I loved the bold, modern row-by-row pattern.

As is typical for my quilting, I sewed a couple of rows of the quilt, and then set it aside. I remember something happened in 2020 . . . hmmm, what was that? I did spend a lot of time quilting and sewing during the pandemic. But, I didn’t get back to the Sugaridoo Bernina Quiltalong until recently.

Thankfully, I’ve been a steady user of Evernote for years, and I keep all my quilt patterns, instructions, and links to projects stored in Evernote. So, when I ran across the rows recently, and decided to work on the project again, I fired up Evernote to find links to the pattern for each row.

Will I finish the quilt now? Who knows. I tend to have quilting ADHD. I jump from one project to the next to the next. I’ve told several quilting friends that my dream studio would be big enough to have multiple work tables with a project spread out on each table. I could work on whichever project caught my attention that day.

You should know that Irene has a brand-new partnership with Bernina for her Between The Lines quiltalong.

If this image intrigues you, then dive into the Between The Lines quiltalong.

Here are some more photos of my work on the original Sugaridoo Bernina quiltalong.

The post Sugaridoo Bernina Quiltalong from 2019 – working on it again first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

At the time, I just wasn’t prepared for the volume of work – cutting and sewing – that goes into a Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt.

But, the next year, 2017, I buckled down and made the quilt, and I’ve made Bonnie’s annual mystery every year since. I also made the mystery quilt that she released during the early months of COVID to help quilters deal with the self-isolation.

If you’re not familiar with how a mystery quilt works, here’s a quick explanation. Bonnie designs the full quilt top, but the quilters working on her mystery have ZERO idea what the final quilt will look like until she releases the final clue and the big reveal of the quilt top.

She begins the mystery every year on Black Friday. She releases the first clue which is instructions on making a series of pieces that will eventually be used in the blocks and the quilt top. For example, she might teach multiple techniques on making a four patch or a nine patch or a flying geese. And, then, there’s the kicker. She will write. Now, make some huge number of that one piece. 75 half-square triangles or 125 flying geese, etc., etc.

This year, Bonnie’s mystery quilt is titled Chilhowie. And, I’m at work each week on the clues.

Here are some photos of my work thus far:

The post Bonnie Hunter’s Annual Mystery Quilt –  Chilhowie  first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Several years ago, before the pandemic, I took an Elizabeth Hartman class at Valley Fabrics in Northampton. But, I’d made some of her blocks even before that.

Last week, I bought Hartman’s new Robots pattern, and I’ve started the long process of cutting for a Hartman quilt/pattern.

I love me some robots and science fiction, so I’m looking forward to making this.

The post Elizabeth Hartman’s New Quilt Pattern first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

My Janome 6600’s accufeed system for quilting has never worked right. It’s frustrating! I’ve taken it to a shop a couple of times for repair or for them to investigate the accufeed problems, and it’s never worked right.

So, about a year ago, I took an intro free motion class at my local quilt store. I was learning on a brand-new Bernina long-arm. I really enjoyed the class, and I went back the next Saturday and quilted a charity quilt top for practice. What I soon discovered though is that it would take hours and hours and hours of practice before I felt comfortable enough to quilt some of my tops. I added up the numbers on renting the machine over and over to practice and work on charity tops, and I just couldn’t justify the expense.

Most recently, as in yesterday, I took a quilt top to a long armer that I met via the Northampton Modern Quilt Guild. I’m going to pay a long armer until I either figure out somehow to quilt on my Janome or buy a longarm at some point in the future.

First quilt – Log Cabin

I took my first quilt class in Shelburne Falls, MA in 2002 at A Notion to Quilt, then owned and run by Ellen DeGrave. She was a phenomenal teacher. I’d never used a sewing machine before I took my first quilting class.

Split Rail Fence – once I started taking my first quilting class, I was hooked. Even before I finished making my first quilt, I quickly made this second one using an Alex Anderson book on quilting for kids for the pattern.

Ohio Star baby quilt – I made this for my son Zachary. He’s now 16 years old and sleeps with this quilt on his bed.

Baby quilt – Baby quilt I made for a friend

Sampler quilt – A sampler quilt I made (again working with Ellen DeGrave at A Notion to Quilt). My 12-year-old sleeps with this quilt on his bed.

Purple and Gold NY Beauty Quilt – I received these fabrics in a fabric swap with the now defunct QuiltGuy Yahoo Group. Quilted by Timna Tarr.

First Grader Dinosaur Quilt – when my 16-year-old was in first grade at Conway Grammar School in Conway, MA, I had him and his classmates draw dinosaurs with fabric markers on white fabric, and then made this quilt. Good lord this was a wonky quilt, but I sewed and quilted it nonetheless.

Log cabin – another early log cabin quilt

Sea Turtle quilt – I took a workshop with Susan Carlson at Portsmouth Fabric Company and made this quilt. Quilting by Andre Emmel.

Blue and Green string quilt – I love string quilts, especially when I want to just mindlessly sew with no strict pattern. This quilt top is at the long farmer now.

Purple and gold string quilt – I made this with scraps from the purple and gold NY Beauty quilt.

Blue and white string quilt

Cubbyhole quilts white and green – I love this Fons and Porter pattern. Sooo simple, but I love it. I made one with solids and one with a combo of solids and prints.

Lost and Found quilt – another cubbyhole style quilt

Vice Versa BOM sampler – Vice Versa block of the month sampler quilt in solids.

Baby quilts – I made several baby quilts for couples at my gym. I used Spoonflower to print some fabric with the logo from my gym.

On Ringo Lake – a Christmas fabric version of Bonnie Hunter’s On Ringo Lake mystery quilt

Minecraft quilt – I still need to add some borders to this and get it quilted. This was based on Kelli Fannin’s Minecraft Sew Along.

The post All my quilts first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

MEN WHO QUILT: A NEW STITCH IN THE HISTORY OF AN AMERICAN TRADITION.

BY JASON KOTOCH

The sharp silver needle on the Janome sewing machine pierces supple purple fabric with precision. The room is stuffed with an assortment of rainbow colored fabric that is stacked from floor to ceiling on top of each other. Material hangs from racks, is jammed into boxes and wedged in between shelves. Mountains of cotton share space with an entire world of multi-colored threads, yarns, buttons and pattern clippings that are strewn about, tossed to the side during a fit of creative quilting energy.

The machine hums while practiced hands calmly guide colorful cotton squares under the needle to be bound together by a single strand of delicate Italian thread. An exceptionally bright light illuminates the workspace, making the rest of the cluttered room almost disappear into darkness.

For centuries, quilts have carried our memories, told our stories and warmed our babies. When times were tough, quilts were pieced together from scraps of denim or old shirts. In prosperous times, they were made of fine silks to be displayed in art galleries and on living room walls. Quilts are undoubtedly a special part of American culture, but the quilt coming together under this sewing machine is special for another reason; it’s being made by a man.

——

At first glance, Jeff Rutherford is unassuming. He is of average height, average build and drives a modest green Subaru. Even his smile is an unassuming smirk that would never give away the fact that at 47-years-old, Rutherford is a modern-day Renaissance man. Rutherford is an active father of two. He interviews authors for a podcast that he produces and is a huge music fan. He is an avid CrossFit athlete and he goes dancing every Friday night.

Rutherford is also a member of a clutch of male quilters who have taken up an art form traditionally practiced by women. Men Who Quilt and Quilting Men are Facebook groups with 466 members and 220 members respectively. But before Facebook, Rutherford was a member of QuiltGuy, an all-male quilting Yahoo group. Today the group has over 380 members but it started out with only a handful of members who would share images and sewing advice online. The men gather together twice a year at male quilting retreats to sew and share each other’s company.

“Those two weekends are the highlights of my year,” Rutherford said. “They’re something that I look forward to and I’ve definitely made some really close friendships.”

QuiltGuy started out as a Yahoo chat group where men would log in and talk shop, share ideas and problem solve together.

“Somewhere along the way I found this email group. Someone in the group said, ‘it looks like we’re all in the New England area, let’s get together for a day.’ Two guys who owned a quilt shop in Woodstock, New York said that they had a space above their store so we ended up having three meetings at that store,” Jeff said.

Sewing machines in hand, the first 12 members of QuiltGuy met in Woodstock in the summer of 2008. The social element of the all women’s quilting bee was something many male quilters at the retreat had never experienced. Andre Emmell of Vermont is a senior member of QuiltGuy. He met Rutherford for the first time that warm summer morning and recalled how it felt to finally meet and sew with other male quilters.

“With a bunch of guys, you can relax and just be yourself. If you say something a little off-color, you can relax and laugh with the guys, it’s different than being the only guy in an all women’s guild.”

For Rutherford and Emmell, the retreat was more than a place to sew; it was a place to build new friendships and a community that would last almost as long as the quilts themselves.

——

Born and raised in conservative Macon, Georgia, Rutherford was the only boy in a sewing class he took in the 6^th grade where he learned how to make dolls similar to Cabbage Patch Kids. While most boys his age might have worried about getting teased, Jeff didn’t care.

Rutherford’s maverick mentality grew over the years. He started organizing punk shows in high school and his southern church going neighbors gave him disapproving looks when he shaved his head into a tall blonde Mohawk during his senior year.

Jeff moved to New York City in 1997 after graduating from the University of Georgia.

In 2000, while walking through Wave Hill Park in the Bronx, Rutherford found a gallery displaying the work of local artists. Jeff wandered into the gallery and on display that day were a series of modern quilts made by New Yorkers. Jeff was awestruck; he had found the artistic outlet he had been looking for.

“I’ve written fiction – short stories and novels – as a creative outlet, but I had long wanted some type of visual art to pursue as well,” Rutherford said. “Those quilts blew me away, but the one overwhelming thought that I remember thinking was I can do that, I’m not sure how, but I know I can do that,” he said.

Rutherford began reading about quilting in magazines and books. He frequented the City Quilter, a famous quilting store in Manhattan. He browsed fabric stores, examined quilting styles and flipped through books full of patterns and techniques. He poured over everything quilting but still hadn’t sewn a stitch. That changed when he moved to Conway Massachusetts in 2002.

“Not long after moving, I bought a sewing machine, a cheap Singer at a discount store, and I bought a copy of Quilting for Dummies. I tried to teach myself how to quilt, but it wasn’t pretty,” Rutherford laughed.

Picking up the many intricate sewing techniques he needed to start quilting was a challenge and even Quilting for Dummies assumed basic sewing knowledge. Terms like “quarter-inch seam” and “basting” meant nothing to Jeff who, frustrated, stepped away from the craft without making a single quilt. The Singer sat alone in the empty quilting room. A half sewn length of jammed material dangled from the intimidating machine mid-stitch.

But fate intervened. A Notion to Quilt, a new quilting store ten minutes north just opened shop in Shelburne Falls and was offering classes for beginners. Rutherford enrolled in class immediately.

Shop owner, Ellen DeGrave, a quilter with 30 years of experience was Jeff’s first quilting teacher.

“He was the only male in my class!” she said. “I’ve never seen another man in a quilting class.”

DeGrave was just the kind of teacher Rutherford had been looking for. Always smiling, she demystified the techniques of the craft. Soon, Rutherford’s cheap Singer was humming with life. He began working on quilts in class, and at home.

“Ellen was the perfect teacher. She just had this great sense of humor and would often just laugh while she was teaching, and it was just the perfect combination in someone to learn from,” he said. “I knew fairly quickly that this was something I would do for the rest of my life.”

DeGrave recalls, “I think women were happy to have him in the class but they seemed amazed that a man would want to spend so much time in a group quilting with them.”

Rutherford’s first quilt took about two months to make.

“It’s funny, we all live in this age of Facebook and Instagram, everything is immediate,” he said. “But quilting is something that takes time and I’m always reminded of that.”

Rutherford’s first quilt hangs in the room where he does all of his sewing. It’s modest when compared to the work he does today, but like most quilts, the one hanging on his wall recalls his story and hints at a fascinating personal history.

“I keep thinking I’m going take it down and put up a newer quilt, but I just haven’t done it yet,” he said. “I’ve thought about just giving some of the quilts away, but it’s like how some artists refuse to sell or give away their work, they just get attached.”

——

The word quilt is derived from the Latin word culcita meaning “stuffed sack.” At its most basic, a quilt is little more than three layers of cloth sewn together—a top, a filling usually made of wool or cotton and a backing. The earliest American quilts were made by colonists for purely utilitarian reasons. Fabric was a rare commodity and every scrap was used to fashion warm blankets during the cold months. But quilting has come a long way since.

Today’s quilts can be sophisticated pieces of fine art. Some quilts are made for gallery walls while others are made to carry powerful social messages. The AIDS quilt, made to remember the lives of the people lost to the disease is the world’s largest quilt at over 1.2 million square feet. It covered the entire National Mall in Washington D.C. the last time it was displayed in 1996.

On a smaller scale, quilts can be given as gifts to commemorate the birth of a child or a new marriage. The number of hours spent hand stitching or sewing behind a machine leave the quilter with a lot of time to think about the gift, the craft and the meaning behind the labor.

“It’s sort of a meditation. I definitely think about the person while I’m making it,” Rutherford said.

His former teacher echoed the same feelings. DeGrave said that for her, quilting was about the quality of the time spent sewing and the intention behind the work.

DeGrave said, “When I’m making a quilt for someone, the whole time I’m working I’m thinking about them. The person is always with me while I am working. It’s really an act of pure love.”

And it is that sentiment, perhaps, that really challenges the gender expectations inherent to the craft. In its most elemental form, the quilt is designed to keep its user warm. Wrapped around one’s shoulders, the three layers of soft fabric represent a loving embrace. The softness of a quilt is in hard contrast to that of the identity typically assigned to the American male.

——

It’s easy for Jeff to get lost looking at the rainbow rows of cotton, muslin, corduroy and silk at his local craft supply store. Shopping for material is usually not a big deal. Occasionally however, he is met by disbelieving store clerks.

Recently, while shopping for baby quilt fabric, Rutherford was met by a cotton haired woman wearing a smock and a nametag that read “Linda.”

“Can I help you with something sir?” she asked.

She interrupted before he could answer, “Are you waiting for your wife?”

“No, I’m just picking up a few things,” Rutherford responded.

Linda’s white Shape-Up sneakers squeaked as she walked double-time to the fabric cutting counter to help a line of women with baskets full of fabric. Jeff spent a few more minutes touching the yellows, rubbing them between his fingers until he felt one that he liked.

At the counter, Linda was busy cutting canvas for a woman who made tote bags. She looked over the edge of her bifocals that rested on the tip of her nose, folded up the canvas and slid it across the broad cutting table.

“Next!” she said.

Smiling, Jeff handed Linda a bolt of dandelion yellow fabric and some plush cotton batting.

“I’ll take two yards of the batting and I’ll buy all of the yellow fabric.”

Linda reached across the table for the batting and began unrolling it. She pushed her glasses up with the back of her hand.

“What’s this for?” she asked. “Is your wife making something?”

“No, I’m making a baby quilt for the owners of my gym.”

To prove it, he pulled out his phone and started showing Linda an extensive archive of all the intricate quilts he’s made over the years.

“Wow, you’re really good at this!” she said.

——

It’s a Saturday morning and Rutherford is up early. Late summer sunshine is pouring through the window, filling his quilting studio with warmth. Setting his coffee cup next to his sewing machine, Rutherford selects a soundtrack before sitting down to work. Today he’s in the mood for Jay-Z.

The thumping music mimics the action of the sewing machine as Jeff begins sewing together the final pieces of a baby quilt he’s been working on for almost three months. As if by magic, individual strips of dandelion yellow fabric become one with midnight blue and violet cotton squares. Four playlists later and the top is finally ready to be sent out for quilting.

Most home quilters can’t afford the large quilting machine that is used to bind the three layers together and hand quilting can take months. Jeff sends his work out to Emmell because he knows that his work is flawless. Before noon, the three quilt layers are wrapped in watertight packaging and shipped—insured— to be quilted together by Emmell in his Vermont studio.

——

On a cold gray autumn day, a brisk wind coaxed people across the Pioneer Valley to get out their sweaters and fleeces pullovers. Liz Greene and Perrin Hendrick, owners of Pioneer Valley CrossFit in Northampton, opened the gym early that morning as sleepy eyed athletes strolled in. In tow was Baby Jack, Liz and Perrin’s three-month-old baby boy who sat snuggled inside a blanket that protected his tender skin from the sharp chill in the morning air.

Jack whimpered when Liz took him from the stroller for feeding. Just then, Jeff approached the new family with a gift.

“Hey guys, I’ve got something for you,” Rutherford said smiling.

He reached inside a brown paper bag and pulled out the baby quilt that he’d been working on for months. Carefully, he unfolded the plush blanket and held it open before Liz, Perrin and Baby Jack. The perfect patchwork quilt of purple and dandelion-yellow squares amazed the new parents and even Baby Jack too notice.

“Oh. My. God!” said Liz.

“With love and community,” read the handwritten words inscribed on a label that was hand-stitched on to the back the quilt.

“This is incredible! I think I might wear this all winter,” joked Perrin as Jack looked on, cradled in the arms of his mother who couldn’t stop smiling.

Jeff watched as the baby was wrapped up in his creation. You could see both a sense of joy from gift giving and a humble pride behind Rutherford’s eyes.

Time always has its way with material things. Inevitably, Jack will outgrow the four by four foot quilt and it will be packed away. The years will fray the edges and the colors will begin to fade after washing. But when time has taken all of us and Jack has children of his own, the quilt will survive to tell the story of Jeff, a man who loved to quilt.

The post Article about me and my quilting first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

I’ve seen a variety of quilters online who keep a very detailed list of quilts in progress or UFOs. I’ve never written down a list of my UFOs, but I thought it might be a fun thing to do. And, without a doubt, there are quilts that I’m not including here, stuffed in a bag or box or hidden under a partially completed quilt top.

Without further ado, here’s the list:

365 Quilt – I’ve been working on my 365 Quilt for several years now. I’m getting closer, but it’s still in progress. I need to finish it by July 2020 when the designer Kathryn Kerr is going to launch a second 365 quilt called Star of Wonder.

Sugaridoo Bernina Quiltalong – Should I count quiltalongs that haven’t finished yet? For the sake of completion, I will. The Sugaridoo Bernina quiltalong is a modern quilt with suggested solids for a color palette. There are five or six patterns released (on a monthly basis). I’ve sewn two of the rows so far.

Unity Quiltalong – Bonnie Hunter’s current quiltalong. Bonnie, a wonderful quilter and teacher, created her Unity Quiltalong to give socially distanced sewers an ongoing project. She releases a clue each Monday. I’m two clues behind, but this has been fun to work on.

Navy blue and cheddar Ripples quilt – In 2017 or 2018 (I lose track of time), I was in an online bee. Each month, one of the 12 quilters in the group chose a pattern from the Blossom Heart Quilts site, and chose the color palette they wanted. Everyone in the group would make two of the blocks in the selected color palette.

At the beginning, I enjoyed the challenge and learning a new block each month, but I felt a lot of internal pressure to keep up, and by the end of the year, my excitement had waned. I was the last quilter of the year, and I chose the Ripples block in navy blue and cheddar.

I loved all the blocks that I received, but I want to make more blocks to make this quilt bigger. I’m not someone who makes small quilts.

Black and white (and some pops of color) New York Beauty – I love New York Beauty quilts. Here’s my black and white (with pops of color) NY Beauty. I work on it periodically.

Put Your Kink Cards on the Table – That’s a phrase that Dan Savage mentions regularly on his Savage Lovecast podcast – a podcast about sex and relationships. This is a word quilt with a variety of words and phrases.

GGG quilt – Another Dan Savage-inspired quilt. In fact, when I tweeted an in-progress photo of this quilt several years ago, Dan Savage retweeted it.

GGG, in case you’re curious, stands for: “GGG is a term coined by sex columnist Dan Savage to represent the qualities that he thinks makes a good sexual partner. GGG stands for “good, giving, and game.” Think “good in bed,” “giving of equal time and equal pleasure,” and “game for anything—within reason.”

Minecraft X2 – I have all the blocks sewn for two Minecraft quilts (one for each of my sons). One I need to sew the blocks together, and the other, I just need to add two more borders and it’s done and ready for quilting.

Orphan Block charity quilt – A while back, the Northampton Modern Quilt Guild traded orphan blocks. I’m currently making this quilt top from the blocks I received.

Tell Me a Story quilt – I’ve participated in multiple rounds of Amy Friend’s block swaps for her Tell Me a Story quilt. I’m probably going to make more of these blocks (again for a larger quilt).

Tell Me a Story Christmas quilt – In November/December 2019, I participated in a Christmas version of Amy Friend’s Tell Me a Story block swap. I need to make more of these blocks.

String quilts – Whenever I need some mindless sewing, I make string quilt blocks. I have lots of string quilt blocks sitting around waiting to be sewn into quilt tops.

Susan Carlson illustrative quilts – Many years ago, I took a Susan Carlson workshop at Portsmouth Fabric Company. I made a sea turtle quilt from the class. And, I’ve started several other of her quilts, including this one.

Elizabeth Hartman animal quilt – I sewed several of the hedgehog blocks several years ago. But, I’m currently taking a monthly Elizabeth Hartman block class at Valley Fabrics in Northampton, MA. The classes have moved online now.

Harry Potter X2 – I’m making two different Harry Potter quilts. One quilt is based on Kelli Fannin’s Harry Potter blocks and the other is based on Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts’ Harry Potter blocks.

Tall Tall Block Quilt – I’m a voracious reader. When I first saw Kate Basti’s Tall Tale Quilt Block pattern, I knew I was going to make a quilt. Again, I have some blocks made, but plan on making more.

Wow, writing this list has been exhausting. I’m going to get back to sewing now.

The post Works In Progress – May 1, 2020 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

This article about my quilting was published on Friday, March 13th in the Hampshire Gazette newspaper.

That’s the day we started social distancing/quarantining. I picked up my sons from school that day, and they knew that their schools were closed for several weeks. It’s now April 28th, and their schools have been canceled for the entire year. I don’t think many folks saw this article given the chaos of that week and that Friday.

Here are the three photos that were published with the story. Photos were taken by Kevin Gutting.

The post Daily Hampshire Gazette article about my quilting – March 13, 2020 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

But the reality of a social distancing lifestyle in response to a global pandemic is much, much different. I haven’t been nearly as productive as I would have thought.

Initially, and as the deaths in NYC skyrocketed, I had a ton of emotions about 9/11. On 9/11, I lived in Brooklyn, NY. I’ll post another time about my memories of 9/11, but on March 13th and the subsequent weeks afterwards, I think I was grappling with PTSD from 9/11 as well as trying to wrap my head around the realities of a global pandemic and the changes in my day-to-day life.

Prior to March 13th (the day that my sons schools in Massachusetts were canceled and shifted to online learning and the day we started social distancing), I was an active gym goer for the past 6-7 years. I spent 6 years participating in CrossFit 3-5x per week, and the last two summers I’ve run a bunch of Spartan, Bonefrog, and Savage Race obstacle races.

Since social distancing began, I haven’t been able to figure out a home exercise routine that works for me, and that’s been distressing.

But, I’ve slowly started sewing amidst all the feelings and emotions. Here’s what I’ve been working on.

Sugaridoo Bernina Quilt along

I sewed the second row of the Sugaridoo Bernina quilt along. Sugaridoo is the blog of Irene, the quilter who designed the quilt, and the quilt along is hosted on the Bernina blog. After 12 monthly rows, the finished quilt will be 70 x 90 inches.

I discovered the quilt along via Crystal Drummond’s Letsquiltalong Instagram account. If you’re a fan of quilt alongs, you should definitely follow Crystal’s Instagram account. She shares tons and tons of quilt alongs from all over the web – from modern to scrappy to traditional.

It’s a monthly quilt along, and it started in January, so I’m behind on sewing rows. But I don’t tend to stress. Sugaridoo publishes great tutorials in both text (with photos) and video (YouTube). Here’s a page with links to all the rows and tutorials.

Bonnie Hunter Unity Quilt along

As I’ve written about before, I’m a fan of Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilts. Bonnie recently started a Unity Quilt quilt along for all the quilters’ social distancing and looking for a project. Bonnie’s mystery quilts are a true service to quilters – and they’re absolutely free. It’s not a surprise that Bonnie launched the Unity quilt along.

Here’s my Unity quilt along thus far.

365 Quilt

This is one of my longest-running UFOs – Kathryn Kerr’s 365 quilt. Most quilters use a scrappy color palette and fabric selection for this quilt, but I decided to go for solid fabrics. I can’t remember when she originally launched this quilt. I think it was 2015. It’s pretty much what it sounds like. 1 quilt pattern for every day of the year. I have about 80-90 blocks left, and I’m back to work on my 365.

Also, I don’t know if her plans will change due to the pandemic, but earlier this year, Kathryn announced that she’d be launching a brand-new 365 quilt this July. I haven’t decided if I’ll participate or not. Who am I kidding?

Finally, I hope you’re staying safe and socially distanced and that sewing can bring you some comfort during this time.

The post What’s Under My Needle – April 24, 2020 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

I didn’t have as much fun with this year’s mystery. This is in no way a criticism of Bonnie. She’s a wonderful quilter and wonderful person. And, she does such a huge, huge service to the quilting community with her annual mystery quilts!

She uses her annual mysteries to teach a lot of fundamental techniques to newer quilters. Given the number of people who sew Bonnie’s annual mystery quilts, I know it becomes a HUGE pain for her. Simply because she’s deluged with questions and feedback – some kind and some not so kind.

I think the lack of fun was my own quilting/creative funk (and I had no idea what 2020 had in store for me and the rest of the entire planet). Also, there was a specific blue fabric that I used in this quilt. The more I saw the fabric, the more I disliked it.

Will I do another Bonnie Hunter annual mystery quilt? I can’t say definitively, but most likely. In fact, I’m working on her Unity quilt along right now – a quilt along that she started for everyone socially distancing and looking for a new quilt project to fill their hours and days.

What do I like about her mysteries quilt projects?

Intricacy – I enjoy Bonnie’s intricate patterns.

Scrappy – Bonnie celebrates scrappy quilts – using up scraps of material and creating amazing quilts in the process.

Skill builder – It never hurts to re-learn basic blocks and to test and improve on that skill by sewing a ton of blocks.

Excitement – I really enjoy the once-a-week clue reveal, and the fact that Bonnie’s annual mystery starts every Black Friday. What better way to spend a Black Friday than spending the day at the sewing machine.

Oh, yeah, if you go back to my earlier posts about this year’s Bonnie mystery, you’ll notice that I was making two different versions – one scrappy and one using solid fabrics. I set the solid fabric version aside for now. It may become a leader and ender. But, for now, I worked on finishing the scrappy version.

The post Frolic quilt – Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Technically, this is my fourth year. I started En Provence in 2016. But that was my first attempt and introduction to a Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt. I was sewing lots of quilts back then, but I just wasn’t used to the volume of a Bonnie Hunter mystery.

Her clues can often say something like, “Here’s a nice half-square triangle. Now make 150+.” I chain piece, but a lot of my projects don’t involve the amount of sewing for one HST.

I still have the first clue or two of Provence hiding somewhere in my sewing room. At some point, I may pull it out and make it.

This is my version of her 2017 mystery – On Ringo Lake. I used Christmas fabrics.

And this is my version of her 2018 mystery – Good Fortune. I used her color palette. I’ve finished the blocks, but haven’t sewn the top together yet. 

But, for now, I’m still working on two different versions of this year’s mystery – Frolic!

With one version, I decided to go with prints, and I switched out her suggested raspberry fabric with cheddar. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll make any other fabric color changes.

With the other Frolic quilt I’m sewing, I decided to go with solids in her suggested color palette.

Bonnie requests that quilters not go into specifics about the sizes of each clue, or the number of pieces sewn for each clue. I’m, of course, honoring Bonnie’s request. It’s the least I can do given the amount of work she puts in each year on her annual Mystery Quilt, and she offers it for free.

For the third clue, we’re making a ton of half-square triangles. I’ve tried a lot of different HST sewing techniques. I decided to try and make some with HST paper.

If you’re not familiar with Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery. Here’s a quick explanation. It’s a mystery. So you don’t know what the final quilt will look like. She does offer you a suggested color palette and yardage, but lots of quilters substitute and change the colors. 

On Black Friday every year, she releases the first clue. Then, each Friday, until the quilt is finished, she releases a new clue. It’s super fun as the mystery progresses, to guess and ponder about the final layout of the blocks. I often guess and play around with different block configurations, but I’m rarely correct.

If you haven’t tried a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt before, I highly recommend it. It will give you a chance to work on accurate piecing, chain piecing, and color if you’re feeling adventurous. 

Another really fun part of a Bonnie Hunter mystery is watching the progress of literally thousands of quilters around the world. Many quilters are now super active on Instagram. If you’re interested in following along, search for the Instagram hashtags #quiltvillemystery or #frolicquilt

The post Bonnie Hunter Annual Mystery Quilt 2019 – Frolic first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Amy’s Tell Me A Story block is featured in her book Intentional Piecing. She has organized multiple rounds of Tell Me a Story block swaps. I’ve participated in multiple rounds, and I have a stack of blocks from quilters around the world. Of course, that stack of blocks is sitting there and hasn’t been sewn into a quilt top – yet.

Amy organized a meetup at Quiltcon in Nashville in February. She showed off her Tell Me A Story quilt, and everyone traded blocks.

My friend Diane Wespiser who is in the Northampton Modern Quilt Guild made this block especially for me.

When I recently noticed that Amy was organizing a Tell Me A Story Holiday Edition, of course, I joined in. Not just for one round, but two rounds.

I’ve already received two blocks from one of the swap participants – Amanda Garcia.

I already had holiday fabric, but I needed (wanted) more, so I picked up some fat quarters last weekend at Valley Fabrics in Northampton.

I have 18 blocks to make. Here are my first two. I’ll be doing a lot more sewing this weekend and making more blocks. 

The post Tell Me A Story Block Swap – Holiday Edition first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Carson Converse, one of our members and a very talented quilter, recently organized an “Ugly Fabric” challenge for the guild. Each guild member participating in the challenge brought in several yards of “ugly” fabric in whatever lengths or cuts they had on hand.

I have a very sizable fabric stash with lots of fabrics that I bought in the early to mid-2000s that I don’t know if I’ll ever use. My tastes have changed.

I grabbed a variety of fabrics, mainly fat quarters. Rachel Peterson, a fellow guild member, ended up with my “ugly” fabrics.

Part of the fun of the challenge is that everyone put their “ugly” fabrics in an opaque bag. So when we grabbed a bag for the challenge, you had no idea what was in store until you opened the bag.

Here’s the amazing quilt that Rachel made from my fabrics.

About that potato fabric. I most likely won that fat quarter at one of my QuiltGuy Quilt Retreats. At every retreat, we play a dice game – Left, Right, Center, and the winner goes home with a humongous stack of fat quarters.

Not even in my early years of quilting, when I would buy novelty fabrics galore, would I have bought that potato fabric. Someone at Sunday’s meeting suggested that Rachel name the quilt Au Gratin.

Regardless of what she names it, great job Rachel!

Oh, and one final note. Where’s the quilt that I made from the ugly fabrics I ended up with? It’s still not done. Ugh, I took those fabrics with me to the last Guild Retreat in Vermont, and I agonized, and I agonized.

First, I started using some of the fabrics to make New York Beauty blocks, and I quickly realized I didn’t want to spend the amount of time making those blocks with fabrics I didn’t love. Then, I thought about making a word quilt which I can usually sew pretty quickly. Then, I spent some time making simple squares. Framing squares of my “ugly” fabric with white strips.

It’s not finished, and I’m okay with that.

The post Northampton Modern Quilt Guild – Ugly Fabric Challenge first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

QuiltGuy originally started as an email discussion list of male quilters on Yahoo Groups (now defunct). At some point, someone on the email list mentioned that a number of the quilters on the lived in New England, and wondered if any of the list members would be interested in meeting up in person.

Two of the list members, Bob Silverman and Jim Helms, owned a quilt store in Woodstock, New York, and offered the group access to their workshop space upstairs above the store. The first QuiltGuy Quilt Retreat was in August 2008.

Our first several retreats were in Bob and Jim’s workshop space in Woodstock. There was one retreat (that I didn’t attend) in Teaneck, NJ. Then, we moved the retreats to a bed and breakfast in New Lebanon, NY.

Now we meet twice a year in March and September at the Fullerton Inn in Chester, VT. We usually have 20 participants and we spend 3-4 days hanging out and doing a ton of sewing. Paul Leger, a great Canadian quilter, now organizes the twice-a-year QuiltGuy retreats.

Here’s a video of me shot at one of the retreats discussing how I got into quilting.

If you’re interested in seeing some photos of the retreats, I have LOTS of photos. You can check out QuiltGuy quilt retreat photo albums here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The post QuiltGuy Quilt Retreats first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

But, I try to get to the sewing machine at least once a day. It doesn’t always happen.

Here’s what I’m working on lately.

I’m taking an Elizabeth Hartman block-of-the-month quilt class at Valley Fabrics in Northampton, MA. Big shout out to Valley Fabrics. If you’re visiting New England and Western Massachusetts, take time to visit.

We’re making a variety of blocks in the class, including blocks from Hartman’s Fancy Forest quilt, Spectacular Savannah, and North Stars.

A couple of these hedgehog blocks (the green one) I sewed several years ago when I was still struggling with accurate piecing. You can see that that green little guy is awful wonky.

I really like the bold orangish/red of this fabric.

This is what happens when you run out of pink fabric mid-way through a block.

I’ve read about color, and I still have a ton to learn about color theory. A lot of times, I make color choices strictly by instinct and gut. I thought these colors suggested feathers and a forest owl. Judging by feedback I received on social media, a lot of people like this color palette for Mr. Owl.

Below is more work on my Elizabeth Hartman blocks.

In October, I also worked on several blocks for a swap partner, Lisa Tucker, of the National Quilting Circle’s Happy block swap.

The blue/aqua and green blocks are for my swap partner. The yellow/gold blocks are for me to keep for my version of the quilt – and my swap partner will be sending me more yellow/gold blocks that she’s made.

Finally, in October, I’ve continued plowing ahead steadily on my 365 Quilt. Will this quilt ever be finished? Who knows, but I’m continuing to sew, and sew, and sew. I think I can see a tiny, minuscule glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Right now, I’ve reached mid-September with my blocks, and then I jumped ahead to December and sewed four blocks. I’m trying to use every mental tactic/strategy I can think of to keep going with this quilt.

My latest strategy is that I decided to pause and sew together all the blocks I’ve made so far. That’s what I’m working on currently.

Finally, this visitor showed up in my sewing room in preparation for Halloween

What are you sewing?

The post What’s Under My Needle – November 1, 2019 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

This will be the second QuiltCon that I’ve attended, and I couldn’t be more excited. I think I’m more excited than Christmas morning. One of the big things for me is the chance to meet and hang out with my many “digital” quilting friends. I have many great quilting friends that I’ve met via Instagram or Facebook. And for 360 days of the year, the majority of those interactions are all digital.

At QuiltCon, I can hang out with my quilting gang IRL (as the younguns like to say). And, of course, I’m going to try and drag some people out for karaoke and dancing while I’m in Nashville.

My first QuiltCon was 2017 in Savannah, Georgia. I grew up in Macon, Georgia, but I hadn’t visited Savannah since a trip to Savannah when I was a senior in high school (many years ago).

My parents still live in Georgia. So I took my younger son with me, and he got to hang out with his grandparents, while I spent four days hanging out with my quilting friends. I took a “No Fear Partial Seams” class with Mary Fons. I attended several lectures. Sorry, it was two years ago, I can’t remember the exact titles of the lectures. (And, I just looked online, and unfortunately I couldn’t find a list of all the lectures from QuiltCon 2017).

And, of course, the quilts .  . . Wow.

Finally, I wasn’t going to spend 4 days in Savannah without sampling the night life. My quilting friend Denise and I went out dancing multiple times. Also, in a total coincidence, my college roommate’s garage band The Woggles were in town for a show. So, I got to hang out with the Woggles one afternoon and hear them play later that night.

Now, I’m ready for Nashville! 

The post QuiltCon . . . 2017 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

I’m currently listening to the Prisoner of Azkaban audiobook with my 15-year-old son via Audible.

I’m a voracious reader. I originally waited to read the Potter series with my kids. I started reading the first book in the series to my son when he was in second grade. After a few nights of reading at bedtime, he finished the book on his own, and then devoured the entire series. Ever since, he’s been a wildly enthusiastic Harry Potter fan. He’s listened to all the audiobooks multiple times, and watched all the movies.

Despite my own lack of Harry Potter knowledge, when I spotted not one, but two, different Harry Potter quilt-alongs, I couldn’t resist.

Kelli Fannin of Seriously I Think It Needs Stitches and Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts started two different Harry Potter quilt alongs in January. Why do both? Because I’m sew crazy, and quilt obsessed. I figure when I finish these, my son will have two different quilts that he can rotate on his bed.

Both these quilt-alongs are absolutely free – patterns are released every Saturday morning.

Also, Kelli Fannin designed an earlier Minecraft quilt-along. I sewed two Minecraft quilts from her quilt-along. I’m embarrassed to say, I finished piecing the tops, but I haven’t quilted them. One thing that I’ll eventually write about on this blog is finishing. I love piecing, but I find quilting on my domestic laborious and time consuming. I could pay for a long armer, but my budget doesn’t allow that right now. However, I’m determined to finish all my unquilted quilt tops within the next 18 months or so. Stay tuned.

The post Two Harry Potter quilt-alongs first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Last year, I completed On Ringo Lake – my first Bonnie Hunter’s annual mystery quilt.

I started work on the previous year’s mystery quilt, but I gave up after sewing half of the second clue. If you’re not familiar with Bonne’s quilts and her annual mystery quilts, they are very, very scrappy and involve a ton of piecing. When she cheerily posts a clue, “Make a half square triangle with these two fabrics, and then make 250+ more HSTs,” the amount of sewing can easily overwhelm someone not used to a Bonnie Hunter quilt.

But last year, I dove in, spent December 2017 and January 2018 sewing a ton and finished On Ringo Lake. I deviated from her suggested On Ringo Lake colors and opted for Christmas fabrics. I was very happy with how it turned out, No. I haven’t quilted it yet   (I even kept working on it with my friend Chrissy’s featherweight one night – I think I had forgotten the power cord to my sewing machine that night). 

Bonnie’s latest mystery quilt – Good Fortune – started as her mystery quilts do, with the first clue released on the morning of Black Friday. I’m not much of a Black Friday crazed shopper. So, these days, my excitement for Black Friday has to do with seeing the Bonnie’s first mystery quilt clue. This year, I stuck with Bonnie’s suggested color palette and just pulled fabrics from my stash.

Here are the various clues. At Bonnie’s request, I’m not going to post exact sizes or the number of pieces I had to sew. But, again, her scrappy quilts involve a lot of sewing and a lot of piecing regardless of the finished quilt size. 

If you’re not familiar with how Bonnie’s mystery quilts works, when you start, you have no idea what the finished quilt will look like. It’s truly a mystery. She releases one clue per week – each Friday morning. After 4-6 weeks, you begin combining smaller pieces into larger blocks, and then she releases the final reveal and shows you the all the finished blocks and the layout of the final quilt.

I have finished all of the main blocks of this quilt, and I’m slowly sewing the top together. But, I’m doing that amidst a lot of other sewing – two different Harry Potter quilt alongs, and renewed sewing on my 365 quilt.

If you like scrappy quilts, if you like mystery quilts, I HIGHLY recommend Bonnie’s annual mystery quilt. Part of the fun is watching literally thousands of quilters via social media work on the same quilt. Every year, new quilters come in who have never made one of her mystery quilts. And it’s always funny to see peoples reaction to the amount of sewing and the amount of work involved in sewing a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.

And it’s interesting and lots of teachable moments as people write about sewing these clues and striving for accuracy.

My fingers are crossed that she continues the tradition again this year with another mystery quilt. If she does, I’ll be there again on Black Friday morning, ready to sew.

The post Good Fortune Quilt – Bonnie Hunter’s Annual Mystery Quilt first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Here’s an image of what a full, completed 365 quilt looks like.

As what happens quite often with my quilt making, I made the first few blocks and lost steam. Several of the other QuiltGuy quilt retreat members started 365 quilts, but we all abandoned the quilt project at some point.

Abandoned might be too strong a word for my own 365 project. I pushed pause to work on other quilts, but I knew I’d come back to it.

In 2017/2018, I made more blocks, and now I’m back to making yet more 365 quilt blocks. I’m up to June 9th. I just made this block tonight.

And in the past week or two, I’ve made these other blocks for my 365 quilt.

Here’s a photo from several months ago with all the blocks I’d made at that point.

Finally, if you decide to make your own 365 quilt, I strongly recommend this Facebook group of 365 quilters.

And if you want a little more inspiration to get started, here are a few finished 365 quilts made by members of the Facebook group.

Finally, here’s a video of Kerr discussing the 365 quilt project.

The post 365 quilt – June 9th block first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

That’s what happened with this purple and white quilt.

I don’t usually title my quilts. But after spending several evenings recently reading Elaine Poplin’s blog — messygoat — I’m reconsidering the no-naming thing.

But, for now, this quilt is the purple and white blocks. But, back to my original point, I had lost these blocks. For a year or more. Occasionally, I would think about them, and I would poke around in various bins of fabric. But the hunt wasn’t at the forefront of my mind.

For some reason, in the last 3–4 weeks, I started thinking about these blocks more and more, and it was driving me crazy. Knowing that I had spent the time already sewing 20–30 of these blocks. So, last week, I methodically started going through multiple bins of fabric, moving fabric from bins (used for when I’m going to a retreat or open sew somewhere) back to my stash shelf.

And, there, at the bottom of one of those plastic bins, underneath random scraps of fabric were the purple and white blocks.

And, within minutes of finding the blocks, I walked to my sewing machine, set aside the Minecraft block I had been working on, and jumped right back into sewing more of these blocks.

Last weekend, I posted the photo above on Instagram and mentioned that these were looking awfully dark to me. Elaine commented on the photo and suggested adding a splash of complimentary color.

I experimented with yellow, but I’m not sold. My friend Timna Tarr, an amazing and talented quilter who teaches color theory for quilts, said, “That looks like an LSU quilt if that’s what you’re trying to make.”

Someone at the Northampton Modern Quilt Guild meeting last Sunday suggested a more muted yellow fabric. I might try that.

But, for now, I’m continuing along the path that I originally intended, alternating blocks — white strips framing a purple square alternating with purple fabrics framing a white square.

This is where I’m at today.

I need to make a lot more of the blocks with the white frames.

This is not the first time I’ve made this quilt. It’s based on a Fons & Porter pattern — Cubbyholes. I can’t remember where I first discovered the pattern — a quilting magazine or blog. But, I’ve made two previous Cubbyholes quilts — both green and white.

Here’s one of those.

For now, this purple and white Cubbyholes is one of my current sewing projects.

I’m still pondering a name . . .

The post Purple and White quilt – no title yet first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

When I opened and read the email announcing the shuttering of the Readmill app, it was a punch in the gut. Readmill was an interesting and innovative alternative to the Amazon Kindle hegemony or monopoly.

It’s a moot point now, but Readmill offered synced eBook apps across multiple devices. Once you set up a Readmill account, you could add unlimited ebook documents – ePub or PDF – to Readmill’s cloud servers, and access those documents from phone or tablet via the Readmill app. In addition, Readmill was innovating with social reading. Kobo has made noises about social reading. Amazon too. Readmill was hard at work building a social underpinning to reading. You could follow people via Readmill and see their annotations, what they were reading (if they chose to share their reading choices publicly), etc.

Even if you never used the Readmill app, we’re all losers in the end. While Dropbox aquired a talented team, the eBook ecosystem lost a thriving, innovative company – an alternative to the Amazon Kindle ecosystem.

I don’t have an issue with Jeff Bezos or Amazon. My concern is watching the eBook industry in the U.S. creep closer and closer to a monopoly – dominated by one company. Amazon.

What did Jeff Bezos and Amazon do right? If you’ve followed the publishing industry over the past 10 years or read Brad Stone’s The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, you know that Amazon drug the book publishing industry into the digital age kicking and screaming. Sure, you can sit and debate, “Oh, eBooks were inevitable, and publishers would have figured out their digital futures.” But, the fact remains, through Bezos’ iron-willed determination, he created the current eBook marketplace much faster than any NYC publisher or competing eBook retailer would have.

Sony had a competitive eBook reader on the market prior to the first Kindle, but it wasn’t marketed well, and Sony’s corporate decision makers didn’t have the balls to include an always-on wireless connection. Bezos knew that including built-in, free wireless in the first Kindle would eliminate any barrier to purchases, and Kindle marketing and advertising trumpeted the fact that you could download a book and begin reading with 30-60 seconds. Some Sony “suit” looked at a spreadsheet and said, “There’s no way we can underwrite built-in wireless in our devices.” Bezos looked at a similar spreadsheet along the way, and I’m sure let loose with one of his trademark howls. Who won? Sony just abandoned the U.S. eBook market and handed all their customers to Kobo.

With Readmill’s demise, now we’re down to Kobo, B&N’s Nook, and Kindle. B&N is reeling back and forth like a punch drunk boxer, and who knows if Nook will end 2014 as a viable, independent company at all. The Riggios were never prepared to compete with Bezos and that has been clear in almost every business decision they’ve since Amazon first launched. Once Apple’s price-fixing strategy crumbled, their iBooks business has floundered.

Kobo is owned by Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce company. At this point, the only thing standing in the way of an almost inevitable Amazon eBook monopoly is Rakuten. We can only hope that Rakuten has the stomach for long-term investing and business building that Bezos does. Regardless, Kobo seems to be floundering in the U.S.. Kobo’s partnerships with U.S. independent bookstores was a smart move, but I don’t get the sense that those stores are making a ton of traction with consumers. Amazon’s Kindle has become the de facto eBook reading device.

Within that eBook landscape, it was nice to see Readmill building and innovating, and that’s why it’s such a dissapointment to see them dissapear.

You might be asking, “Why shouldn’t Bezos and Amazon succeed, and reap the benefits for their investments, their willingness to lose money initially on Kindle devices with built-in wireless ordering, their commitment to eBook publishing and dragging publishers into the digital age by insisting on publishers digitize their backlist books, etc.?”

I don’t think they shouldn’t succeed. They should be applauded for everything they’ve done to usher in the eBook era.

However, monoplies stifle innovation. And, concentrating the power of distribution into the hands of one digital gatekeeper is a dangerous thing in the realm of books and ideas.

Here are a couple of examples:

1984-gate: In 2009, someone illegally uploaded a copy of the Orwell novel and made it available as a Kindle title. When Amazon realized that their publishing team had allowed someone besides Orwell’s licensed publisher to publish the popular novel, Amazon remotely deleted 1984 off of users’ Kindles. In the public uproar that followed, Amazon promised to never do that again – to delete material off of a person’s Kindle device.

However, the capability still exists. What if someone published an expose about the working conditions in Amazon warehouses via Kindle? Would Bezos and team delete the eBook from users Kindles? They say they won’t, but there is precedent for Amazon to delete material, after purchase, from a users Kindle.

Editorial gatekeeper: Self-publishing is thriving via Amazon Kindle. Aspiring writers around the globe have published their own novels via Kindle, and some have become bestsellers in the process. Again, this is a huge positive benefit of eBook technology. And, Amazon should be applauded for bucking conventional book publishing tenants to give self-published writers equal access to Amazon customers as “traditionally published” writers.

However, there’s a very little known fact about Amazon self-publishing. If you spend any time on self-publishing message boards, you’ll find that Amazon routinely removes self-published books from their platform. Yes, admittedly some of the titles removed are graphic books of erotic fiction that blur the lines of decency and good taste. But, Amazon deliberately refuses to tell erotic fiction authors what topics are okay and which topics are off limits for Kindle publication. In fact, Amazon has reacted and removed books in response to public outcries about erotic eBook content.

With the demise of Readmill and alternative eBook reading apps and platforms, as more and more of the eBook business gravitates to Amazon, do we want one company controlling what we read, and with the ability, and impunity to remotely delete eBooks from our eBook devices and apps? I don’t think so.

And, finally, innovation. Amazon is an innovative company. Innovation is steeped into the company culture. It’s obvious that Amazon is not concerned and absolutely rebels at the phrase, “That’s not how things are done.” Amazon has repeatedly chafed at that type of limited thinking, and Amazon has profited and excelled as a result.

Historically, however, monopolies inhibit innovation. Microsoft is only the latest example. Microsoft competed, innovated, and fought hard to establish themselves as the dominant computer software company with an operating software monopoly. As a result of protecting their existing, monopoly business, Microsoft didn’t have the intestinal fortitude as a company to predict and react to the mobile computing revolution.

If Amazon has an eBook monopoly, eBook innovation will wither for many years. Amazon won’t be inclined to innovate at the same pace, because doing so may disrupt their own eBook dominance.

With Readmill’s passing, let’s hope for an eBook competitor somewhere on the horizon. At this point, given the commercial realities of the current U.S. eBook marketplace, that eBook competitor will most likely have to come from the world of open source software.

While we wait for that alternative, we can support a variety of efforts aimed at preserving digital books in multiple formats beyond Kindle’s proprietary mobi format – efforts such as Project Gutenberg, the Digital Public Library of America, Singularity & Co., etc.

The post Rest In Peace Readmill — One Step Closer to Bezos’ eBook Monopoly first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

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Responding to vociferous online complaints, Microsoft announced this week that they were retreating on several of the new Xbox One’s features that were causing the company numerous headaches and black eyes.

In addition to shooting themselves in the foot with their botched Xbox One announcement, Microsoft opened themselves up to a brutal pummeling from Playstation. And, whoever led Playstation’s E3 PR strategy should win an award. Playstation’s brilliant 22 second video about how easy it was for Playstation 4 users to share used games channeled the spirit of every I’m A Mac commercial.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA[/youtube]

Let’s review the controversial elements of Microsoft’s initial Xbox One vision:

Always-on Internet connection – Xbox One would require an Internet connection, and the device would need to dial into a Microsoft server once every 24 hours.

In answering consumers’ questions about this requirement, Microsoft was incredibly strict. No exceptions – the device has to connect to the server at least once every 24 hours. Consumers asked about military service members (huge Xbox 360 fans) who didn’t have regular Internet connections or were serving on a nuclear sub. Or, what about consumers who don’t have a high-speed home Internet connection yet want to enjoy playing the Xbox One? Microsoft’s response was the same – no exceptions.

In fact, as the questions mounted over the Internet requirement and the check-in requirement, here was Microsoft’s attempt at a response.

“Fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity, it’s called Xbox 360,” says Mattrick. Ouch!

Used games – Microsoft tried to change the current video game sales process in one swoop by eliminating the option of buying used Xbox One games or trading in a game they’d already purchased. Microsoft repeatedly alluded to an additional licensing fee – set ostensibly by the game publisher – that a consumer would have to pay before they could play a used game that they had purchased.

Here’s where Microsoft ultimately failed though. They never cited a single game publisher that had agreed to implement the system for used games. And, they never cited a price or a range of prices for that additional licensing fee for a used game.  When questioned repeatedly by the media, Microsoft recited an incredibly vague and opaque scenario of the licensing process for used games. But a scenario that lacked any substantive detail whatsoever – no example prices and no publishers who were on board.

Microsoft should be applauded for trying to drag the video game industry forward – beyond the realm of physical game discs. Yet, could they have done so without the used game restrictions? In this case, I think it was a classic scenario of Microsoft completely and totally misunderstanding their core audience. The reality is that Microsoft execs get a steady paycheck every 2 weeks, they have job/health benefits galore. Yet, they’re releasing a video game console to a public that has been ravaged by unemployment and recession.

In the first quarter of 2013, Gamestop the biggest seller of used video games in the U.S. earned  $1.87 billion. Of course, not all of that is used game sales. But there’s a reason Gamestop’s used game sales thrive. Passionate video gamers often want to play a wide variety of games, and they simply can’t afford to purchase every single game that they play at full retail price. Hence, the popularity of buying used video games.

The biggest issue that doomed Microsoft’s roll-out of the Xbox One was the maddeningly scant details. Consumers and the press demanded answers – answers that Microsoft simply wasn’t able or willing to disclose.

Nature Abhors a Vacuum – we’re all familiar with that phrase, unfortunately the Xbox PR team didn’t realize that that phrase has now been updated. The new phrase for PR professionals is “The 24/7 News Cycle Abhors a Vacuum, and If you Don’t Provide Extensive, Detailed Explanations The Vacuum will Be Filled with A Million Tweets, Facebook posts, infographics, Google+ updates, demanding More Information and Offering a Ton of Speculation and Rumors – Speculations and Rumors that can derail your business plans.”

Steve Jobs himself discovered the new era of communications when he was forced to give a defensive, sullen press conference in response to the iPhone 4 “Antennagate.”

What could Microsoft have done to save the XBox One as it originally envisioned the system and all of it’s benefits?

Extreme evolution and PR/marketing messaging that embraced that evolution – I’m sure it was discussed and tossed aside as too radical. But, if Microsoft really wanted to push the evolution of videogame systems they could have shipped the machine with a Blu-Ray player system only, but no physical game discs for loading games. Games would have to be purchased digitally and downloaded. That evolution would have been extreme, but it would have eliminated the issue of used games all together.

“With the evolutionary new Xbox One, consumers can choose to download hundreds and eventually thousands of games digitally. Digital download is the future of videogaming and Xbox One is the only device to take you to the future of videogaming” – sample XBox tagline and talking point for Xbox execs.

If Microsoft had chosen this route, they could have responded to the pricing and used game issue by pointing out that Xbox was launching a game marketplace that would feature a wide range of games at all price points. If pushed about used games in this discussion, execs could have answered with, “App and game marketplaces are common place on many platforms now. Consumers are used to purchasing games for Android or iOS at a wide range of price points, and there’s no expectation of a used app marketplace. We think the future of video gaming is similar to the current app and game marketplaces and Xbox One is the only video gaming console that has embraced that future.”

There are precedents for this. The original iMac shipped with no floppy disc. The screams were loud and long. Apple ignored them and couldn’t manufacture enough of the popular iMac.

Announce Xbox One on Microsoft’s time table – no one else:

Ultimately the timing of Xbox One’s announcement doomed the Xbox One’s online features. In the high-stakes console wars, Microsoft wanted to initially announce the Xbox One – and its core features – prior to E3. And, then build on that launch a month later with an expansive, exciting E3 press conference. Yet, Microsoft never recovered from the timing and structure of the announcement.

Someone at Microsoft needed the intestinal fortitude to say, “We will announce on our schedule, when it’s ready, not a minute or second before.” What would “being ready” have looked like for Microsoft? At least 1 publisher, if not 2 or 3 or 4 publishers on board with specific details about the used game policy. And, a detailed, articulated vision of the video game future that Xbox One was ushering in.

Articulate, communicate and over-communicate specifics:

As noted earlier, nature and the media/social media hordes abhor a vaccum and what a vacuum Microsoft created for itself with its Xbox One launch.

If consumers are giving something up – the ability to trade and buy used games – Microsoft needed to over communicate what they were gaining in the process.

“With the Xbox’s evolution of the video game experience, top publishers have signed onto our new approach to gaming. After purchasing X game at retail, the consumer loads and registers the game online, and they’re treated to additional downloadable content at no extra charge for 3-4 months, expanding and building on the game universe. If a consumer wishes to sell the used game, they have the right to do that. However, someone purchasing that used game will pay an additional $10 when they initially load the used game. What will they be receiving for their $10,  the 3-4 months of downloadable content, and with that $10 they’re contributing to the 60,000+ man hours that went into designing this Triple A title.”

“Now we have XX from YY publisher who is going to join us on stage and showcase their latest title which will be launching day one for Xbox One.”

I’m not in love with all of that verbiage, but I wrote this off the top of my head. It could be refined. But what it does include is specifics, price points, and explanations of benefits. And, frankly, I don’t think I described the benefits all that well.  Microsoft should have spent the time

Paint a detailed vision of the future and preach that vision relentlessly:

It’s almost a cliché to mention it, but Steve Jobs lead the way in the ability to sell a vision of technology’s future. Xbox One doesn’t have a Steve Jobs, but that’s no excuse not to try.

The Xbox One, as originally envisioned, was an evolutionary video game device. Yes, an evolutionary game device that included a money grab re: blocking used games, but an evolutionary device nonetheless.

To ensure success, the Xbox One team needed to sell that vision in explicit, copious, unerring detail.

“We’ve jettisoned loading games from physical discs, because we set out to design an evolutionary game device that embraces the future of video games – and that future is in the cloud, always connected.”

The Xbox One team lacked the details and specifics to truly paint that picture. Unfortuantely, they framed the picture, but left huge swathes unpainted – and the cries, complaints, and anger painted a picture that no one wanted.

Be willing to adapt and change on the fly:

I knew many U.S. military service men and women were Xbox fans, but until the Xbox One flap I didn’t think about how the Internet connection requirement would block them from using and enjoying an Xbox One.

Admittedly, I don’t know the technical details or if this is possible. But, could Xbox figured out a work around for the always-on Internet connection?

Would that be a pain in the butt to implement? Sure. But we’re talking PR here. When the venom started flying with the Xbox One’s new features, could Microsoft have co-opted the argument with an announcement?

“We’ve listened hard to our customers and our engineering team has worked around the clock the last several days. We’re happy to announce that we will be launching a way for U.S. military service members and those customers without a high-speed home Internet connection to enjoy the Xbox One too. Here’s how the program will most likely work when we roll it out.”

What do you think? If Microsoft had launched the Xbox One with a clearly articulated message with every last detail of the used game restrictions and Internet connectivity nailed down, do you think they could have launched a successful next-generation, cloud computing video game console? What PR strategy do you think would have helped Microsoft succeed?

The post How A Good PR Strategy Could Have Saved Microsoft’s Xbox One And Paved The Way for the Future of Video Gaming first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

If you’re interested in Google+, here’s a variety of blog posts, articles, and Google+ posts that will help you get the most out of Google+.

How to Make A Google+ Account That You’ll Actually Use by Reputation Capital

The Ultimate Google+ Cheat Sheet from Hubspot

Cadbury Google+ case study from Google

LateRooms.com Google+ case study from Google

Mashable Google+ case study from Google

Financial Times Google+ case study from Google

Google+ Marketing For Dummies book by Jesse Stay

Beginner’s Guide to Google+ by KissMetrics

The Marketers Guide to Google+ by KissMetrics

5 Creative Ways Businesses Are Using Google+ Hangouts by Social Media Examiner

How are you using Google+? Have you found a specific blog post or article about Google+ that was really helpful to you? If so, let us know in the comments below.

The post Got Google+ Questions? Here Are Some Answers first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

When I gave up the book reading list habit, there certainly weren’t the social media platforms that there are now for tracking what you’ve read. And, I could always do this on Goodreads. However, I’ve never been a huge fan of Goodreads’user interface, so I’ll just do it here, and I’ll update this post every time I read a new book.

One note, this is ostensibly a business/professional blog given that I’ve worked in PR for the past 15+ years, handling PR for a wide variety of digital and software companies at the intersection of media, mobile, digital, and marketing. However, while there may be occasional business-oriented books that show up on this list, I’m a voracious fiction reader, and the list will most likely reflect that. I’ve never been one to participate in reading groups or even annual reading challenges. I basically read whatever strikes my fancy, and I live in a house filled with books – many of which I haven’t read yet. Without further ado.

1. In Joy Still Felt, The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov by Isaac Asimov 

This was a re-read for me. I read this two-volume biography of Isaac Asimov, the famed science fiction writer, when I was in my 20s. I enjoy this kind of book, but if you’re not interested in writing and book publishing I imagine this could get pretty boring. There’s lots of passages, “I wrote XXX story and mailed it to X or Y editor, and then I started working on a new non-fiction book about the Universe . . ” I loved this view behind the curtain of a working writer – and a writer who was extremely prolific.

2. Breakout by Richard Stark

I’ve been a long-time fan of Richard Stark’s Parker novels. Of course, Richard Stark is Donald Westlake’s pen name for hard-driving crime novels. These Parker novels can literally be read in one-sitting if you have a couple of hours to kill. This was definitely not my favorite Parker novel. Stark’s style is flat, clinical, and all plot and forward narrative – usually my favorite kind of novel. I enjoy the Parker novels, but this one was just so-so in the series.

The post Reading List – 2013 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Audience and interaction – ignore the cynical and skeptical pundits who regulary write things like, “Google+ is a Ghost Town” “Google+’s audience is strictly techie or geeks or photographers.” Guy Kawasaki, a passionate Google+ fan, made an interesting note about audience. Facebook claims to have 1 billion users, but with Facebook’s various content gating and restrictions (see below for more discussion) your content is usually only shared with 10% of Facebook’s audience. So, really, Facebook’s audience is only 100 million. If you share something publicly on Google+, your content has the chance to be seen by 235 million+ active users. So, who has the larger audience actually? (And, yes, that’s a really rough estimate re: numbers, but the basic point is solid.) By the way, do you know any ghost towns with 235 million active residents? I don’t, but we digress.

As for the argument that Google+’s audience being strictly tech-oriented. Simply not true. How do I know? I’m a guy who happens to make quilts. When Google+ recently launched communities, I created a Google+ Quilting community. The community now has 300+ members, daily active conversations all about quilting – no tech discussions whatsoever. And, as a curiousity, I’ve looked through the profiles of many of those 300+ members, very few of them ever post or discuss anything tech related.

Deeper conversations – When I try to explain the appeal of Google+, I’ve often described it as “Twitter with a more elegant user interface, beautiful photos, and great conversations.” Yes, I understand the appeal and novelty of Twitter’s 140 character limitation. But, personally, I find it awkward, stilted, and a pain in the ass most times. With Google+, you don’t have to contort yourself to talk in 140-character snippets. As a result, conversations can take their natural course without having to constantly edit your responses into a 140-character straightjacket.

International audience – I know from Facebook’s stats that they have huge numbers of international users. As an American with only a handful of friends in foreign countries, I rarely (never) see or interact with Facebook’s international audience. Not so with Google+, I routinely have conversations with many people in other countries via Google+ who comment on posts, etc.

Non-reciprocal following – One of the things that drives the international discussions via Google+ was their decision to build the platform with non-reciprocal following. Unlike Facebook, I don’t have to approve someone as a friend before they can see my Google+ content and posts. This is powerful. Anything I share publcily has the potential to be seen (as in Twitter) by anyone else using Google+. What about spam, I can hear people shouting? It’s very rare, and I can easily block, mute or report people. If I block someone, they won’t be able to see my content in the future.

If I follow someone, I can see all their public content – Facebook encourages you to connect with friends, and then it promptly gates and blocks you from seeing those friends’ updates in your news feed. Show me ALL the content of the people I care about, and Google+ does just that. Anyone who uses Facebook regulary knows that Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm is getting more and more strict. It’s pretty simple. If I follow someone and I like that person, I WANT TO SEE ALL THEIR POSTS in my stream. Don’t make me go hunting for that content from people that I care about and am interested in.

Businesses that have spent enourmous amounts of time and energy building a Facebook community have found themselves shut off and hidden from their passionate fans. Obviously, Zuckerberg and his team have their own long-term plan in mind, but right now it’s looking more and more like a walled garden/AOL-back-in-the-day approach that forces companies to pay through the nose to interact with their own fans. Of course, it’s Zuckerberg’s sandbox and he can make all the rules he wants. Mark Cuban explained it best.

With Google+, you don’t have this problem. You care about someone, you circle them, and you can easily see ALL their content. Very simple.

Photos – Google+’s photo experience is examplary. Beautiful, gorgeous slideshows. Again, Facebook could have taken this ball and run with it years ago. They know how important photos are to Facebook users, but alas, they fumbled the ball, and Google+ scooped it up. If you love photos, start using Google+ today – even if you end up sharing your Google+ albums to your friends via Facebook.

Google+ is rapidly integrating mobile and mobile photos too. I don’t have an Android, but I understand that the Google+ photo experience via Android is amazingly cool. I use the G+ iPhone app, and whenever I open the app, it will automatically (with my initial permission, of course) automatically upload any new photos on my Phone to my Google+ photos. They upload as private, hidden photos and I can share those photos based on my own preferences.

There are plenty of other reasons that I like Google+ – video Hangouts, circles, etc., but I’ll discuss those in a future post. For now, if you haven’t spent time on Google+, I would encourage you to give it a try. And don’t give up after 1 day. Commit to 10-15 minutes per day over the course of several weeks. If you do that, you may start to realize the power and allure of Google+.

What do you like or dislike about Google+?

The post Why I Use and Prefer Google+ first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Book^2 Campis an unconference. For the unitiated, with an unconference there is absolutely no set agenda or speakers prior to the event. A group of 100+ publishing executives gathered in a Soho office space and people suggested ideas for discussions. Those ideas – written down – were then taped to a grid and attendees decided what conversations/discussions piqued their interest. Again, for the unitiated, it can sound somewhat like chaos, but I’ve attended many unconferences and find the level of conversation and discussion extremely rewarding and though-provoking. Book2Camp was no exception.

And, as many people have mentioned on Twitter, the many conversations were the best part of the day.

I met new people and spoke to many people I’ve met previously, including:

Levi Asher – Levi publishes the site Literary Kicks, and he’s published several ebooks, including: The Cards I’m Playing: Poker and Postmodern Literature, Why Ayn Rand is Wrong (And Why It Matters), and others.

Levi organized the session – Surviving and Thriving as an eBook Publisher – that I participated in. I look forward to reading more of Literary Kicks and conversing with Levi on Twitter.

Philip Turner – Philip and I attended many of the same sessions. When we spoke during a break, I was beyond excited to discover that Philip published Edward Robb Ellis’ Diary of a Century when he worked at Kodansha. The late Edward Robb Ellis, a Midwesterner who moved to New York City and worked for a variety of newspapers, wrote a volumnious diary for his entire life. If you’ve never heard of A Diary of the Century: Tales By America’s Greatest Diarist, I wholeheartedly recommend tracking the book down. The book features excerpts from Ellis’ diary throughout the years and is a wonderful look at one man’s life. I also loved the book becuase Ellis love for New York City shone through.

Ardal Powell – Ardal is the CEO of Music Word Media Group. I didn’t speak to Ardal for long, but I’m interested in learning more about Music Word Media and what he’s working on.

Jim Hanas – Jim is the author of Why They Cried and is at the forefront of digital publishing and eBooks. Hanas learned a lot of valuable insight in the eBook trenches – giving away thousands of electronic copies of his book. Hanas presented at the first Book Camp and reportered actual numbers. You can read more about Hanas’ presentation and ebook knowledge here.

Tobias Buckell – I hadn’t seen Tobias in person since we attended a Writers of the Future writing workshop in Los Angeles in 2001. If you’re a science fiction fan, you should be reading Tobias’ novels and shorts stories. Over the years, I’ve been extremely impressed by Tobias’ approach to book publishing and making a living as a writer. He was in town to talk about Kickstarter at O’Reilly’s Tools of Change conference.

Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness – the co-hosts of Books on the Nightstand, a wonderful books and reading podcast, and Random House sales reps. It’s always great to see Ann and Michael in person and have a chance to discuss books and book publishing. And, if you’re not listening to Books on the Nightstand, you really should be. At this point, there are tons of previous episodes to fill your podcast listening time for weeks. Fair warning – your wallet will suffer if you listen for long, because you simply can’t listen without scribbling down at least 2-3 books to buy per episode.

Erica Barmash – Erica is the Senior Marketing Manager at Harper Perennial. We met last year at the Book Blogger Convention and have traded various Tweets throughout the year. Erica is also deep into planning her wedding for the NYC Courthouse. My wife and I got married on a barge in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and it’s always fun to hear people’s wedding and wedding preparation stories.

David Wilk – According to his business card, David is the Head Trickster at Booktrix. We attended many of the same sessions, and it was definitely interesting hearing about David’s eBook publishing experience.

Again, Book2Camp was all about the people and conversations. There were a lot of people passionately discussing books, reading, the future of independent bookstores and the future of book publishing – exactly my kind of people.

The post Book^2 Camp – It’s All About the Conversations and People first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

As the founder of Delabarre Publishing, I attended Book^2. I’ve been a lifelong, voracious reader. I worked in a variety of bookstores in college and post-college. I worked in book publishing for 3.5 years when I worked at the Denise Marcil Literary Agency in NYC. And, since August 2010, I’ve been actively and successfully publishing a wide variety of eBooks.

There were multiple tracks of discussions going on throughout the afternoon, so I can only report/discuss the conversations I participated in.

Surviving and Thriving as an eBook publisher – Organized by Levi Asher of Literary Kicks, I spent some time discussing my ebook publishing experiences. I enjoyed hearing from others in the trenches of eBook publishing – including Harlequin Books’ successful eBook publishing imprint Carina Press.

Some of the issues we discussed, included:

• eBook pricing strategies,
• the challenges of eBook publishing and production even for large publishers where some executives believe that eBook publishing should as simple as hitting one button with a book file you already have,
• the “black boxes” of most eBook marketplaces – Amazon, BN, etc.. Data would be invaluable for book publishers – how many people are downloading eBook samples, how many of those samples converted to sales, which other book did a buyer purchase or browse prior to buying your eBook? That type of data would be invaluable, but for now, it’s just not there.

 Publishers – what are they good for. Non-fiction book marketing without bricks-and-mortar

Will mainstream book buyers purchase a book based on a publishers’ brand? Some argued that average consumers don’t pay attention to who published a book – they’re simply looking for content re: a specific topic. Others pointed to the example of Chronicle Books or Workman as distinctive publishing brands that people recognize. Again, I’m not sure if we’re recognizing those brands because we’re people who eat, sleep, and dream books.

We also discussed the visibility and branding of editors – so that ultimately consumers could make purchasing decisions based on an editor’s reputation and influence and taste. Ann Kingman made the point that whenever this issue is discussed there is often resistance, but this type of branding/marketing of editors as tastemakers hasn’t been tried in a sustained, consistent way.

Handselling in the digital age – I may have the exact title of this session wrong. We discussed how hand selling works both offline by independent bookstores – and how that can translate digitally.

While the people in the room are intimately familiar with digital affiliate programs whether via Amazon or Indiebound, etc. and make purchasing decisions accordingly, many consumers and book buyers aren’t aware of the impact of buying a title from Amazon vs. an independent. I think there was condense that the higher degree of friction involved in purchasing a book from a digital recommendation, the more likelihood that a buyer will opt for the easiest ordering process. Unfortunately, for independents, that’s often Amazon. Amazon has credit card info, shipping addresses for millions of customers.

In the future, digital hand selling could benefit independents even more if there was a frictionless affiliate/recommendation program connecting independents with online book recommendations. We’re not there yet.

Other things we discussed:

• Book subscription plans in many variations, including RJ Julia’s Just the Right Book.
• Curation – can you make a living curating or will it be done purely out of passion? (I think it will be a combination. I think some “curators” will be able to turn their passion and knowledge about a certain niche or speciality into a job while some will do this strictly out of passion and enthusiasm – such as the many book bloggers who spend hours each week reviewing and writing about books.

If you’re interested in the future of books and book publishing, I recommend that you search twitter for #book2 and read the many comments from Book2Camp.

Others are already writing about their Book2Camp experiences as well:

Dan Blank

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Nishan Stepak

Patti Henderson

The post Book^2 Camp – Deciphering the Future of Book Publishing, eBooks, and Independent Bookstores first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

I’m a long time listener of the Books on the Nightstand podcast. Last year, Books on the Nightstand organized a weekend retreat in Manchester, Vermont – a weekend of books, authors readings, and camaraderie. As part of the weekend, Ann Kingman and Michael Kindness, the hosts of Books on the Nightstand arranged to publish a book via the Northshire Bookstore’s Espresso book-printing machine – Two Books I Can’t Wait For You To Read. The book was designed as a collection of two book recommendations from every person attending the retreat.

Like a lot of Books on the Nightstand listeners, when Ann and Michael emailed the retreat attendees about the Two Books I Can’t Wait For You To Read book and asked us to send in our two books, I froze. I’m a passionate, voracious reader, and over the years I’ve read LOTS of books. How can I only recommend two, I thought?

In the end, I actually cheated, because with the two books that I recommended, I included a series – The Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin. Currently, that series has five books.

So, what would be my second recommendation? Would it be Robert R. McCammon’s elegiac coming-of-age novel – Boy’s Life? Would it be one of John Irving’s wonderful novels? Or, would it be The Lost Regiment series by William Forstchen, a pulp-adventure series chronicling the battles and adventures of a civil war regiment transported to a fantasy world? Genre, escapist fiction? Sure. But a series that I’ve reread multiple times and have enjoyed. Or, would I recommend one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read – Self Portrait with Turtles by David Carroll? Carroll’s love of nature and his obsession with turtles suffuses every glorious page.

In the end, I recommended Clark Howard’s Hard City. A book, that when I submitted it to Ann and Michael, was out of print. And, a book that, as of this writing is now available to readers again as an eBook. And, I had a hand in getting Hard City republished as an eBook

Let me explain.

Hard City was published in 1990 in hardcover by Dutton, a New York City publishing company. Unfortunately, as some books do, Hard City never really found its audience. It did find one reader though — me. In 1990, I was in college at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Being a bibliophile, I usually visited the college library two or three times a week. Not to study per se, but to browse the fiction shelves. Not only did the University of Georgia library offer new release fiction and non-fiction, but they had a deep collection of fiction.

One day, I was checking out the new releases, and I spotted Hard City. The front cover wasn’t particularly eye-catching, but I glanced at the description and decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did.

Hard City, which I discovered after reading was semi-autobiographical of Howard’s life, features Richie, a young, preteen boy from a troubled family, who lives on the streets of 1940s Chicago while sleeping in a bowling alley every night. Richie’s love of reading is key to Richie’s surviving, and eventually leaving, the street life.

 Writing about Hard City in a new Author’s Preface for the publication of Hard City as an ebook, Howard writes, “Because much of it is based on my life as a wayward boy on the mean streets of Chicago’s lower West Side, a life frequently fueled by truancy, petty thievery, gang membership, and other disreputable behavior, I had, as a respectable adult, left those bleak days far behind and buried them deep in my memory. The things I had done back then, the life I had experienced, as well as vivid recollections of my mother’s drug addiction and my father’s incarceration in federal prison and subsequent disappearance, had all melded together into some dark recess of my mind and, I thought, been locked away forever.”

Richie’s love of reading and how ultimately, that love of reading, genuinely changed his life, spoke to me on a deep level. I attribute many of the positive things that I’ve achieved in my life, thus far, to my love of reading from an early age. As so many people have written, books opened up a whole new world for me – a world of travel, exotic foods, and the central idea that learning about new people and places either via fiction or non-fiction doesn’t have to be dull or boring – it can be enriching, relaxing and fun.

Clark Howard is an award winning and acclaimed mystery writer. In 1981, his story The Horn Man won the Edgar Allan Poe award for best short story of the year from the Mystery Writers of America. In 2009, Howard won the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Short Fiction Mystery Society.

So, why is Hard City now available as an eBook, when the book was out of print and basically forgotten when I submitted the title to Ann and Michael? After I submitted my two books to Michael and Ann, I was looking at my bookshelf one day, and I started thinking, “I know Hard City is out of print. What if . . . ” On the basis of several short stories I’ve sold, I’m a member of the Mystery Writers of America. I grabbed the MWA’s annual membership book that lists contact info for MWA members, and I found Clark Howard’s info, including his email address.

I promptly fired off an email explaining how much Hard City had meant to me over the years, and what a shame it would be for the book to remain out of print and basically lost to a new generation of readers. As a frantic parent with two young boys and a busy schedule, I basically forgot about my email. Three weeks later, on a cold January 2011 afternoon, I got a call on my phone. I didn’t recognize the number, but I picked up anyway. It was Clark Howard with a simple message, “I’d love to work with you.”

Now, Hard City is widely available again as an eBook. It’s currently available for the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple’s iBookstore, and Kobo. For those who missed Hard City’s hardback publication in 1990, you now have the chance to share Richie’s life on the streets of Chicago, and his ultimate redemption via books, reading, and writing.

The post How I Republished an Amazing Coming-of-Age Novel by Edgar-award winner Clark Howard first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

On to more questions.

Q. What is the PR industry’s reputation today? How do other industries view Public Relations as a practice? Is PR being taken seriously everywhere? How has this changed in the past few years (if at all)?

A. I’ll answer this two ways. First, and this is just my personal approach to life – not just public relations – I don’t spend any time contemplating or thinking too much about how people view public relations. I’m usually too busy working to think about what someone may or may not think of the public relations industry. And the reality is that there will always be negative people, and I long ago realized that life’s just too short to spend much time trying to change people’s opinions about public relations – or politics.

Second, you can point to a wide number of public “scandals” that people blame on public relations. BP’s numerous communication mistakes after the Gulf oil spill. The current Penn State crisis (I’d be willing to be there was a PR person involved at some point – giving horrible advice on preserving Penn State’s “image.”) There are PR mistakes made every single day, just as there are business mistakes made every day, journalism/reporting mistakes made every day, etc.

Those mistakes should not – and frankly – don’t define the industry as a whole. Do they give PR a black eye? Absolutely. Do they invalidate all the honest, hard PR work going on every day, nope.

For me, it all boils down to what I bring to the table for the companies I work with. Companies, especially, startups live inside a bubble. That bubble is necessary to design software, sling code, and ship product. However, that bubble leads companies to believe that they’re doing life-changing, totally revolutionary work. While that might be the case, reporters need and thrive on context. Where does company X fit into the overall industry landscape, what about their product is truly unique, and what is similar to competitors?

It’s my job to work with companies to tell a compelling story about their product or service within the context of the overall industry and the overall news conversation of the week or month. To me, that’s honest, fun work, and I sleep soundly every night regardless of what some person or persons may be ranting about the ills of the PR industry.

Q. What is the most valuable skill for recent PR grads looking for a job today?

A. I touched on this in my earlier post answering these questions. My biggest piece of advice, and I can’t stress it enough is DON’T WAIT.

If you’ve investigated PR, and you think you’d like to work in the industry, DON’T WAIT.

DON’T WAIT – for professors to insist that you be well read and well-informed on daily news. Even if you plan to go into celebrity or entertainment PR, every PR professional should be reading every single day – the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today (at a minimum). Those newspapers, along with the Washington Post and LA Times drive the news conversations of the day and the week.

If you’re reading newspapers and blogs every single day, you can start to make connections and see how the companies and organizations you’re working for can fit into the ongoing news conversation.

DON’T WAIT – to learn digital content creation. Build a blog. If you don’t consider yourself technical, there are literally tons of online tutorials for people who are “non-technical”. Figure out what you’re interested in, and start writing about, recording video commentaries, start an audio podcast. Begin building your audience today. Those skills will be invaluable and required for PR professionals.

DON’T WAIT – to get PR experience. Sure, pursue internships and participate fully in any classroom assignments, but you can start gaining PR experience today. In every town, in every city, there are tons of worthwhile organizations – charities, non-profits – desperate for PR help. Help them build or revamp their website. Volunteer to help them with their Twitter, Facebook, Google+ strategies. Help introduce them to local media and local news reporters. Write press releases for them.

Classroom experience is valuable, but in-the-trenches PR experience and learning how to build an audience online and interact with that audience are invaluable talents and skills that will help you gain your first job in PR – and succeed and thrive over the long haul.

The post What is the most valuable skill for recent PR grads looking for a job today? Questions about PR first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Let’s get started.

Q. Are PR jobs increasing today? Is the terminology for these jobs changing (maybe there’s a new buzzword, like “Media Manager” or “Communications Director” that is becoming more common)?

A. First, I don’t know the actual stats about overall PR jobs increasing or decreasing. I could go and look up those stats, but I thought I’d answer from my own perspective. In my PR career, I have focused on public relations/marketing for companies at the intersection of technology, media, and marketing. Currently, I don’t see any decrease in the need for skilled PR professionals.

Technology and digital companies need help marketing their products, apps, and software. Whether you work internally at a company or externally for a PR or advertising agency, someone has to work to market the company’s product within the marketplace.

As the media continues it’s rapid and continous transformation, someone has to be able to negotiate the media landscape and figure out the infleuncers within an industry that should be writing about a company or product. Usually, that’s a PR person.

There are several trends within marketing/pr that point to strong opportunties for the future:

Social media – While many people may argue about whether or not PR should “own” social media within companies, thus far it has often fallen to PR to figure out a company’s social media strategy – especially when responding to external criticisms and complaints.

Regardless of who ends up “owning” social media from a corporate perspective, the skilled PR practioners of the future will have their own social media audiences/influencers. I would recommend that young PR people not “wait” for a boss or superior to suggest that the get active in social media. Start now to build your own audience via social media – beyond your circle of friends and classmates.

Apps – App marketplaces are growing. But companies and developers all face the same dilemma – how do we get attention for our app when there are hundreds of new apps released every single week.

It’s a conundrum. But, I would argue PR can help move the needle with app downloads and attention. That’s why I co-founded APPetite PR last year.

Content creators – Many PR/marketers are beginning to realize that the rules have changed. If a company has limited marketing dollars, they can’t create advertising camapigns that “scream” at their audience via digital and tradtional ads. With inbound marketing, companies can create their own content – blogs, infographics, podcasts, videos – to drive awareness of their unique products and services.

While most companies understand the power of inbound marketing, they struggle with creating content. And, if they create it, they may create it for 3 or 4 weeks, and then abandon the effort amid competing priorotories. It has been proven, time and time again, the companies that set up a regular schedule and crank out useful, powerful content over and over again, end up dominating search results and building a powerful community of fans – and sell more products, software, or apps.

If you’re a PR student, and this appeals to you. Again, don’t wait! Don’t do one assignment for a class and hope that that will work for your resume. Practice content creation now. Start your own blog, write blog articles consistently. Try other forms of media creation – videos, audio podcasts, etc.

If you’re looking for a PR job and can point employers to a thriving blog that you’ve built and nourished, you’re going to stand out among potential employees.

The post Are PR jobs increasing? Questions about PR. first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Here’s the news that I’ve been paying attention to this past week:

Google Reader – To the dismay of many devoted Google Reader users, Google decided to shut down the sharing and social features within Google Reader and are pushing users to share stories via Google+. Regardless of what you think about Google+ (I happen to enjoy it a lot), Google could have opted to allow people to continue using the Google Reader social features unchanged. They did not. Many people are mad, and you can read about here, here, and here.

Hivemined – Thankfully, some passionate Google Reader users – and coders – are working hard on Hivemined – an open-sourced web-based RSS Reader with the social features that die-hard Google Reader users loved.

#SearchLove – I attended the SearchLove conference in New York City earlier this week. SearchLove is a conference organized by Distilled, a top SEO firm, and it features advanced SEO strategies and tactics. You can read this, this, and this article for a recap of SearchLove’s great info.

LunchMeet – (client) With the new LunchMeet app, you’ll never have to eat lunch alone again, and you can expand your professional network over lunch. Check out this NextWeb article about LunchMeet.

The post News of the week – November 5, 2011 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

The true question here is, “Would Amazon have agreed to install air conditioners in their Pennsylvania warehouse if an industrious reporter hadn’t written about the appalling conditions in Amazon’s warehouses?” I don’t think they would have. 

A couple of caveats or notes:

1. I’m a long-time Amazon user. And when I say I use Amazon, I’m a SERIOUS Amazon user. I ordered a 36-inch screen TV from Amazon in the late 1990s the first day they debuted their electronics store. Wow. That was an experience. They were using contract delivery companies. These two guys showed up to my apartment in Brooklyn, and I had to help them lug a monstrously heavy TV up 3 flights of stairs. 

I order lots of staples from Amazon – toilet paper, etc. – from their Ship and Save program.

2. I make money from Amazon. I publish eBooks via Delabarre Publishing, and I publish via Amazon Kindle.

With that out of the way, the conditions in Amazon’s warehouses are truly horrific. If you haven’t read the original Morning Call story, it’s worth a read.

I’ll recap a couple of the things that leaped out at me.

1. They start every shift by threatening to fire workers if they can’t keep up. Imagine that.

2. They hire boatloads of temporary employees with a promise of full-time Amazon employment with requisite benefits. Then, as these guys bust their asses to try and make full-time, Amazon management does things like double their metrics overnight. If you have to pick 250 items per day, suddenly they say, “You now have to pick 500 items per day.” And the full-time goal gets further and further away.

3. Amazon would routinely line up ambulances outside their warehouses to cart off workers who collapsed from heat exhaustion. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. 

4. Until this story appeared and customers started complaining, Amazon refused to install A/C inside their warehouses.

Here’s a few things that I think about Amazon.

1. I’m completely serious here. They should hire Tony Dungy immediately and implement his suggestions for coaching and leadership. Again, I’m not joking. Tony Dungy is a Super Bowl-winning coach – who won games without the histrionics, screaming and intimidation common among football coaches. He could teach Amazon management a thing or two about inspiration leadership.

2. This is the most important issue here. Many people, including Warren Buffet, have said, the true content of a person or company’s character and intentions is what they do when no one is looking. When there’s no possibility of someone knowing about your actions, how do you act? Well, sadly, we know now how Amazon acts when no one is looking.

I’m 100% convinced if this article had not been published, no air conditioner would have been installed.

3. For the next 6 months, Jeff Bezos and Bezos’ wife and children should spend 1 day a week working on the front lines of Amazon’s Pennsylvania warehouse. Subjected to the insane metrics for getting a full-time Amazon job, subjected to the threats of being fired at the beginning of every shift, subjected to the brutal, suffocating heat.

Amazon, Bezos, the ball is in your court. What will your next step be? Will we get more platitude-filled press releases? Or will your company use this opportunity for true change in the way that you treat your warehouse workers?

The post Amazon.com – Sweatshop 2.0 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

During the first dot com boom, press release strategies for PR exploded in popularity. Dot com companies desperate for press attention pumped out press releases once or twice a week (or even more). Press releases about new hires, new buttons added to a website, new office pet policies at the company… It was out of control.

Consequently, a generation of entrepreneurs formed their opinion about public relations based on the part of the process that was visible to them – press releases distributed digitally by a variety of press release distribution companies. What many entrepreneurs and CMOs never saw were the short, one-on-one, relevant emails sent to specific, targeted reporters. Nor did they hear the phone conversations between reporters and PR professionals, again rooted in specific, relevant information of interest to what the reporter writes about on a daily basis – not desperate cold calls with information in which the reporter would never be interested.

History of press releases

Do you know how the concept of press releases began? Here’s a brief except from a SearchEngineWatch.com story noting the 100th birthday of the press release:

“On October 28, 1906, at least 50 people lost their lives when a three-car train of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s newly equipped electric service jumped a trestle at Atlantic City, NJ, and plunged into the Thoroughfare creek.”

That afternoon, Ivy Lee, who some consider to be the father of modern PR, created the first press release. The Pennsylvania Railroad was one of his clients. Following the accident, Lee not only convinced the railroad to distribute a public statement, he also convinced them to provide a special train to get reporters to the scene of the accident.

The New York Times was so impressed with this innovative approach to corporate communications that it printed the first press release—verbatim—on Oct. 30, 1906 as a “Statement from the Road.” In the weeks that followed, both newspapers and public officials effusively praised Pennsylvania Railroad for its openness and honesty.

PR would certainly be easy if the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, etc., just printed your press release verbatim, but we all know that’s not the case.

SEO press release strategies?

Following the explosion of press releases during the dot com boom of the late 1990s, a new SEO press release strategy grew up. It started in the 2000s and continues today. Some SEO agencies and consultants followed press release tactics to boost a site’s natural search engine rankings by issuing lots of press releases with great anchor text links to a company’s website. As is typical with most SEO strategies, there are other SEO experts who disagree with press releases for SEO. I wanted to mention the concept of press releases for SEO purposes. However, using press releases for SEO is almost completely unrelated to using press releases with the intention of interesting a reporter, journalist or blogger to write about your company.

Reporters don’t care about press releases

Do reporters care about press releases? No. I have many friends who are reporters (and personal friends that I don’t approach about my clients). When discussing press releases, I often tell clients. I’ve never, ever heard a reporter say, “I can’t wait to open my email and read all the press releases that PR people sent me.” It just doesn’t happen. Why? Because 99.9% of press releases are written in a formal, stilted tone. They’re overwritten and often bury the importance of the announcement in formal language. Despite the pleas of numerous PR professionals and David Meerman Scott’s excellent and impassioned Gobbldeygook Manifesto, CMOs just can’t help including industry buzzwords like “best of breed,” “robust,” etc. Reporters don’t read those words. It’s that simple. If they read the release at all, they literally mentally block out those buzzwords, and they try to decipher the formal language, as they ask themselves, “Is there something here that I should care about?”

If reporters don’t care about press releases, what should you do? Relevant, targeted emails and phone calls. Relevant = news that is of direct interest to the types of stories that a reporter writes and what they care about. If a reporter doesn’t write a personnel column, don’t ever send them an email about new executive hires. If a reporter only writes about a vendor from the perspective of a company using that vendor, with specific success stats, then don’t send the reporter news strictly about a vendor. If you’re a vendor or a PR person working a vendor, don’t pick up the phone or send an email to the reporter until you’ve got a client who is using the product ready to talk – and with some stats to back up what you’re saying.

5 Sentence Email Rule

If you’re sending emails to a reporter, remember the 5 sentence email rule. Don’t send a reporter a multi-page press release. Keep your email to five sentences. You can learn more about the five sentence email rule here and here. Reporters, more than just about anyone else, are deluged, bombarded, and inundated with emails. If you follow the 5 sentence email rule with anyone, it should be in the emails that you send reporters.

On that note, don’t forget the importance of your email subject line. Yes, reporters often delete emails strictly based on subject lines. Write, revise, and re-revise your subject lines until you have a compelling subject line that piques a reporter’s interest.

Finally, is there any use for press releases? Certainly. Press releases are very effective tools to convey information – not to reporters, but to potential clients and potential partners. When potential clients and partners reach your website and start exploring the “About Us” section, press releases can give them a very good idea of what your company is doing and what your products are capable of (in addition to your marketing/sales info).

How do you use press releases to market/publicize your company?

(The image for this blog post is from the Sweet Smell of Success from 1957. If you work in the PR industry and you haven’t seen this movie, stop what you’re doing and rent it now. From IMDB.com, “Powerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister’s romance with a jazz musician.”)

The post PR 101 – press releases – do you even need one? first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Since launching my podcast, I’ve recorded and released 36 episodes of the Reading and Writing Podcast – a podcast where I interview writers and authors about their books and their writing habits. I’ve interviewed primarily commercial fiction writers – thrillers, mysteries, science fiction, etc. I also recorded and released four episodes of the Book Marketing podcast – a podcast that I’m in the process of reviving as both a video and audio podcast.

I’ve had several people ask me about the specific steps that I follow in recording and producing a podcast. Here they are.

Recording – I use my MacBook Pro to record my podcasts. I conduct the interviews via Skype using eCamm Call Recorder software to record the interviews. My preference is that the author use Skype as well, and we do a Skype-to-Skype call – the audio clarity on Skype-to-Skype calls is much, much better. However, most authors don’t use Skype, so I end up using Skype’s call-out feature to call the author’s phone. I use an Alesis USB microphone for recording, but I’d love to get a higher quality microphone – maybe a Heil PR-40.

Post-production – When I finish the interview on Skype, I have a .mov file. I use a piece of software that comes with eCamm Call Recorder to split the conversation/interview into two files. I end up with two .mov files. Next, I use video conversion software to convert those two .move files into .wav files – files that Garageband will recognize and use. After I’ve converted the files into. wav format, I then run both files through The Levelator – free software that automatically cuts out the high and low volumes. I’m not an audiophile, and I may not be explaining The Levelator correctly. What it does simply is eliminate the volume increasing and decreasing dramatically on my audio interviews. I’ve listened to many podcasts who needed to use The Levelator badly. I constantly have to adjust the volume on my stereo because one person’s voice is very loud and the other person’s voice is lower. The Levelator eliminates all that.

Garageband – Again, I’m using a Mac, so I use Garageband for editing. I usually open the previous episode’s Garageband file, rename the file for the new episode, and then drag the two .wav files into Garageband. I reuse the previous episode’s file, because I reuse the segues and various sound files from episode to episode. My other Garageband editing consists of – cutting off the beginning and end of the audio files of the interviews where I’m talking to the author and explaining how the podcast works, etc. I also record a new intro each episode, and I do that recording from directly within Garageband using the USB mic.

MP3 – When my editing is complete, I export the file from Garageband as an MP3. Then, I use MP3 ID3X to edit the MP3 file’s metadata  – I add a JPEG image of my podcast’s logo, I write Title, Artist, Album, and all the metadata that will eventually show up in whatever device or software someone is using to listen to the podcast.

Uploading – When I finish editing the MP3’s metadata, I upload the file to Libysn – the service that I use for hosting my podcast’s MP3 audio files. Once, I’ve successfully

It’s alive – Once I’ve successfully uploaded the MP3 file to Libsyn, I open WordPress for my podcast’s website – www.readingandwritingpodcast.com – and I write a new post describing the podcast’s content, links to the writer’s website, and, of course, links to the MP3 interview files hosted by Libsyn.

Feedburner – The final step. I ping feedburner. At one time, I also followed the feedburner ping with pinging the iTunes store (basically sending the iTunes store a signal that a new episode of my podcast was available for people who had subscribed to the podcast via iTunes.) However, in the past several months Apple has eliminated the pinging ability for iTunes. Yet, it doesn’t take long before the new episode is showing up in iTunes. (iTunes crawl’s my podcast’s feed and whenever it sees a new podcast, iTunes lists the episode in their directory and to anyone who had previously subscribed to the podcast.

With that, I’m done and the podcast is available for listeners.

What’s your podcasting post-production process?

The post Podcast post-production 101 first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

However, many companies unfortunately spend so much time every day immersed in the verbal and written shorthand of their company, it’s often difficult for them to communicate about their business in a way that’s easy to understand and easy to comprehend what makes their company truly unique.

I’ve repeatedly had discussions with clients about communicating with reporters or drafting an initial press release about a new service or product. I repeatedly use the “cocktail party” example. You need to be able to explain what your company does as if you were meeting a group of people at a cocktail party and they ask you what your company does and they have zero technical knowledge. Some might call it an elevator pitch. Regardless of what you call it, it’s invaluable. If you can’t explain in 2-3 concise sentences the compelling reason for your service or product, in plain English that a technical newbie can understand, you’ve got a problem. You should spend the time necessary to perfect that explanation, because busy consumers and potential customers or users won’t give you a second chance.

On more than one occasion, I’ve gotten into serious disagreements with clients about the tone and style of press releases. Some business executives equate a stiff, formal corporate tone in a press release as somehow imparting gravitas to a company’s announcement. I just don’t agree. Stiff, formal corporate communications is simply a holdover from an antiquated approach to corporate communications.

Richard Millington, the founder of FeverBee Limited, an online community consultancy, recently wrote about this issue specifically related to companies communicating to their online communities. Take a look at Millington’s post for a hilarious – and painful – example of how one company tried to communicate with their online fans.

Warren Buffett, the unparalleled investor, has long championed plain English to discuss complex financial matters. In 1998, Warren Buffett wrote the introduction to an SEC document about how to write clear SEC disclosure documents. (As an aside, the SEC obviously has its limits on “informal” communications to investors. Revealed in Steven Levy’s new book about Google, In the Plex, the SEC wasn’t pleased with Google’s IPO filings because of the founders informal and unorhtodox letter to potential investors. The SEC ordered multiple revisions.)

Here’s a portion of Buffett’s intro:

“One unoriginal but useful tip: Write with a specific person in mind. When writing Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report, I pretend that I’m talking to my sisters. I have no trouble picturing them: Though highly intelligent, they are not experts in accounting or finance. They will understand plain English, but jargon may puzzle them. My goal is simply to give them the information I would wish them to supply me if our positions were reversed. To succeed, I don’t need to be Shakespeare; I must, though, have a sincere desire to inform.

No siblings to write to? Borrow mine: Just begin with “Dear Doris and Bertie.””

Takeaways:

– Can you explain what your company does in 2-3 easy to understand, yet compelling, sentences? If not, write, revise, and redraft, until you can.

– Is your insider knowledge of your company and industry creeping into your press releases and content on your web site? Ask a spouse or friend – in a completely different line of work – to take a look at a recent press release or website redesign and give you their feedback. Can they easily understand what you’re trying to say?

– Does your company’s press releases and external communications have a stiff, formal style? Question that style? Why are you writing that way? The goal of communicating is to be easily understood.

The post Corporate Gobbledygook – Your Customers Don’t Understand You first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Some of the comments to Saas’ story are interesting. I wonder if some of the people commenting are communications professionals? It’s unrealistic to expect PR people to go out on boats to fight the oil spill or deploy floating booms to try and stop the spread of the oil.

What BP’s communications team could have done is communicate often, early, and authentically – to convey information about what BP is doing to fight the oil spill. Sure, this post’s title references social media, and Saas’ article is focused on BP’s use of social media. Yet, social media is simply one of many tools enabling companies and brands to communicate with during a crisis.

So what could BP have done using their social media tools?

1. Have a crisis PR plan. Very important. When the shit hits the fan, which it will eventually with any company regardless of size, you need a written crisis PR plan that you’ve a) written down, b) reviewed with the entire management team, and c) that you read at least once a month and update as necessary.

2. Own their brand on Twitter. Duh. Currently twitter.com/BP belongs to some dude named Bryan Pendleton. It sure makes it hard to communicate on Twitter if you haven’t even secured the Twitter ID that most people will look for if they’re trying to find your company or brand. Would you know to search for BP_America on Twitter? I wouldn’t and I doubt most others would either.

3. Use the social media tools in your toolbox. Don’t be afraid to engage even if you’re delivering bad news. In the end, people will hate you more if you stonewall vs. delivering whatever news you’ve got. And, yes, I understand that when you have a burning oil platform that’s threatening to sink, you may not have all the information that you’d like to have. You might not be able to answer every question.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20th. There was nary a tweet from BP America concerning the explosion until April 27th. 7 days? On second thought, maybe BP America should just cancel their Twitter account. 7 days is completely and totally unacceptable.

4. Engage, engage, engage – overcommunicate. When the oil rig exploded, and the company’s emergency responders arrived on the scene and assessed the damage, the crisis PR plan should have been enacted immediately.

If you think the crisis will be as large as the BP America oil spill, create a dedicated news-update page on your website with a prominent link on your home page.

Write a media alert encapsulating the basic facts that you know. Issue the media alert, set up interviews for your CEO regardless if all he can say is we know 2 facts – here they are. “The oil rig is burning, and we’re working hard to control the flames, and that’s the extent of my knowledge.”

Post the media alert on your website – run it by an in-house SEO specialist or your SEO consultant to maximize keywords and phrases that people will be using to search for information about the oil spill. Tweet links to the media alert every 30 minutes. Update your Facebook page (you don’t have a Facebook page? Create one on the fly!) with the text of the media alert and a link to your web page.

Record a video with your CEO articulating the key facts that you know. Upload the video to all the video sites you can via Tubemogul or directly with each site. Tweet links to the video on YouTube every 30 minutes. Link the video on your Facebook page. Embed the video on your dedicated crisis response PR page.

Rinse, repeat every 2-3 hours with a new media alert, again articulating the facts that you know. Yes, I’m very aware that BP is a profitable, public company and there are lawyers screaming that nothing should be said. Hopefully, you’re a CMO or CEO who will ignore the lawyers and communicate. Not take blame for things that are not your fault. C-o-m-m-u-n-i-c-a-t-e — What you know and what you are doing to deal with the issue.

5. Social media emergency squad – Break out the coffee and haul in the mattresses. For a crisis the size of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, you’re crisis PR team is going to be spending a lot of time and energy communicating via social media.

Every piece of content that I mentioned above, Twittering links, posting videos to YouTube and multiple video sites, Facebook page updates, has the potential to create comments – both negative and positive. Roll up your sleeves and get to work. Respond to those comments as a representative of your company. Leave the corporate speak behind and talk informally. Not unprofessionally, informally – there is a difference. Again, tell what you know and what you’re doing.

Don’t even think of pulling a Nestle – criticizing and being sarcastic with your critics. If it makes you feel better, acknowledge their anger and state the facts as you know them.

6. Hashtag response – A continuation of the previous bullet. Monitor relevant hashtags – #BP #Oilspill #GulfCoastdisaster #Greedyoilexecs – and respond as outlined above. Yes, respond, individually and repeatedly. Is that over kill? Maybe. But do you want to make a full-scale communications response to a crisis? If so, then you need to be communicating where people are communicating – comment sections, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Again, use common sense here. Don’t get into back-and-forth arguments with someone via Twitter if they’re not going to be convinced that you’re conveying facts and information. Now’s not the time to engage in a public debate about global petroleum usage. Respond once, maybe twice, then move on.

7. Wikipedia – Keep an eye on your Wikipedia page. If critics of your company jump in with inaccurate information, correct the page with citation.

8. Convey volunteer information – this is potentially risky, but it’s worth mentioning. As we all now sadly know, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and the resulting oil spill is a monumental environmental disaster, and it’s frankly beyond the scope of BP America and its employees to contain the damage of the oil on wildlife.

BP could regularly post via their website and social media channels volunteer opportunities for people to help with the disaster relief.

Those are my crisis PR strategies for BP America written in about an hour. But, I’ve written more than one crisis PR plan, and utilizing social media tools for crisis PR is something I’ve been thinking about – and using.

The big question is, what would you add? What would you have done differently? How would your advice differ? I’d love to hear from you.

The post Using Social Media – Twitter, YouTube, etc. – For Crisis PR. What BP America Could Have Done Differently To Respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

In the absence of “news,” many companies go radio silent, but silence can be deadly. If your company isn’t generating consistent media coverage, it’s inevitable in today’s 24-7 news cycle that your current clients and potential clients will soon ask, “What’s going on with company X? I never see them mentioned anywhere.”

But what do you do if your company doesn’t have any hard news to announce? Do you scrape the bottom of the barrel and issue a press release touting existing features that have already been announced? One sure way to alienate reporters is to send them non-news. Eventually, reporter will see your number on their voicemail or your name in their email, and they’ll say, “Who cares.”

Yet, in the absence of news, why not make your company a “resource” for reporters? Most smart companies watch their vertical and marketplace like a hawk. They try to stay up-to-date on what their customers and potential customers needs are – either anecdotally or through original research.

Why not take the extra step, tap into the research and knowledge that exists in your company, and package that data for reporters. By initiating a data-driven PR strategy, you become a go-to resource for reporters.

What does data-driven PR look like exactly?

I once worked with a company that had developed proprietary technology to track streaming radio content across the web and determine how many people were listening. Nielsen, the traditional media measurement service, had not yet developed a comparable technology or rating service. The PR team I was working with recommended that our client package their streaming tracking data akin to Nielsen’s traditional tracking of terrestrial radio stations. Each week, the company released a Top 10 Internet Radio Streams ranked by listenership and popularity.

Once we convinced the company to develop this branded weekly data, we built a comprehensive list of media reporters – especially reporters who covered the radio industry. And, we began sending the branded weekly Top 10 data to a wide list of reporters.

Not surprisingly, initially the reporters were skeptical. They’d never heard of the company or their technology. We answered questions, and sure some reporters said they weren’t interested at all and we stopped pitching them. At the outset, media coverage was slow. But we continued our strategy and sent the data every week.

The campaign worked. First, one publication published the Top 10 Internet Radio streams list, then a second publication, then a third, and so on. Then, after publishing the list for several months, one week we missed our regular release date for the data by several days, and we received multiple emails and phone calls asking where the data was.

In today’s never-ending media cycle, the media beast has to be fed. Reporters are looking for information. Reporters usually aren’t interested in rewriting a press release or publishing a story about the latest small feature upgrade. If you can provide a reporter with accurate, informative data related to your specific industry or vertical, many reporters will be interested.

However, I should mention, whenever possible stay as neutral as possible. Most companies aren’t going to issue data that directly contradicts their business model. But you shouldn’t pull together industry data and issue a press release or a report that says in effect, “According to our recent data, we have the solution to all your problems.” Take a neutral path, strive to be a resource for reporters by providing insightful data about your industry and vertical, and data-driven PR can lead to consistent media coverage for your company to augment your company and product PR efforts.

The post Data-driven public relations – Using Numbers, Surveys, Stats to Secure Media Coverage first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

The post The debate over PR spam emails continues first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

In late 2009, Wertz created a H.J. Heinz, yes the ketchup company, twitter account and proceeded to twitter on behalf of Heinz – links to recipes, bits of history about the company. He followed people in Pittsburgh, Heinz’s hometown, and people who included the word “Heinz” in their tweets, and he started to build a following.

And, oh yeah, he was never authorized by Heinz to create a Twitter account or to tweet on their behalf. After two weeks, Wertz logged into Twitter and found his account changed from @HJ_Heinz to @notHJ_Heinz. Today, if you’re curious and try to find the @HJ_Heinz account, they’ve protected their tweets. What?

Some might read my headline above and think it’s misleading. They were listening and they responded. “They contacted Twitter and had this yahoo booted after two weeks.” Two weeks? Time in social media is measured in dog years. Two weeks is the equivalent of about 6 months.

I’m curious. If Wertz had been tweeting links to unsanitary uses of ketchup, would Heinz have responded faster?

Yes, someone at Heinz was listening, despite their slow response. But, what if you’re working at a company that can’t afford a social media monitoring dashboard? What if you’re a small, locally-owned business that wants to make sure you know what people are saying about your business online, yet you don’t want to spend hours each day manually doing searches on Twitter to monitor the conversation.

Learning how to set up a real-time Twitter monitoring system isn’t new. Chris Brogan wrote about in January 2009, and you should definitely check out his article. But, technology changes, and I have some updates to Brogan’s great suggestions.

How to set up a real-time Twitter monitoring system:

1. Go to Twitter Search.

2. Search on your business name.

3. On the results page of your Twitter search, notice the orange RSS button in the upper right hand corner of the page with the text, “Feed for this query.” Click on that button.

4. Copy and paste the RSS feed URL, and then go to Feed My Inbox, and subscribe to that feed. For $5 per month, you can subscribe to 25 feeds and get real-time feed updates. If you choose that option, you will get an email, in real-time, each time your business name shows up in Twitter. If real-time updates overwhelm you, you can easily change them to once-a-day updates.

5. Go back to step 1, and create a new feed with the name of your town, the type of business you’re in, (Mexican restaurant, plumber) combined with another word, “hates, crap, love, wonderful, question, recommend” and you can create multiple feeds, each one of them subscribed to via Feed My Inbox.

6. As Chris Brogan pointed out, you can use this type of system in a variety of online monitoring tools, including Google Alerts, Icerocket (for monitoring blog conversations), etc.

Are you monitoring the Twitter conversation about your company and your local industry? Can you afford not to?

Photo credit – Nick Fraser

The post HJ Heinz Wasn’t Listening. Are You? How to Set Up a Real-time Twitter Monitoring System Today – Twitter PR strategies first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Jerry Rice, the famed wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, rarely took a day off in the offseason. He spent every offseason training – and training hard. Rice’s off-season workouts included two hours of cardiovascular running in the morning and three hours of strength training and weight lifting in the afternoon. His early-morning runs included a 5-mile uphill, vertical run. Then, at the summit, he’d throw in ten 40-meter uphill sprints.

You can take a look at the workout routines of other top athletes here.

How does your day-to-day work look in comparison to Rice and other stellar athletes?

If you’re working in digital marketing, PR, email marketing, SEO, paid search, what are you doing to train yourself to improve?

If you’re intent on being a world class marketer, a rock star, here are some things you could consider:

Time – are you punching a clock? Though you work in digital marketing, are you working bankers’ hours? I have two small kids, so I’m all about work-life balance. But, maybe you should consider setting aside a 1 or 2 week period in the next few weeks, work out logistics with your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend, and work a series of 12-16 hours days for 1-2 weeks straight.

You can quickly do your “job” during those days, and then spend the other time throughout the day training and studying. If you’re in PR, what do your media lists and contact databases look like? Do you have a thorough list of the top bloggers covering your space. Have you emailed or tweeted them? Take your extra work time and start building those relationships.

Read – how many books did you read last year, last month, last week? And don’t just read Chris Brogan, David Meerman Scott, and Tamar Weinberg.

At the end of the day, most of us are in business. Sure, the tools have changed, but the basics of business haven’t changed all that much. Have you read Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results, The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker’s Essential Writings on Management (Collins Business Essentials), and Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping–Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond?

If you don’t think you have the time to read, first turn off the television, and then read this article by Julien Smith about how he read a book a week last year.

Analytics – sure, you’re intent on social media outreach, you’ve just finished a very successfull PR campaign for a client that resulted in a bunch of press coverage, your SEO is rocking and you’re killing your important keywords in Google’s SERPs. But, what is all that success doing for your bottom line? How many new leads have you generated.

Spend your extra-work week digging into the analytics of your site, and start getting answers to those questions. Read and study Avinash Kaushik.

Maybe you’ll discover that yes, you’re successfully driving traffic, but that traffic has terrible conversion. Analytics can give you answers to many of those questions, and you can begin testing new landing pages, conducting A/B testing, and figure out how to convert the traffic that is hitting your site every day.

Podcasts – You could spend some of your training time listening to podcasts. If you haven’t listened to Marketing Over Coffee yet, that should be your first stop. John and Chris’ podcast is filled with useful, actionable knowledge that you can start applying to your site and your marketing efforts immediately. And, there are plenty of other podcasts, that can educate and broaden your thinking about what you’re doing every day. 10 Golden Rules of Internet Marketing, Jaffe Juice, For Immediate Release, Six Pixels of Separation, are just a few to get you started.

So what’s your digital marketing training regime look like? Are you the next Jerry Rice in the making?

The post Training for the Olympics – how does your digital marketing efforts stack up? first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

The first year, I spent the majority of my time focusing on traditional PR efforts – contacting local newspapers, radio, TV – for calendar listings, pre-event press coverage, and day-of press coverage. I also worked on traditional advertising/marketing – running print ads in local newspapers and weeklies.

We had a lot of success that first year. The festival has been a local institution for many years, so the local media is definitely interested in covering the event each year.

However, last year, I decided to ramp up our digital marketing efforts. Here’s what we’ve done so far:

Website – launched the Festival of the Hills website – with design/coding help from Erica Goleman. Now, I need to work on SEO for the site. I just noticed when I googled the phrase Festival of the Hills we’re 6th in Google’s organic search results. Yes, there are other Festivals around the U.S. named the Festival of the Hills, but I know we can rank higher than # 6.

Twitter – I started a Twitter account for the festival. I researched local Twitter users and started following them. But, honestly, I don’t think the Twitter account worked all that great. The problem I ran into was Twittering about a local event. What do you Twitter about? Ultimately, since this was a volunteer project after all and I didn’t have a ton of time to develop a full-fledged Twitter persona, I ended up Twittering basic even info reminders – with links to the website. Not great, but we did get some retweets out of it.

This year I’m considering live Tweeting throughout the day of the Festival, and again doing some Tweeting of event info prior to the event.

Flickr pool – As part of the website, we set up a Flickr pool for people to tag photos of the Festival that they uploaded to Flickr.

Event websites – I created event pages for the Festival on both Eventbrite and Eventful. My thinking was to create these event pages to help with SEO and to offer another place online that someone could discover the Festival. Also, I like Eventful’s weekly email newsletters. You can sign up to receive info on certain types of events in your local area – music concerts, arts, kids and family activities. As a parent, I’ve discovered a few kids activities vai Eventful’s weekly e-newsletters that I didn’t know about before.

I wish more events and people used Eventul. I like the concept of Eventful “pushing” info on events that they think I’ll be interested in. And, that beats having to subscribe to a million different e-newsletters from local concert venues, museums, etc. But, I still don’t think Eventful is as robust as it could be on capturing all the great local events in our area of Western Massachusetts.

As far as the impact for the Festival of the Hills, I’d say the impact of the event websites were negligible.

Craigslist – For the past 2 years, I’ve posted event info in the events section of Craigslist. Of all the online marketing we’ve done, we’ve gotten the most response from our Craigslist postings. People routinely email us as a result of the Craigslist postings asking specific questions about the Festival.

Calendar listings – I worked to make sure the Festival was listed on all the local media – newspaper, radio, TV – online events calendars. Again, does anyone read those? I don’t know, but I’ll continue posting on them next year.

Email – With the website launch, we included an email sign-up form. Thus far, the sign-ups have been minimal. This year, I’m going to work on actively collecting emails from Festival attendees. My plan is that email list would be extremely dormant. Maybe, we’d email once during the summer reminding people of the date of the Festival of the Hills and asking them to save the date. Then, maybe 4 weeks prior to the event, we’d send one email per week as a reminder/build up/count down to the Festival.

Facebook – Last year, I didn’t create a Facebook fan page for the Festival. But, it’s at the top of my To Do list for this year.

As I worked on these various digital marketing initiatives for the Festival, I remember looking around online for any insight into local event SEO. I did find this blog post about local event SEO from Katz Web Services which I found helpful.

What do you think? Did I miss something obvious? Where do you think I should spend my time online this year in marketing the Festival? Right now, I’m thinking that I’m going to spend a good chunk of time on the Facebook fan page. With the viral – easy sharing – via Facebook, it seems like a no-brainer to me.

The post Local event digital marketing, search engine optimization, PR – Festival of the Hills case study first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

However, when Linchpin launched, I did notice something and wanted to mention it, because once I noticed it, I started asking myself questions.

When the book launched, for several days, everywhere I turned in social media, I saw a review or someone mentioning the book.

Here’s only a few reviews/mentions of Linchpin:

Marketing Over Coffee podcast interview with Seth – January 25th

David Meerman Scott interview with Seth Godin re: Linchpin – January 25th

Duct tape Marketing podcast interview with Seth Godin – January 26th

Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project blog interview with Seth Godin – January 26th

During that 4-5 day window in late January, I couldn’t open up Google Reader without seeing Seth Godin’s smiling face – and yet another interview with him about Linchpin.

But, after that overwhelming barrage of interviews, Godin and Linchpin fell off the proverbial cliff in terms of digital publicity. Most writers lie awake at night dreaming of that many interviews touting their words and wisdom. But, was is it too much all at one time?

Again, to state the obvious, Seth is a very smart marketer, and he knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t need me to tell him how to sell books.

Right now, as I write this blog post on February 16, 2010, here’s Linchpin’s current Amazon rankings:

#50 in Books
#1 in Books > Business & Investing > Job Hunting & Careers > Guides
#2 in Books > Business & Investing > Business Life
#4 in Books > Reference

But, I still do wonder – what if he had staggered those interviews? Sure, you could do a big initial splash, but save your ammunition so to speak and do 3-5 interviews with influential bloggers every week for 6-8 weeks straight.

Would that staggered book publicity have an impact? What do you think?

Now, I’m off to read Linchpin and see what everyone is raving about.

The post Seth Godin and book PR – should he have staggered his Linchpin PR splash? first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Recently, Ian Lewis, read some of my blog posts about eBooks and emailed me a few questions. After several back-and-forth emails, I thought it’d be of interest to publish this email conversation as a blog post.

On Feb 12, 2010, at 5:41 PM, Ian Lewis wrote:

Jeff,

i’ve been reading a couple of your articles recently, including this one below. All very informative.

http://jeffrutherford.com/ebook-pricing-may-force-an-ebook-napster-soon

“Amazon is taking a loss on just about every hardcover title they sell on the Kindle for $9.99.”

so you are saying the publishers are forcing Amazon to charge too much for e-books, and therefore they aren’t selling as well? why is Amazon losing money?

if i was to write a book, and publish through Amazon via an e-book, and bypass the publisher, is that the ‘new model’ for new authors? or is it unlikely to sell due to zero marketing?

best wishes,

ian

Hi Ian,

Actually, I think I should clarify that post. Until the last two weeks, when Amazon got into a heated debate with Macmillan, and eventually gave into MacMillan’s pricing demands, here’s what was happening.

Amazon was buying eBooks from publishers at a wholesale price similar to a physical book. So Amazon was actually paying $13-16 per ebook, and yes, Amazon was losing money on every single eBook that they sold for $9.99. They could afford to do this, because Amazon has a lot of money in the bank. And, they were doing that, because they wanted to create a market for eBooks, and I think came up with a reasonable price point of $9.99.

However, book publishers HATED that $9.99 price because they thought it devalued the price of a book. As a result, publishers started threatening to not release ebook versions of new hardbacks until 4-6 months after the hardback was released – to keep Amazon from selling brand new books for $9.99.

But, now Amazon is in intense negotiations with a bunch of different publishers who want to raise that $9.99 price, and Amazon has basically had to give in to them.

Frankly, I think publishers are making a big mistake. Publishers are trying to say that consumers should pay the same for a digital file as a printed book. I don’t think most consumers think that way. Why should I pay $14-20 for a digital file that cost pennies to distribute.

Here’s a long comment that I recently wrote in response to a story about this whole issue on the All Things Digital blog.

http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20100209/book-publishers-beware-at-itunes-expensive-music-equals-slower-sales/

Book publishers are focused on setting an artificial price. A price that has no relation to the actual cost of distributing a digital file, but has everything to do with setting a price somewhat close to a typical trade paperback. Hmm, why should I pay the same price for downloading a relatively small digital file vs. the price covering your cost of printing, binding, shipping a book to a retailer or distributor, then, oh yeah, paying the cost of those retailers to return unsold copies.

I wrote about this in a recent blog post. I think book publishers are inviting an eBook Napster –
http://jeffrutherford.com/ebook-pricing-may-force-an-ebook-napster-soon

Finally, to answer your question about a new model for writers. Yes, I definitely think that e-publishing will be an option for writers – both writers who have had books published by traditional publishers, and writers who have never had a book published. In fact, Stephen Covey, the author of 7 Habits Of Highly Successful People recently signed a deal with Amazon to publish many of his popular books for the Kindle – and new ebooks too. In that case, Covey will get 70% of whatever Amazon charges, and Amazon will get 30%. That’s a much higher royalty rate than he’d get from a traditional publisher.

But, for the unpublished writer who decides to go down that route, you asked a very good question. What about PR and publicity. There are literally hundreds of novels being uploaded to the Kindle story every day – by previously unpublished writers. How can you stand out in that? I don’t have a good answer to that. You would have to have some kind of PR-buzz, or your book will just get lost in the ebook forest.

And, I keep using the word Kindle. There’s a company called Smashwords that will take your book and publish it electronically on multiple ebook platforms – Barnes & Noble, Sony, etc. So, it’s not just Kindle.

Also, re: the whole issue of writers who have had books published, and then making money off of ebooks sales of their old titles, you should definitely check out this blog. It’s written by JA Konrath, a crime writer who has had multiple novels published. But, he had a bunch of manuscripts of books that he had tried to sell with no success – before he sold his first novel. Now, he’s published all those old manuscripts via the Kindle Store, and he’s making money.

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2009/10/kindle-numbers-traditional-publishing.html

The post Ebooks Pricing Palooza first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Bezos never misses an opportunity to tout how Amazon’s every move is done to make their customers happy. At the same time, Amazon has repeatedly talked about how the Amazon Kindle is one of the most gifted items ever.

If that’s the case, why would Amazon ship Kindles in a box emblazoned with the word Amazon Kindle? If you know that the device is being given as a gift, don’t you know that in most modern American families, there are lots of different people checking the mail every day?

On Christmas Eve, I went to our local post office to pick up our mail, and there was an Amazon Kindle box in our stack of letters and packages. I didn’t order an Amazon Kindle for my wife. So that left only one other option, my wife’s present for me had arrived on Christmas Eve . . . but the surprise was ruined.

Shipping Kindles in clearly marked boxes is not very customer friendly. I enjoy the surprise of opening gift-wrapped presents on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That surprise was ruined for me this year.

I’m definitely enjoying the Kindle, and I’m certainly not disparaging my wife’s thoughtful gift. I just wish Jeff Bezos hadn’t ruined my Christmas surprise.

The post Jeff Bezos spoiled my Christmas surprise first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

First, let’s recap the recent ebook and book publishing headlines:

• Barnes & Noble’s nook launches. The first wave of nook reviews were great, the second wave of reviews not so great – I doubt David Pogue at the New York Times or Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal will be giving many nooks for holiday presents.

• Simon and Schuster and Hachette Book Group, quickly followed by HarperCollins, announced that they would delay the release of eBooks until 3-4 months after the hardback has been released.

• Stephen Covey signs an exclusive ebook deal with Amazon.com to publish both new books and several of his bestselling backlist titles exclusively via the Amazon Kindle. Several of the news articles reported Covey would be receiving a royalty rate north of 50% from Amazon.

As you probably know, publishers are upset that Amazon is selling Kindle version of brand-new hardback books for $9.99. Hence, Simon and Schuster, Hachette, and HarperCollins’ moves to delay the release of ebook versions of their new releases.

Wow, James McQuivey, Ph.D., (@jmcquivey) Forrester Research analyst, said it best in response to Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group’s decision – “This move is about the past of your business.”

Why are publishers having such a difficult time in realizing that their industry has undergone a seismic shift since the launch of the Amazon Kindle?

I understand it’s painful to realize that the cost structure on which you’ve operated your business has changed overnight. But, it has. It simply has. You can deny it. You can say that 9.99 is predatory pricing. You can wail. You can scream. You can gripe. You can stick your head in the sand.

But reality is reality. You cannot put the ebook genie back in the bottle (even by windowing your eBook release by 3-4 months) no matter how much you try.

The first mention of Napster that I could find in the New York Times was on January 20, 2000. Book publishers have had 9 years to prepare for an eBook Napster. But they haven’t. Instead, they’re sticking their fingers in their ears and hoping to somehow convince me that I should pay $25 for an electronic file that costs pennies to distribute.

I mentioned earlier that the release of the Amazon Kindle ushered in this seismic shift in the eBook industry. That’s not because I’m a Kindle fanboy. It’s simply because Kindle debuted with the marketing muscle of Amazon.com, the leading ecommerce company in the U.S., and constantly in the top 10 most-visited websites in the U.S.. Amazon.com could post a bowl of spoiled butter on their homepage, day after day, and they’d sell bucketloads. With the constant Kindle marketing on the homepage and banner ads on interior product pages, the number of affluent customers, passionate book readers, and Amazon’s slick marketing videos of Neil Gaiman, Toni Morrison, and other prominent authors singing the praises of the Kindle, it’s inevitable that Amazon would have a hit on its hands. And, of course, wireless. Sony was the first to market with a credible eBook reader, but they relied on a clunky web-based store, and no wireless, and now they’re a second-run.

In the era of compact discs, the music business clung to the concept of the full-length album. With many genres of music (country, rap, heavy metal, etc.), an artist may only have 1 or 2 quality songs, and the rest of the album would be complete filler. Yet, record companies would price CD singles at $3,4,5, 6 or more, thinking that if they added a couple of remix versions of an artist’s hit song, then it would somehow justify charging a higher price than 1 or 2 bucks.

Now, consumers can easily access and buy music the way that they want to, and the music industry has undergone complete turmoil and reinvention – full-length album sales are down, terrestrial radio is on life support, satellite radio and Internet-based radio such as Pandora, is growing, bands try to make their money with live performances and Tshirts/product sales. But, at the end of the day, people are still listening to and enjoy music just as much as ever. People still go to concerts and performances and sing along, off-key, in their car. But, yes, the underlying economics of the music industry has fundamentally changed.

The same is true for book publishers. The digital/ebooks genie is out the bottle. Do I think that all books should be free? Absolutely not. Do I think that publishers should close their doors and we’ll all have to sift through waves of self-published books searching for quality books? No, I don’t think that’s the case either.

But, I do know that you can’t expect to convince, cajole, or market to consumers that $25 is a reasonable price to pay for a digital file that takes pennies to distribute electronically. If you insist on that price point, you will guarantee a Napster for eBooks. Almost all of the major eBook devices can now read PDF files. What’s to stop someone from scanning that NY Times bestseller that isn’t currently available in eBook format and distributing it via torrents, email, social media, etc.? And, keep in mind, scanners and scanning technology are improving every year. Scanning a 500-page book gets easier every year.

What will publishing look like if consumers continue to demand a $10 price point for new books?

Much lower advances – or no advances. We’re in 2010 in a couple of weeks, there’s no reason that book publishers can’t pay royalties for ebook sales once per month, and pay royalties for traditional book sales on a monthly basis too – with a reserve against returns, of course.

Much lower print runs – and more print on demand – if eBook sales continue, bound book sales will decline.

Out-sourced editorial – publishers will run on an even more barebones staff with editorial and artwork outsourced on a project-by-project basis.

I would like to think that book publishers could be nimble and react to the seismic industry changes wrought by eBook sales. Yet, I think that by the very nature of large organizations, it’s difficult for them to realize titanic shifts, throw out rulebooks and rethink their businesses from the ground up.

The post Napster for eBooks – the eBook Genie is out of the Bottle first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

AOL is hard at work building a next generation online content company. But, that content is going to be driven not by the traditional editorial meeting where a bunch of people try to discern the zeitgeist of the day and write stories based on their gut feel for what people are interested in. No. AOL is going to make the large majority of its editorial decisions on what to write about and what to cover based on powerful search data. What are people already looking for online? AOL’s writers and editors will then crank out content to satisfy the interest of those searchers and readers – and obviously sell a boatload of ads in the process.

I think Farhad’s mistake is in assuming that AOL is going to slavishly follow the business model of Associated Content – another company that generates content on demand. And, as Farhad painfully details, Associated Content churns out awful content that does nothing but clutter up the Web with useless words sloppily cobbled together to quickly game the search engines.

But, what if AOL decides to go in a different direction?

What if AOL uses the Associated Content model – content driven by what people are expressly interested in and searching for – but create high-quality content that fulfills a genuine need – informing and expanding on subjects that people are genuinely interested in. This is not a new business model by any means – About.com comes immediately to mind. Instead of focusing on short tail, timely topics, About.com guides for years have been writing about long-tail, niche topics. And, in many cases, About.com can provide some good, rich content. Two more recent companies have tried a similar model of providing and curating long-tail content – Jason Calacanis’ Mahalo and Seth Godin’s Squidoo.

As Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land has written about on more than one occasion, the rich content of the web can often show alarming gaps when there’s a breaking news story and people start searching for information on a topic that is trending. Sullivan has used the example of Southern California wildfires. During wildfire season, if you do a search for “california fires maps” you end up getting a wild variety of content, including outdated Los Angeles Times fire maps from previous years. Sullivan has written about the concept of living URLs to combat this issue. For example, a Los Angles Times living URL for “california wild fires” would lead to the Los Angeles Times’ latest news about wild fires in chronological order – freshest content at the top of course. Google just announced a new Living Stories experiment with the New York Times and the Washington Post along these lines.

What does living urls have to do with AOL’s new content strategy? Basically, that Aol. could be on the verge of a very interesting and potentially profitable business model as long as they emphasize quality content.

AOL content SWAT team

Around the clock, AOL identifies gaps between what content people are searching for online and what content currently exists. If there’s a gap that could be filled, Aol. throws a team of editors/writers at the problem and creates content – quality content – to fulfill that need.

There’s one thing AOL could do to make this business model even more powerful – create an AOL “cold case” team to compliment the work of their content SWAT team. In addition to the team of editors/writers hard at work creating content for the short tail searches, the AOL cold case team would routinely go back through the AOL content that’s already been created, add to it, strengthen it with more original reporting, and do everything they can to enrich the content. That way, AOL can still have high-ranking quality content when those short tail searches become long tail searches.

The post Why AOL’s Tim Armstrong may be smarter than many pundits think first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

Maclaren, a British high-end stroller company, currently faces a recall of 1 million umbrella strollers because the stroller’s folding hinge can amputate a child’s fingertips. According to reports, 12 children have already been injured.

Unfortunately, Maclaren fumbled their response to the recall. Here are a few things that Maclaren could have done differently.

1. Your website MUST work – We’re living in a digital world. When a PR storm hits your company, your customers aren’t going to call your 1-800 number. They’re going to hit your site to find out what’s going on. According to Time magazine’s story about Maclaren’s crisis, on Monday their website was basically inaccessible.

If you’re in charge of your company’s PR crisis plan, anticipate sudden, huge bursts of web traffic. If you wake up tomorrow with the FTC issuing a recall on one of your products, do you know exactly who you can call at your company who can immediately make the call to increase bandwidth and server capacity to handle the onslaught to your company’s website? If not, you need to think about this now – not when the storm hits.

Also, today, if you visited the Maclaren website, you’d be hard pressed to immediately find any information about the recall. There’s a link for recall in the top right-hand navigation menu of the page. The word “recall” is the same size font and color as the rest of the nav menu words. Why not have a prominent button that no one would miss – Maclaren Stroller Recall – We Want to Keep Your Child’s Fingers Safe – Please Click Here for Detailed Info

2. Twitter – It doesn’t really matter if you’re an active participant, just listening, or think that people on Twitter only talk about what they’re having for lunch. When a crisis hits, your customers, your critics, your evangelists, will be discussing your crisis on Twitter. And so should you. Certainly, you can also use traditional PR crisis tactics – press conferences, conference calls with reporters, 1-on-1 briefings with key reporters, but you should also be using Twitter aggressively to combat and negate the storm.

Maclaren execs could have first issued pro-active messages about the recall via Twitter – including a link to a webpage with all the info about the recall. Then, they could start engaging 1-on-1 with anyone mentioning or discussing the recall. If someone turns to Twitter to ask about a company’s recall, and then immediately gets a response directly from the company, that’s a whole lot better than an echo chamber of customers discussing, griping, complaining about a company’s recall with nary a tweet or word directly from the company.

3. Engage Your Critics ProActively – Moms and Dads these days are blogging about the trials and tribulations of parenthood. The Time article pointed out that many parenting bloggers were vocal in their consternation at the recall and Maclaren’s fumbled response. Here’s where the all-nighter comes in. In addition to an around-the-clock, proactive Twitter outreach strategy, Maclaren should have been engaging bloggers. First, they could have scoured the blogosphere for any mention of the recall and responded in the comments of the blog explaining the recall and what parents could do to order the stroller widget that fixes the hinge danger. But, Maclaren could have gone beyond responding via comments. They could have drafted a quick “blog response” to the crisis – an expansion of the blog comment text – and offered/suggested that bloggers run the item as a guest post. Would some bloggers have refused? Certainly. But some would have published it.

4. Facebook – Maclaren was right on in their Facebook strategy. Again, according to Time magazine, “An entry on the “Maclaren Baby” page instructs consumers to e-mail sales@maclarenbaby.com with their name, address, telephone number, stroller model and stroller Vin number.” This is good, proactive communication via social media. However, I wonder if Maclaren used the feature available to any Facebook page , “Send an Update to Fans.” If they didn’t, they should have. A simple update on a Facebook page can easily get lost in the stream of Facebook news. An update gives the message a little more Facebook urgency and attention.

Here’s the link to Maclaren’s website re: the recall:

http://recall.maclarenbaby.com/

What else could Maclaren done to get their message out yesterday when the FTC announced the recall?

Photo – bbaunch, some rights reserved

The post Using Social Media For Crisis PR – What Maclaren Could Have Done Differently first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

It seems so elementary now. But I was there when all of our interactions with foreign publishers and foreign agents was done via faxes. Hard-to-read faxes. Email made that part of my job so much easier.

Since then, I’ve spent a long time in PR working with digital companies – large and small. I use the Web for 10 hours per day – or more.

But, we still have such a long way to go . . .

Tomorrow, my wife has an all-day seminar in Boston she’s attending, so I’m going to be walking around the city, and exploring the aquarium with my two young sons. I wanted to do some QUICK and EASY online research to find out some basic info about downtown Boston. I wanted to see how I could walk from the Government Center T stop to the New England aquarium. Here’s the walking directions from the aquarium’s website:

If you are already in the Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market area, the North End, Government Center or the Financial District, the Aquarium is just a short walk away.

That’s great, but I’ve probably spent 4 hours of my life in and around Faneuil Hall and the North End. How about some basic directions to go with that. “If you’re walking from Faneuil Hall, here’s the route to take . . .”

I started writing this blog post, and I immediately thought, some commenter is going to come along and say, “Why didn’t you just Google directions.”

So, I did. I Googled, “how to walk from faneuil hall to new england aquarium.” This is the result I got:

I’m not a search engineer. But, why can’t I spend 30 seconds searching for walking directions from Faneuil Hall to the New England Aquarium, and get a nice street-by-street route w/ accompanying map?

I eventually printed out a Google map of the Faneuil Hall-North End area. If you’re in downtown Boston tomorrow, and see me walking around lost, how about giving me a ride or some decent directions.

The post I Love the Web, But We’ve Got A Long Way To Go first appeared on Jeff Rutherford.

The nights are getting colder. The leaves are falling. And more importantly, football season is in full swing again. (Let’s just hope the New York Jets, my team, can recover from their last two ugly losses).

What can PR consultants and PR agencies learn from football?

Strategic – if you’re a spray and pray PR firm, sending out tons of non-targeted emails, or sending the junior staff and interns running for the phones when a client is angry, you’re not going to be very successful. Sure, you may complete a few “passes,” and get an article written about your client every now and then. But, for the most part, you’re not going to succeed.

The same in football. If you walk out onto the field without a solid game plan, and your quarterback is just throwing the ball downfield, hoping that someone will catch it, you’re not going to win many football games.

Preparation – Research, plan, and prepare. It’s the same for football as it is with public relations.

When the Indianapolis Colts faced the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning watched every single Bears play for every game throughout the season – studying the small defense’s small details. When he hit the field, he knew exactly what to expect.

It’s been said a thousand – no, a million – times. Do your research before you pitch a reporter. Manning watched every single play for an entire season. How many articles do you read before you pick up the phone and call a reporter? One or two? How about six months worth of articles?

You should know exactly the types of stories a reporter routinely writes. If you read enough of a reporter’s stories, you’ll see obvious trends, interests, and you can probably figure out what the reporter is not writing.

Grind it out – It’s important to think about your client’s messaging, positioning, and branding. But, at the end of the day, PR doesn’t happen unless you pick up the phone or write a well-crafted email. Ultimately, good PR campaigns are won in the trenches – not giving up on a story, and making sure you pitch everyone who could possibly be interested in the story you’re telling.

The same can be said of football. Sure, you have explosive offenses that can score within 5 or 6 plays. But, many smart coaches know that one very successful key to winning games is in the trenches. Grind out long scoring drives on the ground to control the clock.

Have you done the hard work and preparation needed? Are you ready to pitch a story and succeed? Are you ready to hit the field and win?