Belatedly, I’m going to wax poetic over Michael Port’s latest book, The Think Big Manifesto: Think You Can’t Change Your Life (And the World)? Think Again. I was privileged to read this earlier this spring and then my summer unprivileged me by a hectic day job, and lots of summer stuff.

Anyway, I am back (it is September after all) and back with a flurry of post ideas, blog expansion plans, and yes, the long-anticipated ebooks that I promised like months ago. Argh. Nothing like a reread of Michael’s book to get me back on track. Get ready, get set, here I come!

Michael Port’s latest book is one of those books you’ll want to read if you need to think BIG about your life, your business, your goals, your faith. Seriously, if you need a book to prop up your plans, this is the book. No one calling anyone out in these pages. It’s all about moving forward, moving upward, and not letting the fear of failure hold you back.

Port is an excellent writer and teacher. I’ve read everything he’s written, and taken several of his free and tuition classes. Every time I learn something. He’s gifted with helping those of us learning marketing inside out to do it better, easier, healthier, and with authenticity (my big button word).

Port goes after small thinking with a passion in this well-written treatise. I was motivated to not let my brain take over my thought life (really, doesn’t our mind have a life of its own so often?) and I was challenged “What if  . . .”

Now, for those of you thinking that “I’ll never be as good as . . .” this is the book you need. Port tackles that thought process head on. No more can you sit in a pothole thinking you’ll never be as good as the other guy. Hogwash! (I’m telling myself that, mind you.) It’s just not true. You don’t know anything until you try. And trying is the battle, it is the war of art, it is the biggest obstacle you face. Finding your market, learning about your customers, selling to those customers, none of this is the hard part. It’s just starting.

Thus, I would press Port’s latest book into the hands of every entrepreneur I know. And I’m not one who pushes books lightly. I try to weed through the good and the bad and I get way too pumped up about books that I feel are truly worth the time and money. This is one of those books.

Get it, read it, stretch your mind, reach for the highest star. Now, go!

More questions lately about my favorite web sites than books, so we’ll be featuring the Love It Or Leave It Web Site Edition more often than not.

Best Grammar Sites:

Grammar Girl by Mignon Fogarty

Guide to Grammar and Writing

Grammar Book

Best Blogging Sites:

Problogger (disclaimer: I write for this site)

Copyblogger

DailyBlogTips

Best Twitter Sites:

Twitip (disclaimer: I write for this site)

Twittersweet

TwitterHandbook

More best sites coming up in the next few weeks!

Okay, so the books are really starting to appear that focus on Twitter. Not social media as a whole, but Twitter itself.

I’ve already highlighted Joel Comm’s Twitter Power, but I’ll post it again.

Twitter Power by Joel Comm. Great book, interesting tips and ideas. Worth checking out and possibly purchasing.

Love It!

Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets by Paul McFedries. Haven’t gotten to this one yet. Comes out May 11, 2009. But for new Twitter users, might be useful, so stay tuned.

Twitter Revolution by Warren Whitlock and Deborah Micek. Great book. Worth a library check out and possible purchase.

Love It!

And finally,

Twitter Means Business by Julio Ojeda-Zapata. Great book. Really interesting to see how companies master Twitter. Needs to be proofread by an expert, but I made it through and survived.

Love It!

Books on corporate communications number in the hundreds (perhaps even the thousands), so if you’re a corporate communicator, where do you even start?

I’ve hand-picked three great books that have earned the Love It rating (at least I think):

Mary Munter’s Guide to Managerial Communication is really, really good. A book that will help anyone who struggles to make themselves clear in a business environment, this one is FULL of great ideas. Don’t just check this one out, run to the nearest bookstore or even Amazon and buy this one.

Love It!

Corporate Communication by Paul Argenti. (A minor disclaimer, I was the proofreader for this book in 2007.) That’s how I know about it. Fabulous book and so interesting. I think this was the first time I figured out how companies could control their brand inside and outside of their business. If my disclaimer doesn’t bother you, get this one!

Love It!

The Power of the Tale: Using Narratives for Organizational Success by Julie Allan is one that I don’t own (yeah, I got this from the library because of the price; so follow my lead and just check this one out; I plan to purchase it at some point this year for my Kindle), however, it’s worth noting because of the very interesting theory it espouses. That storytelling in organizations is vital to the survival and health of the organization. I agree.

Love It!

Small business marketing coach C. J. Hayden has written this book for folks who need to plan marketing funnels (a continual stream of client prospects).

Get Clients Now! is easy to implement. I hand it to clients who are just figuring out their marketing for their business. It’s too much at once to attempt to write a monthly eZine, get a blog, write ebooks or white papers, so for now, I just ask them to do the things in here.

First, they figure out where they are in the funnel. Do they need prospects? Do they need to contact clients? Do they need to close on bids? The client can pick where they are in the marketing process and focus on that. It’s an instant way to get up and running with marketing. I’ve used is successfully for almost fifteen years. I’ve now moved on to Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid, but Get Clients Now is a great choice when you’re just starting out.

What are good books for grammar? I hear this question all the time. Glad to finally oblige and answer.

Grammar Girl’s QUick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty

Love It!
Great guide for writers who produce a lot of it on a regular basis. Nice breezy style, easy to understand, and if you subscribe to her podcasts, you get to hear Mignon herself wax poetic on a lot of these same topics. Fabulous! Get this!

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr and E.B. White

Love It!
The classic (50th anniversary edition featured here) book on grammar can’t ever be replaced (at least in my opinion). Best advice on writing, hands down. A must have for everyone’s shelf, even if you rarely write.

Woe Is I by Patricia T. O’Conner

Love It!
O’Conner has a great way of making grammar interesting. Her two books are worth a purchase, I think. I’ve referred to them countless times over the years and never tire of reading them just for fun!

Words Fail me by Patricia T. O’Conner

Love It!
Again, O’Conner’s books are worth their space on your shelf. Get both! You’re welcome!

Have a great weekend all!

I’ve read every book out there on blogging. A few are fab (see this post) and I say Love It! (which in my world means buy it), but some are not so fab (they serve a purpose, true, but they aren’t worth purchasing; just check them out from the library if you’re interested in reading them) and to which I give a label of Leave It!

The first is an interesting premise, and perhaps one more suited to personal blogging than anything, No One Care What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog by Margaret Mason.

What I think
Leave it. It’s a cute idea, but kinda gimmicky. The ideas she presents are easily found online for free (just look at twelve blogs today and you’ll see all these ideas). Not sure how to make it a better book either. I would pass.

Another book you should either just check out of the library or skip is The Rough Guide to Blogging by Rough Guides author Jonathan Yang.

What I think
Leave it. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 18 months, this book will be no help to you and your blogging endeavors. Gone are the days of explaining what a blog is in a book (folks can find that online); now is the time for best practice books (content, design, tech) to appear and really push blogging to the next level. As a matter of fact, I’m working on a book like that right now! Stay tuned!

My disclaimer
When I write a Leave It! post, I always want to add a few words. I do not wish to attack the authors or publishers of these books. They are actually well-written, interesting, and timely, back when they came out. Now, I just call upon the authors to revise and reissue, or to write a new book that pertains to the blogging environment we have currently. Survival of the fittest, remember. In the book world, you’ve got to have timely content, or you’ll be left behind.

Have a great weekend!

There’s a sharp uptick in the numbers of social media books coming out (or being written right now) and I’ve nabbed a few for some Love It! attention.

Amazon writes,

If the idea of starting a social media marketing campaign overwhelms you, the author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day will introduce you to the basics, demonstrate how to manage details and describe how you can track results.  Case studies, step-by-step guides, checklists, quizzes and hands-on tutorials will help you execute a social media marketing campaign in just one hour a day.  In addition, learn how to integrate social media metrics with traditional media measurements and how to leverage blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, and user-generated content sharing sites like YouTube.

What I think

I’ve used several of these “hour a day” type books and while I skip several sections to get to the good stuff, this is a great model for a lot of business owners. These books force to you to put down actual goals for your social media and then gives you the action steps to accomplish those goals. Plus, I’m a process gal, and this book most definitely provides a nice (and simple) process.

Score: Love It!

Amazon writes,

Get the business leader’s guide to using Twitter to gain competitive advantage.

Since 2006, forward-thinking companies like Apple, JetBlue, Whole Foods, and GM have discovered the instant benefits of leveraging the social media phenomenon known as Twitter to reach consumers directly, build their brand, and increase sales. Twitter is at the leading edge of the social media movement, allowing members to connect with one another in real time via short text messages–called “tweets”–that can be received either via the Twitter site or by e-mail, instant messenger, or cell phone. Many companies have started building entire teams within their organization dedicated solely to responding to tweets from consumers about their brand. And this is just the beginning.

In Twitter Power, Internet marketing and Web innovation expert Joel Comm shows businesses and marketers how to integrate Twitter into their existing marketing strategies to build a loyal following among Twitter members, expand awareness for their product or service, and even handle negative publicity due to angry or disappointed consumers. The book also presents case studies of companies on the forefront of the Twitter movement, to help you develop your own social networking strategies. Twitter Power is the result of extensive testing and participation in the social networking community and is a must-have for any business that wants to keep up with the social media movement. Twitter Power features a foreword by Tony Robbins.

What I think

Joel Comm is a friend of mine and he does know his stuff. This book is a great addition to anyone’s library on Twitter (there are more and more books coming out on the subject). Most of the other books are full of badly organized case studies, and Twitter Power is a neatly organized reference to Twitter tools and strategies. Nicely done, Joel.

Score: Love It!

Amazon writes,

Secrets of Social Media Marketing is a handbook for marketers and business owners to use in deciding how to employ the new social media for online marketing. Social media has quickly moved from the periphery of marketing into the forefront, but this is a new and quickly-evolving field and there are few established formulas for success. Building on the lessons set out in Gillin’s acclaimed and oft-reviewed The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media, this book provides practical advice on strategy, tools, and tactics. It is a hands-on manual that will educate marketers on how to extend their brands, generate leads, and engage customer communities using online tools.

What I think
Paul Gillin’s book is THE resource book for companies on social media. This will become the reference book everyone will be using shortly (at least I think), similar to Chris Pearson’s ProBlogger I highlighted last week. This takes social media and plugs it in to a company’s overall marketing goals and provides a very good structured argument for managers seeking to utilize social media to take back to their higher-ups. Worth a read most definitely.

Score: Love It!

At some point, I will have to point out a few Leave It books. I hate to, because I’m just a glass half-full person, but truth is what I promised on this blog, and truth is what you’re going to get.

Have a great weekend!

I’ve had a lot of folks ask me what blogging books do I like. As you know, I own pretty much all of them. It’s just my nature. I like information, lots of information, so I tend to overwhelm my bookshelves. Let’s face it: I’m keeping the booksellers in business. Seriously.

The first book I will say LOVE IT! Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse.

If you are buying a book on blogging (whether for your business or your personal blog), this is the one book everyone needs to have on their shelf. Don’t believe me? Check out http://www.problogger.net on the Web. This book is your manual. Reviews say to also buy Blog Schmog by Robert Bly (I have it, but haven’t read it yet. I’ll let you know in a later post!)

Clearing Blogging by Bob Walsh is a nice intro to blogging. A bit outdated if you know what a blog is and why it can help you, but the principles are still there. I recommend everyone (whether looking for a job or project currently) should be blogging (author Penelope Trunk was the one who first said it, or the second who said it, can’t remember). It gives prospective employers and managers a way to find out more about you that you can control. It can also shift your Google resume to the positive side (see this post about that). I say LOVE IT!

Amazon writes,

Clear Blogging sets out to answer in nontechnical terms what blogging has to offer and why and how you should blog. If youve never read a blog, but you keep hearing that term on the news, Clear Blogging will show you why blogging has shaken up mainstream media, and how a blogger can end up on CNN. If youre just starting to read blogs, Clear Blogging is your native guide to the blogosphere, covering how to get the best, most interesting information with the least amount of time and effort. The main course of Clear Blogging shows what you stand to gain from blogging, and how you can go from your first post to being welcomed aboard the blogospheres A-list.

The final book to which I give the LOVE IT designation is Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk With Customers.

Publisher’s Weekly writes,

For the past five years, Microsoft employee Scoble has maintained one of the most popular blogs on the Internet. Mixing personal notes with passionate, often-controversial commentary on technology and business, his blog is “naked”—i.e., not filtered through his employer’s marketing or public relations department—a key part of its appeal. In this breezy book, Scoble and coauthor Israel argue that every business can benefit from smart “naked” blogging, whether the company’s a smalltown plumbing operation or a multinational fashion house. “If you ignore the blogosphere… you won’t know what people are saying about you,” they write. “You can’t learn from them, and they won’t come to see you as a sincere human who cares about your business and its reputation.” To bolster their argument, Scoble and Israel have assembled an enormous amount of information about blogging: from history and theory to comparisons among countries and industries. They also lay out the dos and don’ts of the medium and include extensive statistics, dozens of case studies and several interviews with famous bloggers. They consider the darker aspects of blogging as well—including the possibility of getting fired by an unsympathetic employer. For companies that have already embraced blogging, this book is an essential guide to best practice.

Next time, I’ll hit some books that aren’t worth picking up (LEAVE IT). In the meantime, have a great weekend! May your communication efforts be read and understood!

Along comes a book by renowned Duarte Design owner, Nancy Duarte, who has put together some of the most important slide presentations in recent business history, which explains the reasoning behind great presentations. Slide:ology is one of those books that you just have to check out from the library (at least I do).

I am fascinated by the process of communication in business, be it social media, corporate communications, or marketing, and this book really nails the principles of presentations for me. I did wish it was less about her exploits and more about how I can make it work for me. Some of the Amazon reviwers were’t impressed and recommended Robin Williams’s Non-Designer’s Design Book, which I do agree with. Robin Williams understands design implicitly. I do wish this book had more of Williams’s helpful commentary and how-to.

Another book I got from the library was Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. Highly recommended by Michael Hyatt and others who have jobs making presentations, I was interested to hear that Garr’s blog on presentation was more helpful than the book itself (thus why I’m checking out from the library first). However, I do think Garr’s ideas are very good. I will now be checking out his blog more often (saved it next to Seth Godin’s on my bookmarks tab).

The thing about business books is that they are more fat than lean meat. There is a lot of fluff out there. One of the things I hope this feature every Friday on this blog will do for my readers is save them some money by finding only the best business books. If I buy it, you can feel safe to buy it.

Have a nice weekend all.