VHE Updates

I’ve started a twitter feed for my first book, The Van Halen Encyclopedia, currently being revised for its third edition. Follow @vhencyclopedia for updates, insider info and news on future versions of the book.

Hypocrisy

Merlin Mann:

Being consistent is WAY less interesting than being yourself. And if you’re not interesting? Good luck with your Big Consistency Project.

This is why I call most things I do around here experiments. I write heated posts on a topic, calm down for a bit and then try the opposite, just to see the other’s guy point of view. If you get too hung up on consistency, you can easily find yourself itching for a fight on a topic for which you have no real vested interest.

My First Web Book

The logical progression of writing on a niche topic these days seems to be: create a blog, establish a following and, if the stars align, write a book. In the spirit of contrarianism and experimentation, I did the opposite with my 1998 book The Van Halen Encylopedia.

The idea was to create individual posts for every entry in the book (around 500) and link them all together in new ways. I’d update the book in real time as updates rolled in. The web was made for reference, so a reference book would be a perfect fit. Right?

It’s been over six months since the site started and I’ve learned quite a bit.

The CMS

I was fully expecting to regret my choice of Squarespace to host the VHE. It seemed like an expensive option for a low traffic, long-tail site. I chose it because I knew the system well and knew I could have a huge site up and operational over a single weekend.

What I didn’t know was Squarespace is especially well-suited for reference sites. While editing an entry, you can click a link within the entry and toggle between tabs to edit several entries simultaneously (without saving, or opening anything). This saved me days, maybe weeks of work. Even if I move the site to lesser expensive option in the future, building it would never have happened so quickly without Squarespace.

The Updating

This was over-the-top successful.

A great example of what’s possible occurred this week. I had been trading a few emails with a woman who swore a concert happened in a certain venue in 1980, even though there was no record of it. A week or so went by and she emailed again, this time with an image of the ticket stub from a Facebook group for the old venue. In the book it went!

I have hundreds of updates backing up in my queue. Turns out, putting this stuff out there for free has returned more information from readers in 6 months than in all 13 years the book was in print. I’m starting to worry I may not have enough time in my life to keep up with it all, which leads me to wonder if the book is of that much importance. This makes me think hard for a bit, then I get back to work.

Copycats

One downside of putting everything on the web is that it gets used everywhere, without attribution. From everyone’s favorite reference website to legit editorial sites, everyone is copying and pasting. I have no problem with that, as long as it fits within the bounds of fair use and there’s a link back to the site, but there never is.

The Next Few Months

There’s some things from the book that don’t translate well to the web. There’s a sense of discovery missing from flipping through pages and finding a entry for a song you never knew existed.

There’s a narrative to the opening Timeline chapter that pulls the whole book together, but there’s maybe one reader in a thousand on the web who’d be patient enough to follow that narrative without clicking dozens of links.

It’s clear to me that the book will have to at least be on the Kindle and in the iBook store to experience the full thing (for those who are interested). A book that lives in at least two mediums at the same to will be the next experiment.

Productivity Starts with a Why

“There is no money, inherently, in being productive.” - Stever Robbins

Perfectly put. If you don’t spend time on why you’re doing something before you dive into your favorite GTD app, you’re only moving more efficiently in the wrong direction.

What Groupon Can Learn from Itself

A week ago, Patrick Rhone posted about the following copy he found in a Groupon offer he received:

“Sweet teeth turn into butter with the soft crunch of the chocolate croissant ($2.95), and macaroons ($2.25 each) melt the taste buds of sweet seekers without the inclusion of refined sweeteners—whose costly education did not increase their manners.”

Curious, I checked my email and found this deal from my own area for Leona’s Pizzeria:

“Tomato paste is the glue that holds many Italian dishes together, just as caulk is the glue that holds many construction workers’ children’s dioramas together. Enjoy edible adhesives with today’s Groupon.”

Yummy! How pissed off would you be if you owned Leona’s?

I have a hard time believing rogue writers across state lines are scheming to write the worst copy imaginable for the sake of my amusement. So, I have to come to the conclusion that Groupon probably just doesn’t care.

Of course, Groupon has an entirely different view of their writing, as stated in this Groupon job listing:

“Our editors ensure that all of the writing on our site is engaging, compelling, and most importantly, written in our voice.”

That “voice” is set by the administration of Groupon. That administration includes Jason Fried of 37Signals, perhaps the most well-known proponent of great copywriting on the web. Fried recently stepped down from the Groupon Board of Directors and now serves on the Advisory Board. Perhaps it’s about time he advises Groupon on why good writing is so important, like he did in his May 2010 article for Inc. Magazine titled, “Why Is Business Writing So Awful?”:

“Words are treated as filler — ‘stuff’ that takes up space on a page. Words expand to occupy blank space in a business much as spray foam insulation fills up cracks in your house. Harsh? Maybe. True? Read around a bit, and I think you’ll agree.”

I agree.

Drawing a Blank

Business cards are one-size-fits-all affairs, revealing the same information for total strangers and your best customers. Pre-packaged, pre-designed and pre-determined. What a waste of an opportunity to connect.

I’m talking about blank business cards.

Marketers often talk about the greater impact of hand-written materials when compared to printed materials, yet every marketer I’ve ever met uses highly polished materials to project some kind of professionalism. But is that how you measure professionalism? I measure professionalism by what you’ve done up to now, not what you’ve spent on designers and printers. 

Do yourself a favor and buy some great blank business card paper stock and keep a pen handy. When you meet someone, make them feel a little special by taking the time to write out exactly what they need to know. It’s unique. It stands out. It’s powerful.

Of course, offering a solution that isn’t about throwing money at a problem may not ever be popular, but doesn’t that make the solution all the more unique?

Print This Email

From the Wall Street Journal (via Jack Baty): 

“Notice: It’s OK to print this email. Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees. Growing and harvesting trees provides jobs for millions of Americans. Working forests are good for the environment and provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. Thanks to improved forest management, we have more trees in America today than we had 100 years ago.”

It actually goes back a lot further than 100 years, depending on your source. The logic is pretty simple and proven with every passing year. Less use of paper = less financial incentive to properly manage forests = lots of bad things (less trees planted, more forest fires, increasing severity of forest fires). I’m a big fan of carpentry, paper and employment, so I’ve never had a problem with you printing my email.

Why Journal?

Dave Caolo, writer/curator of nerdery, prompted me to elaborate on the advantages of journaling for writers, after my review of Day One.

I’ve been writing for some kind of publication for 24 years. I write 8 hours a day professionally and about 1 or 2 hours for pleasure. But I know that if I could squeeze in another hour, I’d be a little better. Journaling is a small part of that 1 or 2 hours of writing for pleasure. 

I can’t say what it’ll do for you, but, for me, journaling:

• Clears my head of the dozens of unresolved ideas that have gathered throughout the day, which gets me to sleep faster.
• Allows me to ask myself questions, which usually resolves big issues, without needing to hire a  consultant or search for an expert (which is what “busy” professionals do today instead of just focusing on a problem that may be slightly painful).
• Gives me an excuse to write out everything I’m grateful for happening on that day. This is biggie - gratitude is the most effective solution I’ve found to combat negativity, fear and anxiety. There’s always something to be grateful for during the course of a day.

Above all, the most important reason to journal can be summed up by Socrates:

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Sleep It Off

From guilty pleasure CBS Sunday Morning, Ben Stein makes the case for sleep, quoting University of Chicago Economist Frank Knight:

“Never waste any time you could spend sleeping.”

It makes you calmer, less irritable, less fearful and just plain happier. I’m in.