Share the Marshmallows In the 1960s, Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel and his students conducted studies on self-discipline in preschoolers. In what has now become known as The Marshmallow Test, toddlers were given the choice of eating one marshmallow immediately, or waiting a few minutes and getting two marshmallows. Those who were able to successfully delay the gratification of […]
Check Out the Marketing Book Podcast
Here’s a worthy New Year’s resolution: keep up on the latest in marketing books in 2016 by listening to the Marketing Book Podcast. Bonus: On the January 1st episode, Douglas Burdett and I discuss Subscription Marketing – the book and the practice. Things we discuss: How the sharing economy and Internet of Things are affecting industries of all […]
Find Your Writing North Star(s)
When I set out to write my first book, I started researching everything from writing to publishing to marketing books. The effort nearly derailed me altogether. There are more writing and book marketing podcasts than you have time to listen to. You cannot read every book, nor follow every blog and watch every video. If you try to […]
Revision: When Does It End?
Writing Productivity Tip #8: Balance Patience and Urgency The hardest part of the revision process is knowing when you’re done. Patience is your friend, to a point. If a deadline looms, do what you can quickly and let it go. But when you have time, you must decide: how long do you keep revising? Brilliance, humor, pithy observations – much of […]
Writing: Learning to Love Your Quirks
Writing Productivity Tip #7: Work Your Quirks We’ve all got writing quirks and mannerisms. Writing quirks include grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, or little things you do that readers could find annoying. For example: While writing quickly, you make the wrong choice between its and it’s, or your and you’re. Awkward sentences suddenly appear in your drafts like unwelcome houseguests. You […]
Subscriptions Are Eating Software
In an essay published in the Wall Street Journal in 2011, Marc Andreeson famously described the path of the technology industry with the phrase “Software is eating the world.” (Read the original article here.) In short, software is disrupting the technology industry, sector by sector. Everything that a technology sector does is eventually absorbed into software. There’s […]