“Harder to scale”
Posted by Kelly Abbott in lessons learned in the trenches, the little things on February 7th, 2010
I opened up the LA Times this morning and turned to my favorite Sunday section: books. Having little time to indulge in the art of the written word, instead I like to read about what other people are reading. Today, I happened up on an Essay by Dani Shapiro where she extolls the virtues of being a writer. Writing, she concludes, is a way of being; not an occupation so much an obsession. I love this line:
Call it stubbornness, stamina, a take-no-prisoners determination, but a writer at work reminds me of nothing so much as a terrier with a bone: gnawing, biting, chewing, until finally there is nothing left to do but fall away.
It can be said of all the creative arts. substitute photography or painting or dance and you have new legions of nodding heads. Can the same be said of the entrepreneur?
via A writing career becomes harder to scale – latimes.com.
Google Drops Support for IE 5&6
Posted by Kelly Abbott in the internet as we see it on February 2nd, 2010
Also in the mail this morning is a nastygram from Google to Microsoft. Why it came to me is somewhat a mystery. Therefore I feel I must relay its contents. They are:
Dear Google Apps admin,
In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.
We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.
Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.
Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.
In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.
Thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
The Google Apps team
The writing on the wall here is that Google isn’t happy about supporting the few of us who have not upgraded because it poses a serious security threat. Our own Jon Gallagher backs up the claim that any of our clients doing business online should seriously consider dropping support for IE6 and below explicitly. We’re glad Google is helping us tell this story too. While the Google apps ecosystem is catering to a more tech-savvy and security-conscious group online. What’s more it’s planting a flag firmly in the ground for the open-source alternatives in Firefox and Safari. The browser wars go on. But as more of our work is done online, less of it will be done with Microsoft.
Amazon Data Transfer Rates Lowered
Posted by Kelly Abbott in product development on February 2nd, 2010
Amazon sent us an early valentine’s day letter this morning:
Dear AWS Customer,
As you know, we are constantly working to drive our costs down and become more operationally efficient. We then pass on those cost savings to our customers in the form of lower prices. Today, we are pleased to announce that we are lowering AWS pricing for outbound data transfer by $0.02 across all of our services, in all usage tiers, and in all Regions. These changes are effective February 1, 2010.
The new outbound data transfer pricing will be:
- First 10 TB per Month: $0.15 per GB
- Next 40 TB per Month: $0.11 per GB
- Next 100 TB per Month: $0.09 per GB
- Over 150 TB per Month: $0.08 per GB
Amazon CloudFront, the easy-to-use content delivery service, continues to have its own outbound data transfer pricing schedule in order to offer the lowest possible rates for each edge location. Effective February 1, Amazon CloudFront will also reduce its outbound data transfer prices by $0.02 per GB across all edge locations and for each usage tier.
…yadda, yadda, yadda….
Sincerely,
The Amazon Web Services Team
Further proof that you can count on the cloud to keep getting cheaper.
How Do I Publish a Book in the Apple iPad iBookstore?
Posted by Kelly Abbott in our books, product reviews on January 29th, 2010
Steve Jobs with the iPad
Hi, Steve. Thanks for innovating. We love your work. But there’s just this one thing that’s irking us now. As an independent publisher who’s primary channel for sales is digital, how can I delivery our titles to iPad owners?
This much we know:
- The iPad is basically a larger iTouch. Yes, there are differences, but let’s just start there.
- The iPad will have a native app called “iBooks” which is the way iPad owners will access the iBookstore at Apple.
- HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette Book Group are already confirmed publishers with books available in the iBookstore.
- The ePub format will be supported by the iBookstore.
- And according to Steve Jobs in his Keynote: “We’re going to open the flood gates for the rest of the publishers in the world starting this afternoon.”
Where’s the flood?
I’m asking this because we’ve been researching this for our own book. We have new titles that will be ready for the iPad launch in 58 days. And if it takes weeks to get a book approved (in the same way it takes weeks to get an app approved) we need to have our ePub book(s) ASAP. I’m not sweating. Really. I’m sure Apple will indeed open the floodgates. But they’re already two days late.
After searching, I’m forced to lob this plea publicly: How do I as a publisher get a book in the Apple iBookstore?
iBooks App on the iPad
iWant Relief
Posted by Kelly Abbott in product reviews, the internet as we see it on January 28th, 2010
I want 3 iPads. One each for me and my wife – to use a Kindle-like device. And one for my son, who’s two years old, to use as an ebook reader/portable video player/personal gaming device. Say what you want about parenting with high-tech – the kid is going to be a hacker by the time he’s four whether we try or not. Still, I worry the iPad it’s not rugged enough for him – as he’s prone to destroying anything that’s not nailed, wedged, or firmly fixed in place. In the battle between his CAT earth mover and the iPad… Let’s just say the winner will be wearing Carharts.
For me and my wife, I worry that we’ll get into the habit of buying our books in the iBookstore only to not be able to take our books to the beach. Living in San Diego, this is a more practical lament than a fleeting one. We have a pile of magazines and newspapers we gratefully read and then recycle. The books we keep. I’ll miss filling my shelves with spoils from trips to the used bookstore.
Talking with a colleague this morning, he asked me if I would buy an iPad. I told him yes, for sure, at least one. After that, I’m not so sure.
“Why?” he asked.
Inner monologue: To have at home. It’s a fun device. I can imagine using more apps, reading books, and not having to fire up the laptop to surf the web. I’ll have to test it with David to see if he’s ready for one. But I think he’d love it too for the movies.
But when it comes down to it, I just said, “I really just wanted a better Kindle.”
I don’t own a Kindle. I’ve wanted to own a Kindle. But I couldn’t get past the form factor. What a drag to use, I thought. I’m the guy waiting for Apple to make eBook readers fun and more than just a reader. Yeah, that’s me.
“So you’ll spend $500 for the iPad but you won’t spend $250 for a Kindle?”
Guilty as charged. I won’t pay a penny for something that I don’t want. But if you show me something I want, I can be relieved of much more.
What the world needs now…
Posted by Kelly Abbott in our products on January 20th, 2010
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.
“What the World Needs Now Is Love” lyrics by Hal David.
Lovahs.com is a side project we started a while back. It came about when Trish, Jon and I were talking about building things that people could really sink their hearts and souls into. Call it social media. Call it user generated content. So much talk of that these days. So much of it to take seriously; or not. We wanted to contribute something light-hearted, fun, useful, and lasting. What better subject than love? Specifically, love letters on demand.
We’re going to have fun with it. We hope you do too. But first, some background.
Lovahs.com was built originally by Gina Trapani, designed by Patricia Forest. We had contributions to it from Adam Bronte and Jon Cianciullo. Jon Gallagher is managing the system. It was built voluntarily and as such we don’t really have any ambitions to make it a for-profit venture. The worlds needs love, after all. Enjoy!
Read, Write, Code
What separates Lovahs from any other project we’ve done (and from any other social media site for that matter) is that we’ve made the code open source as well. Which is to say, we don’t just want people to come to the site to read love letters, we want them to share them. We don’t just want people so share them, we want them to write them. And we don’t just want people to write letters, we want them to write and share our code on which the site is running. We’re taking social media to the next level. Or not. Who knows what comes of our effort to get others involved. But the experiment is worth trying.
Love in all its forms
Lovahs.com is really designed as minimally as possible. It allows people to peruse the site, read letters and send them to others. If you want to contribute a letter or make comments on a letter you can – just sign up and those features will be available to you.
We purposefully left out many features (some of which we put on our wishlist). We wanted to launch with the simplest possible product and then see where the community takes it.
Some samples
Last but not least. Here are some sample letters right from the site. Please share freely!
by Mary
by splash
Famous Love Letter
And a little nonsense
1,000 Books Sold
Posted by Kelly Abbott in about us, lessons learned in the trenches, our books on January 19th, 2010
We realized going into this that the gain was not profit. We thought we’d learn something and that, to us, was something we couldn’t quite put a value on. Nevertheless, we didn’t go into it without wanting to make money. We just didn’t know where to set our expectations. After all, publishing a book first as a wiki, licensing it for free distribution and making it available as an eBook to download is not a business model widely known.
In just two months, we’ve sold over 1,000 copies of The Complete Guide to Google Wave.
When Gina first approached us to help her, we put together some preliminary numbers anyway. In true scientific method, we formed a hypothesis (sell X number of books) and tested it (go out and sell them). For the preview edition, we anticipated selling between 100 and 1000 copies but really figured we’d sell around 500-700 copies. We hit our high mark of 1,000 and we did it in exactly two months. Net revenues for the book have been $5300 (we lose about 50 cents per copy to google checkout and 10 cents to docmonk). Our peak day was November 20 (Day 3) when the book was announced; we sold 85 copies that day.
Sales pattern for the (now 9) weeks since it went on sale:
Complete Guide to Google Wave sales by week
On the horizon, we will have the First Edition (not a preview edition) for sale by March 12 (when SXSW begins). It will be a higher price. With it we will also have a Print-on-Demand version that we can drop-ship as well (for a slightly higher price). We got our first preview copy of that last week. Here’s a peek at me showing it off excitedly.
Our print preview
The Complete Guide to Google Wave – the eBook published by 3ones
Posted by Kelly Abbott in our books, our products on November 17th, 2009
Book Cover
With much pride in our work, we announce the arrival of our first published eBook, the Complete Guide to Google Wave, by Gina Trapani with Adam Pash. It’s the first book published about Google Wave. The book is also free to share. Free as in freedom. Free as in, download, share, copy, recycle, re-mix and re-factor. It’s yours, yours, yours, and yours. You’re all welcome.
Published the Wiki Way
The guide went live a few weeks ago as a wiki first. Gina and Adam continue to write it and edit it. Which is to say, it’s no longer just a book but a truly collaborative book that exists online. If you buy a PDF copy, download it to your kindle or desktop and enjoy. If someone loans you a copy, do the same. But remember…
Credits:
- The original was initially written by Gina and Adam
- Marian Gallagher edited the copy
- Jon Gallagher developed the fulfillment and customization system
- Patricia Forest designed the site and the book
- Kelly Abbott poured coffee and rubbed shoulders
If you think our work was valuable, show it by contributing to the wiki, buying the eBook, or both.
Watch this Space
We’ll be using our site to tell the complete story behind the Complete Guide to Google Wave. We have planned releasing four editions over the next twelve months. As we explore the economics of this open publishing model during that time we’ll share our insights into the business of book publishing in the eBook/Wiki era.
Enjoy!
Core Market, Core Values
Posted by Kelly Abbott in lessons learned in the trenches, marketing, product development on November 13th, 2009
Core Market
There comes a time in the life cycle of a failing product where the progenitors, in spite of their best intentions to develop a strong set of features the customer wants, find themselves scratching their heads asking the million-dollar question: “Why won’t you come?”
“Look at all these features. Now, why won’t you use them?”
There’s a misconception in product development that the feature makes the market. Most entrepreneurs — myself included — invent products that solve problems. Therefore the market for any given product is loosely defined as anyone with that problem in the area I can ship that product to. Looked at another way, products developed in this way have features that address the market that desires these features. Nice work if you can find a large market with a hitherto unmet needed solution. Good luck!
Looked at that way, it’s easy to see that features make a market no more than a market makes features. The key is to find a small market with a small unmet need their willing to pay for a good solution to. This small market is a core market. The produces of a product with a core market doesn’t just say, “I know who I serve best,” but more importantly says, “I know who not to serve.”
Core value
At the heart of understanding how features and markets are loosely coupled is the concept of core value. Core value is a term that gets thrown out a lot in meetings with investors. Investors want entrepreneurs to distill their vision into a single core value. There’s logic in this thought experiment. It’s a values statement for the proposed company where the investor sizes up the entrepreneur’s intent. By the same token, the entrepreneur uses a core value as a shield from those who would have them stray from essence for being in business: adding value at a fair price.
Having a core value is not a vision statement but well articulated a Core Value does serve as a kind of corporate mantra. It helps the entrepreneur make decisions and serves as a touchstone for so much of the trial and error learning involved in both developing the product and articulating the market for that product.
A product with a core value says, “I know what I do best.”
The New TypePad: “Simply Better” or Empty Promise?
Posted by Kelly Abbott in product reviews on September 30th, 2009
Cleveland Rocks
In the history of North-South style debates, there’s no getting around the fact that lovers of A are likely to be haters of B. It’s as true when we’re talking about Macs vs. PCs and it’s true when we’re talking about Cleveland vs. Cincinnati. But is it true when we’re talking about our many choices for blogging?
TypePad will be going live with their new platform tomorrow. Rather than touting their strong positioning among professional bloggers they are going for a broader market for with their “Simply Better” marketing. The problem is, when you’re trying to steal the competition’s mojo simply saying so, doesn’t in fact make it so. Better is subjective. One can’t prove “better.” Faster, more effective – those are selling points. But better? I’ll be the judge of that, Mr. This image is taken from their new home page:
Simply Better?
If I were TypePad, I would have focused on the benefits that are less touchy-feely and not worry so much about upstarts such as Posterous and Tumblr which focus on ease of use, style and whose main points of differentiation are demonstrably touchy-feely. Whereas TypePad’s promise of being better is simply lip service, Tumblr and Posterous actually look different from your average blog and as such are likely to attract people who are looking for a better than usual solution.
What TypePad has that it’s old competitors (blogger, wordpress) don’t is cache among people who really want to make a business from their content. Of the top 100 blogs, only wordpress can claim to power more blogs than TypePad. For that reason, it seems strange to me that they would not highlight their most prominent bloggers and the fact that they are working their hardest to optimize blogs hosted on their platform optimized for search.
Still, the fact remains that the blogging market is fragmented. There is no clear market leader. In the same way that Google dominates search, the same cannot be said for blogging platforms. There is no single dominant platform. The opportunity here for TypePad is to truly differentiate itself and congeal a particular market. I contest it’s the “I’m serious about my content and will treat it as a business” market. The others are all clamoring for “I’m a social beast and my blog is my online identity” market which, to me, seems dangerously fickle. What’s to stop a Tumblr blogger from jumping on the next fashionable blogging platform? Nothing. What’s stopping a business from migrating to a new platform? Cold hard facts. Search Engine Optimization is the big differentiator in that market and as such, should be emphasized over fashionable and fact-less claims.
Simple and easy. Those are the fighting words for the Tumblr and Posterous camp. Wordpress claims open source and relentless feature innovation. Blogger claims google. What does TypePad stand for? Rather plant a flag in the fertile lands of business blogging, latent love-hate passions of long-time, dedicated business bloggers, TypePad is opting for a world of hurt.
Read more about the new TypePad features here.
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