Writer's Notebook - James Rafferty Blog

Book Review: Inbound Marketing

I just finished reading the book Inbound Marketing, subtitled Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs.  I've read and heard a lot about using social media for marketing, but authors Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah are like football coaches for new techniques of social marketing -- they break it all down into digestible chunks. 

Since I got interested in professional writing and related marketing techniques several years back, I've been hearing speakers exhort authors to "build a platform" and use social media to connect with your audiences.  However, often the details have been scarce.   No more.  Inbound Marketing is the textbook that takes a pulse of the tools that are out there -- websites, blogs, social media sites and analytics -- then offers step by step approaches to enable execution. 

So, if you're interested in how to use blogs and other social media to build a following, or have a business that you need to get off the ground, Inbound Marketing is chock full of tips that will help jump start your efforts.  If you're interested in learning more about Inbound Marketing, there's also a related group out on LinkedIn. 

Are you a writer who wants to build a platform and connect better with prospective readers?  Have you found helpful resources that will help you get there?   As a reader or as a customer for products marketing over the web, how do you feel about social media?  

 

Writer's Notebook: Creative Blogs

It's been a busy Fall for me and I've been enjoying the transition from the summer here in southeastern Massachusetts.  I got back from a trip last weekend and discovered, much to my surprise and delight, that my friend Pat Bertram, author of Bertram's Blog, had been nominated for a Kreativ Blogger award for her blog AND passed the nomination for that same award and recognition to this blog.  

The award looks like this:  

I'm very pleased to be nominated for this award and it's much more meaningful when it comes from Pat, a blogger and writer who has done a remarkable job in the blogosphere and other social media in leading discussions about writing in a way that builds community among writers and helps us all get better at what we do.  

About six months ago, I recast this blog to focus primarily about writing and travel, with occasional forays into other areas such as personal technology and music.  I still find it hard to make the time to post regularly, but I'll continue to post when I've got thoughts, pictures or other cool discoveries to share.  So, to Pat Bertram and Bertram's Blog, thank you very much.  

Now for the fun part -- passing on the nomination to three other deserving recipients. My stint in the blogosphere has included lots of interaction with both the community of fiction writers and with my many colleagues in the telecommunications industry.  I blog on matters related to Voice over IP for the Dialogic Corporate Blog and like the split of keeping my business blogging mostly separate from this more personally focused blog. 

So what do I like in a blog?  I like people who are innovative and use their diverse backgrounds and expertise to comment on topics in multiple areas, bringing new insights from these connections.  

With that in mind, I'd like to nominate the following blogs for the Kreativ Blogger award:  

Fractals of Change - written by Tom Evslin - I've known Tom since we worked together on fax standards in the early Nineties and he's had a fascinating career and so-called retirement in the time since.  After leaving his post as CEO of Voice over IP startup ITXC, Tom launched his blog.  He comments on a broad range of topics ranging from the high tech world to public policy.  Like me, he is also a writer and self-published a novel a couple of years ago.  His is a fine blog that I enjoy even when his busy real life reduces the number of posts.  

Communications - written by Brough Turner - I've known Brough over ten years and he has typically brought keen insight and a unique slant to whatever catches his eye.  This past year, we've worked together at Dialogic, and it has been fun to be able to talk without the constraint of being competitors in the workplace.  In his blog, he tracks topics such as the pace of broadband development throughout the world and the social implications as people from third world countries suddenly have tools that connect them with the rest of the world.    

Coming full circle, the third blog I'd like to recognize is from a writer that I've gotten to know over the past two years from our online writing group on Gather.com.  The blog is The Paper Tiger, by Other Lisa aka Lisa Brackmann.  Lisa blogs about writing, her cats, life in Venice, California and, most of all, about her many visits to mainland China.  Lisa is a fine writer and her first novel Rock Paper Tiger, set in China, is due out next spring.  In her blog, we get a current view about what's happening in China for real people in places such as bars, restaurants, museums and so on.  It's not political so much as chronicle.  Lisa offers fascinating glimpses from a western perspective into an often hidden country. 

So, I hope my readers will take a moment to check out these blogs and see if you like what you read.  Please let me know what you think or if there are other blogs you think are a good fit for the creative blog criteria I outlined.  Until the next time  . . .

The Fine Art of Promotion for Writers

My friend Sia McKye wrote an excellent article on the value of promotion for writers.   Like me, Sia has spent many years in marketing, but she's been in the publishing space for many of them, whereas most of my marketing has been in High Tech.   This article offers practical advice for both published and aspiring authors.  

You can find her post here.    

Web 2.0 and Business Communications

TMC Editor Rich Tehrani just published an interview with me in one of the TMC blogs.   The title of the article is a bit misleading, I think, but the content is fine.  

In the interview, I talk about key trends for the year in Voice over IP and related parts of the telecom industry.   I tried to be consistent with my company's view on these matters, but the opinions are my own.  

The article is:  Dialogic: Communications Developers Should Focus on Web 2.0 and Open Source

If it were up to me, a more realistic title would have been:  "Coming soon: Web 2.0 Tools for a Business Near You".   But the TMC editors saw it differently.  

If you have any comments on the interview, let me know.   It also mentions that I'll be speaking at TMC's Communications Developer Conference on September 16 in LA.   My session is called "IMS and ATCA".   If you're in town, please stop by.  

Musings: Northeast Vacation

I began writing this post using a top ten motif, but decided there were more than ten experiences worth talking about on the family vacation which we just completed.  

We did a grand circle, beginning in the Boston area, then heading north to Freeport, Maine, onward for three days stays in Quebec City and Montreal, and then returning back home via Vermont and New Hampshire.  This was an expensive year for a driving vacation, especially one to Canada, but we'd decided it was time for our kids to get a more diverse summer vacation experience, including one with cultural and languages differences.   It was expensive, yes, but our experiences were also rich.  

What follows is a sampling of our best experiences on the trip, roughly in the order they happened.  We had fun and learned a lot.   It is presented here in table form, but one can think of it as a geodesic guide, as the experiences built and overlapped upon each other.   I've written about other parts of this trip here and here.   Bon Voyage!

Locale	Experience
All	Biking - People riding bikes were everywhere on our vacation, though notably in Montreal and Burlington, VT.  Most riders were fit and all were saving money.  This meshed well with the green friendly theme which was a subtle undercurrent everywhere we visited, from LL Bean in Freeport, Maine onto the cities which followed.
Maine	Just off of interstate 95, on Route 201, we found Sandy's Kitchen.   Sandy's is a classic diner, but with individual touches such as hand-painted sunflowers on the walls. Our waitress Donna was quick with a smile and a friendly word, and very popular among the men who visited the diner.  The food was scrumptious.  My wife and I shared a Reuben, pastrami piled high on thick, homemade bread.  Thus fortified, we were ready to tackle the long drive to Quebec City.
Quebec City	Dining Out - Dinner was expensive in Quebec City, but the quality was outstanding.   On our first night in QC, we ate at Bistro sous le Fort in the lower part of the old city.  The service was attentive and the bistro fare both diverse and tasty, with dishes such as an appetizer plate with pate, Caembert, and Brie, duck served three ways and fresh seafood.   We hoped for economy at Verla the next night; instead we got a top end Italian dining experience via the Table d'hote menu, with fresh greens in either Insalate Verde or Caesar salad, carrot soup to cleanse the pallette and excellent pastas or veal for the main course.   The following night, Le Cochon Dingue struck a better balance of quality and economy.  Our waitress was friendly and energetic and the food outstanding.  I had two bowls of mussels as my main dish, served with marinades of mustard and smoked salmon, while my family ate the barbecqued ribs.   Nobody left hungry.
Quebec City	Musee de le Civilization - This museum was outstanding and had appeal for our entire family.  Highlights for us were the exhibit on the history of Gold and Urbanopolis, a fact-filled journey into the design of cities past, present and future.   Later, we visited the outdoor Visionaries Garden, a unique exhibit composed of row upon ascending row of plants: herbs, vegetables and flowers, accompanied by windsongs played on chimes.
Quebec City	Marche du Vieux-Port - We weren't sure what this was, but walked in and voila, a farmer's market under a white tented roof.   Everywhere, there were fresh goods, ranging from strawberries, blueberries and other fruits, onto more exotic items such as hemp seeds and products.   Our family bought candies, maple tarts, and fresh strawberries for the next day's breakfast, but there was much, much more.
Montreal/QC	Driving and Parking in the City - Taking the car was difficult in Quebec City and painful in Montreal.   We spent at least $15 per day if we used the car, just on parking.
Montreal	Biosphere - This is the globe shaped building built on St. Helene Island for Expo 67 (see below).   The museum is dedicated to a one world eco-view, but manages to be both fun and educational.   We played at Water Genie, learned from the master at Planet Bucky (aka Buckminster Fuller) and stretched out on the climbing wall in the Great Lakes exhibit.
Montreal	Atwater Market - When the cost of food gets too high, it's time to go to this bastion of fresh food. I learned about the market when staying with local friends and it offers a wide variety of farm fresh goods.  We stocked up on breakfast necessaries (croissants, juice, yogurt and a melange of strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries) and yummies for lunch (lemonade, a long and broad fresh bread called le Parisien, pate compagne (aka country pate), goat cheese and proscuitto).
Montreal	Chinatown - This little gem south of Rue Rene-Levesque offers authentic Chinese dining and good buys on Chinese goods such as soup bowls and bracelets.    We had an excellent dinner at a fair price at Maison Kam Fung, found on the 2nd story of an office building on St. Urbain.  Highlights of the dinner included copious portions of a fine wonton soup, steamed shrimp dumplings and a wonderful dish of the tender white fish grouper, accompanied by lightly steamed green beans and carrots.
Montreal	Beauty's - Ah, it is so good when reality exceeds memory.  On an early visit to the city, a friend took me to this classic eatery just to the east of Parc Mont Royal.  Beauty's offers all of the essentials of breakfast in a small room replete with booths and a soda fountain bar for informal eating.  Our slender, dark haired waitress greeted us with friendly words and quickly supplied us with coffee, juice and hot chocolate.  Our eyes were drawn immediately to the Beauty's special, except for my youngest, who wanted the chocolate pancakes.  About ten minutes later, the special arrived:  a toasted bagel brimming over with freshly whipped cream cheese, and layers of salmon lox, lettuce, red onion, tomatoes and capers.  Our waitress supplied extra napkins, saying it was difficult to eat graciously when eating the special.   She was absolutely right -- we all needed our utensils to down this bit of heaven.  Our waitress kept us supplied with hot cups of coffee.  We walked away with full stomachs and a fine end to our Montreal trip.
Burlington	Downtown - We arrived in Burlington on our way home, just to stop for lunch.  On this warm summer day, the town was very busy.   We walked through an outdoor farmer's market on the town green, vowing to come back, then continued to Church Street.   This street is set up as a pedestrian mall, and is loaded with shops and open air cafe's, with the usual sideshows of street jugglers and busker musicians.  My oldest quickly made an allusion to the energy of Quebec City, which seemed to fit.   We walked about and found the cafe seats were full even at 2:00 pm.   We finally settled in at a place called Ken's pizza, but were able to order a variety of goodies including a lobster roll (pour moi), pastrami sandwiches and, of course, pizza.  Our waitress was friendly and quick to share her thoughts on the town.  She is a student at the University of Vermont and clearly loves the city and the school.  The farmer's market had been put away by the time we returned to the green, but we went on to view the waterfront and drive about the campus of UVM.  Summer in the city along Lake Champlain -- it doesn't get much better than this.
Vermont	Rest Areas - Vermont wins plaudits for its rest areas on the highways.   The attendants were friendly, the Green Mountain coffee was free and so was the WiFi.

Holiday Weekend Musings

It's another 4th of July weekend and I'm enjoying the more relaxed and non-scheduled long weekend.   Even my online friends are being pretty quiet.   I spend a lot of time on Gather.com, but online activity this weekend is much reduced.   My recent articles there can be found here.  

My family has celebrated in the usual ways.   We went to a fireworks celebration on July 3rd in one of the neighboring towns.  Last night, we went to yet another local town and saw an oldies band.   The weather this weekend is sketchy, but the rain has mostly held off.  

I'm also taking advantage of the shaky weather and doing indoor activities like editing my first novel.   I want to do one more edit pass before querying again.  Several of my Gather writing friends have crossed the Rubicon into publication and I'd like to join them.  We shall see.  

Another Song on First Tracks: Without You

As I wrote in my last post, I am entered in the First Tracks contest on Gather.com, where several hundred songwriters are competing for a record deal and $20,000.    I am pleased to report that my first song Irish Man got enough support so that I was named a semi-finalist and am competing in Round 2.  Voting in this round is permitted daily up until March 31.   

My new song for the second round is Without You.   I wrote this about 2 years ago.   It is a jazzy rock piece that also features slide guitar on the choruses.   There are a few lines in this tune which are about blogging, which is one of several aspects that make it unusual.   

In addition, I was inspired to do a radio ad for the piece, which you can find here.  I'm really proud of the radio ad, which came together very nicely.  Among other things, it will tell you more about the song, in a cool disc jockey mode.   Don't miss the 3 part harmony on the call letters at the end!

I'm having fun with the contest.  There is a lot of good musical talent based on what I've listened to so far.   I wrote an article on Gather that highlights a few songs that have caught my attention so far.  If you like music and want to hear some fresh talent, check it out.    

Mapping My Blog

Happy holidays to all.   On the occasion of the long weekend, I decided to map my blog from typepad.com to my own humancomm.com.    This involved a little adventure in using the DNS system of the Internet.   There is a feature called CNAME which can be used for creating alias and mapping from one site to another.  The tricky part was that it also entailed moving from the name servers of my web hosting and email ISP over to my domain provider.    That was the scary part, because I had to set up the DNS so that it properly pointed to both my web site and the mail records for the various emails that are supported under the domain.   

Happily, when I got back from a Christmas Eve service at my church, everything was working.  Hallelujah!   This is all part of the process of making it easier to publish a blog, while also keeping it connected to my main web site.    It appears that we are now in business.    C'est tout.   Feliz Navidad and Joyeux Noel.