This is the kind of story I love. A group of smart, twenty-something New Yorkers disenfranchised by traditional literary society/industry strike out on their own and create a new journal and intellectual salon. These writers and editors could have given up when all the doors slammed in their face. But they didn’t. They pushed on and created something new themselves. Now they are starting to gain national attention for their work.

They might not be raking in big salaries yet, but that’s beside the point. They are on the right path. They are on the path of opening doors themselves, not standing outside closed doors passively and waiting for them to open. There may be twists and turns on the path and it may get discouraging, but it’s essential to keep trying and keep learning. Most successful people have experienced plenty of failure as well, but the key thing is they learn from it and move past it.

Here’s the whole story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/fashion/new-yorks-literary-cubs.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

In September I launched a new social site, http://dudequote.me

This site lets visitors post their own original philosophical musings and share them with friends plus rate quotes from others. It’s another way to spur creativity and innovation. It’s also a way to look inside and find strength to overcome adversity- especially needed in this tough economy.

Visit Dudequote.me any time and post your unique quote. Hope you enjoy this recently published feature article that overviews my business ventures and writing projects (including the recently published e-book ”Small Business Rocket Fuel: Marketing Tools to Boost Revenue”) as well. It’s always exciting see your business through someone else’s eyes.

http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/wiltonbulletin/news/localnews/108643-the-business-of-writing-uplifting-quotes.html

No matter how crazy the economy gets, the things that can’t be taken away are aspects of your core personality. Creativity is one of these. Creativity is resilient, but there are still ways to feed it and grow it. One of these is through new and interesting experiences. These experiences can be used to build stories and spark new ideas.

My MBA program has been a tremendous idea sparker. As I look back on what I’ve learned over the past year plus, it’s been life-changing in many ways. It’s hard to believe that the end is growing ever closer.

Besides taking classes, new experiences can be gained through travel and meeting new people even at local conferences.

The new economy has given many of us a new perspective. Life isn’t all about what you can buy, but about what you can be.

In keeping with this philosophy, I’m hard at work on the next book in the “Small Business Rocket Fuel” series as well as finishing up novel 3 (really novel 4 except it jumped ahead and demanded to be worked on).

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Take a look at this interesting article on how experiences can benefit you more than be part of the “buy culture”.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-rethinking-prosperity-162216815.html

In another big shift towards digital publishing (e-books), the WSJ has just announced that it will work with Nielson BookScan to add e-book rankings to it’s bestseller list. This is an exciting change that will further increase the prestige of e-books. It also serves to better align the bestseller list with total books sales. The two were becoming increasingly misaligned as more and more e-books are being sold with e-book sales recently exceeding paper books.

Here is a link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/wsj-best-seller-lists-e-books-113928679.html

Having a web site and being able to be found on the Internet, especially through the number 1 search engine, Google, is key for marketing your books and yourself as an author. But, it’s getting harder and harder to attract attention this way, likely because so many interesting (and not so interesting) online venues compete for attention.

A recent study found that only 52% of viewers will click on a result on the first page of their search results on Google. And how about for the number one search result? The position everyone spends large amounts of time and money trying to reach? The number 1 position garners only an 18% click through rate. The number 2 position has a 10% click through rate. These numbers don’t seem that impressive for enormous time, effort, and, often, money it takes to reach these coveted spots.

Of course other potential explanations exist. It’s possible that searches aren’t categorizing items well. Thus resulting in the top search results not addressing the searchers needs. I have had this experience sometimes myself, especially when trying to pull out complex concepts or conversely not having narrowed down my search enough.

Given the complexity of searching, it seems most likely that there are several factors acting together to result in fewer people clicking on top search results. It would take a detailed survey of users to try to tease all these out.

As a web site or content creator some things you can do to stand out are to write intriguing but accurate titles and to include key words that truly reflect content. Nothing is more annoying than to get links that have little to do with your search terms just because someone crammed in a bunch of irrelevant but common key words.

Here’s the link for more detailed reading:

http://searchengineland.com/organic-click-thru-rates-tumbling-study-97338

Hi! In honor of banned books week, I am posting a short reading of Orlando by Virginia Woolf. I read from the 1929 Tauchnitz edition. The bottom of the cover of this edition is printed with the words, “Not to be introduced into the British Empire.”

The reading is also available on You-Tube.

Hope you enjoy the reading!

Banned Books Wk Candice Hughes Orlando

As promised, Amazon has now made Kindle Books available in libraries. This means you can now read “Small Business Rocket Fuel: Marketing Tools to Boost Revenue” at your local library. I know my library has Kindles that you can borrow as well so you can get the whole package there. If your library doesn’t have my book, be sure to ask if they can get a copy.

Happy Reading!

PS: Here’s the link to Amazon’s announcement:

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle/ref=cm_cd_dp_rft_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=Tx2DJ89JW5QORC8

A new lawsuit has been filed by the Author’s Guild and allied partners to stop digitization and free distribution by a university consortium of hundreds of books published by non-US authors. The university consortium feels these are orphaned books, but Author’s Guild states that authors haven’t been notified or given the chance to withhold their books from the project.

This is part of the push/pull between authors asking for fair payment for their work and those wanting access to information that began with the Google lawsuit. The tension clearly shows that agreement has not yet been reached on how to balance these needs. These decisions will set the course for the future of information and entertainment communication. I say communication because books as they are created as enhanced e-books will overlap more and more with other media. This is a critical juncture. If authors are not fairly compensated or able to assert adequate rights, future authors will be discouraged from creating new works and information flow will be reduced in quality and quantity as skilled communicators exit the field. If information is too closely guarded it may be hard for readers/viewers to access it. The courts will be strongly challenged to create a Solomen-like solution.

Here is the link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/authors-guild-sues-universities-over-online-books-233911504.html

Around me, the cars rush-

shoosh shoosh shoosh-

wind puffs ruffling the butterflies.

Rising gently each one tries

to escape muscle and bone,

as each one seeks its way home.

Afternoon sun stains everything gold-

except the sky, blue and bold.

By the side of the road

I imagine I see

men with scythes swinging free-

shirt sleeves rolled tight on brown arms-

gathering corn stalks and orange pumpkins.

Instead I grip the steering wheel-

riveted like steel into steel-

something solid to hold

as butterfly wings unfold.

I will my eyes to look

straight ahead. I will not crook

my head up to the mirror.

The heat creeps up my neck like a fever.

Behind me melting steel curling around a bloody gash-

slowly crumpling in a shroud of lava and ash.

Dreams on white paper drift through the town

gently fluttering down-

fragile wings of desire

crumple into extinction in the fire.

Hold fast to blue and gold-

today butterfly wings unfold

around me silently,

souls finally

free.

I have been wondering how to sign books for my readers since my new book (Small Business Rocket Fuel: Marketing Tools to Boost Revenue) is currently available as a e-book only. To my surprise I found two companies have recently been started to allow authors to sign e-books for their readers. The first is Authography and the second is Kindlegraph. Authography has no pricing information on it’s web site but seems to be focusing on deals with publishers. Kindlegraph is free, but requires authors to allow Kindlegraph access to their Twitter accounts including reading their tweets and monitoring who they follow. This seems a bit “big-brotherish” to me. I got to thinking how could authors just sign on their own like they used to do with paper books.

How to get your Autograph: I came up with a solution that allows the communication to be solely between my readers and myself. Any one who has purchased my book (Small Business Rocket Fuel) can e-mail me using the address shown in the “About the Author” section. (You can find it easily by clicking on the link in the Table of Contents at the beginning of the book). After I receive your e-mail requesting an autograph, I will create a personalized page for you digitally signed by me. Your page may contain a short poem, digital images, colors and various design elements along with my autograph. I will then e-mail you the page to whatever e-mail address you provide.

All it takes to create these digital signatures is MS Word, Adobe Writer and some imagination. Shhh, don’t tell anyone else or they may decide to skip Kindlegraph and Authography too.