The Age of Conversation eBook: Shaping Youth for Children’s Charity

ageofconvobadge.jpgThe birth of our Age of Conversation eBook coincides with the birth of my daughter, July 16th…wow, go figure, quite appropo!

Happy ‘birth’day to all my co-authors, who generously participated in this global social media experiment to benefit Variety, The Children’s Charity!

Next Monday, our eBook goes live, hot off the press, courtesy of creators Drew McClellan and Gavin Heaton who spearheaded the worldwide collaboration of 100 marketing gurus in a huge probono ‘open source’ creation that is now available hardbound, paperback and pdf file. Special thanks to David Armano for the cover design and the cool techno-gurus at Lulu.com.

We’ve all been so jazzed about contributing our (divergent) perspectives that we’ll be co-authoring ANOTHER one on a different topic NEXT year (count me in, guys) to keep this ‘goodwill hunting’ going! I truly believe this will enable thought leaders throughout the globe to piggyback on snippets from marketing and media mavens at a very nominal cost to inspire great deeds…

Not one penny of profit will be taken from this generous effort, including eBook purchases by the authors themselves. (yep, dat’s right, we don’t even get a free copy, and I embrace that) Variety, the Children’s Charity receives 100% of our book profits, and you can contribute more if you wish, we’ll be designating the funds to the native countries of our authors. Goal? $10,000 for the charity! I LOVE this passion of ‘paying it forward’ where we all support a cause enough to give of ourselves completely with no strings, no perks, no quid pro quo, no nonsense. Yay!

Branding and intellectual mindshare melding with cause-marketing and positive thinking? Hey, that’s what Shaping Youth is all about!

Topics from these marketers? All over the board…From the role of mobile devices and mobile marketing and the influence it has on conversations, to the relationship renaissance of thought democracy, forcing us to re-think the definition of brands, marketing and how we think about “consumers.”

My chapter? (predictably, youth-based):

“Mommy, why is that lady licking a beer bottle? —Ethics & Accountability in Advertising.”

Our “come get the book” post is unavail until 7 am Eastern time (July 16) but I just wanted to send a ‘prequel’ to industry mavens who support this worthy cause.

I’m hoping they’ll announce it at the YPulse Mashup on July 16th, since their summit is all about youth marketing, and this is for a youth cause!

Here’s my stellar list of co-authors in The Age of Conversation:

Gavin Heaton
Drew McLellan
CK
Valeria Maltoni
Emily Reed
Katie Chatfield
Greg Verdino
Mack Collier
Lewis Green
Sacrum
Ann Handley
Mike Sansone
Paul McEnany
Roger von Oech
Anna Farmery
David Armano
Bob Glaza
Mark Goren
Matt Dickman
Scott Monty
Richard Huntington
Cam Beck
David Reich
Mindblob (Luc)
Sean Howard
Tim Jackson
Patrick Schaber
Roberta Rosenberg
Uwe Hook
Tony D. Clark
Todd Andrlik
Toby Bloomberg
Steve Woodruff
Steve Bannister
Steve Roesler
Stanley Johnson
Spike Jones
Nathan Snell
Simon Payn
Ryan Rasmussen
Ron Shevlin
Roger Anderson
Bob Hruzek
Rishi Desai
Phil Gerbyshak
Peter Corbett
Pete Deutschman
Nick Rice
Nick Wright
Michael Morton
Mark Earls
Mark Blair
Mario Vellandi
Lori Magno
Kristin Gorski
Kris Hoet
Kofl Annan
Kimberly Dawn Wells
Karl Long
Julie Fleischer
Jordan Behan
John La Grou
Joe Raasch
Jim Kukral
Jessica Hagy
Janet Green
Jamey Shiels
Dr. Graham Hill
Gianandrea Facchini
Geert Desager
Gaurav Mishra
Gary Schoeniger
Gareth Kay
Faris Yakob
Emily Clasper
Ed Cotton
Dustin Jacobsen
Tom Clifford
David Polinchock
David Koopmans
David Brazeal
David Berkowitz
Carolyn Manning
Craig Wilson
Cord Silverstein
Connie Reece
Colin McKay
Chris Newlan
Chris Corrigan
Cedric Giorgi
Brian Reich
Becky Carroll
Arun Rajagopal
Andy Nulman
Amy Jussel
AJ James
Kim Klaver
Sandy Renshaw
Susan Bird
Ryan Barrett
Troy Worman
S. Neil Vineberg
C.B. Whittemore

Any corrections, people? Let me know! So excited to be teaming with you on this! New Release Costs as of 7/16/07: When we publish the storefront, the book prices will be as follows:

e-book: $9.99 ($7.99 going to charity)

Paperback book: $16.95 ($8.10 to charity) Hardback book: $29.99 ($8.55 to charity) Obviously the e-book is the most affordable/efficient (and environmental) means for mass distribution and maximum charity benefit. Word has it the visuals, graphics and web pages are stellar, so it’s not just your average ‘text file.’ Yippee! (Lulu is grand)

Just a reminder – no author or editor is making one penny on this book, in any format. Gavin and Drew are personally covering the set up charges etc. at LuLu.com.

p.s. Gavin is putting the finishing touches on www.AgeofConversation.com – a blog that will capture the story of how the book came to be, link to the store and to all the authors.

Enjoy! –Amy

“Variety the Children’s Charity is dedicated to promoting and protecting the health and well-being of children around the world.

Through our network of 50 Tents (or Chapters) in 14 counties, Variety reaches into communities across the globe to offer financial assistance and services to children and organizations that serve children with special needs. Through hard work, thoughtful stewardship, and single-minded focus on the needs of the young, Variety strives to make a lasting difference in the lives of children, their families, our communities, and the world…one need at a time.”

Variety Movie Industry Advisory Council

World Leaders Speak Out For Variety

Variety International Convention May, 2008–Auckland, New Zealand

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Comments

  1. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Amy congrats! I’m so happy for you! WELL DONE!

    Sincerely,
    A future Consumer. lol 😉

  2. Thanks, Izzy…One of the added bonuses is getting to know the other authors and try to see all sides and views to keep my centrist balance.

    It’s really pretty amazing when you think of the ‘cross the world’ capabilities that Drew & Gavin brought together, and in this new post by Mark Goren called “Three AOCers in NY @ Launch” http://transmissionmarketing.ca/?p=241 it really drove the point home.

    He described, “…My visit to Manhattan coincides with the launch of the Age Of Conversation book. So there we’ll be, one American, one Belgian and one Canadian, all contributors to the book, in the one of the best cities in the world, together, having a chat, getting to know each other, and just, well, being friends. Two days after meeting David — another book contributor — for a second time.”

    “The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” ~Bill Gates

    It’s nice to bond F2F and see how an electronic medium enabled commonalities and visions to transpire. It’s a small world after all, Walt! 😉

  3. It is getting to be very exciting! Oh, and say happy birthday to your daughter for me (my birthday is the day before!).

  4. Say, it sounds like you folks are both Walking the Walk AND Talking the Talk, what with your not-for-profit production in the making!–Would that some of the Biggies (you know who I mean: the makers of so many products who keep hounding our kidlets to get us to buy, buy, buy) would take a “page out of your book,” so to speak, and follow suit….

    A happy birthday to the lucky daughter who has you for a mother! I enjoy your blog.

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