Make Your Own Path On Life's Journey

Yesterday I drove to Barrie to say goodbye to a friend.

I hadn't seen Frank Nelson in person in a couple of years, and it had been much longer since I had seen Frank on a regular basis. We worked together at Chapters/Indigo many years ago.

But he continued to inspire me. And he continues to inspire me to this day.

On December 8, 2017, Frank Nelson passed away. I won't say that he "lost his battle" with cancer; and that's because he won his battle. He won the battle on so many accounts. When Frank was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2010, he began a phase of creating a bucket list that involved "Paying it Back" and helping others in need.

Frank's desire to take $1000 and give it to a complete stranger turned into an incredible legacy of caring and giving.

The last time I saw Frank was a couple of years ago when we arranged to meet at a Tim Hortons in Barrie.

Amazing Things Do Happen

An amazing thing happened several months ago.

C.C. Chapman visited Kobo's head office and his good friend Mitch Joel interviewed him for a Kobo in Conversation video.

It was one of those serendipitous moments that couldn't be planned, and yet it was likely based on an ongoing stream of constant and consistent community building.

Authors regularly ask me questions about marketing and how to get the word out about their book.

Photo courtesy of C.C. Chapman

What nobody who asks that question ever really wants to hear is that it's hard, there are millions of other books and authors out there and the thing that works best isn't a single gimmick or a quick one shot bullet.  What works best is building and engaging in a community -- in particular a community that can benefit from the type of thing that you are writing.

Working on that, focusing on how you can add value to the community, add value to those who are potentially within your target audience demographic, is the main thing to focus on.  And I'll use C.C. Chapman as an example - particularly since his he seems to exude the principle of giving.

C.C. has been blogging and podcasting and sharing his enthusiasm for life in an open and up front way for many years. He has consistently been giving to the community, and, he hasn't been broadcasting using social media - he has been engaging with them.  He hasn't been using the community, he has become a relevant and desired part of it. He has offered, and given, and shared and connected.

And he has done it in such a generous and honest way that, as James A. Owen said so beautifully in the Drawing out the Dragons talk he gave at Superstars Writing Seminars last week, people can hear it in his voice, see it in his face, and seem to automatically want to help him.

It might have been a single innocent tweet that C.C. sent out which led to Kobo inviting him to come to our office, to bring in his good friend Mitch Joel to interview him, and to make a special day out of it -- culminating in this video -- but that single tweet stemmed from years of engagement by C.C.

Sure, I saw the tweet in which he was asking for some simple advice about Toronto, responded to C.C. and began a conversation with him.  But that conversation never would have happened without C.C.'s initial investment in the digital community he harvested and stays engaged with. 

C.C. might thank others for something like this, but he is really the spark that made it all happen.

But, despite the fun had that day of finally getting to meet him in person, the best part is that I found a great new book (Amazing Things Will Happen) that I can recommend and purchase - one that, along with the Dr. Seuss book "Oh The Places You'll Go" make an excellent gift for any graduate.

Check out CC Chapman's books at Kobo.

Check out Mitch Joel's books at Kobo.

When Technology Hinders Humans Work Around

Recently on his blog, Seth Godin suggested in a blog post called "Empty your library" that people give or lend their copy of LINCHPIN, his latest fantastic book, to someone else.

"Go find someone you care about, hand them the book and insist they read it. I'd consider that a gift of the first order, and I hope they will too."

I recently finished reading LINCHPIN and thought it was awesome.

It was exactly the kind of book that I'd love to give to as many people as possible and tell them to read it.

The problem is, I can't.

You see, I bought the ebook version of LINCHPIN on my enTourage eDGe -- I had a great experience reading it because the eDGe allows me to take notes, both in the margin of the book and in a quickly accessible enotebook I can toggle back and forth between.

And I took a ton of notes while reading Godin's latest. Because it's the kind of book that doesn't just give you information. It makes you think. Really think.

But I'm not about to just hand over my eDGE. Sorry, just can't afford that one. (Though, admittedly, it would be interesting to share the highlights, notes and comments I made in the margin of this book)

Sigh. Technology usually makes things easier, not more difficult.

I suppose I'll have to go buy a copy of the hardcover to give to someone.

That, or I'll just give away my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING - a book from well over 10 years ago by Godin, but fantastic and worth reading, particularly since he predicts many things that have come true today and much of what he addresses is still pertinent and valuable.

So, in the nature of the giving without strings that Godin suggests throughout the book LINCHPIN, who out there has always wanted to read Seth Godin but hasn't? I'll send you my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING. Free. No strings attached.

And if you're thinking this is a pure "Mark being generous" effort, here's the clincher -- there is something in this for me besides feeling good about giving. For a long time my wife has been asking me to clean up and deal with the piles and piles of books in my den that won't fit on the 8 book cases that fill two walls. This "giving away" is a step in the right direction and will please my wife, which brings me happiness. But instead of getting rid of things I don't want to keep, I'll start by giving away a book I really enjoyed and would normally want to hold on to forever -- Godin's PERMISSION MARKETING -- still in hardcover after all these years.

Who wants it? Post a comment on this blog post at http://markleslie.blogspot.com along with a note indicating the latest favourite book that you recently read and would highly recommend that others read (just because that's a cool thing for me to learn and for you to share with others) and my copy of PERMISSION MARKETING can be yours.

Sorry, but I only have one copy to give so will have to figure out who among the requesting folks actually gets it. I'm thinking I'll do this randomly, but I'm also open to take suggestions on how to selection someone, or suggestions on which of the people requesting it should be selected.

(Also, please note, I auto-syndicate this blog into Facebook, Goodreads and a few other places that I can't remember -- so if you're reading this note anywhere but directly on my blog, please click back to my blog to comment -- I have a setting on my blog that notifies me of comments there and that way I won't miss it)

Da Count - Giving Back To Web 2.0

Today's society is so used to getting so many things for free from the internet. We're very privileged and I think that we often took advantage of free services, free information and free entertainment a lot more than we even take time to acknowledge or give back to.

Because the range of free information, services and entertainment is so vast and varied, I thought I'd hone in on just a small range of services that I regularly take advantage of and appreciate tremendously.

The Writing Show (Podcast for Writers)
- Offering information and inspiration for writers, this podcast features interviews with authors from various types of writing (ie, different genres and a variety of different forms of writing) as well as instructive advice and tips on honing your writing skills.

Ralan's Webstravaganza (Writing Market Information)
An easily searchable, browseable listing of various speculative and humour fiction markets updated regularly.

Podiobooks.com (Podcast - Entertainment)
Free serialized audio books. Tons of great free books you can subscribe to and download. A great way to discover authors you might not have already heard of.

These are JUST THREE of the free services and entertainment offerings from Web 2.0 that I regularly enjoy and take advantage of. There are more. But I thought I'd pause to acknowledge these three for now and suggest a way that I might be able to help ensure they keep running.

I sincerely believe that the average person, like me, can give back, give thanks and show appreciation for those things being offered.

And here's what you can and should do for each service you enjoy and regularly benefit from.

1) Let them know. Send the creator/owner/originator an appreciative email or leave a comment letting them know how much you appreciate what they're doing and what it means to you.

2) Spread the love. If you enjoy it, let others know about it. Tell friends, colleagues, etc. Post about it on your own blog or social networking platform so others can learn about it and benefit from it.

3) Donate. Donating just $1.00 via an easy and secure method such as PayPal goes a long way.

Consider this. Most of the people operating these free services are doing it as a labour of love. It's something they believe in and believe others will benefit from. And they're often putting endless hours into it and perhaps the only benefit they're reaping is perhaps learning that others appreciate it.

So if half of everyone who benefited from using the services donated $1.00 every six months or perhaps even just once a year, even THAT would go a long way towards helping ensure they could afford to keep the services running.

I recently learned that one of the services I donated $1.00 to gets over 100,000 hits per year. If just 1 in 10 people donated $1 to that service, this would offer the person running it enough money to pay for the server space and other incidental costs that they incur by putting countless hours of their energy and passion into providing a service that benefits others.

I would therefore like to propose to the internet community an annual "free service donation day." Set it on the 15th of a month. Why not the forthcoming 15th of October? Maybe call it the "Ides of October" or "Web 2.0 Thanksgiving" or something like that -- and on that day, take a few minutes to acknowledge one or more of the free internet services you enjoy, spread the love about them and donate $1.00 towards the service. Perhaps pick one or pick your favourite three.

In the examples I'm using here, donating $1.00 to the services I have acknowledged would cost me $3.00. Not much. About a cup of coffee. And how many hours of entertainment and information have those three services brought me over the years? Gee, that's a ton of stuff I'm getting for a measly $3.00. But wow, my $3.00 could go a long way if even half or a quarter of the people who benefited from these services offered.

It's a simple concept. Doesn't cost much. And it could make a world of difference for the person or persons offering that free service to help them keep it running so that we can continue to benefit from them. Think about it. Give it a shot.