BEP and upBoard

[ChristianMuntean 18]

Has anyone else been invited to work with BEP to adapt their book to upBoard? If so, what is your understanding of how this works in terms of royalties and value-to-effort? 

I've had a couple back and forths with BEP regarding royalties/IP  (I know, I know - royalties can barely buy a decent evening out). When I get a clear answer can share here.

But curious what others think. 

[Alan Weiss 2,208]

Does that help your book reach your intended ideal buyers? Royalties in this business are unimportant and, if you know that, why even worry about them? The only question is: Does this really bring business to you?

[Becky Morgan 134]

What is Upboard?

[ChristianMuntean 18]

Alan,  I don't know. I think it is intended as a value-add to the book.  Which they believe mean it might transfer into more sales.

As far as I can tell - the only thing that meaningfully gets my book in front of ideal buyers is me. 

The royalties aren't my concern. Control of IP is. Sheri, the BEP marketing person, is the one who reached out to me - but her explanations aren't very clear. That's why I wondered if others have looked into this.

upBoard was described to me as a separate app company somehow takes IP related to the book (either directly from the book or contributed by authors) and converts it into something "fun" - not clear what - but it sounds like questionnaires and quizzes and so on.  Currently, the app company isn't charging customers - but will do so soon. I'm not clear on who owns whatever it is I create for the app company - is it myself, BEP, upBoard? 

I asked about this - and Sheri seemed confused about why I cared about IP.  

Becky, the above description is about all I know about upBoard. 

[Alan Weiss 2,208]

upBoard is easily Googled and explained.

Christian, if it were I, I'd tell them "no" and get on with my life. This is about them, not you. I'd have at least a mild concern about the IP being shared and used with no advantage to you at all. But, that's just Kevin.

[Becky Morgan 134]

2 hours ago, ChristianMuntean said:

Becky, the above description is about all I know about upBoard. 

Thanks Christian. I read several items about the company and still don’t understand what they are doing that will be viable. Seems like an App Store of some kind.

[Praveen 285]

Yes, seems like they are an app store for business process software.  But, they also have a secondary business selling interactive app versions of books (https://upboard.io/interactive-online-business-books-software-ebooks-apps/) . That's probably what they want to do with Christian's book.

[Linda Henman 308]

Is this a way our ideal buyers will want to read our books?

[Alan Weiss 2,208]

I don't think so.

[ChristianMuntean 18]

Had some spare time today and took a deeper look at what was wanted. 

Basically it is a mini book summary, with questions (like a discussion questions or a study guide), assessments/etc like might exist in the appendix. Plus a place to add videos or other book associated content. 

I think they are trying to be "disruptive" and provide a new way of repurposing content other than an audio book. I can see how that might become attractive for people who want the content without reading it. But I don't know if it'll take off. 

Mostly, I think it might be attractive to BEP's audience of universities and increase the likelihood of a book being adopted as a text. 

So, credibility for the author.

That's valuable. My first book is being used as a graduate school text. Clients /prospects like to hear that. 

It's maybe a couple hours of work to fill out the form. Shorter if you've already built the content and are cutting /pasting. 

Worth it? If you have time and view this as content marketing /authority building. It's an easy way to repurpose content and (I think) gives me a new reason to talk about the book to my list. 

Not worth it if someone does this instead of meeting with prospects 

[Alan Weiss 2,208]

I recall when novels were truncated into "abridged versions" so people didn't have to take the time to read a book! And then there were Cliff Notes in school. Somehow the kids using these never made the Dean's List!

That's a good explanation, Christian, thank you. My experience is that an academic relationship—and my books have been on the curricula of a half-dozen schools, I've been an adjunct professor, and I was just asked yesterday to address a class in supply chain management at RIT—has had zero bearing on my success corporately or entrepreneurially. As they say in car ads on mileage estimates, "Your experience may vary." Good luck.

[Linda Henman 308]

I too have had my books used in graduate schools. I used them to teach at Washington U. in the engineering department.

Trust me, this is not valuable. No one cares, as Alan pointed out. Clients want to know if you can solve their problems and improve them. Period.

[ChristianMuntean 18]

Alan /Linda, helpful insights. Thanks. 

But how / where does authority building fit into this?

Or, is there a point of diminishing returns when it comes to authority building efforts? (If so, how do I recognize that?) 

[Alan Weiss 2,208]

Authority building means what? Credibility? A strong brand? Thought leadership? It's certainly not done through academic connection, especially tangential academic connection. It's done through strong IP expressed verbally in the public square. It means producing books (as you have), speaking, hosting events, gaining testimonials for great work, and most of all, seeking referral business to get on the radar screens of peer referral. 

What you're looking at here is a gnat on the windshield of visibility. You're WAY overthinking this (unusual, right?). You'll have a strong brand (authority) when you receive unsolicited referrals, when people say, "How can I work with you?" This doesn't occur through technological gimmicks. It occurs by your creating a powerful value proposition which is unremittingly directed at ideal buyers. Stop looking for shortcuts and magic bullets.

How many people did you call last week? How much did you publish? What events are you planning to host? What speaking opportunities are you pursuing? Every minute you spend on a tech hiccup take away from the marketing which will gain you the credibility you seek.

Are you considering attending Master Class? Did you ever attend Thought Leadership? I realize that some people feel this is a promotion for me. It's not, I don't have to be here. It's a promotion for you (and everyone else). You do need to be here (and there). 

[ChristianMuntean 18]

Alan - thanks.

My take away, and this is a new thought to me, is that I should focus my authority building within my actual sphere of influence and work to expand those edges.

For whatever reason - I've been working with the assumption that authority building needed to be focused on building a national or larger brand. 

I have to go back and relook at your upcoming offerings. Outlook doesn't like your e-mail and won't listen to me. The keep getting dumped before I see them. 

[Alan Weiss 2,208]

That's a shame, dumped where? In any case, you can visit my site or write to me. 

I'm not well known outside of my own sphere, but it's hard not to know me within it, so your reasoning makes sense to me.

I would strongly suggest Master Class for you while there are seats left. I think you're also coming to the Mentor Summit. And my upcoming livestream on being out of the tunnel already have over 50 people and more each day.

[ChristianMuntean 18]

Your e-mails keep getting slid into the junk folder. I can't get Outlook to accept my attempts to whitelist them.

Yes - planning towards the the Mentor Summit. I'll look into the Master Class. 

[Sten Vesterli 141]

5 minutes ago, ChristianMuntean said:

Your e-mails keep getting slid into the junk folder. I can't get Outlook to accept my attempts to whitelist them.

Have you tried adding all of Alan's email addresses to your Outlook address book? That often helps. 

[DavidOgilvie 48]

2 hours ago, ChristianMuntean said:

I can't get Outlook to accept my attempts to whitelist them.

I have that problem with some addresses as well, nice to know its not just me but a Microsoft feature.

[Alan Weiss 2,208]

I quickly review my junk folder daily to see if anything was directed in there that I need, then I delete everything.

[Praveen 285]

55 minutes ago, Alan Weiss said:

I quickly review my junk folder daily to see if anything was directed in there that I need, then I delete everything.

That's exactly what I do too, and if I find something that's not spam, I press a button labelled "not spam" to train my email to put it in the in box next time.

[DavidOgilvie 48]

48 minutes ago, Praveen said:

to train my email to put it in the in box next time.

That's what I thought adding an email address to the white list essentially did, but MS seems to continue to place in junk mail addresses that have been white listed.  

[Becky Morgan 134]

3 hours ago, Praveen said:

That's exactly what I do too, and if I find something that's not spam, I press a button labelled "not spam" to train my email to put it in the in box next time.

Apparently my Outlook email is a very slow learner. 

[Praveen 285]

4 hours ago, DavidOgilvie said:

That's what I thought adding an email address to the white list essentially did, but MS seems to continue to place in junk mail addresses that have been white listed.  

If you click on the message, does the info bar say "”This message was marked as spam using the Outlook Junk E-mail filter.” or does it say ”This message was marked as spam using a junk filter other than the Outlook Junk E-mail filter.” ? If it's the second, it means that it was done by a virus scanner or security suite, or ISP.  If there is no info on the info bar, it means it was either moved manually or by a rule set up to move messages into spam.

[ChristianMuntean 18]

@Praveen it says that it couldn't "identify the identity of the sender" and that the "actual sender is different than the normal sender."  

My own newsletters (that I write) get dumped into junk mail as well. I can't seem to do anything to get Outlook  to recognize that either.