Now available at Amazon.com!

Posted by Tom on September 1, 2011

For those throngs of folks who have been holding out to buy a copy of my book until it was available at a “real” online retailer, your wait is over! My new book is now available at Amazon.com! Click here to go directly to by book’s page at Amazon.com.

It took quite a lot of work, but once you figure out the ePub format it’s pretty easy. And the folks at Amazon are very helpful.

I have also signed up for Amazon’s “Author Central” sitelet which allows folks to find some more info about me and the book. It’s all available right from the book’s page. Click here to go to my author page at Amazon.com.

If you are surfing at Amazon, and want to find the book, simply type “berarducci” in the main search box. My book should be one of the first items in the results list (believe it or not, some goofy Coat of Arms book is first!).

Now that the book is listed, I’m working on enabling the “Search inside the book” feature. This requires a completely separate agreement and effort at Amazon, but I strongly believe it will be worth it. For one thing, once this feature is enabled everybody will be able to read some of the book FOR FREE directly from the book’s Amazon.com page. In addition, when you search for terms like “leadership”, “business”, “management” or other words used in the book, my book will be indexed along with all the other titles giving me a shot at showing up in the search results.

If you think this is as cool as I do, and if you want to, I’d like to ask you for a favor. Please surf over to the book’s page at Amazon and give me a glowing review! If you do that, the book may actually get read, and that’s what it’s all about. So if you can, please help! Thanks!

Click here to rate and give my book a review at Amazon.com

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First ePub version now available!

Posted by Tom on August 31, 2011

Well, I finally figured out all this ePub stuff. It’s actually quite simple (like most things), but you still have to run the gauntlet and figure it all out yourself, especially if you are the entire team.

The “ePub” format is essentially a zip file, with the “.zip” extension renamed to “.epub”. That’s the first key piece of information you need to know. But there are a few others.

Nevertheless, after much digital wrangling, I now have a valid ePub file to work with. My first ePub edition of What Not to Do in Business is now available at Lulu.com. Click here to go to the eBook buy/download page. The eBook can be downloaded, but it is copy-protected using Adobe’s “Digital Editions” eBook reader. That means you’ll only be able to view the eBook from a computer and only computers that have been authorized as “yours”.  Yeah, I know. Kind of limiting. But this is the only way to avoid giving the entire book away for free.

Please note this version of the eBook will not play on the iPhone, iPad, or Kindle. It is playable ONLY on computers that can run the Adoble reader software. Please stay tuned for future versions of the eBook which will play on these mobile devices.

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Steve Jobs – One of a Kind.

Posted by Tom on August 31, 2011

By now we’ve all heard the news that Steve Jobs has stepped down from Apple. I hope it’s not because of his health, but it probably is. Too bad for Steve. And, too bad for us.

Steve Jobs has accomplished more in his life to delight consumers of digital electronics than anyone else. Given the craziness of our industry and the fickleness of our market, to string together killer products over such a long time span is indeed impressive. He is one of the greatest product guys to have ever lived. Truly gifted in this regard. In spite of his negative attributes.

In fact, I wonder if it is even possible to produce greatness in product design without being labeled a crazy, maniacal overlord. It may not be. I can’t find any counter-examples in recent history; examples of when a truly killer product was led to market by a “nice guy” (at least not on purpose). This effect may indeed be the cost of admission into the annals of history. If so, that’s a shame.

I discuss Apple and Steve Jobs in some detail in my book, What Not to Do in Businesss. Apple is used often in the book as an example of a company that creates great, killer products that delight customers, that spawns and captures markets, and that makes investors tremendously successful. Steve Jobs is cited in the book as an example of how someone can practice “What Not do Do” often, and yet still be tremendously successful. Steve has a great track record, but I don’t think anyone could ever duplicate his unique form of “success”.

Steve is a “wild point”. A truly unique example of someone who is successful despite what others say. He personifies what is great about our country and our marketplace in a way which will probably become storied and even exaggerated more and more as the years go by. But I doubt anyone will ever be able to truly emulate him.

If you want to read more about my personal take on Apple and Steve Jobs, as well as my take on product design in general, check out the chapter “Create feature-rich products that suck” in the book. I also mention Steve in the chapter entitled “Lead by having tantrums“. I think you’ll find them both very interesting!

What Not to Do in Business, the leadership and management survival guide, is now available at Lulu.com.

 

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Now available online at Lulu.com!

Posted by Tom on August 22, 2011

My new book is finally out in paperback form! You can now surf over to Lulu.com and pick up your very own copy fresh off the presses! Click here to go to the What Not to Do in Business product page at Lulu.com. At the site, you can preview the book to see if you want to buy it before you spend a dime, so check it out! If you like the book, feel free to enter a nice review.

The book will also be available at Amazon.com and many, many other online retailers soon, so look for it! It should always be easy to find my books by simply typing “Berarducci” into the search box of any online bookstore.

I’m still working on the ePub version of the book, and hope to release iPad/iPhone and Kindle versions very soon.

To keep up to date with the book’s progress, and to be one of the first to hear all the news, sign up for the mailing list by sending me a message at tom@tnbtechnologies.com or by filling out the form on the right-hand side of the website.

As always, thanks!

Tom

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The first Pre-Order books have been ordered!

Posted by Tom on July 7, 2011

Whew…that took a while!

It was a long journey, but (finally) it appears to be coming to an end. The first copies of my new book are finally rolling out of the printer!

To make sure that those of you who went to the trouble of pre-ordering books get their copy of my new book before anybody else, I’m holding off on flipping the switch for general availability until I’ve sent out the pre-order copies. It only seems fair that you guys get your books first.

First up are the folks who ordered autographed copies. I need to have these books shipped to my home in northern California so I can put my personal John Hancock on them (and perhaps a little more depending upon who you are!). After that, I’ll ship them out ASAP. Those books were just ordered TODAY!

When I ship the autographed copies out, I’ll also ship out the non-autographed copies direct from the printer to all the folks who pre-ordered them. This way, all pre-orders will have an excellent chance of arriving at their destinations at approximately the same time (depending upon actual destination address of course).

After I have shipped out the pre-orders, I will turn on general availability. The book will be immediately available on Lulu.com. Approximately 8 weeks after that, it will appear on Amazon.com for all to see!

When you get your book, let me know what you think! After all this, I really would appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

Tom

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