Thinly Veiled Marketing Content With Some (Slight) Helpful Information for Potential Authors
355174
I chose this book because I was hoping to gain some new insight on the book publishing industry. What I read was basically marketing thinly veiled as helpful content for beginning self-publishers. Some of the information may be helpful to a potential author, but it does not cover anything in depth at all for going from a potential to actual author.
1959153
The lean startup gives a lot of common-sense advice to entrepreneurs starting anew as well as teams within large companies wanting to operate somewhat independently. There are some concepts in the book - especially about identifying the correct metrics to help sustain the business - that one can apply in any context large or small. However, in trying to address such a large and varied audience, the scope is too generic and diluted. Also there are a lot of buzz phrases such as "vanity metrics", "disruptive innovation", etc. - all more or less fuzzily defined and repeatedly used for effect.

If you are looking for a defined process to attain a sustainable, growing business, this book can serve as a starting point; then you would need to define exactly how to translate these principles to your specific case, which is what I guess the author intended. The author illustrates his principles with a lot of anecdotes and case studies, but I found them superficial - interesting, but not especially helpful if I were to start my own business.

I found the writing style repetitive and self-serving, with too many references to the author's consultancy on the same topic. There are also a lot of annoying and pointless references to other chapters within the same book, such as "As you will see in Chapter 11, ..." or "As we saw in Chapter 2, ..." etc. This book could have been condensed into about half of its 290 pages, cutting out waste as it preaches.

Overall I'd recommend it as light reading if you like reading business self-help books - not sure about value for money though. I personally read a borrowed copy.
856965
After reading a teasing article (an interview to the author) I had imagined the book would be neuroscience-biased, full of groundbreaking references. Now, book in hand, I can see the sources are mostly news articles or blog posts (which discourage me from fully trusting the author) and the author exposes mostly a psychological focus, supported on interviews to consumers. All that said, the book is nevertheless useful and provides interesting insight for readers and consumers trying to discover why we shop. Unfortunately, there's a clear intention to appeal an audience working in marketing strategies, which leaves me with the uncomfortable touch of having in my hands a meta-marketing product promoting its own sales.
4236425
I felt sure I had read this all before. It's a very brief tome that covers nothing new. Same old same old...blah blah blah. All this is found in the Free Kindle publishing guides, with the exception of the links for book promo. These make up a full two-thirds of the volume and can be found with a quick Google search. Books with over half the content in links are annoying, especially to those readers who use the text-to-speech  function.

I am not accusing the "author" of plagiarism, but this one sounds so familiar that I would not be shocked to find that it was lifted wholesale from some other work. In any event, if you just have money to spare and are obsessed with purchasing useless info or info otherwise easily obtained for free, have at it!!!

PS: The five star ratings are suspect to me because I know how selective Kindle customers are. Writing tips? Not in the copy I downloaded. Read them closely before you part with that cash. Thank me later.
1264431
This pamphlet seems well-intentioned but it isn't much more than what you will learn yourself by a little online research. And it is noticeably repetitive, especially repeating the names of the four brands of support hose that the nurse author recommends over and over. Maybe this is necessary to make a point. But it also aroused the old training I have in looking for bias in writing.

Well, this pamphlet, which appears to be available only via its Kindle form, has loaning enabled (you may loan it once, for a period of two weeks) and may help you if you are in a situation that requires or suggests support hose. I'd sooner learn what size I need by measuring and using online size charts available from vendors and manufacturers, if I hadn't the help of a competent medical staff.
3792214
This is almost a sad farce of a book that barely deserves one star. I say barely because there are a few useful ideas sprinkled throughout. However, in the end this book is an advertisement for their software service that you actually pay to read. If it sounds like a scam, it is.

To be fair, the authors probably genuinely believe what they say. And they pretend to maintain their objectivity by not specifically mentioning their product, instead referring to a broad class of products that perform email harvesting and email campaign marketing.

The book is full of cheerleading and rah rah about the subject, but is sadly lacking in specifics about how to accomplish these things. The lack of detail is unhelpful and unprofessional, and makes me wonder how much the authors really know about the subject.

I am fairly confident these techniques work for many businesses. However, that does not mean I have to like it. I wish I had a dollar for every email marketing campaign I have inadvertently entered, plus every utterly contentless "white papers" I have downloaded, simply for the marketers benefit of sticking me in their mailing list. As a consumer I am sick and tired of these tired techniques, and I do not wish to use them in my business.

And I wish I could get my $[...] back. They should be paying me $[...] to read this book instead.
3772406
This has some useful information, but it seems to be primarily written as a vehicle to promote the author's Foundation Management service.  Instead of telling you tips and tricks to make things easier, it seems they purposely try to give you the impression that everything is so complicated that you need to hire them to help you.
1055842
Christian Authors Unite is a compilation of articles on marketing for Christian authors. There are seven chapters by seven different authors. Each chapter covers points on a specific topic related to writing, publishing, and marketing Christian books. Its an eclectic mix of topics. Topics like writing a book proposal are most relevant to those seeking traditional publication. (Those seeking to self-publish would do themselves a favour by knowing this information). Other topics seem more focused on the self-published author.

This is a short book, and isn't going to give you all the answers about marketing your books. But it will give you some ideas and inspiration, whether this is the first book youve read on marketing or the fiftieth. (I think my number is towards the higher end of that range.) No matter. Im sure youll learn somethingI did.

And yes, you will be challenged to think. Thanks to Antonio L Crawford for providing a free ebook for review.
2600245
A knowledgeable brick-and-mortar copywriter turns to web copywriting.  With the aid of her employer she tests the heck out of her web copy, distilling workable formulas.

Yet she is, as another dissenting reviewer pointed out, selling snake oil. Her examples are what gives marketing on the web such a bad name.  For example, she argues against hype but promotes "miracle cures."

For a happier look inside copywriting in the 2000's, read&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Insanely-Simple-The-Obsession-That-Drives-Apple-s-Success/dp/1591846218/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success</a>&nbsp;by Ken Segall, a major player in Apple's marketing triumphs.
2332657
This book is a GREAT idea: to show amateur photographers how to build lighting and studio-like equipment using materials and supplies available at the hardware or hobby store (e.g. kite building store for carbon fiber tube connectors).

While I applaud the IDEA, the execution is fairly THIN; after flipping through the book at the bookstore you will quickly realize that it's 90% good looks, and only 10% useful content. Yes, the 10% can easily be described as VERY USEFUL content, but what's in here would easily fit in a 3-page article in Popular Photography or Digital Camera.

Further, it looks to me, like the supplies used in the examples were those available in Europe, so there is no USA-specific advice on where to get that stuff, and no mention of possible brand names that might make online search much easier. In fact, the publisher chose to leave the last SEVERAL pages completely blank! They may have been used more wisely for a list / appendix of US stores or online places that sell some of the stuff shown here, as well as brand names under which some of the materials may be sold in the US. Hopefully, for the next edition, the publisher will take some time + effort to adapt this better to US needs. If would be nice it the book were 50% good looks and 50% substance.
2737399
First off, I will cut this book some slack when it comes to using some outdated references and terminology, since it was last published in 2010. I must admit though, seeing the phrase "Web 3.0" used in an actual sentence did make me cringe a bit!

Blogging To Drive Business is a title clearly aimed at brick-and-mortar operators and service providers who already have something to sell. It also seems to assume a minimal amount of marketing acumen, but almost no experience with writing or blogging software. That being said, those who already run a blog or similar website won't learn a lot that is new. If you are a C-Level Exec who doesn't know the first thing about blogging though, you will almost certainly learn something after reading this.

Another assumption that the author seems to make is that you are working for a company with a large budget, as much of it includes pointers like "hire an assistant", "start with someone in the marketing department" and "tips for hiring a blogger". This leads to the obvious question... If you are just going to outsource your blog to begin with, why even bother reading this book?

If you are looking for any tips having to do with SEO, forget it. You won't find even the barest of references on getting your site indexed properly. I would guess that the author is also assuming that your marketing department already has an advertising budget in place to cover the expense of reeling-in new readers.

If you are a corporate employee charged with creating a company blog, Blogging To Drive Business might be just enough to get your feet wet, but you would probably conclude after reading it that you would be better off outsourcing the project to some college student instead of doing it yourself (as it also suggests early on in the book).
720797
In this case, APE stands for Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur, which are the three roles you need to fill if you intend to self-publish in today's publishing landscape.  Since I'm self-publishing, I thought I'd give it a look and see if there was anything there for me.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much.

Certainly, the book is filled with lots of good information and primers.  It would have been a great thing for me to read a year and a half ago.  But now... most of the content of the book was stuff I've already figured out on my own.  That doesn't make me an expert, and I was hoping for more from these guys who supposedly are.

The Author section was mostly a collection of tools to use while writing (Word, Scrivener, etc.) as well as some arguments for pursuing self-publishing over the traditional path of submitting to a publisher.  There was very little here on actual writing, but in fairness, that subject is too large and belongs in several other books on specific writing issues.  Still, I felt pretty bored during the section and was eager to skip ahead.

The Publisher section was mostly about the nuts and bolts of taking your manuscript and getting it to the point where a reader could actually purchase it.  This was pretty good, but I felt it gave too much credit to author service companies like those under the umbrella of Author Solutions without giving them the kind of critical analysis that the folks at Writer Beware do.  Also, I would have liked to have seen more commentary on cover design as well as describing more mechanisms for creating e-book files.  Nowhere did I see it mentioned that most e-book files are processed HTML and that the most reliable source format for the conversion is not Word or InDesign but HTML.

The Entrepreneur section was mostly about marketing.  I didn't see anything revolutionary here, just the same social media push that everyone else talks about.  There was also a fair amount said about getting into the press via press reports, etc.  I have mixed feelings about that.  A lot of people tell you it's a waste of time.  Other people claim it gets them a lot of free publicity.  Personally, I have a suspicion that it has less to do with your press release and who you send it to as it has to do with whether the recipient of that press release knows who you (or your traditional publisher) are.

So like I said, I would have found this useful before I started down the self-publishing path, but if you've already done it yourself, there won't be much new stuff here.
2628921
I found the information contained to be very basic without going into detail. Also seemed to be an advertising bid for his paid websites.
1476490
Like most of the business-targeted books I've seen, this
spreads a few good ideas thinly across many pages.  Even
with lots of redundancy, the book can be read in a couple
of hours.

I agree with many of Reynolds' points, especially the problem
for the audience of trying to read slide text while listening
to the speaker, and the need for the presenter to clarify
the message "off line", before working on slides.  But:

- much of the advice is targeted towards "pitch"-type
  presentations (it wouldn't do for me to use a slide with
  two words on it and a stock photo of a crying child)

- the frequent references to Japan and use of Japanese
  words was gratuitous and distracting

It's ironic that the author decries "slideuments", but
the book itself straddles the line between a traditional
book and slideware.

If in doubt, get a used copy.
1573002
I commend the author for compiling this information into a book.  He obviously put a great deal of time and effort into publishing the work.  It was however, the first book I've ever returned to Amazon.

If you don't know what a Google Ad is, you might find this helpful.  However, I found most of the content simply a re-hash of what you'll find when setting up a Google AdWords or AdSense account.  I did look hard for some nuggets and was expecting more from the title.  Many of the topics were repeated over and over again, making it difficult to follow.  For me, it did not read like a thoughtful guide containing real world 'how-to' information coming from the author.  The choice of stock photos also added to my feeling that this was thrown together to look appealing, without real unique substance.

I felt this was a 100,000 foot view with little to help those that have at least some experience with the Internet.  There are better choices out there for this type of information.
4328429
It's more of a Marketing Text than "cutting to the case" on how to get sponsorship.  A lot of professionals write books to just lure into their "program" to sign YOU on as a client, and that's all this ultimately does!
2151592
First 1/4 of the book contains some good nuggets of information, such as a four-point summary of what good branding is (although the author doesn't delve deeply into each one, which leaves the four-point summary seeming very shallow). The second half of the book has really generic info, such as how to give better presentations, how the tone of your voice should sound, or how you should dress. These are more tactical, and in my opinion, not that helpful, tactical advice on personal branding. If you have have a college education and have a year or two of experience in the corporate world, none of the second half of the book would be very insightful.

I was personally looking for insights. I.e. things to help me brand myself that I don't already know, or aren't intuitive to the average joe. This book has bits and pieces of these insights, but unfortunately 3/4 of the book contains only generic info.

If interested in personal / product branding, look around more on Amazon. There are better ones that I've found.