Coming soon, Age of Conversation 3

The latest edition of the exciting collaborative Age of Conversation marketing book series is about to go on sale with the release of “Age of Conversation 3: Its time to get busy” now at the publishers.

Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton have had the monumental task of compiling and editing the contributions of around 170 authors from around the world and now the book is close to release.

Very soon you will be able to purchase it directly from Amazon or a number of other online book stores. The new cover was designed by Chris Wilson. And the new website was created by the hard working team at Sticky.

There are some extremely talented marketers contributing this book so I can’t wait to read it myself. Stay tuned for more announcements soon, but in the meantime you can meet the authors:

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Every Friday morning since March 2009 an intrepid crew of social media types have gathered at local cafes to chat and meet in real life (IRL). As social networks such as Twitter have grown, so have the number of people who have been dropping in for a coffee and a chat. This has recently included Anthony Scully of 1233ABC radio who interviewed several of us at a recent coffee morning.

You can listen to the interviews with  @billfredtom @hyperbrendan @jentally @mediahunter @ofdphoto @the_git here on the ABC website

Meanwhile, Newcastle Coffee mornings are being held each Friday from 745am to 9am at Sprocket Cafe, cnr Hunter & Watt Sts Newcastle (except over Xmas break). Follow the #newcastlecoffee hashtag on Twitter to keep up to date.

I have had the distinct honour over the last 3 years to contribute to an ambitious and exciting publishing project titled: Age of Conversation. Initiated by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, the Age of Conversation books (two so far) saw respected bloggers and marketers from around the world pool their talents to create a groundbreaking effort in collaborative publishing.

Now its on again. Drew and Gavin have decided to move forward with the 3rd installment and are calling for contributors to join the core of original writers who have returned for another edition.

Here are their two blog posts explaining all. Come and join the conversation…..

Drew McLellan

Gavin Heaton

Note: Call for authors has closed already. Fully subscribed within a few hours.

From humble beginnings only three years ago the short messaging, social networking service known as Twitter has exploded onto the Internet to become one of the hottest online applications. Originally the love child of tech geeks, it initially took off at South By South West Interactive Festival, Twitter may have just gone mainstream judging by the amount of traditional media coverage it has recently attracted.

The New Year has seen a myriad of Twitter stories in the mainstream media and an explosion of users.

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British blogger Neil Perkin has done it again. He has created a presentation (with the help of many of the world’s best marketing thinkers) that goes to the core of the social media ethos. A Presentation About Community, by the Community is essential viewing for brands and marketers trying to make sense of the new digital world order. For more great thinking and presentations, please take the time to visit Neil’s blog Only Dead Fish.

What is it? The Age of Conversation is a series of books discussing the social media paradigm

Who wrote it? The latest one has 237 authors actually. Some of the best marketing minds from around the world have collaborated to create an amazing collection of thoughts and observations.

Where do I buy it? The book is for sale online at lulu.com.

Where does the money go? All proceeds go to Variety, the Childrens Charity. Last year we raised over $15,000USD.

Who are these so-called ‘marketing geniuses’? Glad you asked, check out the following list and visit their sites:

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After being inundated with dozens of entries for the inaugural Moggy Awards for the best media and marketing blog post of 2008, I have managed to whittle down the entries to a Top Ten. This was no easy task due to the high quality of most entries. Some bloggers were nominated several times as well, so I had to make a judgement call on which was the best post to consider.

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Neil Perkin at Only Dead Fish is one of my favourite bloggers and a great marketing mind. He has just released a sensation slide show called Goodness & Happiness (2) which is really worth a look.

Maybe this should be our collective approach to business in 2009. Nuff said.

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

The second edition of the collaborative marketing book, Age of Conversation, is about to launch world-wide.

The brainchild of Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, the Age of Conversation 2: Why don’t people get it? has attracted contributions from 237 of the best marketing professionals from around the world. Leading advertising agencies, professional marketers, consultants and writers are represented in arguably one of the most impressive international marketing collectives ever assembled.

This year Newcastle is represented twice with chapters from both Gordon Whitehead and myself.

All proceeds from the book sales go to Variety, the Children’s Charity.

More details are about to be released, so stay tuned. In the meantime please meet the authors:

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