Phil Simon » Announcements

Kickstarting My Third Book

philsimon — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:30:56 +0000

For a variety of reasons, I have decided not to use a traditional publisher for my third book. As I’ve discussed before, traditional publishers are really struggling these days with this brave new world. While they may claim to understand social media, eBooks, and the like, for the most part their actions belie their statements.

On a different level, those of you who know me understand my, er, “control issues.” I have a hard time ceding control of things like the cover, price, and content to alleged experts. Publishing two books has demystified the process for me.

A Quick Story

I was having dinner with a friend of mine and his family. He has three adorable little girls. I mentioned that I might start a publishing company and his wife and I had a short conversation:

Wife: How do you go about doing that?

Me: Well, after having and starting to raise your first kid, you probably understood the process a little better right?

Wife: Okay….

Me: I would imagine that it’s pretty similar with starting a publishing company.

Wife: Gotcha.

Traditional Publishers: The Bottom Line

When I published the first edition of Why New Systems Fail back in 2008, I used AuthorHouse to bring the book to market. In hindsight, that wasn’t the best choice. In fact, it may have been one of the worst, at least according to an independent evaluation of different publishing houses.

In the time since, I have learned a great deal about the publishing industry. Traditional publishers released my second book and the second edition of my first, both published in March of 2010. To call the experiences instructive would be the acme of understatement. I’ve realized that there’s no secret sauce to publishing a book. From the outside, it may be a black box, especially to those unfamiliar with the process. Once you’ve been through the process a few times, though, it’s completely demystified.

If you use professional resources (editor, indexer, proofreader, and cover person), there’s essentially no discernible difference between books published by either method. And here’s a dirty little secret about traditional publishers: They use many of the same people on a contract basis to minimize costs. To claim that traditional publishers employ fundamentally “better” people is just plain wrong.

I have come to the conclusion that today traditional publishers merely offer an imprimatur. They sure can’t predict success. The stories of ridiculously successful books–or franchises–passed over by those who ostensibly should have been able to spot “commercially viable books” include the Chicken Soup series and a vaguely famous guy named Stephen King. As many have said, they are the gatekeepers. Indeed, as Kristen Eckstein wrote on my blog a few months ago, “traditional publishing is the new vanity.”

A Different Model

I listened to this amazing talk by Seth Godin on the publishing industry. The man knows his stuff. Godin references a neat company called Kickstarter that funds different creative endeavors.

How can I order it or be involved?

I’ve decided to give this whole Kickstarter thing a shot and have set up a project on the site. On it, you can order it, be in the acknowledgments, and contribute in a few other ways.

What about quality?

One of the major differences between self-published and traditionally published books is quality. I have seen books from Lulu that just don’t seem to have the same production quality as their counterparts from Wiley, O’Reilly, and Penguin.

To be honest, this was a great concern to me. I don’t spend hundreds of hours on something for the physical copy to appear flimsy or unprofessional. So I did my research and discovered something absolutely fascinating. To create a book with high quality, you can simply use the very same company that traditional publishers use. Yes, traditional firms use print on demand companies such as Lightning Source to fire up the presses. I’m not making this up.

What’s the book about?

It’s called “The New Small: How small businesses are using emerging technologies to attract new customers, reduce costs, and win the war for talent.” I still may tweak the subtitle but I already have an ISBN. It will be out by November of this year. I’m profiling about ten small businesses from different industries. Much like Malcolm Gladwell (one of my favorite authors), I will tie together the common threads throughout the book. In other words, this will not be preachy or theoretical. The book looks at what The New Small is doing right now.

More information coming.

How small businesses are using emerging technologies to attract new customers, reduce costs, and win the war for talent

Kickstarting My Third Book is a post from: Phil Simon

What are your favorite small business resources?

philsimon — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:31:24 +0000

Things are progressing very well for my third book and, I promise, I’ll have more details for you on it sooner rather than later, including:

title and cover
sample text
ordering information
release date
ways to contribute

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the topics will be small business and emerging technologies. I’m really excited about it. OK…enough teasing for now.

I’m pretty far along in the writing process and had an epiphany: Why not include a list of the 100 or so most useful sites for small or medium-sized businesses (SMBs)? There are so many resources today for small businesses that it’s just plain scary. Many are free or operate under a Freemium model.

Here are a few sites that this small business owner uses:

http://www.freeconferencecalling.com/ – for easy conference calls and recording. I use this all the time.
http://www.speechpad.com/ – another option for calls, but with the ability to transcribe
http://www.grasshopper.com - It’s a virtual phone system that entrepreneurs love.
http://www.odesk.com – for inexpensive administrative support. The site lets you find contractors pretty easily, although the GUI could use some work.

This isn’t an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination. Since there’s no way that I can possibly figure out the best ones, why not crowdsource it?

So show off your smarts by letting the world know what tools are out there. Go ahead an shamelessly promote your own company’s wares–as long as they’re useful.

What are your favorite small business resources? is a post from: Phil Simon

200: The State of My Site

philsimon — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:42:21 +0000

I suppose that this is some sort of an accomplishment. The post that you are reading is my 200th. It’s time to do my first “State of My Site” post. Because of the occasion, I’m allowing myself this indulgence. Without further ado…

Random Facts about My Posts

I write about quite a few things. I took a look at some of them:

Posts mentioning Rush: 18 (I know. I would have taken the “over” as well.)
Book reviews: 11
Guest posts from others: 5
Times that I’ve made a cogent argument: 47 (give or take)
For a visual of my blog’s key words, click here.

My Favorite Posts

George Orwell and Why I Write and The Big Lebowski and the State of Book Publishing come to mind.

Future Posts

I will be tackling more small business issues, as they will be the focus on my upcoming third book.

Random Facts about 200

The number 200 has a storied history. According to its Wikipedia page, two hundred is:

A common ISO-standard film speed for photographic films. However, 200 speed film is being phased out in consumer films in favor of faster films.
A denomination of the euro note. The 200 euro note was designed by Robert Kalina.
The size of one side of the main square in Kraków, Poland (200 m×200 m)
200 MeV is the temperature of quark-gluon plasma phase transition.
The name of a car made by the Rover Group — the Rover 200.
An HTTP status code indicating a successful connection.
The sum of dollars given in the classical Monopoly game to a player passing Go. This one I actually new.
A cholesterol level of 200 and below is considered “Desirable level corresponding to lower risk for heart disease”
“200” is the title of an episode of the television show Stargate SG-1.
The number of NASCAR races won by Richard Petty.
A Year.
A vehicle that has reached 200 mph.
The North West 200, a motorcycle race held in Northern Ireland.
The number of runs scored by the Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (not out) in 2nd ODI against South Africa, in the Micromax Cup 2010, which is the highest score in an ODI

Thank You

While I write for my own amusement (and to save money on psychiatrists), I want to thank you, the reader. I really appreciate the comments, retweets, mentions, Facebook likes, Diggs, and other references.

200: The State of My Site is a post from: Phil Simon

Help: A Call for Case Studies

philsimon — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:52:39 +0000

Update 07.19.2010

Thanks for the responses, retweets, and Facebook likes. I have had more than I can handle.

Original Post

Call me silly. Call me delusional. Call me stubborn. I can take it. As a technology consultant, I have been called much worse. Just don’t call me Verizon. (You see what happens, Verizon?) Because of your apathetic, exceedingly difficult, and anachronistic customer service, you have now:

lost me as a customer
incurred the wrath of a guy with a really big mouth
become a routine punchline on my site

How you like them apples?

But I digress. I mentioned something about calling me silly. Oh, right…

I am writing a third book, an act that some would consider foolish in this day and age. At a high level, it will focus on how small businesses are successfully utilizing emerging technologies such as cloud computing, SaaS, social networks, mobility, etc. For those of you who have read any of my books, posts, or articles, you know that I am big fan of stories. To that end, the book be rife with case studies and examples.

This is where I need some help. At the risk of being really formal, consider a few questions:

Have you recently worked with or for a small business–either as a consultant or employee?
Did your work entail emerging technologies?
Was the project able to circumvent the problems of traditional technology deployments? Did you get a decent bang for your buck?
Are you able to go on record? I ask because I really want to use the real names of people, organizations, and vendors. By way of comparison, I had to use pseudonyms for the case studies in my first book.

If the answers to these questions are yes, then let’s chat.

How do we start?

Feel free to contact me directly:

phil at philsimonsystems (dot) com

You mean that you’re giving me homework?

No, I don’t expect you to submit case studies to me. We’ll have a conversation and I’ll write it up.

What’s in it for you?

I’ll send you a copy of the book for your trouble.

Help: A Call for Case Studies is a post from: Phil Simon

Five Questions: Yet Another Book Contest

philsimon — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:00:16 +0000

Back in the day, I was a big fan of the “Five Questions” segment on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Check out this segment with admitted Rush fan John Larroquette:

Along these lines, I was reading the very popular AriWriter blog the other day and I saw post that reminded me of “Five Questions.”

At this risk of being completely unoriginal, I’m going to steal his idea. At least I’m giving props, right?

Rules

So, here’s the deal: Ask me five questions in the comments by May 5th at 5 pm EST. They can be work- or technology-related, vaguely personal, completely random, or whatever. I’ll put the best ones out there for a vote and I’ll answer the winning questions on this site.

Two more notes:

I’ll try to record the entire thing via my webcam.
You also have my promise that I won’t research any answers in advance to appear smarter than I am.

The winner gets an autographed copy of my first book, Why New Systems Fail.

Go ahead. Ask away.

Answers

Thanks for the comments. All. I’ve posted the answers. At the end of these, I have put a poll. Vote for the best combinations of questions and answers. I’ll announce a winner in about a week.

Brian Morgan

1) Of the new technologies listed in your new book, which one do you feel will have the greatest impact in the corporate world?

Wow. Twist my arm, eh? Very tough call but I’ll go with either open source or cloud computing.

2) Other than yourself, who’s the most interesting person you’d like to meet with two first names (extra credit if you’ve met someone named Simon Phil)?

Ricky Gervais.

3) Which BI vendor do see as the market leader 5 years from now – Cognos (IBM), Business Objects (SAP), Hyperion (Oracle), Micro Strategies, or someone else?

You really want to make me look silly. I’ll take “the field.” Perhaps an OS vendor will get huge.

4) 3D TV – is this really going to catch on or is it just a fad?

Not for a while. I don’t think that people will want to replace expensive LCDs and plasmas with new TVs that require 1950s-sytle glasses.

5) Trapped on an island, which artists’ music would you rather have to listen to: the Cars or Journey?

The Cars are overrated. Journey’s staying power is impressive.

Robert Lavigne

1) Name the original drummer of the band Rush. That’s a gimme.

John Rutsey. Don’t waste my time. J

2) Is the GenY 50% of workforce by 2015 statistic a lever for change or just another fear tactic by consultants seeking new social licenses?

Well, 50 percent seems high but, if social media becomes as huge as many think, GenXers and baby boomers need to get with the program. GenY has mad social media skillz.

3) What are the odds that 2112 will be Dream Theatre’s next live cover album?

1%. A few years ago, I asked Mike Portnoy once if they planned to cover a Rush album. Not going to happen.
4) By April 5th? – Do you mean May 5th?

Yes.

5) In your opinion, what is the real market potential for wifi touch devices within the enterprise?

Somewhere between nothing and huge. On April 20th, Oracle made its Siebel CRM app iPad-friendly.

Robert Brands

1. What do you foresee as Next after the Next Wave?

The semantic web. It’s going to be huge.

2. SAP is overrated and very costly to those that implemented the fad. Who will be the next SAP adding true value added and ultimate cost savings? (SAP never did).

I’ve only worked with SAP peripherally but I’ve heard stories. I personally thing that the days of Big ERP are coming to a close.

3. In the Cloud is part of next, what is after that?

Super clouds.

Dougal Campbell

1. What do you think the next big disruptive technology is going to be?

The semantic web. It’s going to be huge.

2. Which good friend of Sam Raimi appears in different cameo roles in each of the three Spider Man films?

Absolutely no idea and I refuse to Google it.

3. Donuts: Jelly or plain?

Jelly.

4. Who’s a semi-aquatic, egg-laying mammal of action?

Aquaman? I have no idea.

5. Which do you agree with more, Shakespeare’s claim that is “better to have loved and lost than ne’re loved at all”, or Rush’s “sadder still to watch it die than never to have known it”?

Rush’s “Losing It” is just a beautiful song. I’ll take Neil Peart over William Shakespeare.

Terri Rylander

1. How do you see the role of BI in corporate sustainability?

Big question right off the bat, eh? It’s important but not a silver bullet. If I were king, I’d have the following in my kingdom:

effective BI tools

good data

people who can interpret the results

a culture that allows people to make decisions based on those results.

As important as these are to corporate sustainability, it’s hard for me to claim that each (and BI as a whole) can guarantee it. There are too many other things that can go wrong. What’s more, there are probably organizations whose senior leaders have never even heard of BI that are doing quite nicely.

2. What do you think is the next social media tool, possibly replacing Twitter?

Yammer is already here and it’s essentially Twitter for the enterprise. Chatter from salesforce.com is already making inroads. I can’t see anything replacing Twitter at this point but, to be fair, I wouldn’t have predicted MySpace’s de facto demise at its height either.

3. Now that anyone can publish content, how will we distinguish quality from noise?

I’m not sure that we can. Andrew Keen’s Cult of the Amateur asks that very question.

4. If you could wave your magic wand and fix one thing in the world, what would it be?

Right now, I find the oil spill near Louisiana to be just awful.

5. If you could turn your hobby into a business, what business would you be in?

The Rush business.

Vote

OK, folks. Who wins?

Five Questions: Yet Another Book Contest is a post from: Phil Simon

Getting to Know You

philsimon — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 05:56:57 +0000

I put this post out there a few months ago and figured that it was time for me to ask these questions again:

Who are you?
What do you want me to write about?

Note that all information provided is completely anonymous and I have no way (or desire, really) to use this information beyond understanding what my readers do and what they’d like to see for future topics.

That’s it. Thank you in advance.

Getting to Know You is a post from: Phil Simon

Win an Autographed Copy of The Next Wave of Technologies

philsimon — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:38:02 +0000

My new book, The Next Wave of Technologies, covers a great deal of ground. I for one don’t have a crystal ball and don’t know which technology will ultimately have the greatest impact. Maybe you do?

In this vein, I’m holding a little contest in which you can win an autographed copy of the book.

Rules

In the comments to this post, submit 200 to 1,000 words on which technology is the most important and why. Your choice/submission need not correspond to a chapter in the book.

Other rules:

One submission per person, please.
While I do speak Spanish, please submit entries in English.
Original content, please. Don’t simply paste in a post from your blog.
I hope that this goes without saying, but no plagiarizing.
Please properly cite any books, articles, or blog posts.
I’ll choose the top five submissions and create a poll. You can then vote on your favorite submission.
I’ll ultimately need your address to send you the book but, rest assured, it stays with me.
Submissions are due by April 7 pm at 5 pm, EST. After that, I’ll close off the comments.

Thanks and good luck.

Win an Autographed Copy of The Next Wave of Technologies is a post from: Phil Simon

Publication of The Next Wave of Technologies

philsimon — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:15:37 +0000

I am very pleased to announce the publication of my second book, The Next Wave of Technologies: Opportunities in Chaos.

To say the least, it’s been an interesting journey to get to this point.

A little background on The Next Wave

Back in May of 2009, a review of my first book on my friend Vinnie Mirchandani’s Deal Architect blog got my brain going. As I write in the introduction of The Next Wave of Technologies (available here), Vinnie asked a number of valid questions about Why New Systems Fail in the context of emerging technologies. Given all that’s going on right now (cloud computing, mobile technologies, open source software, etc.), how can people and organizations navigate these largely uncharted waters?

Well, at a fundamental level, that’s the underlying question throughout The Next Wave of Technologies.

The book came together quickly. From May to September of 2009, I found experts to contribute chapters on a wide variety of subjects all under the umbrella of Enterprise 2.0. It was challenging at times juggling so many different schedules and time zones. Life happens, as they say. In the end, though, I am very pleased with the final result. While the book’s topics run the gamut, I believe that there’s a great deal of consistency throughout the book–both in terms of writing styles and overall themes.

While writing my own chapters, putting together the manuscript, occasionally replacing contributors, and managing the day-to-day, I was concurrently searching for a proper publisher. Ultimately, I had four offers for the book but chose John Wiley & Sons primarily due to two reasons:

the rapport that I immediately developed with my editor, Tim Burgard
my believe that Wiley was best suited to help the book reach its intended audiences: CIOs, professors and the academic community, industry leaders and pundits, consultants, and IT scribes

What’s the book about?

Many, many exciting technologies. For the quick answer to that question, check out my book trailer that (I hope) will finally be on the main page on Amazon.com soon.

What does this have to do with Harry Potter?

Funny story. In May of 2009, I was talking to a few literary agents, one of whom was David Fugate of Launch Books. He gave me great advice in formulating the book’s proposal but ultimately passed on representing it and me. He didn’t think that the book would have any commercial viability. “Of course,” he said, “I was wrong about Harry Potter as well.”

Well, David, and I write this with great affection, let’s hope that you’re also wrong about the number of copies sold.

Thanks to all of the contributors, everyone at John Wiley & Sons, those who endorsed the book for the back, my family and friends, and others who helped make this happen. I am very proud of The Next Wave of Technologies and hope that readers find it a valuable and informative read.

Publication of The Next Wave of Technologies is a post from: Phil Simon

Publication of New Edition of Why New Systems Fail

philsimon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:56:07 +0000

On my site, I strive to provide a good deal of non-promotional, meaningful content related to technology, consulting, project management, writing, etc. I’m just not interesting enough to overtly promote myself every day. Hopefully I succeed in that regard.

But sometimes I post something that really is all about me. There’s just no way of sugarcoating it.

Today is one of those days.

I am very pleased to announce the publication of the new edition of my first book, Why New Systems Fail.

What’s different in this edition?

Quite a bit. You can check out the preface here. In general, it’s a much more robust, polished product than its predecessor.

Is there a very quick way for me to learn what the book is about?

Yes. Watch the book trailer.

You’re not taking yourself too seriously in this one, are you?

I sure hope not.

Publication of New Edition of Why New Systems Fail is a post from: Phil Simon

Quality Is as Quality Does: The Importance of Data Integrity

philsimon — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:32:27 +0000

I will be appearing on DM Radio on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 3 pm EST to talk about data integrity.

Description

Getting the big picture with data quality requires a whole host of sound procedures, starting with data lineage, and extending through cleansing, transformation, delivery, and usage. Altogether, these processes encompass a sound data governance strategy. Failure at any control point can result in serious errors that can undermine a organization’s fundamental operations.

I am one of several guest on the show. You can listen to it clicking here.

Quality Is as Quality Does: The Importance of Data Integrity is a post from: Phil Simon

Phil Simon » Announcements

Kickstarting My Third Book

A Quick Story

Traditional Publishers: The Bottom Line

A Different Model

How can I order it or be involved?

What about quality?

What’s the book about?

What are your favorite small business resources?

200: The State of My Site

Random Facts about My Posts

Popular Posts

My Favorite Posts

Future Posts

Random Facts about 200

Thank You

Help: A Call for Case Studies

Update 07.19.2010

Original Post

How do we start?

You mean that you’re giving me homework?

What’s in it for you?

Five Questions: Yet Another Book Contest

Rules

Answers

Vote

Getting to Know You

Win an Autographed Copy of The Next Wave of Technologies

Rules

Publication of The Next Wave of Technologies

A little background on The Next Wave

What’s the book about?

What does this have to do with Harry Potter?

Publication of New Edition of Why New Systems Fail

What’s different in this edition?

Is there a very quick way for me to learn what the book is about?

You’re not taking yourself too seriously in this one, are you?

Quality Is as Quality Does: The Importance of Data Integrity

Description