Work Boxers

April 15th, 2008

Positive Reaffirmation April 15, 2008

Because I allow myself to be influenced by the incessant spewage of the world…

Some thoughts from ;

“Unless you do this, you had better not start at all, because modern psychology tells us that when we start something and do not complete it, or make a resolution and do not keep it, we are forming the habit of failure; absolute, ignominious failure. If you do not intend to do a thing, do not start; if you do start, see it through even if the heavens fall; if you make up your mind to do something, do it; let nothing, no one, interfere; the “I” in you has determined, the thing is settled; the die is cast, there is no longer any argument.”

Which turn out to be my thoughts in response to Darren and Seth. Followed up by;

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By Mark -- 0 comments

April 14th, 2008

Looking For Work? b5 Is Ready To Help!

I’m tellin’ ya’! We’ve got your job search covered!

From Just Make Money Online and Alfa Mercado (with a h/t to Freelance Folder) comes;

GhostBlogging.net: New Blogging Job Board

And we add another job board :)

GhostBlogging.net: Writers

“GhostBlogging is a place where bloggers can post their requests for writing talent, and people can send in resumes of past work and contact details. It really isn’t rocket science, but it works! What better way to invigorate a blog than to introduce a new author who understands your community?”

By Mark -- 0 comments

April 14th, 2008

All That “Stuff” In The Middle - The Writing?

Yeah, okay, we’re lost… officially.

From The New York Times;

He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work)

“It’s not easy to write a book. First you have to pick a title. And then there is the table of contents. If you want the book to be categorized, either by a bookseller or a library, it has to be assigned a unique numerical code, like an ISBN, for International Standard Book Number. There have to be proper margins. Finally, there’s the back cover.

Oh, and there is all that stuff in the middle, too. The writing.”

I love the facetiousness :)

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By Mark -- 0 comments

April 12th, 2008

I Enjoy Positive Thinkers - Do You?

Perhaps that title might be a bit misleading - or - not - this pertains specifically to the Amazon/Booksurge chaos but can be applied throughout all of life…

Angela Hoy has in response to her follow-up article about the Amazon “policy” changes. (Has anyone noticed all these policy changes by the hot shots large, successful corporations lately?)

One in particular caught my eye because it says the gentleman speaks from 30 years of experience in the publishing field. Hal Zina Bennett speaks to the realities of having Booksurge publish your work and says: “Two of the authors I’ve worked with did their books through Booksurge. Both were absolute disasters. I would never have anything to do with Booksurge again.”

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By Mark -- 0 comments

April 12th, 2008

Another Job Board Addition

Its been a little short of a month and I just happened on another job board.

In my search for new information on the Amazon/Booksurge flap I wound up at mediabistro.com. [I don’t know, I just arrive in places :)]

Without further adieu;

mediabistro’s Job Board: “Jobs and recruiting for media professionals in journalism, on-line content, book publishing, TV, radio, PR, graphic design, photography, and advertising.”

Now we have job boards for your search at ContentNext (4), Crunchboard, Copyblogger, Problogger, “Virtual Worlds Jobs” and a number of resources for job board software (publisher programs) offering additional money making opportunities.

By Mark -- 1 comment

April 11th, 2008

eBay’s Digital Download Ban [The Competition Grows]

In the natural course of human events…

You anger your customers long enough and loud enough and they will rebel! Competition that you never heard of will also spring up out of nowhere. No one is immune to the forces of folks who want a different way to live and are willing to go to whatever lengths to find (or create) what they want.

Even if, in the past, you have altered your policies and gotten past those uproars. Even if you’ve been able to weather the loss of both sellers and buyers previously, there comes a line in the sand. If you cross that line you will pay the price. The trick is to make the determination where that line is and that is usually not to be done.

So, the comment arrives here and we discover new competition in an old suit;

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By Mark -- 0 comments

April 10th, 2008

eBay - Safe Payments [Require Positive Attitude]

They set it up for what may eventually be revealed as a totally self-centered corporate profit generating attitude but it doesn’t mean that you are required to react with a negative attitude towards their policies!

What they said;

Safe Payments Requirements
Last January, Bill announced that all new sellers would be required to offer PayPal or a merchant credit card as a safe payment option. This requirement gives buyers a higher degree of protection when transacting with sellers who have little or no track record.

This year we’re expanding this requirement to the following sellers:

* a small number of sellers who have the worst buyer dissatisfaction rates
* sellers with less than 100 feedback
* sellers who list in certain categories with higher rates of buyer complaints.

Also, for a small number of these transactions paid with PayPal, when eBay suspects the transaction may result in a dissatisfied customer, PayPal will delay release of the payment funds to the seller until the buyer has left a positive feedback or 21 days have passed without a dispute.

I’d like to put context around this last detail for our good sellers: Sellers with an established track record and more than 95 percent satisfied buyers in the last 30 days will not have funds held. And, sellers on eBay will continue to receive the vast majority of payment funds much faster than other marketplaces.

What they didn’t say was “required to offer only PayPal! They gave an alternative…

Yet;

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By Mark -- 0 comments

April 9th, 2008

700MHz Spectrum Auction Chatter [Post-Bidding]

“The gag order that silenced those participating in the FCC’s auction that ended last month was lifted late Thursday (4/03). Now companies are free to discuss their plans and strategies for bidding in the auction.”

Yet its beginning to appear that part of the plans and strategies are to circumvent the FCC’s requirement for openness.

Speaking of Verizon in a later article, Marguerite Reardon tells us;

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By Mark -- 0 comments

April 8th, 2008

Make eBay’s New Digital Download Policy Work For You

This is certainly worth passing along…

From the eBay Forums;

Make eBay’s New Digital Download Policy Work For You

An announcement offered by Deirdre from Community Development.

The recent change in the Digital Download policy has many sellers of items delivered by download confused and concerned about the viability of their businesses on eBay. Have no fear! Sellers of “delivery by download” merchandise now have an excellent opportunity to adjust their selling and marketing to increase their visibility and their potential sales. Brian Burke and Jim Griffith with be available during this workshop to provide tips and advice to all sellers of downloadable media on a range of related topics including:

* Exploring and highlighting the policy details
* Taking full advantage of the Classified Ad format
* Utilizing effective marketing and promotion of your content items
* Offering content on physical media to boost sales
* How to make sure your all you digital content listings are in full compliance with eBay policy

Brian and Griff will also answer any question or concern you might have about the recent policy change.

This is going to happen this coming Friday, April 11th from 2:00pm - 3:00pm (Pacific Time) on the Workshop Discussion Board. (Time Zone Converter)

By Mark -- 0 comments

April 8th, 2008

Heightened Awareness Re: Amazon Books

It no doubt was in the works ahead of the recent flap over Amazon and POD, but the flap raises the awareness of what could be construed as competition. And - why not? Competition is good. (If it really exists).

Stefanie Olsen tells us;

“Better World Books, an online retailer that resells used books and donates some of the proceeds to fund global literacy projects, has brought in its first outside investment to branch out into publishing, book rentals, and international do-gooding.”

Just has a “feel good” way about it, doesn’t it? Donations to global literacy projects?

“The 5-year-old company said Monday that it raised $4.5 million in its first round of financing led by Good Capital, an institutional investor that specializes in social entrepreneurship. That money included $2 million from a group of 18 private investors, whose names were undisclosed.”

Hmmm - social entrepreneurship eh? Even that has a “friendlier” tone.

“Like a lot of start-ups, if we want to continue to accelerate our growth and scale, we want to invest in new business units,” said David Murphy, CEO of Better World Books. Murphy said that the company plans to use the money to improve its own Web site and efforts to bring in new books. But future projects include expanding overseas, building up a young book-publishing division, and offering a book-rental service from its Web site.”

“Accelerate our growth and scale.” “Improve.” “Expand.” “Bring in new.” “Building up a young division.” Yeah, sounds like competition…

By Mark -- 0 comments

April 6th, 2008

Private Label Rights

I’ve come to see that discussions of eBay and its recent policy changes necessarily will involve other discussions. One which appears to be a part of the new equation is Private Label Rights.

PLR is not new. I have seen that many don’t know what it is or have some confusion regarding it.

Beginning with the basics;

“Most online entrepreneurs contend that for an online business to generate good income in the Internet, the business must have its own product. This is because everything is a sale, even the thoughts that you have in your mind could count as a product for sale when presented in the Internet for other people’s use.”

Sensible, but there’s more…

“But contrary to most popular beliefs, having your own product does not limit you to the many possibilities of earning more by using a “license” that is attached with an “information product” that you may acquire online. These are known as private label rights.”

Information products > digital downloads > physical digital products (CD’s, DVD’s), requiring new tools. And new mindsets. Along with compliance to new policies in order to maintain income.

By Mark -- 2 comments

April 6th, 2008

From The Desk of a Powerseller

John Thornhill
(John maintains what might arguably be the most informative eBay Blog online at PlanetSMS. He also writes directly on his eBay Blog.)

Though it appears we’ll be moving towards physical, digital products, it seems certain that John’s thought and experience still apply.

The most common reasons eBay will pull one of your eBook auctions.

1. Wrong, category. EBooks must be listed in the Everything else > Information products category. List them anywhere else and eBay will eventually catch up with you and remove the offending item(s).

2. Not stating you are the copyright holder. If you have created your own eBook you are the copyright holder and you must let eBay know this in your listing. Just a simple statement at the end of your auction, something like “Note to eBay staff, I am the copyright holder of this item” will do.

3. Not stating you are licensed to sell the eBook you are selling. ebay.com’s downloadable media policy states you must be the owner (copyright holder) or authorized to distribute the downloadable product by the intellectual property owner. (This means you have resale rights)

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By Mark -- 1 comment

April 4th, 2008

Google Improved Part of Your Future

Simply mho, but didn’t we really know this all along…

Google says it participated in the recent wireless spectrum auction not with the goal to win, but to help drive bidding high enough to ensure that open-access rules it had pushed for would be adopted.

“Google’s top priority heading into the auction was to make sure that bidding on the so-called ‘C Block’ reached the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the important ‘open applications’ and ‘open handsets’ license conditions,” Richard Whitt, Washington telecom and media counsel, and Joseph Faber, corporate counsel, wrote in a posting Thursday on Google’s Public Policy Blog.

That post makes reference to an entry from last July which says;

Our position is simple enough. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and the other commissioners have argued persuasively that we need a real third pipe broadband competitor in this country. They also believe that the upcoming 700 MHz auction is the best way to get there. All we are saying is that, based on what we know, new broadband competition will emerge from the upcoming auction only if the FCC’s rules allow it to happen. For Google, and other potential new entrants, the prevailing imbalance can be corrected most effectively by introducing license conditions based on open platforms.

I believe the day will come, perhaps not in the immediate future - possibly much later - as whatever democracy is left, when folks look back, this effort by Google will be seen as truly beneficial to all. Unless, the Telcos gain immunity…

By Mark -- 0 comments

April 3rd, 2008

Another Time Another Place Another Attitude

Had we not been living at a time when we had to be truly concerned with the openness or privacy of our world this story might have generated a different attitude towards the “players.”

Unfortunately, with the stink of the uproar over Net Neutrality, with the stink of the lies and denial of an administration which has turned the principles of freedom on it’s head (or ass, depending on your POV), and yes, with the stink of the terrorists factions who so sickly believe we ought to cowtow to their will, this story generated an attitude properly appropriate for our time.

AT&T’s top wireless man told the Wall Street Journal at the CTIA tradeshow here this week that the company is considering using Google’s Android handsets.

Ralph de la Vega, head of AT&T’s wireless unit, told the Journal he has reviewed the technology closely and is “confident it is something we are going to want in our portfolio.”

Which elicted this response from A Halsey;

“The openness of the underlying platform most definitely influences my buying decision. When given the choice between a platform controlled by a secretive company with proprietary technology, and a company taking a more community-oriented, transparent, FLOSS approach, I choose the later. This is for both idealistic and practical reasons.”

Temporarily at least, putting to rest the romance of: “After all, consumers don’t buy operating systems. They buy cool devices that can do really cool things.”

By Mark -- 0 comments

April 3rd, 2008

eBay’s Digital Download Ban [CDBurnerXP Pro - Free!]

If you’ve given consideration to the production and sale of physical digital products to maintain your business in light of eBay’s Digital Download ban, here is a resource for your serious consideration. And it’s Free!!!

CDBurnerXP Pro

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

Key Features

• burn all kinds of discs
• audio-CDs with or without gaps between tracks
• burn and create ISO files
• data verification after burning process
• create bootable discs
• multi-language interface
• bin/nrg → ISO converter, simple cover printing and much more!
• Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

H/T - Both John Thornhill (PlanetSMS) and “Cybamart.”

Technorati Tags - CD Reproduction Resources Digital Download Ban eBay CDBurnerXP Pro eBay Sellers

By Mark -- 1 comment