50 Years, 40 Books

2008-07-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

Mpayy

Mpayy, a company based here in Chicago, hopes to succeed where other online payment systems have failed. Like PayPal, it's a closed payment system: buyers and sellers both have to have accounts with the company. But unlike PayPal, Mpayy lets you do mobile payments. You can pay (or get paid) via your phone or handheld device. And the company claims you don't experience the delays in processing that you do with PayPal. They are the first payment company to get a "widget" approved for MySpace. This allows singers and other content providers to get paid for their work instantly. The founder, Conrad Sheehan, is a former vice-president with J.P. Morgan, so he knows about the traditional world of banking. Find out more about MPayy here.

2008-06-20T12:06:00.001-07:00

My AuctionBytes blog

You can find a link to my AuctionBytes blog here. Currently, what's up there is my first live blog. It's such a thrill!

2008-06-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Postal Crisis?

When you ship something you have sold on eBay (or for any purpose), you expect it to get there in a certain number of days--anywhere from 2 to 5 days, for Priority Mail. This system is in danger of vanishing, according to Gloria Banta, a postal employee and eBay seller I talked to today. Banta said the Postal Regulatory Commission is reviewing a request by huge bulk mailers (the sort who flood us with credit card applications and other junk mail) to limit the amount of "regular" mail people like us can send out. If this happens, our everyday mail will only be sent out a few days a week, not Monday through Saturday as it is now. All our eBay shipments will slow down. And everyone will be unhappy--sellers, buyers, and postal people alike. Banta urged people to get involved and voice concern about the proposed changes, which I heard about for the first time today.

2008-06-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

Live blogging from eBay Live!

I had the thrill of being able to live blog a particularly lively (almost explosive) session from eBay Live. eBay representatives were explaining changes to the feedback system, and facing questions from a group of unhappy sellers. You could feel the unhappiness in the small room. I heard afterwards that a long line of people were standing outside, unable to get in. What's the deal with eBay holding this session in such a small room? Didn't they understand the hostility this subject would engender? They will certainly understand it going home from eBay Live. Cries of "Bullshit!" erupted when Griff tried to explain that the changes were the result of the desire to protect buyers and keep them from leaving the site. One reason in particular: eBay's studies showed that a primary reason for buyers going elsewhere was receiving negative feedback from sellers. So now they can leave negative feedback for sellers, but sellers can't leave negative feedback for buyers. Sellers are naturally livid about this. eBay explains that a variety of systems are in place to report abuses of the feedback system on the part of buyers. But sellers aren't "buying" it. The sound guy told Ina Steiner that it was all like sitting in on one of his union meetings.

2008-06-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

eBay Live

Incredible as it might seem, I'm at my first eBay Live convention. It's being held at Chicago this year, so it was hard to miss. I'm writing for AuctionBytes. There is a whole crew of bloggers here--I sense more attention from the blogosphere than from traditional media. Attendance is down--about 7500 to 8000 compared to a reported 8500 last year. It's getting harder to be a seller; the peak for eBay was apparently back in 2006, but now things are on the wane. More to come...

2008-06-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

eBay Live

I'll be at eBay Live in Chicago Thursday, Friday, and Saturday; if you want to touch base, send me a message.

2008-06-02T08:45:00.001-07:00

eBay Blog?

Some comments have been posted asking me to create an eBay blog. Is this correct? I will consider this, but frankly, I would rather post here about eBay and promote this site. Would this help you folks? What would you like to learn other than the obvious things, which I have covered in my books?

2008-06-02T08:34:00.000-07:00

I'm an Oral Historian

I always have been, but I haven't called myself as such. One of my ambitions is to write peoples' life stories. I believe everyone has a story to tell. And I think I'm pretty good at uncovering those stories. I've been doing it since I was a reporter back in the 70s. I made a new Web page describing this service: check it out here.

2008-06-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

Award Winner

An article I wrote for the UIC Alumni Magazine has won an award from CASE, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. The magazine received a Bronze Metal in the “Best Articles of the Year” category, 2008 Circle of Excellence Awards Program, for our entry “No Longer a Public Good (May/June 2007). The article, which analyzed how the declines in state funding for higher education have affected UIC, was one of 210 submitted in this category.

2007-09-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

I am fortunate to be living in a neighborhood in Chicago that is populated by freelancers in a variety of fields. I am working with a group of really consummate professionals on the rebranding of a hedge fund accounting firm. You can see our work here. More to come about Newcor Group, as we develop our own Web site.

2007-05-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

View From My Backyard

An indigo bunting, seen this morning at my pond. I don't have a telephoto lens on my digital camera, but was inspired to point the camera through one lens of my 10x binoculars. I don't know why I never thought of it before!

2007-05-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

Proposal Time

I am in a funny stage for a writer: I am working on proposals for several new books. This can be a laborious process and it is one that should not be hurried. You have to come up with an idea, first of all. This is not the most difficult part, at least for me. The most difficult part is the tedious process of filling out the chapter headings and subheadings, a description of the audience, a synopsis of the book, and an overview of how the book is organized. Sometimes, the publisher comes to me or my agent with an idea, and I have to flesh out the proposal. Other times, I come up with an idea of my own and send it to the agent, who sends it around to see if anyone is interested. Both of these situations are ongoing currently. Typically, a proposal goes back and forth between publisher, agent and me as many as two, three, or four times. With luck, one or two of the proposals will be accepted. It's also possible that all of them will be okayed, at which point I have to make some tough decisions.

2007-04-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

I spent part of the weekend at an Enneagram conference in Michigan. It was conducted by the well-known Enneagram authority Helen Palmer. She was very impressive. At the very end she produced gasps of surprise when she announced that she just turned 70. I guess when you understand yourself and learn to turn your vices into virtues, the stress drops away, and you sort of turn back the aging clock, or at least slow it down. The Enneagram, by the way, is a spiritual path based on a system of psychological profiles. It was apparently developed by monks back in the fourth century. I find it quite enlightening. My personality type is the four (there are nine types in all). Simply being around people who are "like me" was a thrilling experience.

2007-04-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

April in My Backyard

2007-04-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

Breathing space

I recently finished revising a couple of books and writing a couple of new ones. I say that casually, but within that single sentence are buried days and days of agony. I find myself with time to spruce up this blog as well as another one. It is a relief, but now, when I wake up with no huge deadlines looming over me, I am unable to relax. I keep watching the bank account dwindle, and wondering where the next job will come from.

I had lunch last week with my agent Lynn Haller and with another author, Anne-Marie Concepcion. She spends most of her time training and doing podcasts. She also has a well-maintained Web site. I have been so busy grinding out books that I haven't spent any time blogging, myself. I'm going to try to cobble together more income from this, if I can.

2007-04-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

Photos from my 50th birthday party, Meier's Tavern, 3.21.57:

2007-04-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

These are the young people who attended.

2005-08-30T11:02:00.000-07:00

I am on track to become a PowerSeller. After only a couple of months of selling, this would be quite an accomplishment. Despite a heavy writing schedule, I've become obsessed with this goal, and am going to do everything I can to reach it.

I wrote a column for AuctionBytes on checking your MyeBay sales using your cell phone. The thing I noticed is that my own cell phone provider, Cingular, only displays the first 20 of your sales. If you have 30 items for sale (as I did this weekend), you're sort of out of luck when it comes to reviewing the other 10. I actually had to search for a couple of them to see if any had attracted bids. They had not. But as usual, people placed their bids right at the last minute and they sold. I managed to sell 14 items out of 30 I had up for sale. I thought August was the slow time of year. I'm finding that this might not be the case.

2005-08-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging for a while for a number of reasons. I had to finish two books on eBay. And I began selling on eBay intensively. Selling is continually illuminating. There are all sorts of odd nuances and situations you run into. Two things I've realized: selling is just as addictive and exciting as bidding and buying; and, as our president would say, it's hard work. But there are tangible rewards.

Thanks to all those who attended my talk at the Small Business Expo today. It was quite an appreciative crowd. I wish you all luck with your various endeavors. There is a link on the right that will take you to the handout for the talk. I have to get permission from MNetworks to make sure I can publish the PowerPoint slides. I'll get back to you.

2005-01-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

I made my first ticket purchase on eBay last night: for tickets to Spamalot, which is just closing its run in Chicago on its way to Broadway. Two seats for $199 seemed like a good deal, as I have heard that the really good ones are going for as much as $500. I have to admit to a lot of anxiety: I purchased the tickets at 8 p.m. on a Friday night for a 2 p.m. matinee the next day. I got the seller's phone number and left him an anxious message in case he didn't check his e-mail right away. Not to worry: the tickets were there the next morning; I printed them out from the PDF file, took them to the Shubert Theater, and was relieved when they were scanned and turned out to be "as advertised."

The seats turned out to be excellent, but not for the reason the seller supposed. There was a partial obstruction from the level above, but the seats were in an area of the theater where the staff sat. And who should sit right behind us but the author, Eric Idle himself. Idle impressed us with his generosity in signing playbills (yes, I got one). Most of the time, he watched the show seriously, mouthing all the songs to himself. A little boy came up to him and praised his performance in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The show was great entertainment and will be a smash hit. It does appeal to people like me who know every Monty Python TV sketch by heart. It was not quite the hilarious, nonstop riot that the Producers was when we saw it here in Chicago in 2001. The Producers actually had a story, and there was an actual relationship between the main characters. This was more like a looney revue, a series of sketches loosely strung together, but beautifully done. Hank Azaria came up with one crazy accent after another; he was terrific, as was Sara Ramirez as the Lady of the Lake. It is tasteless, outrageous, and silly, and worth every penny if you can get a ticket. Look on eBay if you do...

2004-12-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

In my books, I urge sellers to try to tell a good story so they get attention for their items. Well, here's a good ghost story. Do I believe it? Not really. But as a sales strategy, it's terrific:

eBay item 5545200281 (Ends Dec-27-04 16:50:16 PST) - ANTIQUE DAGGER FOUND IN WALL OF HOUSE HAUNTED GHOST

2004-11-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

A tiny, personal indication of the continuing decline of American civilization: my friend Ann wants to buy Christmas crackers that play musical notes as you break them open. She has bought them every year at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra store on Michigan Avenue. We went there Saturday: no crackers this year, they tell us. I proclaim: "I'll find them online." I spend a full hour scouring the Web and eBay. I rake through page after page of Google. These objects seem only to be available in the UK, where there is a veritable cult of Christmas crackers. There's a Web site devoted to them here (http://www.absolutelycrakcers.com). Anyway, I could only find them in a few places in the UK such as this: The lowest price: 9.99 British pounds. I am astonished to find that this is about $18 U.S. And this does not include VAT and shipping costs. We suspect this is why the symphony store did not order Christmas crackers this year: due to the plummeting U.S. dollar, they are now too expensive for us here in the states.

2004-11-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

Guess who has an op-ed column in the New York Times today? Bob Greene. Yup, that Bob Greene: the former Chicago Tribune columnist who was fired after a sex scandal, the writer many in this town loved to hate. Read his work here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/22/opinion/22greene.html.

2004-11-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

...and speaking of spam, I just visited one of the sites described in Internet Babylon, Interview with God, and found myself instantly bombarded by the Divine Spirit of Marketing. What happened to this site? It no longer seems to be run by its creator, Reata Strickland, who is at Moments With God (http://www.momentswithgod.com). The original Interview with God site now hawks Interview with Jesus DVDs and exhorts members to send out unsolicited e-mail about the site to at least five of their closest friends. Maybe Reata sold the site or the trademark to someone else. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not into the whole Christianity thing, but I loved Reata's story and found her to be a very generous person. I just wonder if she's OK with what's going on at her original site.

2004-11-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Even if you get the feeling that much of the world is going down the tubes, there is always hope for independent creativity. I am happy to see Spamradio (http://www.spamradio.com) is still delivering their unique and amazing audio entertainment to the world; they must have gotten enough donations to keep them going.