this person did wrong.  In fact, as I think about what he did, the words “gross negligence” comes to mind.

Why?  Because he might have tried to write the post to get on my radar (not to be presumptious, but some people do that kind of thing (including ME))… but the reality is once he got there I was, as an ego-driven blogger, OFFENDED.

Okay, maybe all caps is too big.  But still, fixing these two things could have left him with a strong post and had me think highly of him.  Here are the two things:

  1. Link back to my *stuff* I say stuff loosely because he could have linked to my professional speakers site, or my LinkedIn book site, or my LinkedIn DVD site, or JibberJobber, or even the Amazon page for my LinkedIn book.  I have plenty of stuff for him to link to but not once did he link out.  He appears to be a new blogger (although a seasoned business person), so I’ll take this as a common mistake.
  2. Not include so much of the content from my book. His post takes the main points of an entry in my LinkedIn book’s appendix and lays it all out there.  This can be good (all publicity is good, right?) or bad (he didn’t ask permission to put all of that stuff there… I wonder if Seth Godin would like me to include one full page of his book text without permission?).  If nothing else, asking for permission would be all I needed… or linking to my book site would be good, but all I see here is my ideas on his blog with little attribution (he attributes me and the book, but no links).  It seems like that is just too much info to put in the blog post.

For point #2 I would suggest (if he were a blogging client) that he puts 2 or 3 or 4 points, and then says “to read the rest of Jason’s ideas, check out his book on Amazon or on his book blog.”

I try and do that all the time – quote a little bit of stuff from someone but point the readers to the original post (or source) for more.

Lesson to anyone using blogs as a business or marketing tool: respect others.  Stroke egos of bloggers.  Do that and you can create an army of evangelists for your stuff.

Now What Update

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If you followed my Multiple Streams of Income posts on JibberJobber you would know that I am an executive editor for my publisher for the Now What??? series.  I have lofty goals for this series… and today is a special day.  Why?  Check out part of an email I just got:

Hi Janet,

Congrats! Your book is officially at the printer. I’ll keep you
up to speed on how that goes and when we can ship you your
copies…

Your eBook is now live on the Happy About shopping cart. Feel
free to start sending folks there. It’s also attached.

Have a great weekend.

Mitchell

How terrific is that?

The first book was I’m on LinkedIn — Now What??? (currently in it’s second edition), the second was I’m on Facebook — Now What???, and this is officially the third book in my series!

Congratulations to Janet, newest author – Sept 4, 2009 is a special day for you!  The next special day is when a box of YOUR books arrives at your door – what a thrill!

Janet wrote a terrific blog post titled The Journey of Writing a Book.

I have a webinar that you should get if you think you have a book in you called Write Your Book.