The Book Broads

Here The Book Broads weigh in on the use of self-publishing companies that we refer to as “puppy mills”, that is, self-publishing companies that really don’t care as much about your book as your wallet.
To hear the podcast, just click the arrow on the player below. The player will expand to play the entire podcast here in this window.

 

 Beware: Puppy Mill Publishers [10:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (21)

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The three Book Broads weigh in on a variety of mobile eBook reading devices, including criticisms, and some factors driving the market.
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 The Book Broads on Mobile eBook Readers [11:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (17)

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This is just a short, fun little podcast where we talk about our favourite reads, and why they’re our faves.
To hear the podcast, just click the arrow on the player below. The player will expand to play the entire podcast here in this window.

 

 The Book Broads on Our Favourite Reads [5:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (17)

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Listen to this great podcast where all three of the Broads talk about the impact of online retailers, eBooks, and other forces on book retailers, both large and small.
To hear the podcast, just click the arrow on the player below. The player will expand to play the entire podcast here in this window.

 

 The Book Broads on The Future of the Bookstore [14:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (26)

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We were very excited to get this interview!  Chevy Stevens (www.chevystevens.com)  talked to us about her debut novel – Still Missing – which is out in July and promises to be one of the hottest books of the summer.  Honestly, pick it up! Great read, the characters are interesting and yes, it is intense.

Peggy and I got to meet Chevy here in Nanaimo (we channeled Angela as she was held hostage by BC Ferries). You can hear part of the audio interview below, where I gush and learn more about Chevy and her book – and yippee, she is writing another.

The audio interview starts off with us putting big giant headphones on Chevy…

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Mid-Island Business Blender – Think of it as speed-dating for your business. You get access to four consultants in a single event, one-on-one! BLOGGING – PUBLICITY – SOCIAL MEDIA – PODCASTING – eBOOKS – WORDPRESS – All blended into one day. Event takes place on Saturday, June 26th at Origins (6205 Oliver Road) from 9 to 4 pm. Book your spot at http://midislandbusinessblender2010.eventbrite.com/.

We’re excited to have Lantzville resident,  George Plumley, who is a WordPress specialist and blogging expert, giving his WordPress blogging workshop in the main room (3 hours plus to focus on websites). Then, in the breakout areas attendees have a chance to have mini-consulting sessions (one-on-one) with publicity chick and Lantzville resident, Kimberly Plumley, social media Mamma, Angela Crocker and e-Book and affiliate marketing geek, Peggy Richardson.

In less than 7 hours you will have a whole new outlook, clarity on where to spend your time, fresh ideas to rejuvenate your idea, project and product, tools to explore… and the guts to make it happen.

George Plumley, author of Wordpress 24-Hour Trainer (Wiley) is available for interviews to talk about websites, blogging, the Mid-Island Business Blender, his new book all about improving websites and what a great wife I am, please contact Kimberly Plumley at Publicity Mavens at 250-390-9285 or via email at kim@publicitymavens.com.

There’s a lot of information out there about using new technologies to promote businesses, but how do you actually apply it to your business, your needs?

Getting specific is the goal of a new type of marketing workshop developed by three local consultants.  The Mid-Island Business Blender takes place on June 26th in Nanaimo and it aims to give participants unparalleled access to information in four key areas of marketing today:  blogging, social media, publicity, and e-book publishing.

Peggy Richardson, Angela Crocker, and Kimberly Plumley – who also work collectively as The Book Broads – have each conducted and been to numerous business workshops, but one of the limitations of the typical workshop is that information is very general.  They wanted a way for owners to sit down and talk one on one with a variety of marketing experts as well as participate in a small group workshop.

Enter speed-dating.  The Book Broads say the idea of talking one on one with a variety of people in a single evening seemed like the perfect format for a business function, and that’s when the Business Blender idea was formed.

A small number of participants is divided into two groups.  One group spends half a day in a workshop setting, where the limited seats allows for specific questions, while the other group spends twenty minutes one on one with three different consultants as well as working individually at special training stations for various technologies.  Half way through the day the two groups switch.

The result is that participants have plenty of opportunity to get specific ideas for moving their business forward, while covering a lot of ground in one session.

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Peggy coined this phrase “Puppy Mill Publishing” a while ago. We have seen a lot of self-published train wrecks of over the years and it’s time to make some changes. Check out this interesting blog post we found: http://www.indiependentbooks.com/blog/2010/05/indie-vs-self-published-authors-which-one-are-you/ It is what we have been saying – when you write your book and self-publish, step up your game! Get help, be realistic!

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And a grand time was had by all. Here are Peggy’s top three reasons why she loved Northern Voice 2010.

Reason Number 1) The Incredible Job Done by Volunteers

Anybody who can wrangle a team of hardworking people like this deserves double applause. I met only a couple of the volunteers, including the friendly and clever Travis Smith, and the thoughtful and well-spoken Lauren Wood. This is still a shockingly small group for the amount of work that they all do to get this ball rolling. The conference was well-organized, and with only a couple of hiccups (need larger/more visible signage and bigger rooms and bigger shirt sizes), any disasters that may have happened behind the scenes were totally invisible to speakers and attendees. Venue worked pretty well, and parking was great. All sessions were recorded to view online later. Everyone appeared relaxed and the tone was really laid-back. Nice job.

Reason Number 2) Darren Barefoot

Darren, one of the organizers of the conference, and one of those hip next-gen marketing dudes, is *the best* panel moderator, EVAH. When’s he writing another book, huh? Huh? (When he does, he’s absolutely got to include his definition of a question - funny, clear, and it set the tone for all the sessions.)

Reason Number 3) Focus on Personal Blogging

All of the other conferences I go to are heavily focused on marketing, even Blog World Expo, where delegates are often business bloggers, or at least, very clear about wanting to make money from their blogs, which is pretty darn difficile. This conference’s focus on personal blogging was so refreshing. Being unashamed to focus on content, the very soul and driver of blogging in the first place, reminded me of what is really important. If you shift focus to think of blogging as a business, you run a serious risk of shooting yourself in the foot. Canadian content flourishes here, independent, true north strong and free. Breathe slowly.

Other great things about the conference;

Of the minor improvements that could be made, bigger rooms would have made the greatest difference. I felt bad for all the people squatting and sitting on floors to hear a great speaker. I was one of them at one point, and although it worked fine for me, I realize that this is not the case for all. The venue of the Life Sciences building was still very lovely, and the auditoriums didn’t seem to have a problem accommodating any of the sessions. However, being able to book sessions in advance might help plan for the use of larger rooms for higher-demand topics. This would be an uncommon approach, but I can’t see how else you could manage the numbers. Perhaps one of them could be large enough to accomodate the keynote, as the echo chamber / atriums were less than optimum for this purpose.

I’m really looking forward to returning next year. Thanks to all who attended our talk “Flog Your Blog” on Saturday afternoon, about turning your blog into a book. It’s impossible to teach someone how to create a book out of their blog in just 45 minutes, but I think we scratched an itch for a few people, judging by the emails I’ve received this week. We had such a great time!

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The Book Broads were together in full force to debut our “Flog Your Blog” talk at Northern Voice, Canada’s blogging and social media conference.  We have so many experiences to share from the weekend and will post those stories as we craft them. Today, we wanted to share Rob Cottingham’s visual notes from our talk.  Rob is a talented artist who specializes in cartoons and a generally interesting guy.  (Rob and Angela met by chance in the atrium early in the conference and their conversation kept ticking all weekend.) He used a program called Brushes Autodesk SketchBook Pro on his iPad to create these notes. Pretty cool, eh?

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While William Shakespeare’s plays are meant to be seen but many of us read them in school and throughout our lives. Vancouver area fans might want to take a literature-on-film break to join Bard on the Beach for Bard on Screen at the Vancity Theatre.

Four Mondays in May will feature film versions of the plays to appear under the Bard tents this year. The evenings will start at 6:30 pm with a brief introduction by a Bard company member and will conclude with a post-movie discussion. The line-up includes:

May 3: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, directed by Kenneth Branagh.

May 17: ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, Jon Scoffield’s film of Trevor Nunn’s 1974 stage production.

May 24: CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, a rare screening of Orson Welles’s masterly film about John Falstaff, which draws from both parts of Henry IV, as well as from Henry V, Richard II and The Merry Wives of Windsor. This summer Bard will be staging FALSTAFF, a new adaptation that blends Henry IV, Parts I & II.

May 31: HENRY V, directed by Kenneth Branagh.

For more information, contact the Bard Box office at 604-739-0559 or visit www.bardonthebeach.org. Tickets available online at www.vifc.org or at the door.

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