Earl and Mark's Velocity

0 comments | Aug 28, 10:00 AM | off-road-disciplines | by Earl Creps

I read this in today’s EMP Datafile:

“U.S. book publishers released 172,000 new books, and new editions of previously published works, in 2005, reports R.R. Bowker. That’s 18,000 fewer than in 2004 — the first time the number has dropped since 1999.”

Now that’s what I call intimidating. What is the hope for any one book to find a niche or a market or whatever you call it when every publication is just a drop in a Niagara of words, and a shrinking Niagara at that.

In a recent blog, Seth Godin explains how he believes ideas catch on in the networking age http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/09/what_makes_an_i.html:

“For an idea to spread, it needs to be sent and received.

No one “sends” an idea unless:
a. they understand it
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefits

No one “gets” an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time
This explains why online ideas spread so fast but why they’re often shallow.”

There is a lot more to Seth’s analysis that I encourage you to check out, but the fact remains that the market influence for any book relies on surfing the swirling tides of this sea of information as much as anything else (and more than a lot of things). Surfing is dangerous business, so you have to pay attention.

As the publication of Off-Road Disciplines draws near I catch myself acting like a man who has taken one trip to Europe, or had one major operation: I want to show everyone my slides or pull up my shirt so I can talk about my scar. What get’s lost is the fact that no one else is going to care about a book just because I do, or because so much of my actual life is invested in it (not the time time to write it but the decades to live it, suffer it, feel it.)

What matters, if Godin is right (and I think the guy’s remarkable—and brief) is whether anyone is talking about it; is it being “sent and received,” to use his phrase? Infomania (our sometimes obsessive orientation toward data and its use) seems to judge things not just on content, but on what I would call “velocity” (something like the velocity of money in the economy). This is more than just having the thing reviewed in the right places; it’s more about the number of “hands” the ideas are passing through every day, hour, or minute.

The benchmark is not so much great ideas, authenticity, or cover art (all standards drawn from another era), but “hits,” “links,” and “blog references.” In one sense this is a very conventional conclusion: ideas or products fail if they don’t “catch on.” My point, though, is that “catching on” is increasingly measured in different ways, especially by infophiles under 35.

With this in mind, let me help a brother out, who has also helped me.

You definitely need to check out Mark Batterson’s new book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive & Thrive When Opportunity Roars. (Multnomah, Oct. 2006)

It’s available on Amazon right now for pre-order at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590527151/sr=1-2/qid=1154720270/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-1023385-7819814?ie=UTF8&s=books

Mark is the pastor of National Community Church http://www.theaterchurch.com in Washington, D.C. You can catch his outstanding blog at: http://www.evotional.com/

Mark’s book is devoted to sorting out how God can get our lives aligned with His purposes no matter how our past has been messed up or what challenges (even success!) our future holds. This guy is the real deal, so the book will be as well. I recommend it.

If you want to add to Mark and Earl’s velocity, blog about our books, and/or write reviews for Amazon.

And, oh yes, both can be pre-ordered on Amazon right now:

Mark’s book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590527151/sr=1-2/qid=1154720270/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-1023385-7819814?ie=UTF8&s=books

Earl’s book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0787985201/sr=1-1/qid=1156779779/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1681258-4116051?ie=UTF8&s=books

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