From the Blogosphere
October 15, 2007 11:00 AM
From David Maister Blog: Passion, People and Principles
Last Wednesday, I sent out
an email to everyone who had opted in to be placed on my subscription list to
receive notification about my new articles.
To my surprise and delight,
enough people clicked on the Amazon pre-order button to make the new book
number 577 overall in sales among all books on Thursday. Of course, the
ranking has declined since then – this was an early, temporary peak. Nevertheless, I hope there will be "buzz" benefits beyond the initial pre-orders
My first reaction was
gratitude for the loyalty of those who follow my work.
My next reaction was
astonishment about how powerful it really is to have built up the (voluntary
opt-in) database. It truly was more valuable and powerful than I had realized!
***
Oh, and by the way, here’s
the email I sent:
***
I wanted to give you advance
notice of the release of my new book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker. It will be
published on January 2, 2008 (and is currently available for pre-order at
Amazon.com.
The book is formed from 19
of the articles I have written in the past two years, organized and structured
to provide (I hope) a consistent argument with a logical flow.
I've also included a link to
a special ebook executive summary of the first chapter, (which I will be
publishing along with my new podcast series) to accompany the launch of the
book. Please feel free to pass it along to anyone you know who may be interested
in its content, or in my book.
Here's some of the advance
praise I have received for Strategy and the Fat Smoker:
Strategy and the Fat Smoker
is a masterpiece - a rare blend of wisdom, experience, and humility. Every
manager, and anyone who works in a professional services firm, ought to read
this lovely book.
- Robert I. Sutton, Stanford
Professor and co-author of The Knowing-Doing Gap
David Maister has built a
career on giving unerringly wise advice to those of us in the business of
advising and leading. He offers the reader the motivation, tools and wisdom to
achieve more than we might ever have thought possible. This is essential
reading for anyone determined to succeed.
- Paul A. Laudicina,
Managing Officer and Chairman of the Board, A.T. Kearney
David Maister reminds us
remorselessly that knowing what your company needs to do is relatively obvious:
the test for us all is actually making it happen. Through anecdote, metaphor and case history,
he shows us how to turn empty aspiration into hard reality.
- Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO,
WPP
David has a knack of
explaining what is really going on around us in our business life in a way
which brings clarity and insight to the issues. His long experience in the
professional services sector shines through. His observations on decision
making in my own industry, law, make painful but essential reading. David
doesn't let anyone off the hook in his evaluation of where professional service
firms often go wrong. He forces us to confront the real issues of lack of
resolve, leadership, values and trust which so often hold firms back. This is a
book which all those with an interest in how professional service firms should
be managed and led should read."
- David Morley, Managing
Partner, Allen & Overy
Best Wishes,David
***
Does anyone else have
lessons and experiences to share about the benefits of building a subscriber
list?
[ Read the entire post at David Maister Blog: Passion, People and Principles ]
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