Age of Conversation

237 Bloggers Worldwide Collaborate to Benefit Charity

A year and a half ago, an online conversation between two marketing professionals in the U.S. and Australia evolved into a collaborative writing effort by more than 100 bloggers from nine countries that created a book called The Age of Conversation.  The project raised nearly $15,000 for Variety, the international children's charity. 

Following the success of the first book, which was published in the summer of 2007, Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, organizers of the first project, are about to publish Age of Conversation 2, which compiles written thoughts on the role of  conversation in marketing today from 237 marketing professionals who blog in the U.S. and 15 other countries.

McLellan, who heads McLellan Marketing Group, a Des Moines, Iowa advertising agency, has been writing a blog for more than two years.  His blog, DrewsMarketingMinute.com, is among the 25 most-read marketing blogs.   Heaton, who works for global software giant, SAP, writes ServantofChaos.com blog from Sydney, Australia, which is also a top 25 marketing blog.

The project has an unusual story behind it, involving online connections between people around the world who had never met each other face to face.

After McLellan had written about Wharton University’s effort to create a collaborative book, Heaton suggested online that they get a few fellow bloggers to try it.

“Three e-mails later, we had named the book and the charity.  It just fell into place," McLellan said.  “The Age of Conversation was the perfect topic. The marketing industry is abuzz about how citizen marketers are changing the landscape, and these books capture that new phenomenon from a uniquely global vantage point.”

Through their blogs, McLellan and Heaton invited other marketing professionals to commit to writing essays about conversation.  They set what they thought would be an impossible goal – 100 bloggers.  Within seven days they had commitments from 103.

No sooner had the first book been published when the two began planning for Age of Conversation 2.  The new book will be available on October 29, 2008 in three formats – an e-book, softcover and hardcover.  All proceeds will again be donated to Variety, the international children's charity.

Pricing for The Age of Conversation 2 is:

• e-book: US$12.50  ($10.00 going to charity)
• paperback book: US$19.95 ($8.02 to charity)
• hardback book: US$29.95 ($4.60 to charity)

Purchases can be made online from October 28, 2007 at www.lulu.com/ageofconversation.

A social media release is available at: http://pitch.pe/961

Age of Conversation Podcast with Jay Ehret: Episode 1 Starring Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan

Welcome to the all new Age of Conversation podcast. The Age of Conversation II: Why don't they get it? will be published later this month.  This podcast will be a collection of "conversations" with contributors to the book. To kick it off, we have the guys who started it all, Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan.

How did this idea of a collaborative book start? What does this mean? What's different from the first edition in The Age of Conversation II? Drew & Gavin answer all these questions and more in this premiere episode. 

To get started, press the play button on the player below or download the show as an mp3 file from the provided link. But you don't have to just listen. You can contribute too. Please add your comment or post a question with the comments link below. Or send us an audio comment or question in the form of an mp3. Just send your audio to jay<at>themarketingspot.com.

Download the episode here: Premiere Episode of Age of Conversation
You will soon be able to subscribe via iTunes, so check back soon.

Calling All AOC2 Authors! Send Us Your Bios.

Hello Fellow AOC2 Authors!

The launch date for the Age of Conversation is fast approaching, and we would really like to help maximize your exposure and involvement. As part of the effort to build anticipation for the book (and to promote the authors who made it all possible), we're going to compile and publish a series of short bios for each author, up to and beyond the publishing date.

Here's what we need from you:

1. Photo
2. Name
3. Blog URL
4. Just 3-4 sentences that describe whatever it is you'd like others to know about you. Keep it to about 70 words. It can include where you're from, what you do, where you work, or what your high score in Pong is.

Numbers 2-4 should be formatted something like this:

Version 1

Aki Spicer
http://fallontrendpoint.blogspot.com
Aki Spicer is Strategic Planning Director at Fallon Worldwide out of Minneapolis, MN. His previous work roles include Account Planning Manager, Urban ThinkTank at Vigilante / Leo Burnett / Publicis, Vice-President of Marketing at Rocawear and President / CEO / Brand Strategist at Machine. He is also a founding officer in the Facebook philanthropic network, 'Planning For Good'.

Version 2

Firstname Last
http://www.yourblog.com
[Firstname] believes [insert mantra here]. With over [experience in chosen profession], [he/she] writes at [blog title] about [perspective and subject]. [His/Her] interests are [list interests]. [Firstname] is a [job title] at [company name] in [city, state/country].

Email all bios to aocbios@ymail.com NO LATER than OCTOBER 10th.

For maximum impact, we're going to start running them about two weeks before the book is available.

Back in Black

While we are still hard at work bringing the book together, crossing the Ts and dotting the Is, I thought I would share with you the cover design for The Age of Conversation 2. Courtesy of David Armano (again), this striking design should stand out nicely on your bookshelves.

And yes, very soon, the Age of Conversation will be back in black. Rock on.