The Book Broads

(Kim here) I know Angela will not write it here. She does not want to be braggy or anything – but I can do it! Angela’s new book is out!  The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating A Social Network (written by Angela Crocker is available from these fine retailers and your local bookseller: (ISBN 978-1-61564-060-7)).

Here is a picture of her and her new book – she looks like a proud mama, huh?

A cute couple - Angela and her book.

Angela and her new book have been seen out in public lately. It’s an official author/book relationship that is now up front for the public to see. Check out Angela and the book on Global TV.  Angela on Global TV – March 13th, 2011

On Tuesday, March 15th at 11:30 am PAC, Angela is on with Bill Good on CKNW. Sweet. Listen live, and call in if you have a question. 980 am on the radio dial, or listen live on line at www.cknw.com.

As you can tell, I am so pleased and proud for my friend. I want to celebrate all the successes of her new book and I hope you can join me in cheering her on!

Thanks!

Kim

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What a delight to talk about WordPress, social media, eBooks, and other online opportunities for editors with participants in the Editors’ Association of Canada [#EAC] workshop. This workshop was held on the SFU campus at Harbour Centre in Vancouver, and we had a large and friendly group that participated eagerly with questions and discussion. George Plumley (yeah, Kim’s hubby, and Author of WordPress 24-Hour Trainer, and another new WordPress-related book coming out shortly) joined us as an Honourary Broad to spearhead our day with one of his famous WordPress talks.

The job of Editors is changing rapidly these days. Much of our discussion revolved around how Editors can profit from new opportunities in the world of digital publishing, whether it be in blogging, eBooks, or in creating and conceiving social media messaging and content. Content is what drives the new digital economy, and Editors are needed more now than ever.

Participants were very generous with their comments after the session, and we were very flattered to hear things like; ”Best communicators I’ve sat in any class with”, “Overall a very interesting [workshop] from a bunch of personable, intelligent, witty folks.”, and ”Brain full. Very full. Thank you! I learned a lot and am really glad I came.” You are most welcome – we’d love to do more of these sessions! WE LOVE EDITORS!

Thanks to everyone who attended the workshop, and to the EAC for having us as presenters. Please keep in touch with us, as we’d love to know how you use the materials.

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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 (147)

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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 (116)

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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 lovable Margaret Atwood fans her eyes delightfully from under the brim of a sunny hat, in the photo attached to the article March 24th on the Vancouver Sun’s website.

Atwood won the prize because judges recognized that she is …”a versatile and prolific writer who in her novels has explored both Canadian and transnational issues of the 20th century, such as colonization, feminism, structures of political power and oppression, and the violation and exploitation of nature.”

Atwood shares the prize with Indian-American novelist Amitav Ghosh. Both winners must share at least 10% of their award with academic scholarships.

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We’re proud to be interviewed LIVE tomorrow, Friday July 17th on Blog Talk Radio by Dr. David Newman. Dr. Newman is the host of RoseHeartRadio.com, and our subject will be about how everyone, everyone has a book in them!

Our combined publishing experience will be at your disposal from 2pm to 4pm Pacific time – just call in LIVE with your questions. We’ll talk about getting your book out there, ebooks and regular printed books, how to approach your project for maximum success, and most of all, how to really use your book or eBook to drive traffic back to your mainstream business.

You can listen to the show by clicking to: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Dr-David-Newman/2009/07/17/Want-to-have-more-business-than-you-can-handle- (You can also download the show to listen later from this same link.)

You can ask your question by calling telephone number: 1-347-843-4127 during the show.

You can also tweet us questions through our Twitter account as TheBookBroads.com. Simply log into your account on Twitter, follow us, and then send us direct messages or questions using “@thebookbroads” at the beginning of the message, during the hours of the show. We’ll be monitoring Twitter during the show and we’ll answer any questions you send live on the air.

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