This week on The Lede …
- Stop Waiting to Be Picked
- Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Marketing Weapon
- Neil Patel’s Method for Finding Great Blog Content
- Three Reasons Why Every Smart Startup is a Digital Media Company
- 9 Books to Help You Read and Write Better
- Why Smart Authors are Cutting Amazon Out
- The Easiest Way to Boost Your Productivity
If you want to grab more useful links (than the seven we highlight here) every week, follow @copyblogger on Twitter.
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Stop Waiting to Be Picked
Expanding on Seth Godin’s “pick yourself” advice, Mr. Goins makes a compelling case for today’s writers to stop waiting and start building their own content platform. In this age, if you’re waiting to be picked, you’re playing a game that will, very shortly, no longer exist.
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Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Marketing Weapon
Here’s the deal — the power of storytelling is nearly limitless when it comes to influencing the human mind and soul. It’s how we were built. Facts and figures (excepting a few very specific industries and products) do not sell. Of course, the catch is, how do you tell a great story? You read Mr. Clark’s article here earlier today, didn’t you? That’s a good place to start …
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Neil Patel’s Method for Finding Great Blog Content
Is your company serious about publishing relevant, useful, and high-quality content? If you’ve been around here long enough, you know by now that it should be. But, like anything worthwhile, doing that is a lot harder than saying it. Allow Mr. Patel to help you find the resources you’ll need — if you don’t have the time, money, or energy to do it yourself.
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Three Reasons Why Every Smart Startup is a Digital Media Company
And, if you needed just a little more proof that producing your own media is not only good, but necessary for business online, Mr. Clark lays out three compelling reasons for you in this article for Forbes. Did you really think you’d win the entrepreneurial lottery? Now, you don’t have to …
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9 Books to Help You Read and Write Better
There’s only one title here I haven’t read, How to Write a Sentence by Stanley Fish. Which is odd, considering my obssession with one-liners. Anyway, the others are all worth your time, particularly How to Read a Book by American philosopher Mortimer J. Adler. You’ll never read the same way again …
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Why Smart Authors are Cutting Amazon Out
Many independent writers seem to have an aversion toward viewing entrepreneurship as a core responsibility of their work. Like it or not, it’s the way things are. But, is giving Amazon or iTunes agency over your future any better than trying to win the big publishing lottery? This brings us right back to the crucial importance of developing your own content platform. Or, as Ms. Trunk expresses it, the [email] list matters more than the advance.
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The Easiest Way to Boost Your Productivity
What’s your professional time worth? How do you feel when you’re not being paid for that time, when you’re just logging hours that will ultimately benefit someone else? The answer to that question — and the useful 2-step process Mr. Dooley provides — will likely make you more productive. Like, right now.
Did you miss anything on Copyblogger this week?
- A Ridiculously Simple Way to Get More Revenue and Build Your Audience
- Chris Garrett Joins Copyblogger Media as VP of Educational Content
- How to Find and Write Benefits that Turn Online Prospects into Buyers
- Traditional Advertising is Truly Dead
- How the Explosion in Online Education can Revolutionize Your Business
- 7 Timeless Business Lessons You Can Learn from Hollywood Screenplays
About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s Chief Copywriter and Resident Recluse.
Reader Comments (14)
Looks like I have a reading list for the weekend, thanks for the resources!
Wow, this list is a really valuable resource for anyone who needs to produce business-related web (or other) content.
I particularly love the one on “Why Storytelling is the Ultimate Marketing Weapon”. People underestimate the value of a good story in business promotion, and it’s important for customers to know what makes us special in a way that makes them feel good about us. The article talks about how stories, “make us human”, and a good story can bring our businesses to life and give them a human face.
Highly recommended!
>Which is odd, considering my obssession with one-liners.
You probably know that Woody Allen started out that way. Watch the PBS “American Masters” broadcast about him, if you didn’t catch it the first time.
The Adler book sounds like a good candidate-read for my book club. We should see what we’re missing.
Rich, fantastic, eclectic, creative collection of TGS [truly great stuff] !!
Robert
Always an intriguing list on The Lede. Loved the article on Storytelling…led me to a new book on my wishlist so thanks for that!
However I surfed over and read Penelope Trunk’s article on Amazon…and I’d have to say that from what I’ve seen and read – and the guys I’ve spoken to (like Copyblogger guest writer Sean Platt) – her argument is totally wrong and makes no sense.
If you’re a writer/content producer of just about any sorts….Amazon isn’t a platform you should be avoiding. Again, just my opinion. But I think Penelope’s got it seriously wrong on this one.
Paul
Paul, I think Penelope’s point was not to avoid Amazon, but to avoid dependence on Amazon. Hence, build your own list, which means Amazon has to be an “other” channel, because they take the customer away from you.
Hi Brian
I just re-read Penelope’s article – and I still think she’s wrong.
I hear her argument that if you sell your work on Amazon that Amazon aren’t sharing purchaser details with you.
But when’s that ever been the case with publishers? Do Chris (Garrett) and Darren (Rowse) have a list of names and addresses of all the people who bought the Pro-Blogger book? If they do it’s not very good because I’ve never been emailed by them with further information, updates, etc!
Instead what they did was put enough information about themselves that if you enjoyed the book and got value from it then you could find them on the old Interwebz and then go subscribe if you wanted further information.
I’m working on a bass guitar book at the moment that I’ll use Amazon’s Create Space to publish. I expect to make a small royalty on each book and some sales. But the reason I’m going to be trying it out is that I hope to make ‘back end’ sales as the book will directly lead the purchaser to a course that will be 10 times the price of the book.
So I plan to leverage Amazon for lead generation. (I plan to do this with a book on Content Curation with Video as well – so within 6 months I’ll have some solid date on how well or how poorly this works.)
I understand the need to build and cultivate a list – and I think Amazon can be part of the process. Penelope’s article makes little sense to me because Amazon can be used to sell your books AND create your list. (Calls to Action in the Book, checklists or other bonuses as in incentive to subscribe, landing page to be notified of updates…there are plenty of ways to get purchasers to come visit you on your virtual home).
I think her advice is only relevant to people with established followings and popular blogs/websites. If you don’t have that….you can use Amazon to help build it. My 2 cents.
Paul
Better to build a popular blog or website first, independent of Amazon. That’s my mantra. But to each his own.
I think you should do that as well.
Have you been following the thoughts of some of the self published fiction authors on Amazon (like John Locke or Joe Kinrath)? There’s some interesting lessons that can be applied to non-fiction writers to what they’re doing.
Thanks for the link, guys. Great list here!
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