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i-love-side-characters · 3 years

Note

What did you think of the end of The Toll?

!!! TOLL SPOILERS !!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION !!!

Scythe Cult: @honorablescythecurie @honorablescythefaraday @palli-x @book-limerence @lochscinders @a-lonely-tatertot @shellyseashell

bored? send me serotonin please <3

Okay now lets get a couple things out of the way. I haven’t read Toll in a little bit, and it’s taking forever to come from the library. Also, yes I did have it downloaded before, but I kept rereading Faraday’s journal entry when he find out Curie is dead. I know, I’m trash for them but honestly let me have this #curiedeservedbetter2021 #faradaydeservedbetter2021 #curadayforlife

Now that we’ve established that I’m just lonely and so I cling onto healthy (ish) fictional couples for my source of love, let’s proceed.

Things I remember:

- Rowan and Citra go zoomy zoom into spacey space, but Citra’s deadish because Goddard pulled some shit and so Rowan’s going to wait a couple hundred years for her to wake up

- Total hottie Ayn Rand shanked Goddard which is honestly a power move you go girl

- Faraday and Munira unleashed the failsafe, which basically infected a whole bunch of people and now Scythes just kill the infected people so that there’s no suffering

- Jeri!!! and Greyson!!! Babeys!!! Smol Beans!!! My genderfluid babey with my weird Jesus man it’s a match made by the Thunderhead (because it literally is)

- Rowan and Citra (who renounced her Scythehood) are going to start a new colony on some random ass planet

Things I don’t remember:

- Whatever happen with Cirrus

- Whatever happen with Joel the Jobe Man

- Whatever happen with Loriana and Munira who are totally in love Shusterman said Sapphic rights

Okay Akki stfu lets move on:

Okay. I didn’t really like it. I did like Rowan’s sarcasm, but the ending fell a little flat. Compared to the other books’ endings, I didn’t really think it measured up. It was just a bit bland. Here’s why.

The end goal:

Let’s just work our way through the series to show why The Toll just didn’t really work for me.

Scythe - Book 1:

Goal/Climax:

The goal/climax of the book was clear. Citra and Rowan are fighting for the ring. Only one can get it, and the winner has to glean the other.

The ending:

Citra wins the ring, and is ordained. Instead of actually killing (gleaning) Rowan, she slyly grants him immunity by punching him so that his blood’s DNA would transfer to the database and no Scythe could kill him. We also got a confession scene where they tell each other they love the other. It ends with Rowan finding out that Faraday did not self-glean.

Why it works:

It is tense. We are watching the two main characters have to either kill the other or be killed. Neither want to. It is clear from their actions throughout that they harbour feelings for each other. This is a high stakes situation. And it flows nicely. We don’t have any unnecessary dialogue/scenes. We don’t have a dumb solution to the problem where a bunch of unnecessary events happen like a character death/romantic scene. They do tell the other that they love them, but the moment is quick and is not the focus of the moment. The focus is on the actual ordainment ceremony and the challenge. The solution directly addresses the main conflict of the book.

Thunderhead - Book 2:

Goal/Climax:

Goddard and Citra (now Anastasia) are presenting their arguments as to who will win the inquest. The inquest was called because Anastasia and Curie needed time to gain more votes in favour of Curie for the position of High Blade.

The ending:

Anastasia and Curie win the inquest, and Goddard must complete a full new apprenticeship in order to train his new body. Goddard, however, has tricks up his sleeve. He had made a plan prior to the events on Endura to cripple the Grandslayers tower. The plan changes, but works to his favour and destroys the entire island. Curie, in a desperate attempt to save Rowan and Citra, locks them in an airtight chamber that will preserve them so they can be revived. With this sacrifice, Curie is forced to self glean.

“She thrust her blade inward, directly into her heart. She fell to the ground only seconds before the sea would wash over her, but she knew death would wash over her faster. And the blade hurt far less than she imagined it would, which made her smile. She was good. Very, very good.”

-Thunderhead, page 499

Why it works:

*violently screams in my head* I’m good don’t worry

It is a logical ending. If Curie and Anastasia had won the inquest and survived Endura, there would be no need for a third book, unless Shusterman had decided to write a book about Curie being High Blade and Goddard sulking in the shadows and plotting to kill her. That wouldn’t work because I don’t think there is any possible way Curie wouldn’t catch Goddard in two seconds because she’s a boss.

Many people say that Curie should have gotten Rowan to lock her and Anastasia in the vault instead of him. Rowan would have died for Anastasia, it makes sense, but that takes away from the very essence of Curie’s character. She is a truly Honourable Scythe. She knows that Anastasia loves him, and she cares deeply about Anastasia. Letting herself survive would have been completely out of character. She also knows that Anastasia is the future of the Scythedom. While it would be a great help if Curie didn’t die, as well as sparing us emotional trauma, it doesn’t make sense for her character.

This ending also directly “solved” the issue in the book. While the villain won, it was a satisfying ending. Curie is dead, that was a very smart move, because obviously Goddard wouldn’t survive two seconds if she was there. It gave us a good reason for the Thunderhead to disappear.

*violently screams again* Curie died, yeah, no, I’m okay

The Toll - Book 3: *note that some details may be wrong

Goal/Climax:

Faraday, Rowan, Jeri, Munira, Loriana, Anastasia, Greyson, and Cirrus need to figure out what to with the frozen Tonists, all unknowing that Scythes Goddard and Rand are heading towards the island. They still need to beat him in order to make sure that the non-Scythe population won’t be subject to bias/malice/aforethought/Goddard’s ego.

The ending:

Rowan, and Citra, who renounced her Scythehood, travel to another planet that can support life with the frozen Tonists, as well as 42 other ships carrying Tonists. Cirrus is copied into 42 different versions in order to save humanity. After being offered Citra’s old ring, Munira (I believe) returns to the Library of Alexandria. Faraday follows through with the failsafe and gleans only the suffering. Greyson and Jeri stay together on the island, and become romantically involved. Scythe Rand is the one who eventually kills Goddard.

Why it DOESN’T work:

Okay, there’s a lot to unpack here. I’m just going to go character by character and by the plot.

1. Plot - It just doesn’t make sense. The hero’s solution doesn’t in any way stop Goddard, who is the main villain. We’ve led up to this for a very long time, and Rand is the one who gleans him. If I’m correct, The main characters don’t interact with Goddard for nearly the entire book, save Rowan. The solution, to save humanity by colonizing other planets would, without Rand’s interference, let Goddard wreak his havoc on the world. Only Scythe Faraday and Morrison could truly challenge him, and even then Faraday is old and hasn’t kept his abilities refined, and Morrison is young and inexperienced and wears a denim robe.

2. Rand and Goddard’s Arcs - Rand is the one who kills Goddard. I think that this was a very interesting move, and one that made a lot of sense. Goddard has treated her terribly, it would satisfy her arc of turning against him, as well as giving her a redemption arc that would also avenge Tyger’s death. I think that this is actually a really good arc, were it not for the fact that Citra and Goddard never fought/interacted with each other. If there had been a fight, and Rand had killed him then, that would have been better and would have better satisfied the actual conflict in the book.

3. Rowan and Citra’s Arcs - In terms of Citra’s arc, I think it was emotionally impactful to have her renounce her Scythehood. But Rowan didn’t have as much of a part to play in this book as he could have had. Citra and Goddard also never interacted, which would have been very interesting since he was the direct cause of her mentor and canon mother figure’s death. It would have been an interesting scene that could have played out really well. Based on Discord texts from a conversation I had, I know an reminded that the last two pages of The Toll were incredibly impactful and beautiful. I don’t have much to say about Rowan since I don’t remember much of his role.

4. Jeri, Greyson, Loriana, and Munira’s Arcs - I paired these four together since their doings aren’t very solid after the books. Jeri and Greyson are canonically together, which I think was a great move by Shusterman. Having a main character in a healthy relationship with a canon LGBTQ+ character was incredibly impactful for me, and it satisfied Greyson’s thoughts about how he doesn’t care if Jeri is a boy or a girl, he just loves them. Loriana didn’t have as much of an arc, but Munira did have a small one. Her refusal of the Scythe’s ring let her dispense of her hatred for Scythes and their system, and let her let go of her bitter feelings about not being ordained.

5. Cirrus’ Arc? - I do not remember enough to speak about Cirrus’ role in the books.

6. Faraday’s Arc - This is probably the one I have the most to say about. I am sorry in advance. Faraday is an emotional character. He has cried canonically twice as far as I can remember, once when he gleaned a child, and the other when he found out Scythe Curie and Anastasia had died on Endura. He is also openly disgusted with Scythe Goddard and his practices, which is why I supremely dislike his arc. It would have been so interesting to see how he would have reacted if Scythe Goddard and the heroes had interacted during the end scene of The Toll. We know he is an Honourable Scythe, like Curie, and upholds the Scythe Commandments, especially after his punishment over his breaking of the 9th commandment “Thou shalt have no spouse nor spawn.” It would have been so. interesting. to see whether Faraday would snap and attack Goddard, if he would try and talk to him, how he would react. Like with Anastasia, he would have been interacting with Curie’s murderer. The potential of that moment! Don’t forget that Faraday is definitely still in love with Curie, based on his elevated heart rate in Thunderhead, and his journal entry in The Toll. I think it would have been so interesting to see him confront her killer.

Summary:

Okay that was much longer than I intended, and I have more thoughts, but it’s 2:40 am and I haven’t slept in a while. So my summary. I liked The Toll. It was a solid book, that had funny moments, jaw dropping moments, heartfelt moments, and emotionally impactful scenes. It was a solid book.

I don’t think it compared as much to the other two, especially Thunderhead. The ending fell a little flat and didn’t carry the arcs as well as I would have liked, but honestly, I still reread it. Shusterman really managed to pull at your emotions.

Because I just beat up on the book for the last couple paragraphs, let me tell you some of my favourite parts of the book.

1. Literally any scene with Possuelo and Anastasia that dynamic was so good and him calling her “meu anjo” literally made my heart do a little happy dance the father-daughter dynamic was what we needed. It also offered a nice levity to tough scenes.

2. The Rowan-Anastasia Reunion. They ran towards each other and knocked each other off their feet. Ohhhh my god, they ran towards each other and knocked each other off their feet! That was so cute, and as someone who was a strong supporter of platonic Rowan & Anastasia, I honestly loved it.

3. Faraday-Anastasia Reunion. Him dropping to his knees in front her her, her initial confusion as to who he was, and the “perhaps the greatest of all Scythes was kneeling in front of her” part killed me. Their reunion was so well written and heart-wrenching.

4. Anastasia Cries about Curie’s Death. I feel like WatchMojo right now. Anyways, the way her emotions break after trying to repress her sadness over her mentor’s sacrifice for her.

5. Rowan’s sarcasm. Beauty. What a power move to sass the guy who’s going to set you on fire in front of 3000 people.

6. Scythe Constantine and Rand. What a dynamic I wasn’t ready for. Rand’s cool comebacks with Constantine’s sly personality just made for the most amazing dialogue opportunities.

Thank you anon!

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dorothydelgadillo · 5 years

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I'm a Marketer & I Don't Want Your Email Address

To quote Gary V, from his INBOUND12 keynote address, “Marketers F#$% everything up.”

The first time I heard him say this was at HubSpot's annual INBOUND event. This keynote was also the first time I heard a speaker drop the F-Bomb. (He actually dropped it 84 times in a 60-minute talk - I know because I counted).

In a later interview with Inc. Magazine, he went on to explain how “marketers ruin everything.”

Gary’s point was this: When we marketers find something that buyers find valuable, we exploit the hell out of it until our buyers are jaded and turned off.

The result? You got it - it doesn’t work anymore.

Need proof? Think about banner ads. When was the last time you clicked on a banner ad?

The first banner ad was purchased by AT&T and appeared on HotWired.com in 1994. It returned a 44% click-through-rate. That ROI would be unheard of today.

Now, think about email.

How many pieces of content have you not downloaded because you’re pretty sure doing so would’ve unleashed a firestorm of emails from the content provider and every other company they share or sell their lists to?

Your prospective buyer likely has done the same. For them, it’s just no longer worth it.

So, what’s a marketer to do?

I’ll tell you what. Don’t ask for their email.

"What?!" you say?

"How am I supposed to know who they are?"

You aren’t.

"How will I nurture those leads?"

You won’t.

"What will I pass to the team of eager-beaver sales reps sitting next to me?"

Nothing.

Before we get into the tactics of what you should do (and we will get there), let’s be honest with each other.

You Don’t Need Everyone’s Email Address

For most companies - companies that make things, service things, or deliver things - knowing a prospect's email address at the beginning of a conversation is not necessary.

Not only that - asking for it doesn’t increase your value or trustworthiness in the eyes of a prospective buyer.

Say I work at a software company that helps you gather market research, identify market trends, and better understand what your competition is doing in your industry (which I do).

When you first discover us, knowing if you already use the type of software I'm selling is far more important to me than knowing your email address. And getting helpful information that you can actually use is more important to you than giving me your email address.

Yes, at some point I will need your email if I am going to initiate an interaction with you, but for now - in our first interaction - I don’t need it.

And let’s be honest. At this point, you probably aren’t even sure if I have anything meaningful to say. And until you do, why would you agree to hear from me again?

My advice?

Let your prospects see what you have to offer before you say your digital-nuptials and exchange email.

Buyers are jaded and cynical and I don’t blame them. Most of us marketers do too much taking and not enough giving.

How many “Free eBook” offers have you seen that look more like PowerPoint slides with a paragraph of 45-point text than any book you might check out at your local library?

And we want people to give us their emails for that? I don’t think so…

It’s Time to Make a Change

Most of us fear change.

Change is by its very nature different. That’s why it's changed.

But whether we like it or not, change is all around us. Your company is changing, your market is changing, and your competitors are changing. In turn, choosing not to change is not a winning strategy.

I believe our abuse of email and content marketing is a significant contributor to the lightning-fast adoption of what Drift CEO David Cancel calls conversational marketing.

In his book, HYPERGROWTH, he talks about how the customer-driven model is changing the way businesses connect with buyers.

Chat tools like Drift feed our inner “Veruca Salt: I want it Now!” desire. (She was the bratty child from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

via GIPHY

They also allow the buyer to remain anonymous.

Not only can prospective buyers get their answer immediately when they chat on our websites, via human or bot, but they can also do so without having to share their name or email address.

Not giving up their email address means they don’t need to worry about deleting all those unwanted messages we may be planning on sending from the automated lead nurturing workflow they never asked to join.

Instead of jumping in and asking for our prospects’ email addresses right of the gate, we as marketers would be better served by focusing on delivering value by helping our prospects, answering their questions, and giving them the information they need to solve their problems - without asking for anything in return.

(Note: If you want to learn more about Drift, reach out to Tyler, he's a real person and really helpful - even before you give him your email.)

Always Solve for the Buyer

At the most fundamental level, my goal as a marketer is to build trust and establish credibility with my prospects.

I do this by sharing my company’s perspective, experience, and intelligence in a way that is educational and designed to answer their questions and help them solve their problems.

Doing all of this without asking for an email address is a very effective way to build trust and credibility, and it makes great business sense.

Liz Murphy, Director of Web and Interactive Content at IMPACT recently shared how:

“Ungating our content didn't hurt our lead flow at all. To the contrary, by sharing our content with our website visitors, we've been able to demonstrate the value that we provide through our content and if anything, it has resulted in a higher visitor-to-lead conversion rate, and more qualified bottom of the funnel leads."

I’m Practicing What I Preach

In my role as VP of Marketing at Cipher Systems, I’m measured by the number of qualified leads I deliver to our sales team. We’re a SaaS company that sells competitive intelligence software, and one of our primary top of the funnel offers is a “Guide to Competitive Intelligence.”

Last month, I decided to experiment with making the email field on the conversion form for this offer not required. Visitors to our site can get the guide whether they give us their email or not - it’s their choice. What is required are the answers to two questions: 1) what is your role in competitive intelligence? and 2) which goal are you trying to accomplish with CI?

This information is much more relevant to me at this early stage in our relationship with the buyer than their email address is, and I’m betting on the quality of our content to make an impression and convince our visitors that it’s worth coming back to our site - and eventually giving us their email address.

Want to check it out? Fill out the form and make sure you don’t give me your email address when you do so.

My Results

Eliminating the requirement for prospects to give us their email address when downloading our Guide to Competitive Intelligence may seem like a risky move for someone, such as me, whose job performance is judged by metrics like lead conversions.

The good news is that my bet paid off and in the month since I implemented this change on our form, the number of new contacts we’ve gotten from the offer has increased by 900%.

Yup - you read that right - that is a 900% increase in new contacts simply by removing the requirement for prospects to give us their email address.

Needless to say, I plan to roll out a similar change on several of our other top of the funnel forms.

Why You Should Ditch the Email Address Requirement

To clarify, I'm not suggesting that you never ask for a prospect's email address - just that you consider eliminating the need for it on some (or all) of your top of the funnel forms.

You might be reading this and thinking, “What if I share my content and offers without asking for an email address, and my prospect doesn’t come back?”

That is definitely a risk that you run with this approach, and the reality is that your marketing performance, as you measure it today, may very well decline. This approach doesn't work well if your content stinks.

But, if you're creating truly educational and helpful content, there are a few reasons why taking this approach is worth the risk:

1. Increase Conversion Rates

There is a good chance that when you do this, you’ll see a reduction in the overall number of new email addresses that get added to your database every month. Why? Because every single website visitor who wants to see your content will no longer need to give you their contact information in order to do so.

The reduction in new contacts with email addresses may very well be offset by an increase in your visitor-to-lead conversion rates, as IMPACT saw. Why? Once your visitors see your content and realize that it delivers real value, they will actually be more willing to give you their email address because they'll feel confident that any future outreach on your part will continue to add value.

2. Better Quality Leads

The quality of your leads will likely increase because the people who actually do convert on your forms will do so not because they want your eBook, but because they actually want to engage with you.

If you're like me, and your performance is measured at least in part by the quality of leads you deliver to your sales team, this is a huge win.

A Win-Win For Marketers and Buyers

The next time you ask a buyer for her email address, first ask yourself, “Will this help my buyer, or is this only helping me?”

Marketers who place the buyer’s needs first and give before they ask to receive will always build trust and credibility within their markets - and buyers will reward them for it.

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/im-a-marketer-and-i-dont-want-your-email-address

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misselaineousme-blog · 6 years

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A little light reading ...

I have found myself thinking about the library of Alexandria lately. It’s usually when I hit the button on Amazon that says “Deliver to Elaine’s Kindle” and I marvel at the fact that the written word, which for thousands of years could only be accessed in certain places by a tiny fraction of the population, is now available on demand, anywhere, at any time.

After all, there has never been a time on our planet when so much information is literally at our fingertips. We can fact check the news and urban myths, see the weather on the other side of the globe, and access a dynamic encyclopedia on a device that weighs less than a deck of cards. Books, once written by hand, can be downloaded at the touch of a button to a laptop, mobile phone, or eReader, and reading is cheaper than therapy for stress relief and better for brain cells than television.

Although I grew up with a love of fiction, much of my current reading material has been more eclectic. Indeed, those who know me are familiar with my tendency to say “Oh, I just read this great book that says …” and then spouting off the latest factoid that caught my attention (sorry about that, I’m trying to stop). I decided to continue to publish an annual list of what I’ve been reading, in part to help me keep track, but also to share some fascinating books that may be overlooked. They’re (mostly) in no particular order, and for full disclosure Amazon Affiliate links are used ... but spare a thought for those ancient Alexandrians who could only dream of such easy access to information!

Barking up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong (Eric Barker): With its engaging writing style and sound scientific backing, I have to admit this was one of my favourite discoveries of 2017. Barker shows that there is evidence to support conflicting claims about what makes someone successful, then demonstrates to the reader how a balance can be achieved for greater happiness. If you’re looking for a book that is both interesting and uplifting, I highly recommend this one. At the very least, get on over to his website and sign up to his mailing list for a weekly dose of inspiration and information.

One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way (Robert Maurer): While I cannot say this book has changed my life, it has changed how I think about things: namely, important goals cannot be achieved overnight! If you want to make long-term, lasting changes, then small and steady really seems to be the way forward. When coupled with Stephen Guise’s Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results, this is a good foundation for making positive changes.

Mini Habits for Weight Loss: Stop Dieting. Form New Habits. Change Your Lifestyle Without Suffering (Stephen Guise): Amazon is a clever corporation. They saw I had purchased Better than Before, a book about habits, and recommended this one as well. And I am so glad I fell for their marketing trick as I enjoyed this one so much more than BtB. It has a kaizen-esque vibe (start small) and I really like the underlying philosophy behind it. It can basically be boiled down to choose a small goal and carry it out every day. This might be running in place for 30 seconds or doing one push up (or reading two pages of a book or writing 50 words a day if weight loss isn’t one of your goals). You can of course do more if you want, but the idea is to change your mindset and use the momentum of small wins to carry you forward. After all, a full year of running in place 30 seconds each day is better than running for 30 minutes three or four times a week if you abandon the latter after a few workouts because it doesn’t fit into your schedule.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness (Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein): Finally! This one has been on my should-read list for a while, and the authors winning the Nobel Prize for Economics finally encouraged me to take the plunge. It was an interesting look at the world of “choice architecture” and how careful design regarding defaults and decision making can be used to help people (or for evil … your choice). I still haven’t figured out a way to make not littering easier than littering, but it’s always useful to have a bit more evidence in my arsenal.

The Happiness Hypothesis: Putting Ancient Wisdom to the Test of Modern Science (Jonathan Haidt): Improving well-being, a spot of history, and scientific backing all rolled into one book—what’s not to like? While some of the writing is slightly more academic than other books listed here, I found this one to be quite enlightening, and worth a read if you’re looking for ways of better understanding and improving your mood.

168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think (Laura Vanderkam): I wouldn’t exactly call this a time-management book. It’s more about being aware of your time, where it goes, and how you can use it better to achieve your goals. While I greatly enjoyed it overall and would definitely recommend it if you’re trying to figure out how to prioritise your activities, the author doesn’t really discuss the fact that time is not created equal. If you spend a day doing a mentally exhausting job, trying to complete your own project(s) in the evening is not necessarily going to yield the best results. Which brings me to …

Two Awesome Hours: Science-Based Strategies to Harness Your Best Time and Get Your Most Important Work Done (Josh Martin): This book fills in some of the gaps of 168 Hours, and is overall a good reminder that (1) multi-tasking doesn’t exist, and (2) be aware of your peak times so you can get your most important work done then, not during the times you’d prefer to be taking a nap.

When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Daniel Pink): I love the author’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, so queued up his latest book that delves into chronotypes, the importance of harnessing the power of beginnings, middles, and ends, and basically goes beyond what to looking at when is the best time for certain activities. With its engaging writing style and useful summaries, this is a good introduction to the power of timing.

Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade (Robert Cialdini): I am a big fan of the author’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (in fact, I read it again this year), so it was great to see this new one out that also deals with the importance of timing, especially as regards influencing. If you are short on time, however, I’d recommend starting with Influence.

Miracle Morning: The 6 Habits That Will Transform Your Life Before 8AM (Hal Elrod): I’ve written about my experience with Miracle Morning before, and in general I still think highly of it. I have to admit I fell off the early-to-rise wagon with the arrival of autumn and darker mornings, but I am hoping that spring will set me back on the right path.

The Art of Thinking Clearly (Rolf Dobelli): If you liked Daniel Kahnehahn’s Thinking Fast and Slow, you should enjoy this book that collects various fallacies and biases into one place. Clear, concise writing and bitesize chapters makes this book great for dipping in and out of while commuting or on the loo.

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions (Dan Ariely): I found Predictably Irrational to be a solid companion to Kahnehahn and Cialdini, and one that had me nodding along as he explained the psychology behind seemingly irrational decisions that everyone makes. If you’ve ever wanted why people tend to choose things that go against their own best interest, this is a good book to start with.

The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick) (Seth Godin): The problem with being in the middle of something is that you don’t often know exactly how long this phase will last. The enthusiasm of starting something has worn off, the finishing line is not in sight, and you don’t know whether you’ll soon be hitting your stride or hitting a wall. Godin’s book shows how powering through can take you to new heights … but also to be aware that sometimes it’s necessary to abandon ship to stop from going round in circles.

The Long Tail: How Endless Choice is Creating Unlimited Demand (Chris Anderson): This is a book that is often cited as a game changer, and its title is regularly used to describe the opportunity offered by digital technology. I found it interesting to an extent, but with of an original publication date of 2006, it already felt out of date. Overall it’s a decent reference, but I would suggest looking for more recent take on the long tail phenomenon.

TED Talks: The official TED guide to public speaking: Tips and tricks for giving unforgettable speeches and presentations (Chris Anderson): This was a book that popped up on Amazon as a result of reading The Long Tail, and since I had my own forthcoming talk to give at the time, I decided to give it ago. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to give their own powerful presentations, learn what goes on behind the scenes at TED, or is just interested in what some of Anderson’s recommended TED talks are.

Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Life (Gretchen Rubin): Occasionally books just don’t work for me and this was one of them. The author’s tone comes across as holier-than-thou, and what she typically describes aren’t habits but behaviours (yes, there is a difference). She lost me with an impassioned defence of diet soda, despite current scientific studies showing that they’re equally as bad (or worse) than regular cola (carbonation alone is even shown to increase calorie consumption). This cherry picking of evidence doesn’t sit well with me, so I moved on to Mini Habits, which I would recommend instead.

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway (Susan Jeffers): This is a classic of the self-help genre and there is a good reason for that: it is the one book that I would recommend to anyone feeling a bit stuck. It simultaneously serves as a kick up the backside and a warm hug.

Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life (Susan David): Some may find Feel the Fear a tad too New Age-y. In that case, I would recommend Emotional Agility as it is an engaging, practical book grounded in psychology and academic research. If that still seems too airy-fairy for you, may I recommend …

The Chimp Paradox (Steve Peters): There’s a very good reason the author is used by a number of athletes to help improve their performance: this is another classic that will help you look at your brain and emotions in a completely different way. If neither of the previous two books worked for you with regards to reprogramming troublesome thoughts and breaking out of existing ruts, then this one should do the trick.

Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long (David Rock): I loved this book. Rock uses storytelling to get his point across about how the brain works, especially when dealing with problematic work situations. This blend of fact and fiction works incredibly well together to help the reader remember the neuroscience and lessons he is trying to impart.

Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice (Matthew Syed): Both this and Gladwell’s Outliers make the point that often what we perceive as talent is in fact the result of hundreds or thousands of hours of practice. But not just any practice or rote activity: it must be deliberate, with feedback, so that improvements can be made. I enjoyed both books, so would recommend reading them back to back to aid in remembering the points made by the authors.

Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell): See above.

Smartcuts (Shane Snow): First of all, I have no idea why this book is considerably cheaper as a paperback than on Kindle, but if you’re interested in it, get the physical version instead. Second, this is a fun, fascinating read through real-life ways of skipping up the career ladder. Even if you’re happy with your current rung (and quite frankly half of the books listed here are about being happy where you are now), I strongly recommend this as it is an entertaining read.

Never Split the Difference: Negotiate As If Your Life Depended On It (Chris Voss): As a former FBI hostage negotiator, Voss has written a compelling book that makes you re-think how you interact with people. This was another favourite and one that I am already planning to read again sometime over the coming year.

Dear Fahrenheit 451 (Annie Spence): This is a bit of light reading that I absolutely loved. Quite simply it’s a librarian’s letters to her books, and if you are an avid reader or book collector then you’ll understand it perfectly.

Rivers of London series (Ben Aaronovitch): The only proper fictional entry on this list, but one which I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who is looking for a laugh (with a bit of darkness thrown in). Imagine Harry Potter crossed with Law & Order and a soupçon of the best sci-fi comedy writing and you’ll get close. Start with Rivers of London, then proceed to Moon Over Soho, Whispers Underground, Broken Homes, Foxglove Summer, and The Hanging Tree.

I also squeezed in a few old favourites:

The Power of Habit (Charles Duhigg): I am a bit obsessed with how habits can be used to improve lives, and the underpinning neuroscience behind habit formation and changing habits is absolutely fascinating.

Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth about Success (Matthew Syed): If you haven’t read this, you’re missing out. Both it and Syed’s Bounce work well together to underscore that perfection doesn’t exist, but that constantly striving for improvement is a better way forward.

12 Week Year (Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington): I am currently using this system to help me focus on goals I want to accomplish and prioritise activities; it uses the psychology of small wins and short time periods to motivate, and it’s one that I would recommend if you want to accomplish a lot in a limited period of time.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini): This is a fascinating view of common compliance techniques and ways around them; very useful for the next time someone offers you a free sample.

What are some of your favourite books of the past year? Drop me a line or share them on Facebook.

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podcastcoach · 7 years

Text

What Podcasters Can Learn From Kevin Hart

New Apple Specs Coming

In the future, Apple Podcasts app will support some new features including:

One the podcast level you will have Seasons Serial and Episodic podcast types

On the Episode level Title, episode number, and season number Summary and episode notes Trailers and bonus content GUID (don’t change it!)

I am worried when I read the text, "New subscribers will receive the first episode in their Library, or the current season if using seasons. " As we don't know what "will receive" means. Does this mean it will automatically download an entire season? We don't know. If it does, I can see people abusing this to get more downloads. There are already people sending old content back to their audience just to juice their download numbers.

They also mention not to change the GUID. The GUID is a unique number that identifies your episode. Changing this number will have the app seeing the episode as new. You should never change this number. Apple is saying "Don't change this." This is kind of like saying "Don't stick that knife in the outlet" to a two-year-old. In my opinion, this is a bad idea to even give people access to this.

New Listener Stats Apple will provide statistics on how many listeners you have, minutes per listener, Abandonment Point, and Average Completion. The statistics are "Launching this year."

The other thing I'm worried about is currently people OBSESS over their podcast numbers. They release an episode, FREAK OUT that it's not in their iTunes listing, and want to know why they don't have download number immediately. This will give podcasters more stats to obsess over. Also, you may not be ready for the shock when you find out that only 48% of your audience is listening to the entire of your episode.

None of This Matters Yet

If I told you there was a new audio format and it was going to sound great and do all sorts of new fun stuff, but there aren't any players that can play it yet the news wouldn't mean anything. You can't experience any of the new stuff until players are available. These new features won't come into play until iOS11 is available (that will have the new Podcasts App). So it's exciting, but the time to celebrate and figure out how to get these new tags into our RSS feeds should be something we worry about later. I'm sure Libsyn, Blubrry, and Speaker (and any other Podcast Media hosts worth anything) will have systems in place shortly.

I know patience is not a characteristic of some podcasters, but for now, know things are going to get better later this year.

Here are the details from Apple.

Becuase of My Podcast: I Got a Gig as an Audio Editor

Jeff Perry has had multiple version of shows about podcasting. He has really enjoyed editing them into different forms. He recently landed a job working for Emerald City Productions as an audio editor. Check out Jeff's show at https://podcastingspark.com/

Great Follow Up Questions Make Great Podcasts

Your homework for today is to reach out to a podcast you listen to, and let them know you enjoy their show (I call this "putting gas in their tank). For me I did this after listening to Lee Silverstein on Podcast Junkies

What Podcasters Can Learn From Kevin Hart

I remember watching the comedy special I'm a Grown Little Man and he was hilarious as he shared stories about his family. At the end, he said, "I want to show you why I do this," and brought out his two little children. It was touching, and transparent. I've seen copier salesmen drag their kids around as a gimmick. This just seemed genuine. I've seen every one of his specials since then, and when his book came out, I instantly got the audio version (read by Kevin) on Audible. (you can get it for free if you're new to audible).

I always if you can make me laugh, cry, think, groan, educate, or entertain me I'm in. This book did all of that, but the things that podcasters can take away from this story is Kevin's relentless pursuit of getting better at his craft. You also see how those "hard times" that we have often come back to life in a way that you are thankful that you had them. Here are some of the things that jumped out of the book:

Kevin's Father is crazy. He did things to his children that were cruel. One time he stole a bike and tried to give it to Kevin as a present. His Mom knew it was stolen, and instantly made Kevin give it back. He "borrowed" a neighborhood dog and gave it to his children, only to have the neighbor come back and get the dog. Kevin soon realized, his father wasn't going to win any medals for "Father of the year."He accepted it, but instead of hating his father, he forgave him.

Kevin got a mentor after making it "big" in Philidelphia and wanted to takes grow his career. He drove from Philidelphia to New York City (according to Google Maps that is one hour and forty-five minutes one way). He would then sit and watch his mentor perform a numerous clubs. He wouldn't get to sit at the table with all the comedians. He was building a relationship with his mentor, and eventually would be able to do five minutes of stand-up. To boil this down, he spent three hours in a car, three or four times a week, to perform for five minutes.

His career starting taking off. He started getting some acting roles. He was in a movie called Fools Gold (it tanked) and later was in Soul Plane. Soul plane has historical relevance as one of the most bootlegged movies in history. People were watching a DVD of the movie before post-production was finished. Consequently, when it came out nobody went to see it. Kevin had worked so hard to get this point, but with two flops under his belt, nobody would cast him in any movies. So what did he do? Sink into oblivion? Instead, he decided to build his career up so much, that they HAD to put him in a film. So once again, he went back to working on his craft. He wanted to be good. He did this for seven years.

Seven years.

There is no practice in comedy. This is why big comedians play smaller venues. They want to test their material. The only way to get better is to do it. The only way to get better is to increase you stage time. It is the same with podcasting. You can read all about it. You can watch videos, record episodes, but you don't know if it's any good until you let someone not named Mom listen to it.

Kevin got deals that lead to nothing. He figured out that the reason why things weren't working with TV is other people were writing for him. So he creates a sitcom. Then it got turned into a pilot, and YES, it got picked up. They filmed the show, and he was flown to New York to this big event to meet all the people at the networks and he is ready to walk on stage and tell the world who he is and tell them about his show. He is on the side of the stage when the stage manager tells him NOT to go on stage. Instead, they send the cast of another show onto the stage to promote their stuff. Wait, what? What was going on? Seconds before Kevin was to go on to a stage and introduce himself to a nationwide audience, he is informed his show was dropped. Can you imagine?

Growing up Kevin's mother was BEYOND strict. There was a lot of "NO" in Kevin's childhood. There was a fair amount of embarrassment in his childhood. In all case, Kevin would shrug his shoulders, say, "OK" and go back to making his stand up better. To quote a famous comedy manager Barry Katz, "If you are undeniable, you won't be denied."

Kevin as a Brand

Kevin had some people helping him. One person was threatening people when it came time to pay Kevin. He was very assertive and people didn't' want to work with him. Kevin always focused not on just his jokes, but what was the experience like. He wanted a nice theater. He wanted people to have fun, and not worry about getting into fights, etc.

Kevin Listened

When Kevin was a child his mother was strict. He didn't agree with the rules, but he followed them. All those "No's" from his Mother help prepare Kevin for the movie business where you go on audition after audition.

His jokes, in the beginning, were funny, but any comic could have told those jokes. There was very little about Kevin in the act. Some of his stories were made up. His mentor kept saying, your life is funny. Talk about you.

Kevin had a stage name. George Carlin, Richard Pryor, none of the great comedians had a stage name (Kevin's names was Lil' Kev the Bastard). He changed his name. He Listened.

His name is his brand. At one point he was offered to play a very large comedy event in Canada. This is a launching pad for many comedians. His manager told him he wasn't ready. He wasn't happy, but he listened. When he was invited back the next year, he was ready. It worked, and it began his come back."

The bottom line is Kevin's attitude is AMAZING, and we can learn a lot about how to handle adversity in your life based on his attitude.

Summary

Being told no over and over build endurance

When you have "Downtime" use it to work on your craft

It's better to forgive than to hold a grudge

Make sure people have a good experience consuming your content

Always strive to do more, but have an attitude of gratitude for the things you have.

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#podcasting #podcast #coaching #new media

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