Interesting question.
The basic rule of forwards is “get the most high profile person in your target market possible”. But, for a business book on blogging, who would that be?
Shel and Robert have nailed Tom Peters, which is very cool.
How about Bob Lutz? Rupert Murdoch?
Who would be a great person to headline this book? Does anyone have any contacts who would be perfect for this? I’d really love to see this news spread around and get some real community feedback on this.
April 21st, 2005 at 12:46 pm
*The* business blogger would be Mark Cuban. He likes to write, is good at it, articulate and of course a billionaire to boot, and he’d probably do it if the book was wright, pardon the pun.
Not sure if that last mini-scrap you had with Jason would have caused any hard feelings, though, but he’d be a logical referral.
April 21st, 2005 at 2:43 pm
Mr. T
April 21st, 2005 at 3:02 pm
What about your partner Daren?
April 21st, 2005 at 3:25 pm
If by ‘nailed’ you mean actually agreed to write the forward, then i say go with him. He’s an absolute legend in the business world, maybe some more online focused people might not have heard of him, but _anybody_ who knows anything about management, which will be your target big business audience, will be very impressed.
April 21st, 2005 at 11:40 pm
I agree with TDavid…Mark Cuban ought to be your first choice. I know you were in on the 100bloggers thingy and I seem to remember that Cuban was too. There might be an angle there you can work…
April 22nd, 2005 at 8:03 am
I will tell you how to decide.
If your book is about profitable, effective, authoritative, authentic business blogging…
…find a business leader who is succeeding at using his blog to form candid conversations with customers, offset negative PR, drive traffic to the ecommerce or corporate web site.
Not just any business blogger who is well known, or well liked.
Look at the blog. Is it designed well? Well written? Try to find out if the Upper Realms of the Bloatosphere are raving about the blog. Try to find out if it is REALLY achieving its business plan, its strategy…
…and is not just highly publicized.
Some b-bloggers are high profile, but get lots of abusive comments on the blog…
…or the b-blogger is not entering the comment threads to interact, prefering to post a summary post instead.
Get my drift?
I’ll give you more ideas back channel, if you email my bad and belligerant ass.
April 22nd, 2005 at 6:43 pm
I’m sorry but the editor in me just has to speak up – it’s a FOREWORD. (I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t write anyone and ask them to write your forward.)
April 22nd, 2005 at 7:15 pm
Shawn, what do you mean “it’s a FOREWARD” and “make sure you didn’t write anyone and ask them to write your forward”?
I don’t understand what your points are.
A FOREWARD is a huge impact aspect of any book. It is the main blurb, the endorsement, the path paved to the content. It can have major influence to reviewers and distributors.
The Foreward writer is practically a co-author to a certain degree, not to diminish the actual author, but the synergy and endorsement is vital.
The Foreward can be illuminating, if written wisely. If it’s merely “I like this author, he knows a lot, this is a good read”, you might be better off without it.
The Foreward should provide some unique insight, angle, preparation, orientation that will color the reader’s experience of the material contained in the book.
When a Foreward is just butt patting, I skip it.
When a Foreward is just subjective opinion, I skip it.
When a Forward has no information, no anecdote, no interesting perspective, no elucidating insight, I skip it, or feel even like ripping it out of the book, a waste of pagination.
April 22nd, 2005 at 7:37 pm
lol @ Shawn… Wow, yeah, well spotted. Foreword. Foreword. Maybe my subject line should be “Wanna be forward in my foreword?”
April 22nd, 2005 at 7:38 pm
Steven, he (she?) means I spelled it wrong
April 23rd, 2005 at 2:58 am
Shut eyes.
Open mouth.
Insert foot.
Let entire leg follow suit.
Er…never mind.
Nice apologetics for a Foreword, Preface, Intro, Prelude, eh?
Can I write the Afterword or Postscript? A back cover blurb? Hell, the whole marketing platform?