Las Vegas is an exciting town for musicians, performers, and artists of all types. But there’s one gap: writers. While there are several large writing groups in the area, I noticed that there doesn’t seem to be much support for eBook creators. So, I started a local group here that will meet a couple of times a month and provide coaching and support.

Why not join us? You can register for the group in general, and specific meetings at: http://www.meetup.com/eBook-Creators-of-Las-Vegas/. I sure hope you’ll come out to a meeting!

(Super secret spoiler: I’ve also got a new audio product on the way that I’ll be sharing with Members of this group first…)

I’m heading to BlogWorld Expo (#BWE10) this week, this year to focus on podcast and blog syndication. I’ll be live tweeting (@peggyrichardson) from the conference, including a mixed bag of speakers and conference sessions.

Last year, I had a similar mission, to learn about video blogging. But this year, having changed some of my podcasting approach to be more spontaneous and less edited, I’m now eager to learn more details about things like syndicating my podcasts, expanding my audio podcasting efforts, and learning more about the relationship between blog content and the various types of RSS syndication.

This year, BWE has slightly changed their approach as well. They are now the largest social media conference, and they’re actively promoting the social media aspect of the show. The speaker list reflects this, and @AngelaCrocker will also be livetweeting from the sessions. She and I often have different takes on these issues, so it may be of interest to compare her notes to mine. We may be in man of the same sessions, or we may not.

If you have any questions or things you’d like me to explore while I’m there, feel free to ask, and I’ll do my best to answer your queries.

If you’re also attending, please introduce yourself! I’ll be the tall geeky chick hanging around with the other tall and slightly-less-geeky chick, @AngelaCrocker, one of my fellow @TheBookBroads.

Tweet you later!

Here’s my short video spilling some of the great items I found on the show floor (figuratively, not literally…) at Blog World Expo 2009.

During this evening’s closing keynote speech, there was a running gag about Kevin Pollock selling his badge to people in the crowd. I think in the end he got a nickel for it. So, after the session, I went up to Mr. Kawasaki and offered him $1 for his speaker badge, which he turned around and handed to me with his trademark big smile.

Guy was a fantastic host this evening to an incredible panel. He’s a brilliant business strategist and Author. I think this badge is worth a few bucks to contribute to the #beatcancer Twitter campaign that’s been going on this week at Blog World Expo here in Las Vegas.

What do you think? What should I do with it? Comment or tweet me.

Here’s a clip I took today during this morning’s keynote at BlogWorld, “The Death and Rebirth of Journalism”, with a panel consisting of (from left to right) Joanna Drake Earl (Current TV COO), Don Lemon (CNN News Host), Jay Rosen (Journalism Prof at NYU and Blogger), and Hugh Hewitt (Radio host and lawyer). The panel was moderated by  Brian Solis (Principal of FutureWorks).

In this video, Don Lemon is describing his feelings about social media vs. big media.

I should note that Mr. Lemon took a few major checks against the boards this morning at this panel discussion, and in my personal opinion, while some of them were rather tough, some of them were deserved. There were some heated moments when I turned my head to see if there were any security guards in the room. Being that I was sitting in the very front row, not 10 feet away from these panelists, I admit at times I felt rather uncomfortable, uncertain how far people might exercise their obviously strong feelings.

The essential points from the Blogger community amount to that they find traditional media to be slow, cumbersome, incomplete, and not without a certain amount of unjustified self-assurance that comes across as arrogance. The traditional media claims not to feel threatened by social media, and furthermore, they want to work with social media to form a more “horizontal” system of news gathering and distribution, rather than a “vertical” one. “Let us in the loop,..” they ask. (This particular comment inflamed the Bloggers in the audience, who felt that they were being asked to do the “dirty work” of data-gathering for journalists, rather than being treated like equals.)

Another heated point related to the issue of fact-checking. While it’s true that the gatekeepers of traditional media make judgements about what to report based on what they feel will be of greater interest to their viewers (read=have greated ad-selling potential), they also perform an essential task when reporting on events: fact-checking.

Lemon openly stated that of course the system could not be perfect, and it was simply not possible to fact-check every single bit of information before it makes the airwaves. Bloggers however, want it understood that while there are some “bad apples” who perpetuate misinformation, perhaps maliciously or more often simply out of ignorance, most bloggers consider themselves ethical enough to want only to report that which can be substantiated and which they know to be true and accurate.

The debate will doubtless rage on for decades more, but this was a very interesting event for me to witness. As I said, heated moments, which made for stimulating and thought-provoking conversation for the rest of the day.

I’m heading to Blog World Expo again this year for some educational fun. Speakers this year include Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan, and Chad Vader.

OK, I admit I’m most excited about seeing Chad, the internet video sensation created by Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda. Everyone’s favourite grocery store night manager, Chad has captured more than my own heart. (Even George Lucas gave it his thumbs up.) My main mission at the Expo this year is to go to sessions about podcasting, and the brains behind Chad Vader’s viral video success are two that I wish to pick, if only from a safe distance, down there, in the audience. Perhaps I can sit next to Chad’s girlfriend Clarissa.

What’s your own podcasting mission for your enterprise? Lately, I’ve become more bipolar in my own approach, as I created a more polished set of videos for TheBookBroads.com’s YouTube channel, and yet streamlining my “joie de le moment” approach for certain cell-phone generated video content. (Soon to be released.) There are advantages to each approach, and I enjoy doing both.

I will be interviewed and interviewing all weekend at the show, October 15th through the 17th, from the show floor and various locations around Las Vegas. You’ll find any new videos at the Wizard of eBooks’ new YouTube channel at YouTube.com/wizardofebooks.

I’ll be happy to do my best to honour any special requests for specific blog or podcasting-related info from the show made via email, Twitter, or comments on this blog.

Thanks to everyone who listened yesterday to our live call-in show on BlogTalkRadio.com. I promised you more before we got cutoff, and I will deliver shortly. Alexa and I recorded an additional 37 minutes of content immediately afterward, which I will post as soon as I overcome some small technical issues. (Hopefully today – Thursday, November 6th. Just subscribe to my feed if you don’t want to miss it.)

Thanks again to Alexa Clark of MiniBookExpo.com, and to Renee Shupe for producing the show for us. This worked so well that all three of us agreed that we’d like to do more. Much more! Stay tuned to the player here on this blog for a complete playlist of all past and future broadcasts.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:44 — 16.2MB) | Embed

Catherine DeVrye is a former IBM Executive who now tours worldwide offering speaking and corporate coaching. She is the author of several books, but most lately the author of Hope Happens: Words of enCOURAGEment for Tough Times, and her autobiography, Serendipity Road: A Memoir, which was nominated for the Australian National Biography Prize. Her books have had positive reviews from everyone from Jack Canfield (author of the Chicken Soup series) to Sir Edmund Hillary. Catherine was kind enough to give me some of her time this past Monday here in Las Vegas.

Catherine here talks about how small and micro businesses, like self-publishing authors, can use added value and good customer service to not only keep the customers they have, but add new ones. And all of this can be accomplished without spending a dime.

I met Catherine a year ago in Sydney Australia, where she has made her home since 1973. But she spent the early years of her life far from there, in an orphanage in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Catherine has a long and extremely interesting biography (click to her site at GreatMotivation.com if you’d like details) which is now told in her autobiography. She has dined with Princes and Prime Ministers, she has cycled over the Andes and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. But she is now best known as a corporate speaker on the topics of change management and customer service.

Catherine’s remarks about not being afraid of change are so important at all times, but especially now as many small businesses close their doors in light of the current worldwide economic slowdown. She makes some very interesting points and offers examples of how even a one-person operation can maintain a successful business philosophy.

While browsing in Borders this evening here in Las Vegas, I took a few moments to notice what other customers were passing up, picking up, and buying up.

Fresh off the press is the latest from journalist Bill O’Reilly. Now, I don’t know if other people were picking up this hardback because of the author, because of a nicely designed cover, or because of the subliminal messages associated with the colour red on the cover, but I sure know why I picked it up: it was the only book on the rack with the price on the front.

While all the other books have their prices displayed on a tiny-print label on the back of the book (which I need my glasses to read, and I know I’m not the only one…), O’Reilly’s latest proudly displays the price of a lousy $14.95 – roughly half of many other books on the shelf.

Why is O’Reilly (or his publisher) doing this? Because of the first two laws of modern marketing, and for that matter, modern writing. The first is, “Know Thy Market”, and the second is “Be Transparent”.

Who is buying this book? Conservative parents, teachers, and anyone who cares about kids. That’s about half of America. The underlying message of a smaller price tag is that the book is not complicated, nor does it take long to read, nor to implement any of whatever recommended strategies that it may contain. It’s for people who care about kids, with no time or money. Gee, do any of us know somebody that doesn’t fall into that bracket?

Transparency is important here, too. O’Reilly is already an author with a proven track record, whether you agree with his editorial position or not. But break it down: the book is thin – only about 150-ish pages. The layout is freakin’ brilliant: clear pages, large-ish typeface, cleverly stylish larger-than-required page numbers, and a clear heirarchy that is demonstrated by well-written headlines positioned in a layout that allows the content to be easily absorbed by any reader. You quickly realize that the price is just the cherry on the cake, the closing proposition. The message all of this sends is that O’Reilly is just a guy with a few opinions, and here they are laid out in black and white, and I’m not hiding behind a huge price tag or a thick book, and aren’t I a nice wholesome American, etc. Let’s face it: we eat this stuff up with a spoon and spread it on toast.

Right next to this book is one that almost made me swallow my gum: “Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down”. Poor Ms. Palin, who already has credibility problems up the yin-yang, has her pathetic little biography, printed on crappy pulp and bound in a thin wobbly paperback cover, right next to Mr. O’Reilly. And for virtually the same price! When I read the title and saw the piteous photo of her on the cover, I felt bad enough, but that limp little volume with the awful title almost reduced me to tears. I gently put it back on the shelf, and tidied the rest of the sagging pile of them.

No matter what my feelings about either of these subjects (and by the way, I’m no fan of either O’Reilly or Palin – I’d rather elect Tina Fey) I must objectively admire O’Reilly for his clever strategic thinking.

Let’s do the math…

recession = fear / brings out our protective instincts : find validation in well-packaged opinions that make us feel better about our fear. Mr. O’Reilly definitely knows his factors.

For the last year, I’ve been wearing geeky shirts that advertise my services. They’re great conversation starters with potential clients, interview subjects, and fellow editors, publishers, and now bloggers. For BlogWorldExpo, I wore this one on the Sunday. Thanks to Tara Anderson of Lijit.com (a cool search gadget that I’m investigating) for this photo of myself and my partner in nerdiness, Geoff Clay.