writing

I have volunteered to write a short article for the new book dealing with social networks, The Age of Conversation 2.  The book is the brain child of someone right here in Des Moines, Drew McLellan, and has drawn together 275 authors from across the world to participate.   Including…

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.

Also, apparently there is a bum rush on March 29th for the original Age of Conversation.  You can find out more here:

The Age of Conversation

What’s a bum rush?  Find out more about bum rushes soon at Content, Community, Commerce. 

It’s always a good feeling when you receive an unexpected check in the mail, no matter how small.  Yesterday I received one of my semi-annual royalty checks from my book, Kids in the Biz.   All my visions of making millions of dollars were shattered a long time ago, so I was very content to deposit a much, much, much smaller but nice incidental-money check.

Now all I need is about oh… 20-30X that amount and I’d be good.

From my publisher records, it appears as though I have now sold…

2004 copies of my book Kids in the Biz.

Which leaves less than 1000 copies available.  Act fast, buy it by clicking on the link over on the right.  Cmon, I know you want to.

One of my former “friends” I have distanced myself from over the years has been writing and self-publishing “books” which are less than 90 pages. It really kind of irritates me that I have a REAL book published by a REAL publisher, and someone else is peddling their little 90 pages things as real books and trying to convince everybody they are the next greatest thing.

I need to get my NanoWriMo book edited and self-published. Maybe even just get the rough draft published on cafepress to just “see” it… would be enough motivation.

There is a feeling of loss this morning, as I was informed that someone I had never met has passed away. In 2002 I sent a small query letter to Heinemann, and within a day received a response from Lisa wanting more. Fast forward almost a year…

Dear Troy -

I’m cleaning up files and such, and cannot remember if you have already
found a publisher for your book, or if you were going to send me additional
material, or what. Could you just drop me a line to let me know? I’m happy
to still consider it for our list, if you haven’t already placed it…

All good wishes -

–Lisa

I let the book project sit for over a year, and she wrote me back saying they were still interested. The rest as they say is history. The book turned out wonderfully, has been submitted for several design awards, and continues to sell in good numbers every month.

Lisa died this morning surrounded by her family, another bright light that cancer took from us. Fortunately, I found a message board where I was able to write my thanks to Lisa yesterday and those were read to her before she passed. For someone whom I never talked to on the phone – and never met face-to-face, she has had a tremendous impact on my life.

I now have a reason to finish editing my NaNoWriMo novel.

I’ll miss you, Lisa.

I received an envelope from my publisher, and I furiously opened it up. Last time I received a statement, in September, I was very close to the “break even” point where my book had almost made me back my royalty amount. In other words, soon I was going to get paid again for the book! Yippee!

I opened it up and read it… $34.

Ok, so I made it over the limit by about 34 books, no problem. Then at the bottom of the statement…

“Balances under $100 carry over to next statement.”

Sigh. Oh well, so now I need more people to buy the book so I can get my first check. Cmon, you know you want to buy the book. Just click on the book over there on the right hand side of the page and then click on “Order Online” to order through Amazon, Barnes & Noble or even Walmart.

Every home needs the book. Really! Your bookshelf told me so.

Dunno why, but I find this really cool.

Library of Congress Listing for Kids in the Biz

I redesigned the web site for my book last weekend. I used tables temporarilly until I fix the css… but it is still perty.

http://www.kidsinthebiz.com

I grew up watching Dick Van Patten on “Eight is Enough” and so when I moved to Los Angeles and started working with young actors and actresses, I snagged a copy of his book at the store and read it fairly quickly. While a critical review of his book is not really the place here, I found it rather disappointing, since the book’s photos and examples related to his own experiences as a child actor and really were not relevant to what young performers are going through today.

Naturally when I heard his name on Good Morning America today I was intrigued and sat down to see what he was up to. Well, he is up to no good in my opinion.

We have all heard the horror stories of over-zealous parents at youth sports activities, and I saw it firsthand at the Iowa Games this summer. However, Mr. Patten has taken this to an extreme high by sponsoring a 9-year-old baseball team in Thousand Oaks, California.

Not only is Mr. Patten buying sponsoring the team with his new “Natural Balance” pet food company, but he has gone overboard in terms of outfitting the team. According to an article in the LA Daily News, Patten has bought not one but two sets of uniforms for the team (home vs visitors I guess) and has also purchased over $10,000 in pitching machines, fly ball machines and other contraptions designed to help the youngsters win more games. He also hired a professional baseball coach to coach the team to victory.

Today on Good Morning America, Patten exclaimed that baseball is “a war” and he is helping the “men” be the best they can be.

A war? Men? These are 9-year-old boys Mr. Patten.

Patten should know, both from his own experience as a young actor, and from his book, that youth in sports have some of the same concerns as those in the entertainment industry – the requirement to perform. The kids seem to love it because they are learning more, but is this teaching kids the right thing – that money buys success? One of the parents on the Pony league team is none other than Lenny Dykstra (former Mets star who happens to have a kick-ass car wash in my former home of Simi Valley).

Its a shame that Mr. Patten is using these boys as publicity for his pet food company, and is obviously enjoying all the media attention he is getting. His attitude in the interviews I have seen are disgusting – he loves it.

Some of us, though, Mr. Patten are NOT amused. And I certainly will not be purchasing any product you recommend.