Are you authoring your business book or novel or perhaps you are writing your book at this time and are wondering how you can reach more potential readers through low cost strategies?

Then you won’t want to miss the live event being hosted by  Font Literary Agency who are based in Dublin.

Here are the event details - make sure that you read on to find details of how you can access a discount as a member of the Biz Growth Community as I am one of the speakers.

EVENT: Reaching Readers: Online Publicity And Promotion for Writers And Books

LOCATION: Dublin

DATE: Saturday, June 7th 2008

TIME:  9.30am to 5pm

INVESTMENT: €140 per person for members of the Biz Growth Community (Regular Price €165 per person) - just let them know you read Biz Growth News.

AGENDA 

09.15:  Registration

09.30:  Reaching Readers: Why Writers Need Publicity 

11.00:  Becoming A Household Name: The Author as Brand

13.30:  Writing for the Web

16.00: The Virtual Book Tour

17.00:  Finish

Book your place at the Online Marketing, Publicity And Promotion Workshop for authors today.

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One of the professional associatons I enjoy being a member of for their great content and workshops is the Irish Internet Association.

They host an annual conference, and this year it is taking place on the 15 May 2008 at Croke Park in Dublin.

The theme of Congress 2008 is “Beyond Websites: Business Uses of Social Networking and New Media”. The IIA National Congress 2008 will include sessions on the impact that social networking has had on business, successful integration of social networking into organisations’ business models and why it a key strategy and should be part of the marketing and communications mix in business..

Speakers will include leading industry professionals from Bebo, Dell, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Microsoft, IGOpeople.com and Worldwide Cycles.

A new feature of the IIA National Congress 2008 will be Web Strategy Clinics where you will have a chance to book a one-on-one 30 minute slot with an industry expert who will be able to give you specific guidance for your online strategy.

Full details, profile of past delegates, programme outline, breakout session topics and online booking are all available at the IIA National Congress 2008 website.

Any attendee from outside the Dublin city and county area can benefit from a 20% discount. Further discounts are available for group bookings of 5 and over and charities - just email events@iia.ie to receive your discount voucher.

Let me know if you plan to attend and perhaps we can connect at lunch time or for a drink after the event.

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At the iQ Bootcamp last week, in the Future Now Panel session that I took part in we shared the resource of Twitter.

One of the questions always come up when people hear about Twitter (one of the currently popular micro blogging platforms)  is ‘what’s the purpose?’ closely followed by ‘isn’t it a waste of time’.

Well here is an example of where following Twitter has resulted in a potentially huge opportunity for one of the not for profit organisations I work with and I hope will be of assistance for you too.

Today I noticed a tweet (a message on Twitter) from Laura Fitton of Pistachio Consulting (you can find Laura at @Pistachio on Twitter). She sent a message that she was doing a live video stream using Qik and her mobile phone from PodCamp NYC.

So I moused on over and heard the end of a presentation about ‘Affordable PR For Non Profits Using Social Media‘ hosted by Christopher Penn. 

Christoper shared a great tip which I don’t think many people are aware of. You see Google is supporting non profits by making grants available for Google Adwords for non profits.

The Google Grants web page states:

Google Grants provides free Google Adwords advertising to various charitable organizations. The program is designed to help organizations extend their public service messages to a global audience, in an effort to make a greater impact on the world.

Here is some further information about Google Grants:

• What are Google Grants?
• Details of the Google Grants Programme
• The countries supported by Google Grants in addition to the US  - yes the UK and Ireland are included.

Sometimes social media can help you attract more leads and more profits - today however, social media has led me to a resource to attract more leads, potentially more donations and saving us money in our marketing, public relations and communications budget.

So if you are a not for profit or know people in a not for profit, make sure that you tell them about Google Grants and prepare your grant application.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Twitter as a research tool article

Talking About Twitter podcast

And if you are on Twitter or decide to sign up for an account which is free, you can follow me on Twitter here.

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Are you looking for a current understanding of the scale of social media across the globe? Well look no further than the extensive study undertaken in March 2008 by Universal McCann - Power To The People - Wave3.

The research covers input from 17,000 internet users across 29 countries and was undertaken to understand the rise in consumer generated content and how people are using social media.

It is certainly the most extensive global report I have seen on the subject of social media adoption.

Key notes from the Power To The People - Wave 3 report include the following statistics:

• 83% of people are watching online video, an increase from 62% at the time of the last study in June 2007
• 78% of people are reading blogs, an increase from 66% in the previous study
• 57% of internet users are members of social networks
• RSS consumption has increased to 39% from 15%
• 48% of the people surveyed listen to podcasts.

There are also some interesting differences about social media adoption across geographies:

• Blogging - China leads the way with 70% of internet users writing a blog (that’s 42 million bloggers versus 26 million people in the US), followed closely by the Philippines at 66% and Mexico at 60%
• Social networking - the Philippines leads the way with 83% of the people surveyed being a member of a social network, followed by 76% in Hungary and Poland alike.

Unfortunately there is no specific data for Ireland - I guess we are such a tiny dot on the social media landscape and as we have discussed here previously we are still behind the curve in the adoption of social media of business blogging an podcasting, though increasingly more people are a member of social networks from Linkedin to Facebook, from Bebo to MySpace.

You can access the Universal McCann Power To The People - Wave3 social media report online.

A word of warning - the file is over 25MB.

Thanks to Theresa Houlihan of Universal McCann for sharing the report with me.

I do recommend that you check out the Universal McCann where you can access other reports including their Anytime Anyplace report that covers mobile phones and portable technology.

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Did you miss the conversation in the blogosphere last year about The Age of Conversation - the collaborative book project that brought together some of the leading names in blogging and social media?

One of the fantastic things about the book project is that all the monies raised from the sale of  ‘The Age Of Conversation‘ go to Variety, the Children’s charity.

Well this year, ‘The Age Of Conversation: Why Don’t People Get It’ has almost 300 authors contributing who will be covering the following subjects:

• Manifestos - Declarations, up front, on the Age of  Conversation and why don’t people ‘get it’
• Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation - With  everyone talking so much, why do we need secrets and what is the role of privacy?
• Moving from Conversation to Action - The practical steps that businesses and brands can take  to move from conversation to something more valuable to their business
• The Accidental Marketer - What is the attraction of marketing and are there company’s or brands that happen into marketing success? 
• A New Brand of Creative - With the changes in the way  that people communicate and collaborate online, marketing and advertising  companies are needing to reach out and work with a new type of creative team.  What do these “creatives” look like and what are the challenges that they face?  
• My Marketing Tragedy - covering projects that have failed and what was learnt from the failure?
• Business Model Evolution - Just as the markets and  people are changing, so too are the business models around both clients and  agencies - this chapter will explore the implications of the new business model 
• Life in the Conversation Lane - Bringing it all back to  the individual and  how is life in a digitally connected, social world impacting us all?

I can’t wait to read what the contributing authors of ‘The Age Of Conversation: Why Don’t People Get It’ will be sharing - I’ll keep you posted on the progress of the book as I’m one of the contributing authors along side these tremendous people:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem.

And here is a thought for Drew and Gavin who are leading the book project - why don’t we create an audio version of the book, with each author recording their contribution over at Utterz and then posting them to ‘The Age of Conversation Website’ - they would have enough podcasts for almost a year!

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