Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Book Review: "Plug your Book" by Steve Weber

Plug Your Book: Online Book Marketing For Authors
by Steve Weber

ISBN-10: 0977240614
ISBN-13: 978-0977240616


PROS:

• Covers an incredible amount of information on book promotions.
• Explains why techniques work.
• Very little wasted space.
• Friendly, readable writing

CONS:

• Focus on social media is has some limits
• Heavy focus on Amazon - which is understandable.
• The sheer information density can be overwhelming.

SUMMARY: A must-buy book for people wanting to market books online.

Review of "Print-on-Demand Book Publishing" by Morris Rosenthal

Print-on-Demand Book Publishing: A New Approach To Printing And Marketing Books For Publishers And Self-Publishing Authors
by Morris Rosenthal

# ISBN-10: 0972380132
# ISBN-13: 978-0972380133

PROS:
* Goes into depth on the publishing industry and its changes, helping you understand publishing as a whole.
* Well written; sober and intelligent without being boring.
* Uses real-life examples to help make points.

CONS:
* The book's broad approach may not cover all the ground you're looking for or go into the depth you need.
* The specific examples used may not always be relevant to you.

SUMMARY: A must-read book about print-on-demand and self-publishing that helps you understand the "why" of publishing issues and industries.

Book Review: Japanamerica

Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded The U.S
By Roland Kelts

ISBN-10: 140398476X
ISBN-13: 978-1403984760

PROS: A breezy, readable, yet informative look at how Japanese pop culture has become part of US culture, mixing theories, the big picture, and personal stories.

CONS: The book's approach makes it more useful for getting the big picture than direct research.  Some theories may seem odd or vague.

SUMMARY: An interesting and thought-provoking book that can help you get a good picture of how Japanese culture has become prominent in the US, why it may have happened, and the future.

Book Review: How to Position Yourself as the Obvious Expert

How to Position Yourself as the Obvious Expert
In 90 Days or Less Without Spending a Fortune on Advertising
by Elsom Eldridge Jr. and Mark L. Eldridge

ISBN-10: 0972094164
ISBN-13: 978-0972094160

PROS: Straightforward, information-dense.  Has quotes, ideas, and examples from a lot of professionals.

CONS: Focus limits the book.  Some exercises not as useful as others.  Erratic consistency.

SUMMARY: A must-read book on self-promotion that is useful to anyone looking to promote themselves, network, and connect.  It is focused on consultants and coaches, but is actually useful to most any professional.

Book Review: The Management Myth

The Management Myth: Why the "Experts" Keep Getting it Wrong
by Matthew Stewart

ISBN-10: 0393065537
ISBN-13: 978-0393065534

PROS: Witty, intelligent, and well-written.  Has an excellent sense of history and cause-effect.  Personal anecdotes mixed in with historical reference help illustrate points.

CONS: At times difficult to read for anyone not acquainted with business and management processes.

SUMMARY: A must-read book for those of you in management, dealing with management, and interested in business theory.

Book Review: Escape from Cubicle Nation

Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur
by Pamela Slim

ISBN-10: 1591842573
ISBN-13: 978-1591842576

PROS: A good, friendly book that covers the process, psychology, and issues of starting one's own business.  Many personal and general insights are provided.

CONS: Occasional odd metaphors and "pop-culture" elements can distract.  The book does not cover everything about your own business in depth - but does advise where to go for in-depth information.

SUMMARY: An excellent, broad guide mixing psychology, encouragement, and advice for starting your own business.

Let Me Bore You: Review of Econompicdata

Review of:http://econompicdata.blogspot.com/

PROS:  A site that explains economics with pretty graphs, actual english, and a good sense of humor.
CONS: Can get a bit too "economist-like".  Subjects chosen can be erratic.

SUMMARY: A colorful, effective site on economic issues that makes economics a bit easier to learn and understand.

I do love a good econoblog.  This is not necessarily because they're easy to understand - they often art - I just value the information I get.  The problem of course is communicating this to other people less inclined to analyze these things in depth or without the background to understand what the people at econoblogs are TALKING about.

Econompicdata is a refreshing change.  With the subheader "Darn Nice Economic Eye Candy" this is a blog that mixes good explanations and good graphs to discuss a variety of issues in a bite-sized way.

Econompicdata's blogger, Jake, picks whatever seems to come to mind or be interesting and discusses it with one or more helpful graphs.  YOu can see info on plane crashes, the housing market,oil, liquidity, and more.  The graphs help you understand what's going on - and Jake's explanations usually (but not always) are easy for non-economics to understand or at least get a grip on the issue.

The blog, the graphics, and the writing are refreshingly clear and easy to read.  No clutter, no fuss, no mess, just the subject, the information, and the analysis so you can get an idea of what's going on.

If there's one real flaw it's that you're never sure what's going to get posted here, so unless you're deeply into economics, you can be pretty sure not all of it is going to be of interest to you.  It's a testimony to Jake's depth that he covers so much, but be aware that the blog isn't always going to be up your alley.

I strongly recommend putting this into your blogfeed of business and economic information.  You can be pretty sure at some point something of use to you is going to pop up - and be understandable to you.

- Steven Savage

Book Review: "The Power of Feedback" by Joseph R. Folkman

Feedback is a concept that all of us in fandom are familiar with, especially if we are involved in art or writing of some sort. Good concrit, we're told, is the key to growing as an artist - but only if you're willing to listen to the person, and take their advice.

"The Power of Feedback" by Joseph R. Folkman takes that principle and applies it to how feedback can be used to build a career, and even a life. In the case of fan to pro types, it's taking a concept you're familiar with and expanding it wider.

Con Report: Kin-Yoobi Con

I just did my fan-to-pro panel at Kin-Yoobi con, in Hayward, CA.  My second year there - and the last presentation of my current panel structure (a new one is in development for the fall).

THE PANEL:
The panel area was noisy this year due to the architecture of the place.  I had about the same attendance as last year (about ten people), and this time I was armed with increased handouts as well - all put in nice plastic folders (these will be up on the soon-to-be-added site library).  The panel went pretty good - most interesting was the reaction to the advantage of having fans help you move - I guess a lot of people there had thought about or had had to relocate.

Met a lot of good folks there, chatted with one after the panel who displayed his self-created flash games (including a dynamite enhanced Tetris).  He actually had them with him on his laptop - an interest idea that I think could also pay off in an interview.

THE CON:
The con was a bit disorganized to start, but then everything fell in line.  Kin-Yoobi has a good energy to it and it was VERY friendly.  People chatted, hung out with friends, or made new ones.  It skewed to the college age crowd, with some older and younger fans.

A few things stood out:

• The gaming area was in a hall - this made watching games easier
• Since the campus had limited lunch facilities, the membership fees paid for a free pizza lunch that got brought in and everyone just went at it.  THAT was neat and friendly - everyone just hung out eating pizza.  It felt like a big PARTY.
• The dealers had a lot of fan-artists and fandom-merchandise, kind of doubling as an artists alley.  Very nice

So I had fun, met some great folks, enjoyed doing my panel, and plan to go back next year time permitting!  More and more I like how the con's developed an intimate hang-out-with friends atmosphere.

- Steven Savage

Review of www.techmeme.com

www.techmeme.com

PROS: A gigantic, constantly-updated news/blog aggregator for tech news, putting articles in context and helpful hierarchies.

CONS: Story focus is largely based on popularity of discussion as opposed to relevancy.

SUMMARY: An indispensable news gathering system that gives you a good snapshot of what people are talking about technology-wise.  Unless your career and hobbies are very distant from technology (and if you're reading this they're probably not), you should subscribe to it in RSS feed or read it once or twice day.