ChristianMuntean 18 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Weiss 2,208 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 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? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Becky Morgan 134 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 What is Upboard? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristianMuntean 18 Posted March 25 Author Report Share Posted March 25 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. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Weiss 2,208 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Becky Morgan 134 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Praveen 285 Posted March 25 Report Share Posted March 25 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Linda Henman 308 Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 Is this a way our ideal buyers will want to read our books? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Weiss 2,208 Posted March 26 Report Share Posted March 26 I don't think so. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristianMuntean 18 Posted March 27 Author Report Share Posted March 27 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Weiss 2,208 Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Linda Henman 308 Posted March 27 Report Share Posted March 27 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristianMuntean 18 Posted March 28 Author Report Share Posted March 28 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?) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Weiss 2,208 Posted March 28 Report Share Posted March 28 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). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristianMuntean 18 Posted March 31 Author Report Share Posted March 31 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Weiss 2,208 Posted March 31 Report Share Posted March 31 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristianMuntean 18 Posted March 31 Author Report Share Posted March 31 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. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sten Vesterli 141 Posted March 31 Report Share Posted March 31 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DavidOgilvie 48 Posted March 31 Report Share Posted March 31 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. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alan Weiss 2,208 Posted March 31 Report Share Posted March 31 I quickly review my junk folder daily to see if anything was directed in there that I need, then I delete everything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Praveen 285 Posted March 31 Report Share Posted March 31 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DavidOgilvie 48 Posted April 1 Report Share Posted April 1 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. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Becky Morgan 134 Posted April 1 Report Share Posted April 1 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Praveen 285 Posted April 1 Report Share Posted April 1 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChristianMuntean 18 Posted April 1 Author Report Share Posted April 1 @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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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