The last two days, I attended BlogWorld Expo, held in Las Vegas. The show covered a wide range of topics interesting to bloggers and podcasters, including topics for bloggers who want to turn their new media efforts into commercial successes, newbies wanting to get started and companies trying to develop strategies and processes for working with social media. I focused my time on the tracks relating to turning your blog or podcast into a commercial success.

From those tracks, I came away with four key takeaways for bloggers and podcasters who are trying to become commercial successes at what they do.

 Podcast Video [1:30m]: Download

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October 19th, 2009Comments

From our audio book service CastLibrary.com, here are this week’s best selling and most downloaded audio books. I hope you enjoy the service.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast feed of sample audios here’s the link.br />

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooksbr />

1. The Lost Symbol (Unabridged)
Summary: The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown’s follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown’s writing shows us why he is the one of the world’s most popular author of thrillers. Just like the Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol is thrilling race to find the secret. Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon is once again needed to meet the challenge. He must search the hidden codes, unravel the secrets while avoiding the bad guys. Set within the underground of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol races through a t…
Click to hear an audio sample…

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October 15th, 2009Comments

Tim Westergren, chief strategy officer and founder of Pandora, was the keynote speaker at the Digital Music Forum West this morning. We interviewed Tim about a year and a half ago and at that time Pandora faced some real challnges.

In his keynote, Tim updated the audience on the current state of Pandora and his thoughts on the future of digital media.

Tim started his speech by observing the how the when you book a flight on Expedia you get a slew of other offers for hotels, cars, shows and even pedicures. He stated that their might be a lot of lessons for the music industry that can be learned from the travel industry.

The focus of his talk was “From Competition to Interdependence”. He observed that in the arduous discussions of royalties and the subsequent compromise everyone had to give to make it work for everyone.

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October 8th, 2009Comments

At the Digital Music Forum West event, a panel focused on the future of internet radio.

Panelists

Dave Conway, Founder, Little Radio
Johnie Floater, General Manager, Media, Live365
Kurt Hanson, Publisher, RAIN / CEO, AccuRadio
Jim Rondinelli, SVP of Strategic Development, Slacker
Moderator: David Oxenford, Partner, Davis, Wright, Tremaine LLP

Why is Internet Radio relevant?

Kurt Hanson, of RAIN, points out that radio is how the average music fan finds music.

Johnie Floater, from Live365, the most important aspect of internet radio is bandwidth to support huge diversity of content. Even the classical music of the Canary Islands can have its own channel on the internet, something which is not possible on terrestrial or satellite radio.

Jim Rondeinelli, of Slacker, points out that most people don’t want to program their own music flow and radio provides that programming.

How do you make money on a radio focused on a micro segment?

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October 8th, 2009Comments

As part of a new service called CastLibrary.com, I am now able to share this week’s best selling and most downloaded audio books. I hope you enjoy the new service and plan to make it a Friday regular.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast feed of sample audios here’s the link.

Subscribe to the podcast – http://feeds.feedburner.com/BestSellingAudioBooks

1. The Lost Symbol (Unabridged)
Summary: The Lost Symbol is Dan Brown’s follow-up to The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown’s writing shows us why he is the one of the world’s most popular author of thrillers. Just like the Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol is thrilling race to find the secret. Harvard Symbologist Robert Langdon is once again needed to meet the challenge. He must search the hidden codes, unravel the secrets while avoiding the bad guys.

Set within the underground of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol races through a t…
Click to hear an audio sample…

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October 2nd, 2009Comments

Susan Bratton, author of Talk Show Tips, host of the Dishymix podcast and CEO of a publishing company called Personal Life Media that produces 40 different podcasts, is sharing some of her expertise in podcasting with the Digital Podcast fans.

In the Susan’s first guest post, we talked about various show formats that are possible with a podcast. In this installment, we’ll dive more deeply into Show Format, giving you an actual structure you can customize for your needs. This include some good language for intros and outros and commercial breaks.

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September 29th, 2009Comments

Bratton, author of Talk Show Tips, host of the Dishymix podcast and CEO of a publishing company called Personal Life Media that produces 40 different podcasts, is sharing some of her expertise in podcasting with the Digital Podcast fans.

In this guest post, Susan writes about Show Format and how to use it to build trust and engagement with your audience.

Here’s part one of advice from Susan Bratton, author of Talk Show Tips:

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September 28th, 2009Comments

I have just had the privilege of getting a copy of Talk Show Tips which provides 72 Secrets to being a great talk show host. The author is Susan Bratton, host of the #1 social media podcast Dishymix and CEO of Personal Life Media. Susan produces 40 different podcasts from TheDivaCast to Buddhist Geeks to Inside Out Weight Loss, so she knows a lot about hosting talk shows.

Susan has launched Talk Show Tips: 72 Secret ‘Master Host’ Techniques as a training system for anyone who hosts a podcast, vidcast, radio or talk show or for experts who create information products that include interviews as material.

In her new system, Talk Show Tips, she focuses on training you on everything you need to know

 

 Susan Bratton Interviews Alex Nesbitt [22:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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September 17th, 2009Comments

This week another newspaper group filed for bankruptcy. Freedom Communications, which runs the Orange County Register and a collection of 100 more newspapers across the country, joined Tribune Co. (operators of the other big local paper – The LA Times) and 4 other newspapers in bankruptcy court.

The problem is declining advertising revenue. The auto industry, one of the biggest buyers of newspaper ads, is in the tank. Craigslist et al have devastated the classified monopolies that provided huge profit margins for newspapers in days gone by.

If you were planning on making money by selling advertising, it’s time to come up with plan B.

 

 7 Steps for Surviving the Banruptcy of the Impression Economy [10:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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September 10th, 2009Comments

Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz’s JK Wedding Entrance Dance video on Youtube has met with extraordinary viral success. As I write this, the video has been viewed 17.3 million times. It is a joy to watch and I’m sure it was a joyous day as well. Jill and Kevin have added links to the video and to the video download page to support the Sheila Wellstone Institute, which is dedicated to ensuring that ending violence against women and children is a national priority.

I hope the 17+ million viewers have been able to make a serious donation to the institute.

Make sure you see this video.

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August 6th, 2009Comments