In the last few years, there has been a MAJOR change in the way that consumers get, and authors deliver books.  Back in the day, an author floated his ideas to as many publishing houses as it took to get accepted… or accepted the rejection and quit.  The publishing house spent a bunch of money printing the books, and then used their influence to push the book into book stores.  Because of all of the costs involved, the author would be lucky to see more than a few pennies on the dollar of the cover price.

A few years ago, ebooks started gaining popularity.  The cost of production and distribution for them started approaching $0, but there were few consumers there to get them.  Now, with Amazon’s Kindle options, Apple’s iTunes store and the Android App Market, a book can be distributed to a format that is gaining in popularity rapidly.

As bloggers, we are uniquely positions to create book-worthy content.  In fact if you’ve been blogging a while, you might already have enough content for a book.  But, if you are going to charge for the book, it needs to be differentiated from your blog in some manner…

Enter the idea that I picked up from ProBlogger… revisit your best content and expand upon the ideas.  While a blog post HAS to be concise and quick (or risk not getting read), book consumers are looking for more in-depth analysis and information.  And what is even better is that if you are going to go strictly digital (not even planning a print version), the book could be VERY multimedia… audio, video, active links and other embedded content.  And another advantage is that the book could be updated as information changes… and we all know that the world is rapidly changing every day.

Among the primary reasons to create a book is that it helps establish you as an expert in the field.  Imagine saying to a client, “I answered that question indepth in Chapter 3 of my book… here.”  It is also a useful give-away to use to promote your website and help build a mailing list.  Finally (although there are certainly more ideas), it may be a useful tool to promote yourself… for example getting a segment on a local TV or radio show talking about your area of expertise.

Next year I will try to create a non-fiction book…  How about you?

Related articles

• Should I get a Toshiba Thrive? (timesunion.com)
• Wolverton: Kindle Fire may be first worthy competitor to iPad (mercurynews.com)
• Get Your 2nd Edition Copy of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Today (for 25% Off) (problogger.net)
• ProBlogger’s Book ::: Outdated and Overrated! (dave-lucas.blogspot.com)
• Why Submit Your Best Posts as Guest Posts? (problogger.net)
• Everything You Need to Know About Creating a Jaw-Dropping Movie Trailer on the Cheap (problogger.net)
• 5 Good Kindle Books For New Blog Owners (dailyblogtips.com)
• Why Bloggers Should Self-Publish (problogger.net)

Rob Hahn, the Notorious R O B, had an interesting blog post about where the rebarcamp experience has gone… from where it started.

I was lucky enough to make it to the first real estate bar camp (rebc), in San Francisco, in 2008.  It was a really cool experience.  The thing that most struck me about the event was that it was built on and based in sharing.  It was completely peer-to-peer. There were no PowerPoint presentations, no scheduled presenters, no vendor alleys.

Since then, I have been to a few rebc events in different markets.  I’ve even been involved in organizing one.  And I have seen a variety of events, from the fairly heavily commercialized, to the zero presentation model.

The issue that Rob pointed out was that many rebc events had morphed into a “Social Media 101″ or “Tech 101″ class format.  One presenter (likely with a PowerPoint presentation) would lecture the rest of the attendees on the subject du jour.  It wasn’t about peer-to-peer interaction, but rather, it became about a more traditional class experience… with a free lunch and free T-shirt.

What is the solution? So many real estate professionals (real estate agents and mortgage brokers) seem to need that entry level instruction from folks that aren’t necessarily product vendors.  At the same time, those of us that have been involved in social media and technology for a while now REALLY need to get feedback and interaction at a different level.  We are actually pretty left out…

Advanced technology and social media discussion and training is pretty tough to find… or an arm and a leg… or completely “vendor targeted” (use our system, blah, blah, blah).

So, what’s next?

Related articles

• A simple case for REBarCamp (areweconnected.com)
• Rumor and Innuendo… (lanebailey.info)

• Video is something that is very popular on the web.
• Home buyers want to know what the area around their home is like.
• Buyers might also like FREE stuff.
• Local businesses would love to have new local customers…

So, I am having a thought of creating “Welcome Videos” from local businesses for “the new home owner”…  Perhaps they might invite the new buyer to have a free meal or free massage… or whatever.

Nothing long, just a “quick hit” introducing themselves and their business and welcoming the new resident.  I think the only charge would be the “freebie” for the buyer.  The video could be recycled to different property blogs…

If you have a local business and you are interested in taking part, let me know.

No, I didn’t misspell Flickr…  If you aren’t familiar, Flickr is an online photo sharing site.  It is world-wide and very diverse… and it can be hyper local and quite specific as well.

So, the question is…

How can a photo-sharing site be a social network?

And the answer lies in a little creativity.  I talked about this a little bit during #rebcclt, in a couple of different groups.  Flickr is a perfect way to help build online relationships and foster offline relationships.

Here is an idea…

• Using a site like MeetUp, you put together a group of like-minded folks with a common interest.
• Through FaceBook and Twitter, promote the meetings.
• After the event, use Flickr to compile the photos from all of the attendees.  Create a group on Flickr and build albums for the group.
• Using Flickr slideshows, embed slide shows about the event in blog posts by any of the members.
• Promote future events with all of the pictures that are generated…

In this case, Flickr is a good tool to foster a continuing relationship with people that you initially met through social networking.

Or…

• Put together a Flickr Group based on an existing group, like your child’s school.
• Invite all of the other parents to upload their event photographs to the Flickr Group.
• Using slideshows, distribute the more complete picture albums across different blogs and websites.

This time, the Flickr Group is being used to strengthen relationships that begin and continue offline.

Finally…

• Go find a bunch of people that you would like to know…
• Shoot a bunch of pictures.
• Invite them to see the pictures on your blog or website.
• Invite them to join your Flickr Group to add more pictures.

Here is a strategy to use offline social networking to build your online awareness among your target market.

So, here are three ways to utilize Flickr to build a community/social network that is both online and offline.  There are as many different ways to leverage Flickr as there are people trying to do it.  I bet you can come up with a few ideas of your own.

from Lane’s A|R Blog