More Book Title Thoughts

I thought I would take a few minutes to let you know which of your suggested book titles I like best. My four current favorites are:

  • Enter the Internet. The impression I get from this title is that things were going along a certain way, and then the Internet came along and changed everything — business, technology, communications, government, and social systems.
  • Harnessing the Internet. This probably gives a different impression to the reader than does the first title, namely that the Internet was taking off at high speed — possibly uncontrolled — and many of the early and not-so-early experts were trying to make order out of the chaos.
  • The Name Game. This title really pertains more to the business of handing out the domain names that companies and individuals procured for their websites, so it is probably a subset of the others.
  • 1.1.1.1. This is an eye-catching title that — as the first IP address — signifies something digital is occurring in this book that might be worthy of taking a look.

Thank you again for your ideas. It will be a few months before we settle on a title so I welcome any new names you might have.

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A lot of things are going on right now to obtain a publisher for the new book. This process includes first finding an agent who will present our ideas to the right editors at the right publishers. Several agents are interested and believe that they know the right publishers to use. We will be interviewing the agents over the next couple of weeks. In addition, we will be preparing the first two chapters for the book to show them. We unfortunately have mountains of information that we acquired from the interview process, and this will need to be examined closely by the authors.

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My activities last week were dominated by my attendance at the 44th annual Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program in Palm Springs. Attending the meetings at the Marriott resort were Robert Craig, his wife Claire, my wife Betty, and daughter Mary Ann. About 1000 people attended the meeting. There were a number of interesting sessions during the three-day event, including U.S. competitiveness in global markets featuring Robert Zonis, a political economist, strategic opportunities for growing your business with foreign investment, seizing opportunities in climate change, monetizing green initiatives, and much more. There were also some great speakers and masters of ceremonies, including David Thomson, Guy Kawasaki, Marcus Buckingham, and Jay Leno from the Tonight Show. I also enjoyed the special photo exhibit honoring women in developing countries who had made a difference in their communities. All in all, it was an enjoyable event.

— Bob