A Look Back at Some SIPAlert Daily Highlights
Here are some best-of SIPAlert Daily moments from the year:
1. A quote from Steve Jobs: Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. If you are involved in a growing industry, think of ways to become more efficient; more customer friendly; and easier to do business with. If you are involved in a shrinking industry—get out of it quick and change before you become obsolete; out of work; or out of business.
2. Andy Swindler of Astek Consulting in his session at SIPA 2011 went over the objectives for publishers in going mobile:
– Distribute paid or free content; Generate revenue via subscriptions or ads; Protect paid content from unauthorized distribution and sharing; Expand audience by increasing brand recognition and trust in quality; Cross-sell with compatible publications.
3. A Success Story from Jennie Phipps: “Two years ago, our subscribers started talking on [my] Freelance Success Forums about the frustration of writing good essays that magazines just don’t have room to publish. One thread led to another, until finally, I said, ‘Let’s publish our own book of essays.’ …‘Fits, Starts & Matters…’ has been [a success]. Thanks to POD, anyone can be a publisher—do it well and indistinguishably from books published conventionally.”
4. Defending tweeting in England: MPs (Members of Parliament) voted against a motion that would have banned tweeting inside the House of Commons. We gave kudos to writer Nick Heath’s lead: “To tweet or not to tweet? That was the question on the minds of Westminster’s political elite last week.” A spirited defense by MP Kevin Brennan from Cardiff West apparently saved the 140-character day. “If Ministers can get in-flight refueling from the officials’ box, why cannot Back Benchers get in-flight refueling electronically during their speeches if a useful fact can be drawn from outside?”
5. A quote from Steven Pearlstein, business columnist for The Washington Post: “The curse of bad market research is that it lulls companies into the kind of complacency that eventually makes them vulnerable to an upstart challenger who comes along offering a more fuel-efficient car, a stronger cup of coffee, a more healthful soft drink, a more interesting hotel room…”
6. Having goals. Barry Ritholtz writes about a friend who is a successful “serial entrepreneur”—thanks to a clear, long-term goal and the ability to follow through. “He once said something that has stayed with me: ‘I am always surprised at how many people have no goals. They simply let life’s river flow them downstream.’” Ritholtz then quotes a Latin phrase: “‘Victory loves careful preparation.’ You would be amazed at what you can accomplish with planning.”
7. And finally… a scene from the David Ives book of vignettes called “All in the Timing.” Titled “The Sure Thing,” a young man sits down in a café next to a young woman and starts a conversation. A bell will go off any time he or she says something to deaden the conversation, and thus they get another chance to make it work. After he says he’s from Oral Roberts University and gets the author of the book (“The Sound and the Fury”) that she’s reading wrong, the bells sounds:
BETTY: Where was college?
BILL: Harvard.
BETTY: Do you like Faulkner?
BILL: I love Faulkner. I spent a whole winter reading him once.
BETTY: I’ve just started.
BILL: I was so excited after ten pages that I went out and bought everything else he wrote. One of the greatest reading experiences of my life. I mean, all that incredible psychological understanding. Page after page of gorgeous prose. His profound grasp of the mystery of time and human existence. The smells of the earth. . . . What do you think?
BETTY: I think it’s pretty boring.
(Bell.)
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