Marketing books has become more than just good reviews and snappy jacket copy. Social media, You Tube and other viral engagements are now baseline for getting the word out on books. More and more, readers want to connect with authors, and book trailers are making huge inroads in service to this need.

An informative interview with Rodney Walker, underscoring the common marketing mistakes businesses make and how to avoid them.

More scrutiny? More Power? More fun? Read what David Kirkpatrick thinks!

Thanks to generous funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Yale Center for Media and Instructional Innovation, anyone with Internet connection can "audit" an intro level course at Yale. Yup--that Yale. Here's a tidbit about the how and why:

Open Yale Courses provides lectures and other materials from selected Yale College courses to the public free of charge via the internet. The courses span the full range of liberal arts disciplines, including humanities, social sciences, and physical and biological sciences.

What do rich people like most about Facebook?

I post on Facebook so others know what I think. As a business owner then, it's not a stretch to call this a fundamental part of "brand building." Facebook, Twitter, blogging, these are our culture's most contemporary methods for direct brand-building. On the other hand, it's also an interface for brand-bashing. If you've followed some of the Facebook faux pas of late, you'll realize that social media is a two-way street, and sometimes cars come at you on your side of the road!

Facebook has changed the landscape of, well, everything. My mom's on facebook, so's my dad. Obviously my kids are. Various past husbands, classmates, colleagues. Sometimes I feel as though the Rubbermaid tubs in my basement, replete with personal archives and memorabilia, just vomited their collective content into cyberspace and the result is the ever-so colorful splatter of my life upon my "wall."

Across my desk today is a new book by Rick Smith called "The Leap." Anyone disenchanted with old school ideas associated with working for pay, might do well to pick this up for a read during holiday time off--before making those all-important New Year's resolutions.

Chris Anderson knows a lot about marketing. His new book, FREE, gives insight into how, why, if, when businesses and individuals should offer freebies to prospective customers.
Here at BPC, we pay close attention to ideas like "loss leaders" and "freemiums" to try, in behalf of our clients, to see the whole picture, the ROI and the potential for business development.

Like Noah, tween sensation Aria Wallace has pledged to spend 40 days aloft, navigating the seas--only Aria's seas are in cyber space, and instead of two of every sort of animal, she's bringing along her resolve to unplug from her cell phone.

I really like this recent post on the Dystel & Goderich blog. The continued harangue about the publishing industry's plunge in the toilet is getting old and tiresome. Yeah, less people are parting with their cash for hardbacks. The super stars can't make the B&N cash registers light up the way they used to. Okay. But building readership, cultivating a loyal audience should be done in real time, through human interaction

How amazing is this woman? Whimsical, lyrical, quirky and completely unique, Regina Spektor has a style I was immediately drawn to a few years back when I came across her "Begin to Hope " album. Best of all, she's coming to Portland on November 1st!

Two years and two months ago I started a novel that has been slowly percolating its pages through my overly-committed schedule. The book was inspired by a trip I took to Rhode Island a couple of summers ago, where I stayed with friends in their Watch Hill "summer cottage"--a gorgeous dwelling in the Gatsby tradition of power, fortune and scandal. From the very scant factual nugget, an idea for a novel emerged, one that explores "fitness gone awry." Darwin meets Frankenstein, maybe.

This is a story about a nearly 100-year-old book, bound in red leather, which has spent the last quarter century secreted away in a bank vault in Switzerland. The book is big and heavy and its spine is etched with gold letters that say “Liber Novus,” which is Latin for “New Book.”

Say what you want about Babs. In my book, she's still got it going on.

Maria Shriver hosts the annual Women's Conference this year at the Long Beach Convention Center, Oct 26 and 27.

In "Twitterville," Shel Israel figures out how to write a timeless book about a dynamically morphing platform.

Read the book to find out how CEOs, students, nonprofit activists, small business owners and others used Twitter to advance their agendas. Powerful stuff.

The Boss is 60 today, and what a Boomer role model he is! Keep on rockin' Bruce, long may you run!

What lives in both Portland and Pasadena besides BridgePoint Creative? Why, bridges and roses, of course! Now these two famous west coast cities are also home to BridgePoint Creative.

One of the most beautiful voices of our generation was silenced today. Mary Travers, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, was a powerful force for justice and art. Since the early 1960s, Peter Paul and Mary sang about "love between our brothers and our sisters," and Mary teamed up with icons Joni Mitchell and Mama Cass in harmonious renditions, including the popular "I Shall be Released."

I had the privilege of meeting and listening to Ms.Travers when PPM would come to Portland, through our friendship with Christopher Yarrow and his dad. Mary was one in a million, beautiful inside and out and will not be forgotten.

Do you love books? We do. Do you want to make a difference? We do. Buy your books at BetterWorldBooks and make a difference in the lives of others. Oh, and free shipping!

OK. I know. I left Portland for Pasadena, but I think I'm still an Oregonian. I ran across the Oregon Bounty site tonight and it made me a wee bit homesick. It is a beautiful site. Very cool. Enjoy it...wherever you might be!

We heart GoodTube! GoodTube is an internet community dedicated to Good, a video sharing site for nonprofit organizations and people involved in volunteerism worldwide. It provides charities with a way to showcase their work, reach potential donors and inspire viewers. It is a place for video enthusiasts with a Good message to connect with a global audience. GoodTube is a nonprofit, non religious enterprise, and it is 100 percent free.

If you want to share the story of your nonprofit, please check out GoodTube!

There's a new phone in town. Frankly, I'm a little skeptical. You see, I am a pocket-carrying member of the iPhone Lovers Society. Have been for several months. I heart my iPhone so much, I can't remember how I functioned without it. True, I make my living by being hooked up to the e-mail like an IV drip, but that's not the only reason my rubber-sleeved machine is my best friend. This phone allows me to best live the life I've chosen to live--time management-wise. Not to say that my life is the best life out there, but in charting a course towards maximizing economy of time, functionality and information, the iPhone frees me up--as long as I heed some caveats and rules:
1. No texting or email answering while driving
2. Try not to over-tweet when with the family
3. Experience comes first, communicating the experience, second

Although thoroughly convinced that the iPhone cannot be replaced, I'm intrigued by the new Android-based social networking tool: the Cliq. The premise of Motorola's stab at seizing the smart phone dollar is built around the "social skills" angle. It's email, Facebook, Twitter, phone, text and calendars all integrated, with both the touch screen AND a QWERTY keyboard. Despite the intriguing possibilities of this new kid in town, I'm still convinced that you'll have to pry my iPhone out of my cold, dead hands!

When it comes to electronic rights for out-of-print titles, whose side are you on? Microsoft, Yahoo and the the nation's top copyright official--or, Google, libraries, tech groups and various activists. Should Google win the monopoly on e-production rights, or should we heed the warnings of the U.S. Copyright Chief, Marybeth Peters, who worries that Google's win would undermine Congress' ability to govern copyrights, and spell disaster for books published overseas.

It's odd, to me, however, that Microsoft would be crying foul when it comes to monopolies. Just saying...