Scoble & Israel: an Odd Couple

Robert Scoble just announced we’re doing a book together. I wasn’t going to tell you for a while. This book will be produced, edited and revised before your collective eyes. It will be improved with your ideas. This process is Robert’s idea. Frankly it makes me nervous.

Let me back up, and give you the brief history.

Just one week ago, I visited Robert Scoble to follow up on a dinner conversation that took place at my place a few weeks prior. At the dinner, Andy Ruff , our bright, articulate friend and occasional dog-sitter, and Buzz Bruggeman , the passionate Pilgrim of the Church of Activewords www.activewords.com told Robert he should do a book on blogging and that I should ghost write it. It was Andy’s idea, but mostly, Buzz who’s a lawyer, argued the case. I loved the idea. I had been wanting to write a book ever since I stepped out of SIPR in the summer of 2001 just before all Hell broke out in the world. There had been three attempts in the last two years, all aborted for one reason or another.

I’ve known Robert for years, but really not very well. I’ve always liked him. I like his writing and his enthusiasm. I like his passion for blogging, gadgets, games and just about all things that are both technical and interactive. I think what he’s been doing for Microsoft has been remarkable. In candid, open style and on his own time he has argued their case with candor and truth. And the result is that he has begun to soften the animosity that has made Microsoft, the tech industry’s most hated company. He is among the most prolific of blogger. Last Sunday, he posted 41 times on just about the same number of issues. If you’ve never seen Robert, he’s sort of an effervescent teddy bear. He addresses and looks like a geek, although I discovered to my shock that he studied journalism—not geekiness—in college, and he learned about customer relationships selling cameras at a retail counter. Put in a conference-sized room and he emulates the blogger’s bravado, interrupting panels with better questions than the moderators thought to ask. I saw him do this at BlogOn, and at first it made me uncomfortable because I was part of the production team. But then I realized he was making it a better, more interactive conference, and improving the attendees experience. He is at all times informal and at all times unassuming. Put him in a small room, and he becomes surprisingly quiet, I’ve noticed. After dinner at my house, my wife Paula, who is both more perceptive and intuitive than I am said, “Robert is basically a very shy guy.” You wouldn’t know it, by what we learn about him, his family members, work life and the personal conversations he shares on his blogs.

I am just about the opposite. Most people don’t realize that at the core, I’m a pretty private person. I’ve been a public communicator—either in journalism or as a PR guy for an embarrassingly long period. But, I’m happy to be the guy taking notes quietly at the conference. I used to be equally content, whispering into the ears of speakers before the stepped on to the dais, often to speak words I’d written. When I’m nervous, I make too many jokes and they’re usually not funny. Put me in a room with Robert and I’m prone to do most of the talking so long as it’s a small room. Put a crowd in the room and Robert will take over and I’ll simmer into near-silence.

Robert and I in many other ways are very opposite. Just look at his blog. He’s a one draft writer. I ponder much of what I write, redrafting it a couple of times before I post it. Look at the time stamps on his blog. Roberts tends to go to sleep just about when I wake up for the day. I have an incorrigible tendency to use exotic words, and he speaks as plainly as Harry Truman. He knows everything about blogging and everyone in it. He reads 1000 bloggers a day. I don’t yet understand how to use a Permalink, and when I occasionally attend a blogger’s dinner, most of the name players ignore me. Robert is among the world’s 75 most popular bloggers. The last time I checked, my ranking was about 420,000, but I suspect I’m slipping. Robert gets more visitors to his sites in an hour than I do in a day.

But his writing is clean, honest and interesting. He reeks of integrity in all things and let’s face it—for a book on blogging Roberts has greater marketability than I do by orders of magnitude. That is not to say I bring no assets. I have the time, talent and burning desire to write. Just the act of spending my time putting thoughts and words onto this screen gives me some sort of silly joy—except of course, when the words suck, which they sometimes do. This becomes a pivotal point.

Robert said yes in general to doing this book a week ago and I said yes in general to doing most of the leg work. I never, as he wrote, suggested that I be his ghost writer. I want my name on this book. I want this book to be something that gives me pride and earns me respect. When Robert and I talked, he agreed to the book, but my concern is that he did not feel fully engaged. I did not sense him thinking the book, writing it in his mind. During this last week, I’ve been agonizing over the first piece of three that needs to be written before one asks a publisher for an advance in lieu of royalties. It’s only three pages, but for me, there’s a good 15 hours invested so far and the first draft is not yet done. The proposal defines what the book is and is not about. I pictured it being paddled back and forth several times before we determine it’s ready. Then we need to do a Table of Contents that lists each chapter with a paragraph describing what will be covered. Finally, we need a sample chapter, preferably the first one.

Where Robert has been excited is to go a step further than Dan Gillmor, JD Lasica and other friends of ours who have used blogging to get considerable input from the Blogosphere’s collective wisdom and simultaneously generate word-of-mouth support for their works in advance of tangible publication. I agreed to think about that. But firs things first, I would spend my time, thinking and refining, editing and polishing the book proposal.

Last night Robert called me. He was in the Bay area. He, his son Patrick and his wonderful wife Maryam were somewhere in the East Bay boondocks insearch of an ATM and cheeseburgers. I was getting ready for bed. “”Let’s do the whole thing transparently,” he said. “Let’s put everything up on a blog, even the book proposal. When we disagree, let’s post it. When we argue about who to write about, let the readers get involved.” Robert was gushing. There was no question that he was now engaged. Not only that, he wants us to post the publishers package on EBay and let publishers competitively bid on our work.

Robert said how corporate reps are calling him and asking how to use blogging as a competitive process and this book would show them. He talked about how car companies would go live to ask customers what they think of a new bumper. Yeah, but they develop a design in confidential back rooms before they ask third-parties. Robert wants us to let it all hang out all the time. He wants to collaborate with me in front of an audience. He draws 700,000 visitors a week and from what I can make out, most of them usually have an opinion.

Wife Paula, thinks it sounds like a TV serial. “Sort of like ‘Lost.’” Indeed. I went to bed with this uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. I have never shown my warts voluntarily to anyone, not to mention, raw copy. I woke up this morning to discover I had been outed. Robert had posted a blog announcing his ideas and sort of proclaiming that this is how we are going to do it.

He also declared that my working title of Conversational Marketing sucked and he wanted to call the book “The Red Couch,” in honor of a piece of his family room furniture. That goes too far. My title may suck but at least it has something to do with the subject we are addressing and Robert needs to remember that if this act of lunacy every becomes a book, it needs to be targeted toward a corporate audience whose tastes are far less surrealistic than people who dawdle in the Blogosphere. For now, we’ll stick with Conversational Marketing. If you have a better idea, please let us know.

Doing this book up front and personal makes me uncomfortable from both business and personal perspectives. But I am a recovering publicist and I have to admit, this will get attention. We are making some sort of history, using a new medium to develop something we are hoping to publish in a traditional medium. We are going to be on the edge and maybe we’ll fall off.

Then again, maybe we won’t. For now, we’ll play it his way. I’m posting this without rewriting. Then I’m going to spend the day refining that proposal and posting it for Robert’s review. If Robert thinks it sucks—you’ll know at the same time I do.

Join in whenever you like.

Comments

[hugh macleod]

Godspeed, Shel =)

Oops. Mea Culpa. You left a very kind comment on my blog earlier today. It got deleted by accident as I was clearing 300 comment spams.

Bloody things...

Sorry =(

The only part of Robert's proposal which made me nervous was the idea to auction off the book rights on E-Bay. Not that it's a bad idea, but I do think you should wait to see what kind of book you have before you sic the market on it.

I think writing the book "in public" is a great idea =)

[Perry Nelson]

Shel, I've posted a comment on Robert's blog and I wanted to let you know too that I support your effort wholeheartedly. I've even blogged about it this morning here, http://newstome.blogspot.com/2004/12/blogged-book-on-corporate-blogging.html. I'll be following the development of this project with interest.

[Perry Nelson]

Rats! The link got published with a period at the end, so here it is again, but this time without the period.

http://newstome.blogspot.com/2004/12/blogged-book-on-corporate-blogging.html

[Andrew]

That's it - the latest Reality show: The Red Couch. Can Shel and Robert make a book? What publisher will they get? Who will be fired first?

Find out on the "next post" of the Red Couch....

Great idea!

[Tim Harding]

First off, let me wish you and Robert both the best of luck with the book. The really exciting thing about it is the opportunity for input you're going to have, like a comedian doing new routines in front of smaller audiences before performing them on HBO.

I disagree with your stance on the title. Who are you writing the book for? People about to fall asleep from watching golf on tv? You make the point that his title has nothing to do with the topic. Well, most song titles and movie titles share at best a tenuous link with their subject but that doesn't stop people from listening or watching.

You should go about it like making a good commercial: you're portraying an image, not a summary. What better place to establish image than on the cover of a book?

I'd call it "The Little Red Couch" with a picture of the couch, empty, on the cover. That gives you an image and a starting point for the first chapter.

Good luck!

[shel israel]

Tim,

Thanks for the comments. The Red Couch seems to me to imply the book is about a promiscuous psychiatrist. Everyone responding seems to like it, but our target audience is corporate, many of them cautious about being or permitting blogging. My title "Conversational Marketing," is boring, as working titles should be. I think our final title will evoilve from what we write or from a blog reader suggestion.

[shel israel]

Hugh,
I think you are right about auctioning to publishers on eBay. My sense is that publishers want to keep royalty and advance negotiations tight to their vests and would hate making that number known publically. Robert has so many great ideas. It seems to me that this is not one of them.

[Will Pate]

If markets are conversations, then Conversational Marketing is redundant - not to mention too boring for even the most stuffed of shirts. At least give it something engaging like "Good to Great". A book on the shelf might as well be in the remainder bin - and that's where most books end up, so perhaps you should shoot for creating a meme.

How about "Red Couch in a Big Room"?

Thousands of customers are talking about you online. Imagine them in a big room where anyone can come and go as and pretty much say what they please. There's a big red couch in the room, the center of attention, and they're inviting you to sit in it and join the conversation. The couch is comfortable and the only prerequisite is that you loosen your tie and speak like a real human. Whether that sounds inviting or intimidating, this book will help you command that couch like you do the rest of your business.

[shel israel]

Will,

Don't hold back. tell me what you really think. I'm proposing the title, not as the final title, but as a working title. I think the actual title will come out of a conversation that gets underway when we start actually writing the book.

[David Paull]

Shel,

I'm new to your blog and learned of it from reading about your book project with Scoble. I think what you guys are doing is fascinating and I commend you on stepping out of your comfort zone and going with the flow of some of Robert's seemingly "out there" ideas. Those are the very idea that will make this book explode. By the way, in my opinion, The Red Couch name is out there now big time and it's going to stick in one form or another. My advice (for what it's worth) is embrace it. With the kind of reach Scoble has, resistance may be futile. Anyway, best of luck - this is going to be exciting to watch and read.

[Peter Cooper]

Okay, "The Red Couch" isn't a great name, but it has a certain memorability/familiarity factor. People will blog about the "red couch" more than they will about "conversational marketing." I'm with Scoble. "Purple Cow" is a book title I'm never going to forget, but if Godin had called the book.. "Your Unique Selling Proposition", it wouldn't have stirred up half as much buzz as it did. Perhaps, as a compromise, you can stick with "The Red Couch" as a project name and get more sensible later on?

[shel israel]

Peter,

I think you're right. I may be stuck with it. Robert has managed to brand something in less than a day. But I liked your comment about him as a Microsoft guy: Resistance indeed, may be futile.

[Will Pate]

Shel, that pretty much was what I thought :)

The Red Couch in a Big Room makes more sense to me, at least if you include some derivative of that blurb on the back of the book.

[Eduardo]

You said that Scoble's blog has "begun to soften the animosity that has made Microsoft, the tech industry’s most hated company."

The reason that Microsoft is so hated is its decades-long pattern of unethical and often illegal behavior. This pattern continues to this day, yet you seem very pleased that Scoble may be having some success in misleading the public into thinking Microsoft is a much better company than it really is.

You and Scoble are examples of why the public doesn't like pr people.

[shel israel]

Eduardo,

I can see your perception of what I said, but what's key is that Robert, and other Microsoft bloggers, have softened the perspective not by smoke and mirrors but by displaying consistently high ethical behavior over a prolongued period of time. I have no comments on Microsoft's behavior over the decades but am pleased to see people at Microsoft behaving and such a candid and transparent level. For the record, Robert has not now, nor has he ever been a member of the public relations profession. I have. And I take no shame in it.

[Shannon Clark]

Shel - Good luck with the book! This seems like a great solution to some of what we talked about at Poptech earlier this year. I'm looking forward to the conversation (and to the eventual book).

A few further thoughts (I also posted a comment on the initial post to the rec couch blog, expanding a bit on Scoble's FAQ with some questions that occurred to me, perhaps too simplistic but I hope helpful nonetheless)

I think your audience is business professionals in general - not "just" corporate types. Given Scoble's 700k readship each day, it is unlikely that your jointly written book will fail to attract serious interest or a serious publisher, likewise its pretty unlikely it won't get read well outside of a small corporate inner circle. Instead, I would imagine that many businesspeople (and people who want to be in business) will read it and incorporate the suggestions into what they, in turn, suggest to corporate leaders.

I know that once it is written, I'll probably cite it in my own consulting practice - especially if it allows for a clear, concise, and documented set of both suggestions and case studies of the value of blogging.

Looking forward to the ongoing conversation!

Good luck!

Shannon

[fujifilm9]

I , for one, gonna make sure no money is made from this silly endeavor.

Use your imaginations, gents.

[eduardo]

"I have no comments on Microsoft's behavior over the decades"

That is just the point. You either know that Microsoft has a bad record and don't want to admit it, or you don't know and don't want to find out. An awkward question comes up, and so you dodge around it and pretend it is not important. It just this that makes people angry at the pr profession. If you have no shame, well, that means you have a deficiency in your moral character.

"am pleased to see people at Microsoft behaving and such a candid and transparent level."

That again is the point. The great majority of the people who work at Microsoft are, as far as I can tell, quite decent. It is the people at the top who make the unethical and illegal decisions. What blogging does is help put a friendly face on the company, thereby distracting people from what it is really up to.

I am not saying that is the only thing blogging does. Microsoft is also using it for legitimate purposes. However, that is certainly one of its essential functions. It is impossible for me to believe that a person like yourself who is experienced with the corporate world doesn't see this.

By the way, since this is part of the reason for Microsoft blogging, it means that Scoble is functioning as a pr person (though that is not all he does), whether or not he has that title or is an official member of the profession. He knows perfectly well that Microsoft has been, and continues to be, an unethical corporation, and he knows that part of why he was hired was to make it look good.

Furthermore, Scoble is not always as honest and transparent as you portray him. For instance, take a look at
http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/11/30.html#a8781 and the conversation that followed. Look at how he tries to dodge from all the mistakes that were pointed out to him. And this is not an accident. Scoble was chopping Linux, and Linux is the most dangerous foe Microsoft has ever faced.

I am sorry, it is simply impossible for someone who works for a corporation to be consistently honest. You know that as well as I do.

By the way, you better get used to people calling you into question this way. That is the way things work on the net.
You are going to get called on lots of tricks you are used to getting away with.

[LeOgAhEr]

I Love you girls

Buy