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The Word “Book” Now Up For Grabs
In fact, all things bookish are about to change, according to Penguin’s CEO John Makinson.
Here I sit (so Dec. ‘09) still debating Nook or Kindle when along comes the iPad. Will one publisher get cozy with just one particular digital reader? It seems so, and that’s unfortunate for the consumer. Penguin is latching onto the iPad, due for release April 3rd. This week Makinson teased the digital media world with a preview of some of the interactive ebooks it will be publishing. This worries me.
Currently, I and millions of other bibliophiles own countless books that “do” one thing. Well, okay, I take it back. They don’t actually do anything. They are done unto. To think that I may wish my books to someday perform amazing feats that my (future) digital reader can’t facilitate…I can’t even go there yet. Nevertheless, I believe I’m going to want one sooner than the dust settles in the skirmish between publishers, writers, available technology, and booksellers.
Amazon, publicly fuming over Macmillan raising its ebook prices, removed the blue Buy button from all of Macmillan’s available titles — even the hard copies. In an agreement which seems to satisfy publishers, who learned from the TV and music industries’ pricing frustrations with itunes, and to benefit Apple, to the extent that the iPad/iBookstore will be able to compete with the favored Kindle/Amazon products, the Internet behemoth reluctantly announced the higher prices.
I also read last year that a woman was enjoying a 19th century classic on her Kindle when the ebook suddenly vanished. Her oh-so-readable, indistinguishable-from-paper screen simply went blank. Apparently there had occurred some unsettle-able copyright dispute over the version she was reading, in which the two parties decided then and there to snatch it right out from beneath the unsuspecting, rather hip bluestocking’s nose, poor thing. Can you believe it? The original was written over 100 years ago; you would think the publisher and the bookseller could come to some civilized agreement without disrupting their customer’s leisure — post-purchase, no less!
Also take into account the significant difference between self publishing an ebook vs. [insert name of large publishing house here] publishing your ebook at a higher price (thriller writer J.A. Konrath reveals his various ebook income rates over the last year in this interesting blog post), and you begin to get the idea that the ebook situation is far from settled.
Yet, in spite of all this disgruntlement, I want to play. Never mind reading. (Please Lord, let there always be books made of paper and glue and ink, so that we flighty and distracted types may never lose the one absorbing hobby that provides quietude and focus.)
Finally, if you’re like me, you’re wondering how your small business could apply this medium. Cookbooks, book clubs, how-to books, prayer books, travel guides, field guides, picture books: Oh my.
Disaster-Ready?
This story by Jacob Dirr in the Austin Business Journal (Feb. 26 – Mar 4) stopped me in my tracks:
A small nonprofit here in Austin, Si3, had all their data backed up: a hard drive, back-up and some disks. “We thought that was plenty of redundancy,” said president John Barrett Jr.
Then a small plane hit the building on Feb 18, and they were forced to evacuate their office…leaving everything behind. They still haven’t been allowed back in almost two weeks later, and they are hoping for the best.
Which brings me to the point of this post: every day a message pops onto my screen telling me that a scheduled back-up of my personal data is about to occur… somewhere (offsite?). Every day I think, “hey, that’s great….” and yet I’ve never actually tested it’s functionality. Maybe one day soon I will.
If you think you’re never going to be hit by a plane, how about a fire? Or “natural disaster, workplace violence, flu pandemic, or nearby construction mishaps?” Consider what would happen if you couldn’t go into your workplace to contact your customers. Would they have a way to contact you? Assuring them that you are covered in an emergency could help you get future business. And knowing you have plan B in place provides you with peace of mind.
In an emergency you need to recover quickly or your business may never get back on track.
“burnt toast” Flickr photo by BloGGingHoLLy
Your High Risk Job
Some people might consider starting a business in today’s economy riskier than dressing out in super hero garb and trying to save Metropolis. Some would even say starting a business is riskier than spending over $1Million on a comic book, which occurred yesterday in an Internet transaction.
Good thing most entrepreneurs would disagree. In spite of the long hours, the stress, the month-to-month juggling act when you’re just starting out, and you’re trying to focus on each task for at least ten solid minutes a day, so as not to leave any loose ends hanging; and you convince yourself you are making progress even though every step feels like a baby step in a fast and large world…in spite of the tough decisions you have to make about where to spend your next burst of income (if it ever comes)…whew! Even in spite of all these worries, the risk of not owning your own business seems trivial compared to the soul’s sacrifices when working a regular j-o-b.
By the way, if you’re just starting out (or just hanging in there), Charting Dreams’ coaching programs can help you make it through this exciting and exasperating time.
A discussion of entrepreneurs usually includes at least a cursory nod to the subject of “risk.” But in our interviews with small biz owners, to be honest, the word never comes up unless we (Sam and I), the interviewers, bring it up. Risk is relative. In many ways, “risk” (the way non-treps consider it) is a non-issue for the business people we talk with.
I’m guessing that’s because, for a lot of small biz owners, the risk of earning a living doing anything less than their own thing is unthinkable. All the hazards of owning a business seem like daisy-picking compared to the work-a-day tedium of pursuing someone else’s dream. Or it could just be that nobody would hire them wearing that spandex superhero outfit.
Thanks a million to the superheroes of the American economy, the small business owner.
Haig’s Role in Starting AOL
“Practice rather than preach. Make of your life an affirmation, defined by your ideals, not the negation of others. Dare to the level of your capability then go beyond to a higher level.”
–Alexander Haig, 1924-2010
Besides being an adviser to presidents Nixon and Reagan, a US military and NATO commander; Haig was a perceptive business adviser and host of a couple business news shows as well. In the mid 80s, a friend/investor was trying to close and get his money back out of a failing software company called Quantum; he pulled Haig onto the board for help. Haig reportedly saw something special in marketing executive Steve Case and convinced his friend to give the company a chance. They did, and Quantum eventually became AOL, an early rising star of the internet.
Born Leaders
Are leaders born or made? Here is a good case for the helpfulness of business coaching:
In an recently re-printed article from Harvard Business Review (Nov-Dec 1998), Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, allows that IQ and technical skills are important, but Emotional Intelligence is what distinguishes true leaders in business.
Qualities that count include:
- self awareness
- self regulation
- motivation
- empathy
- social skill
Everyone has varying levels of each of these skills, Goleman says, but you can improve them through “persistence, practice, and feedback from colleagues or coaches.”
We just had a discussion here at Charting Dreams whether a leader is needed in a small partnership business (like ours). Sam says no; I say yes…but I think we could settle on this agreement; that on any given day leadership must come from one or the other partner. Every project or undertaking really must have one stronger advocate to mold it and make sure it gets done.
Regardless of the structure of your business, the message to individuals is this: to get ahead, you must be at least capable in each of the above areas of Emotional Intelligence. Even if you are not “The Leader,” these qualities will allow you to do your work with effectiveness and support from your team. Furthermore, it’s never too late to acquire these traits.
Photo by Edward Curtis, 1908 “White Shield”
