Posts Tagged read
Selling to Indies ONLY
I often get emails like this from authors who want to reach our community of indie booksellers and have made the decision to only sell to indies and that should get an assist, so here it is: Here is a copy of the email I recieved and following is the press release.
from: George Spitzer, Nebbadoon Press
Storytelling at its best, hilarious and serious at the same time.
Nebbadoon Press, as policy, does not sell to Borders, BN, or Costco! Only to independent bookstores…Order direct from www.CelloStories.com or fax consignment form to 805-456-0167
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: P.O. Box 91244, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
800-500-9086 (phone); 805-456-0167 (fax)
George@NebbadoonPress.com; www.CelloStories.com
The Day I Almost Destroyed the Boston Symphony
by John Sant’Ambrogio
Memoir takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the sublime enjoyment and occasional disasters experienced while performing upwards of 10,000 concerts always thought of this noble and sublime occupation as being devoid of humor. After all, classical music is often called serious music. I should have known better.”
Cellist John Sant’Ambrogio’s career spans more than 50 years and (still counting) 10,121 concerts. He has just released The Day I Almost Destroyed the Boston Symphony and Other Stories, a memoir containing nearly 70 stories reflecting his myriad experiences as a former member of the Boston Symphony and Principal Cellist with the Casals Festival Orchestra and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Ranging from the dramatic to the poignant, the utterly hilarious to the very serious, chapters include “My Musical Crime,” “On Teaching Your Own Children: Don’t! Well, Maybe,” “Is This Your Real Job?,” “Those Newcomers,” “Concertmasters I Have Known,” “Who’s the Best?,” and many more.
Replete throughout the book is the self-awareness and humor indicative of a man who knows himself well and forgives himself too. As Sant’Ambrogio notes, “Just before I left the BSO, a friend said, “John, we will have to hire two cellists to replace you: one to play for you, and one to talk for you.”
The Day I Almost Destroyed the Boston Symphony and Other is available at www.CelloStories.com and at select independent bookstores.
# # #
For more information or to contact the author for media commentary or interviews, email George@NebbadoonPress.com or visit www.CelloStories.com.
There are no new problems. Only old solutions. Let your fingers do the talking.
Posted by Wanda in Social Networking on March 31, 2010
Have a question, need an idea, want to consolidate your email addresses, buy a smart phone, find an old beau, need day care, car care, or air balloon ride…Remember, there is a community of problem solvers at your fingertips. There are thousands of sites that search, and gather into one place millions of resources and there is one for your new problem. So, don’t reinvent the wheel or lamely skin the cat. Work smarter, not harder. This list was compiled from contributions made at the first Southern Social Networking Summit. Plans for the second are in progress and to be announced soon.
Readers, Aggregators, & Search Engines
http://bloglines.com/ It’s the same internet minus the clutter
www.google.com/reader read it in one place
http://www.google.com/ check out all of the options on google, endless (http://wave.google.com)
http://www.icerocket.com/ blog search (use Big Buzz to search everywhere)
http://clusty.com/ the clustering search engine
http://popurls.com/ the genuine news aggregator for the latest web buzz
http://www.ask.com/ search engine
http://alltop.com/ all the hot stories
Friends, Fans, Followers, Members, Groups, Networks, Tribe, All potential customers of yours – Herein Lies the 14 Keys
Posted by Wanda in Social Networking on March 17, 2010
Social Networking Sites
I am making the assumption if you are reading this you are familiar with MySpace & Facebook & Twitter. All social networks that today dominate the online social scene. Here is a few more:
http://foursquare.com/ check in, find your friends, unlock your city
Use Foursquare to reward your customers. Here’s how: http://foursquare.com/businesses/
This might be the single best way to turn your online community on to your in store community. Foursquare now includes every town, not just the big ones, so if you don’t look at another link, look at this one!
http://www.indiebound.org/ be a part of the story
This is another most excellent way to connect with customers. The think about indiebound is that these are people who actively care about indie retailers by virtue of their involvement in being part of the story. Put you profile page up and stay connected. It’s easy and free!
http://getglue.com the network that sticks to you
This is a great place to find consumers that love books and talk about them. They also talk about everything else so it is a way to recommend a specific title or event. You can also connect this to Facebook and Twitter as you can with most social networking applications.
http://www.meetup.com/ Find a group. Start a group.
This is another great way to find your local customers online – start a meetup of your own or find bookclub meetups, etc. and invite them to your store to meet or for a book talk or any creative way you desire.
http://www.linkedin.com/ Build your network
This is a social network directed at building colleagues and connections. It is a great place to look for employees and to let folks know that you need to hire. It is also good for connecting with other folks in the industry and their folks and their folks and…
http://gowalla.com/ Go out. Go discover. Go share.
This is similar to Foursquare only I don’t see how businesses claim themselves and offer prizes. But I will spend some more time with it and let you know what I learn. But again, connecting the virtual and real is a compelling idea so look into it.
http://www.librarything.com/ catalog your books online
This is a community of a million booklovers. Need I say more?
Happy Hunting!
Please don’t make me feel stupid six ways.
Posted by Wanda in Social Networking on February 17, 2010
I love to be productive and I mostly love to learn new things. But I don’t like for the learning curve to be so challenging that I feel stupid. I don’t like feeling stupid. My younger brother and I were often partners in games of Trivial Pursuit, when it was all the rage, and I remember him saying to me – “I can’t believe I spent $50 to feel this stupid.” That, in a nutshell, is how I feel about trying to use some online programs. Granted, in most cases, I’m not paying for them, but even still, please don’t make me feel stupid, even for free.
From the Links List page of this blog, I have pulled out what I term the productivity tools. I’m going to try to present them in a manageable format and hopefully, you can just use what you need, and not bother with the rest. The cool thing about all of the online tools is that it is like a brain-matching game. Finding someone who has a brain that matches mine is my goal (except their brain has the patience, intelligence, education, motivation, desire, and skill to build an on-line tool). Let the brain-matching begin.
I have divided these productivity tools into three sections. The first I will call Strategies for Getting Organized & Beyond. The second will be Paper Clip Sites – These are sites that do one thing really well as does a paper clip. And the third is called Scary Excellent – Sites that have Great Reputations but Scare Me. The second and third sections will follow in blog posts over the next few days. On to section one:
Productivity Tools
Strategies for Getting Organized & Beyond
http://www.stumbleupon.com/ discover the best of the web in less time
I checked books as my interest and did stumble upon a lot of cool sites but for the most part, I became irritated about not having any control over what come up though this could be a great site for finding content you might never see otherwise, like a phone booth that was turned into a lending library. It feels more like a time waster than a time saver.
http://www.shareaholic.com/ the better way to share across Twitter, Facebook, Email and More
I find this site somewhat overwhelming but also appealing. I will go back and take another look at it as it looks like something that would be worth the one-time investment to get it set up…Looks like a timesaver to me.
http://springpadit.com/ a free personal organizer and online notebook
It appeals to me. I don’t have an account yet but Gary Vaynerchuk likes it and I like Gary’s brain so it might be a match. It is one I will go back and spend more time with but I also have to say I am really digging my Google Calendar and it has helped me get more organized. (It reminded me I needed to get this blog post up tomorrow so I went ahead and started the draft tonight. I’m shooting for one post a week.)
http://www.evernote.com/ Remember everything.
Okay, I dig this. I love the clipping notion. Again, I will need to set up an account and get back to you but I will visit this again.
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ online to-do list and task manager
It looks like it will do everything one would need as a task management tool but it seems a little too advanced for me. I can’t really explain why it makes me feel that way but I’d probably visit the seemingly easier options.
http://gtdiq.com/ test your getting things done IQ
I am a huge David Allen fan and relate to his brain and love his strategies.
15 Links to Twitter Success
Posted by Wanda in Social Networking on January 24, 2010
I hope you have gotten a Twitter account. It is so simple to set up and use…and one day, having a microblogging account will be as expected of a business as having a telephone, or a website. Don’t underestimate the power of this tool. It’s email on steroids
And even if you are unwilling to set up a Twitter account for your store, be willing to search twitter and listen in on what customers are saying about your store. This kind of marketing feedback would have cost thousands of dollars less then ten years ago. The following Twitter tools are great for searching:
http://monitter.com/ monitor twitter
http://search.twitter.com/ see what’s happening right now
http://topsy.com/ a search engine powered by tweets
With an account, there are tons of tools to make posting to your Twitter account easy and effective. A book jacket would be considered a picture. I use tvider.com from my telephone and I am astonished how easy it is to update from the blackberry. To share video or pictures, try one of these:
http://tvider.com easily tweet photos, videos, & audio
http://twitpic.com/ share photos on twitter
http://yfrog.com/ your images & video on twitter
http://twitgoo.com/ share pictures or video
Twitter can also be a great tool for locating content to share with your customers via your blog or newsletter or in store. Here are a few links that will gather twitter content for you and help you manage your own Twitter account:
http://tweetmeme.com/ hottest links on twitter
http://www.tweetdeck.com/ your personal browser
http://hootsuite.com the professional twitter client
And finally, a few for the bookseller that is sold on Twitter and looking for ways to enhance their efforts. These tools allow you to explore twitter aps, find like-minded twitterers, get your twitter ranking, tweet from your phone, and search twitter panels on topics of interest to you and your customers.
http://oneforty.com/ find, rate, collect, share twitter apps
http://twitter.grader.com get your twitter ranking
http://blastfollow.com/ follow people on twitter via #hashtag
http://www.tweetie.com/ tweet panels
http://ubertwitter.com/ twitter for mobile platforms
Vimeo, CrushIt! & GaryVee — all excellent resources
Posted by Wanda in Social Networking on January 12, 2010
Crush It! with Gary Vaynerchuk from Nicki Leone on Vimeo.
Hear Gary Vaynerchuk on indies, silliness, social media, Web2.0, & more.
Southern Social Networking Summit a HIT!
Posted by Wanda in Social Networking on January 8, 2010
I’m back from the Southern Social Networking Summit in Greenville, SC. It was an exhausting & exhilarating two days. I want you to know that I am busy compiling the results of everyone’s efforts. I have nearly 40 oversized pages of notes taken by the break-out groups that I am organizing and will be posting over the next week in this blog. So many people have written blog posts, posted videos & photos, twittered and facebooked, and I want to take the time to thank everyone. And I want to share these links with you. The video clips include testimonials and a word from Gary Vaynerchuk.
Video Clips (posted by Trey Pennington)
Photos (taken by Curtis Rogers from the SC State Library)
Calling All Activists, Artists, Booksellers, Bloggers, Chefs, Crafters, Dancers, Designers, Educators, Festival Organizers, Government Workers, Human Resources, Internet Engineers, Jugglers, Librarians, Marketers, Non-Profit Executives, Publishers, Retailers, Singers, Social Networkers, Twitterholics, Videographers, Writers, Wine Guys, & Zookeepers…
Posted by Wanda in Social Networking on November 23, 2009
to the first ever
Southern Social Networking Summit (#ssns)
Meeting on the application of on-line social networking to the arts, humanities & business
Dates:
Wed., Jan. 6, 2010 (starting at 10am) & Thu., Jan. 7 (ending by 3pm)
Location:
Hyatt Regency Greenville, 220 North Main Street, Greenville, South Carolina, USA 29601
Tel: +1 864 235 1234 Fax: +1 864 232 7584
Mention code: SSNS when making reservation
Hotel Reservations Online
Thorny Details:
Registrants should have a working knowledge of the Internet and already be making some social networking efforts. Minimally, you should have a Twitter account and Facebook account set up, and have either a blog or website or both that is maintained somewhat regularly. Meals will be provided except dinner which will be dutch treat.
This event is free to the participants who stay overnight at the Hyatt Regency Greenville. The room rate is $99. If you do not stay at the Hyatt, the cost is $135. There will be no refunds. You will be required to forward your reservation confirmation for the Hyatt Regency Greenville to wanda@sibaweb.com to receive a special discount coupon and avoid the $135 summit registration fee.
You must pre-register by Jan. 1, 2010, Limited to the first 150 people. Every participant is invited to bring promotional materials, products, brochures, or other materials that they would like to share with other participants. Take this opportunity to increase your visibility across the south. We are all in this together.
Motivation and strategy:
The arts & humanities have made strides in applying insights from their field to social networking, particularly those involving reaching their direct constituents. So far, however, it has had a minimal impact on what may be the most significant challenge: reaching the masses. This meeting brings together those from varied domains to brainstorm about policies and programs aimed at invigorating our social networking efforts. The main thrust of the meeting will be to brainstorm about practical solutions to specific problems that are impeding progress in dealing with the ever changing explosive opportunities in social networking. There will be four sessions (see below), each focusing on a different broad topic area. Each begin with a briefing by a domain expert who will provide background information about the topic and propose some concrete problems for the group to address. Brainstorming will then take the form of breakout group meetings followed by larger group presentations. The four topic areas are:
- How to make time for all the social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn, Glue, Google, Delicious, Wet Paint, Net Galley, Author Buzz, Library Thing, Squidoo, FourSquare, CloudProfile and so many more…
- What’s on-line that will feed my work? What’s free and how do I get it? Marketing Partnerships and how to make them work?
- What does the research tell us? What trends are coming down the pipe? And how do we manage it all with small staffs and smaller budgets?
- Increasing the effectiveness of our combined efforts. How do we move the conversation from insiders to outsiders?
Schedule (subject to adjustments)
Day 1, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010
- 9:00-10:00 Breakfast (please come and meet the other participants)
- 10:00–11:00 Welcome and Presentation on Motivation & Strategy for Successful Social Networking with business guru and wine guy Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It! http://garyvaynerchuk.com/
- 11:00-11:30 Break & Book Signing with Gary Vaynerchuk & David Allen
- 11:30-12:30 Introduction and questions for brainstorming: How to make time for all the social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Ning, LinkedIn, Glue, Google, Delicious, Wet Paint, Net Galley, Author Buzz, Library Thing, Squidoo, and so many more with the world’s leading authority on personal and organizational productivity David Allen, author of Making It All Work, Getting Things Done, and Ready for Anything. http://www.davidco.com/
- 12:30-1:00 Break & Booksigning with David Allen
- 1:00 -2:00 Breakout group brainstorming (over lunch)
- 2:00 -2:30 Breakout group reports
- 2:30-3:00 Break
- 3:00-4:00 Introduction and questions for brainstorming: What’s on-line that will feed my work? What’s free and how do I get it? Marketing Partnerships and how to make them work with social media marketing & viral marketing scientist Dan Zarrella, author of The Social Media Marketing Book. http://danzarrella.com/
- 4:00-4:30 Break & Book Signing with Dan Zarrella
- 4:30-5:30 Breakout group brainstorming
- 5:30-6:30 Breakout group reports
- Dinner 7:00 Table 301 Family of Restaurants (Dutch Treat with a 20% discount to all)
Day 2, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010
- 8:00-9:00 Breakfast
- 9:00-10:00 Introduction and questions for brainstorming: What does the research tell us? What trends are coming down the pipe? And how do we manage it all with small staffs and smaller budgets? Expert to be named soon.
- 10:00-11:00 Breakout group brainstorming
- 11:00-12:00 Breakout group reports
- 12:00-1:10 Lunch to include SIBA presentation
- 1:10-2:10 Introduction and discussion: Increasing the effectiveness of our combined efforts. How do we move the conversation from insiders to outsiders? Expert to be named soon.
- 2:10-3:00 Group discussion and closing reflections
Twitter Summary:
Southern Social Networking Summit #ssns: Greenville, SC Jan w/Gary Vaynerchuk, David Allen, Dan Zarrella- http://www.sibaweb.com/ssns
SIBA Holiday Catalog Consumer Survey Results to Date
Posted by Wanda in Uncategorized on January 17, 2008
Holiday Survey Results as of 1/17/2008 – we had 728 consumers respond to the survey placed in the Winter Holiday Catalog…that is a nearly 6% return rate
70% (down 3% from last year) of consumers say that the make a distinction between local retailers and corporate chains when making buying decisions.
41% (up 5% from last year) of consumers knew that local retailers contributed up to three times more revenue to their communities than corporate chains.
A whopping 89% (up 2% from last year) claimed that knowing that local retailers contributed more to their communities would influence their buying decisions.
Nearly 20% of the consumers who claimed to make no distinction between local retailers and corporate chains then indicated that the information that local retailers contribute up to three times more revenue than their corporate counterparts would indeed influence their buying decisions. While only 8% (down 2% from last year) had visited the Authors ‘Round The South site, 80% (same as last year) of consumers indicated they would visit the ARTS site in the future…
Lady Banks Bookshelf
