Archive for the 'Announcements & Prize Draws' Category

I will be posting to Fusion View once a week for the next little while, usually on a Wednesday. I am focusing my writing energies on my latest book project, New Trends in International Public Relations, during this time. I am working on the social media aspects while my co-author Silvia Cambie is writing the main sections on international PR. You can check out my online wiki for the book project where I’ve been collating my research. I’ll also be writing about my research and reporting on progress on the book on my communications and social media blog, ZenGuide.co.uk - and also here on Fusion View.

Wishing everyone a great New Year’s Eve and a successful 2008!

I’m afraid I have very bad flu so I won’t be blogging for the next couple of weeks while I lie in bed feeling very sorry for myself.

Please do check back in a couple of weeks when I hope to be restored to vigour.

As I’ve blogged about before, I am co-authoring the social media sections of a book on New Trends in International PR to be published internationally by UK publishers Kogan Page in early 2009. I am trying a social media experiment as part of the book - I am posting my research online on a wiki and inviting readers to add comments and share their knowledge with me. I hope that you or your contacts may be able to help with this project.

Many books on social media as well as books on public relations have tended to focus on the West, and in particular the US and UK markets. But globalisation and social media, as you know, are rapidly changing the landscape of communications. Influence is shifting from organisations to individuals and the voices of Asia, Africa and non-Western cultures are becoming increasingly significant on the world stage.

Our book aims to explore the landscape of new communications from a cross-cultural perspective with special focus on Asia as well as other non-Anglo-Saxon cultures.

Would you - or someone you know - be able to give me an cross cultural perspective around how social media is used in Asia, Africa or South America? For example:

# What businesses in those regions/ cultures blog or podcast? What about not-for-profit organisations, politicians, campaigners, activists, solo professionals - do they use social media to help their enterprise?

# What is the impact of social media and networks like Facebook on business, culture, politics, relationships etc in those cultures/ regions?

I would like to share a strong cross-cultural perspective in the book, so I hope very much that you can help.

You can find out more about the book and follow my research at http://new-trends-in-international-pr.pbwiki.com/.

For others who have already contributed to the project, please see http://new-trends-in-international-pr.pbwiki.com/Acknowledgements+to+Contributors

If you’re able to share our views with me, you can contact me via the book wiki at http://new-trends-in-international-pr.pbwiki.com/contact.php or via the Contact link at the top of this page.

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In the last few months, I’ve been involved in the preparations for the EuroComm Conference in Barcelona coming up early next year and I’m pleased to report that we have just launched the website and blog for the Conference.

The IABC EuroComm Conference in Barcelona will take place on 4-5 Feb 2008. The website is at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/.

The blog will feature articles and posts on the theme of Innovation through Communication, which is the theme of the conference. We would very much like to engage in discussions and shares view around this theme even before the conference starts so we hope that you’ll come along to visit the blog at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/blog/.

Guest-bloggers include business communicators who will be speaking at the conference - they will be sharing their personal views on the blog in advance of the conference. There is also a core team of bloggers, including IABC members Marc Wright of simply-communicate.com, the online communications magazine, Kevin Keohane of SAS, the branding agency and Yang-May Ooi of ZenGuide, the social media consultancy as well as web usability expert, Giles Colborne of cxpartners, the usability professionals.

We are also inviting business and communications professionals to submit articles around the theme of the conference, Innovation through Communication. You do not have to be a member of IABC and you do not need to be going to the conference to submit an article. We’d just like to hear your views if you have a story or opinion piece that is relevant to our theme. You can find out more through our Article Submission Guidelines

The programme for EuroComm Conference is available at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/programme.html

Registration for the Conference is now open - find out how to register at http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/registration.php

For information about discounted accommodation during the Conference, go to http://www.salle.url.edu/EuroComm/hotel.html

It looks like spammers have been using false [at]fusionview.co.uk email addresses to spam all and sundry. I’ve been getting all the bounce-back messages from their recipients. This is very annoying for everyone - the spammed and also me.

All I can say to anyone who has been spammed by a false [at]fusionview.co.uk is that the emails did not originate from me and I am as fed up with it as you are.

I’ve looked into this and it looks like quite a number of domain name owners have had this problem and there doesn’t seem to be much that we can do about it. If someone has found a solution, please let me know by adding a comment.

This is a cross-post from my social media blog, ZenGuide

I am delighted to report that my associate Silvia Cambie and I have been commissioned by business book publishers Kogan Page to write a book on New Trends in International Public Relations, aimed at business communicators, PR professionals and marketeers.

I will be focusing on the impact of social media on business communications and how PR practitioners can incorporate social media into their communications and marketing strategies. Silvia will be focusing on all the other key issues for practitioners such as corporate social responsibility, crisis communications and current hot topics and trends affecting international public relations.

We both have a strong interest in cross-cultural issues. Silvia is Italian and has lived and worked across Europe, speaking several European languages fluently. As for me, I have links with Malaysia and the Far East as well as being now based in London, UK. In today’s globalised world, PR practitioners are increasingly needing to work from a cross-cultural perspective so Silvia and I will be exploring the relevance and impact of cross-cultural issues for business communicators online and also offline.

I’ll be letting you know more details about the social media and cross-cultural issues I’ll be researching in the next few weeks. Silvia and I will both be blogging about our research and the progress of the book on our respective blogs and we hope very much that you will all be able to help us by adding your comments or sharing your experiences and thoughts with us. I will certainly give credit in the book to anyone whose contribution I use in the book.

My dilemma is whether I should blog about this book primarily on my social media blog ZenGuide, because obviously, it’s all about social media - or, on my cross-cultural blog Fusion View, because obviously, it’s also all about cross-culture. If I blog about the book on both of them, will it get confusing if different people comment on one or other of the blogs? Would it be better to choose one of them and then stick to it? But Fusion View has a great international, cross-cultural community there already and I really would love to hear what everyone has to say there. But my cross-cultural readers may not be so interested in social media as such? But if I blog about the book on ZenGuide only, will I lose the cross-cultural dimension by focusing on my social media readers? You see my dilemma. What do you think?

For those of you waiting for my third novel…. hmmm, it looks like that is going to be delayed while I try my hand at non-fiction with this new book project!

Further information

Silvia’s blog X-Culture is at www.chandacom-xculture.com.

Pic: thanks to health.state.ny.us

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Following my plea for help the other day about business that blog in Malaysia, I got some helpful suggestions from a range of different sources. In addition to the business blogging landscape in Malaysia, I have added a section on the political blogging landscape there, in particular in the light of the recent government iniatitive to recruit a blogging squad to counter the claims of political bloggers. I’ve now completed my article for Communication World - which is hopefully going to be useful for its international audience of PR professionals, marketeers and business communicators.

I’d like to say thanks to the following people who generously contributed their suggestions, links and views for the article:

Richard for telling me about Wiley Chin at http://www.ximnet.com.my/thelab

Sharon Bakar at Bibliobibuli

Eric Forbes at the Book Addict’s Guide to Good Books

Kenny Sia at KennySia.com

Francis Ho of Kuching Kayak, who blogs at FH2O: Kuching Kayaking

Kevin Anderson, the Blogs Editor at The Guardian, UK who blogs at Strange Attractor

Asohan Aryaduray, the New Media Editor of The Star, Malaysia

Due to space/ word limitations, it’s not been possible to include in the articlea reference to all the suggestions and links that everyone gave me but I’ve squeezed in as much as I could.

I hope to be able to share the article with you on this blog when it is published in Communication World in a little while.

Do you know any Malaysian businesses that blog or use social media? Or are you a business-owner, corporate executive or professional person in Malaysia who blogs as part of your business? I need your advice!

I’m writing an article for Communication World, the journal for the International Association of Business Communicators, (IABC) about business blogging in Malaysia. I have a couple of businesses in mind that I will focus on in the article - businesses based in KL who are actively engaging with bloggers and who have blogs themselves.

But I am keen to discover other Malaysian businesses that blog or use social media to promote their enterprise or to engage with their customers.

If you live in Malaysia or have a connection with Malaysia, can help me flesh out the article with some of your thoughts:

# Are there businesses or professional people (eg lawyers, architects etc) do you know of that are engaging with bloggers eg via their own blogging or by making contact with local bloggers?

# Are there any businesses using other types of social media to connect with their clients and customers eg podcasting, video, social networks?

# Do you have any advice for businesses wishing to engage with Malaysian bloggers?

If you are a blogger and you think that your community of bloggers around your blog could help with these queries or may have any experiences/ ideas they can add, please do blog about this query.

Communication World goes out to around 14,000 professionals in PR, marketing and communications around the world as a glossy magazine and also, some of its articles are available as pdfs online. IABC also has a Malaysian chapter. This will be a good opportunity for Malaysian innovation in the blogosphere to be seen world-wide and a good platform to showcase MPH and local litbloggers. I will give full credit to you - and any of your blogger contacts whose information I use in the article.

The deadline for my finished article is the end of July so I hope you’ll be able to let me have your thoughts as soon as possible eg in the next few days so I have a chance to write them up into the article. (Sorry for the short notice - I only got the commission to write the article a couple of days ago!)

Please add a comment or you can email me via the Email Me link at the top of the far right side bar.

PS. I am going to keep mum about the two businesses that blog that I know of for now as I would like to get fresh ideas from you

Photo: thanks to kleinmatt66 from flickr.com

Are you a writer who has self-published your book? What was your experience of trying to market it? Dealing with the printers? Trying to get it taken by bookshop? What tales from the trenches do you have to tell?

Or are you a writer who has been published the traditional way and taken an active part in marketing your book - even beyond the call of duty? What stories do you have to tell about what it takes to sell, sell, sell your book?

This week on my blog, to coincide with the publication of my article about The Writer as Entrepreneur in the July edition of Mslexia, the journal for women writers, I’m posting up my interviews with three self-published writers and a publishing industry insider.

As part of this innovative magazine/ blog initiative, I’d like to open up the discussion to you. If you have a story about your publishing or self-publishing experiences that is related to the business, marketing or entrepreneurial side of the being a writer, I’d love to hear it. Please email me your story and if it’s suitable, I’ll publish it on Fusion View.

This invitation is for enterprising writers who’ve achieved their success through their own hard work and dedication on the business side of publishing their book. I want to celebrate the power of the individual!

And in particular, I’d be very interested to hear from you if you’ve used social media like blogging, podcasting, online video, Facebook, MySpace etc as part of your marketing campaign.

Fusion View has a global readership and is read by 8,000 unique visitors a month, totalling over 13,000 monthly hits. It has recently been featured on BBC Radio and is read by writers, poets, film-makers, photographers, other creatives and publishing industry insiders - as well as many book lovers and avid readers. If you’re an enterprising writer, I don’t need to tell you that this is a great opportunity to raise your profile as part of the Fusion View community!

The closing date for submissions is the 31st July 2007. Please read my Guestblogger Submission Guidelines.

Additional inspiration

Success Stories

Movie Trailers for Books

Photo: of stock trading frenzy thanks to theonion.com

After a successful print run in hardback, tradeback and paperback, my second novel Mindgame has now pretty much sold out. However, I have the last 100 copies of the paperback edition of Mindgame sitting in my hallway.

The blurb:

In MINDGAME, the career of ambitious young lawyer Fei-Li Qwong looks set to soar as she steers her major clients to the successful launch of their visionary sanitorium. Piers and Ginny Wyndham claim their Centre for Mental Health and Excellence will revolutionise Asia’s health care practices. Fei is proud to be part of the team.But Fei’s professional success masks a turbulent private life as she tries in vain to reconcile her Western education and outlook with the restrictions of life in Kuala Lumpur and the feminine qualities of charm, modesty and family-mindedness demanded of tranditional Asian womanhood.Her problems have only just begun. As she begins to uncover the dark reality behind the Wyndhams’ public front, Fei finds herself drawn deep into a pall of intrigue and murder to a secret experiment that could enslave Asia under a terrifying new tyranny.

If you’d like to buy a signed copy direct from me, here’s the deal:

RRP: £6.99

My price: £5
plus post and packaging: £2*

*This is for one book posted by the public postal system to an address in the UK. If you would like to order more than one book or to have it / them posted to an address outside the UK, email me the details and I’ll work out the cost and let you know.

What you need to do:

1. Contact me using via the Email Me link on the top of the far right sidebar with the following details:

• Your name and address

• No. of books

• Name and Address to post the book(s) to (if different from yours)

• Any short message you’d like me to include when I sign the book(s)**

2. I will email you back to confirm the cost and give you an address to send your cheque to. I can only accept UK cheques drawn from a UK clearing bank.

3. Once I receive the cheque for the cost I quoted to you, I will post the book(s) within 28 days and confirm this action to you by email. When sending your cheque, please include a print out of our email exchange. If the address to post the book to is not the same as your address, please also ensure that you include with it your name and address so I can contact you if necessary.

4. Please note the following:
4.1 I will post the book(s) by the public postal system. I am not liable for loss or damage caused by any acts or omissions of the postal services in the UK or any other country.
4.2 Where the address is not in the UK, I am not liable for any taxes, duties, or customs or excise or import requirements that may be applicable in the country of receipt nor for ensuring compliance with any other laws, including but not limited to laws relating to copyright, censorship or any other matters that may arise regarding or in connection with the book(s). These remain the liability of the recipient and it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure compliance with the laws of their country.
4.3 By sending the cheque for purchase of the book(s), you are confirming to me that you are over 18 or that you are over 13 and have the permission of your parent or guardian to purchase the book(s).
4.4 I reserve the right not to make any sale whatsoever and in such circumstances, I will inform you of this by email and return your cheque to you by post.

** Please be sensible - I won’t write any offensive, obscene or inappropriate message nor anything over lengthy.