Met with the capital guy who seems to think he can get us funded to the tune of $1.5...wants $2,500 up front...Jim says he might be able to negotiate that away...Wendy cranking hard on new site...Bob working on daily tip of day and shopping cart...hopefully should be ready to roll everything out this week.

Three new tip sites today though I don't think it's making much difference on the stats...the WinDriver thing is wierd because he's hardly giving us any hits today...yet our numbers are still up...1100 as of 2 pm...bigbigsavings is now #2 behind swschool, and I think where it might pay is that people who are into computers will come to the newsletter and sign up. Got to find other sites like that...stats show that people are hitting the newsletter, so that's probably where they are coming from...

Some excerpts from Alan Canton on Pub_Forum
What I suggest publishers do before they publish a book is to spend a long
weekend at a cabin in the woods or a small house on the beach. Take nothing
but a pad of paper and a pen. No books, no TV, no radio, no husband/other,
etc. They should spend three days walking around THINKING. They should make a
detailed list of WHAT to do, and different ways to accomplish it. Then they
need to prioritize it as best they can, from the small and simple, up to the
hard and difficult. For example, the first thing they should do is make sure
their "publishing house" is in order... that they have the necessary
infrastructure to succeed... phones, computers, software (I can think of one
in particular :-)), etc. They need to prepare for success. Then they need to
add to their list the easy and obvious things that can get some sales.
Finally, they need to add to the list the hard-to-accomplish things. They
need to flesh these out in great detail so that when they return "from the
mountain" they have a game plan that they can take into battle.

They need a "killer" attitude.

They have to follow the plan relentlessly. They must leave no stone unturned.
If part of the plan is to have a Neiman Marcus buyer see a gift-book item,
then one has to call this buyer every &^%$ing day until the buyer agrees to a
meeting. Relentless pursuit. Zero tolerance for failure. And if they can't
get to one buyer, then they need to go over this head... right up to the
president of NM if necessary. This is zero-sum, can't lose, desperation
marketing. Whatever it takes, baby. And no one is allowed to get in the way.
No one stops them. They are the MAN.

And folks, this is hard. This is very hard. It is the hardest work you will
ever do. It is not fun like writing a book or being interviewed on radio.
This is down and dirty, in your face, hard-scrabble marketing. It has a
million no's and a million "not interested's." But somewhere out there is the
"big break." There is some buyer somewhere who is about to lose her job
because she can't come up with just the right "creation" for the fall
catalog, or the spring line, or the store promotion, or that special huge
client.

To put it as General Patton would, a publisher has to "beat the crap out of
the goddamn market" until they find that buyer. And then they have to do it
again to find the next. And the next. They have to be tough. They have to be
hard. They have to be determined. The have to be smart. They have to get down
and dirty and just DO IT. That's right, DO IT, not think about it or talk
about it, but *&^%$ing DO IT!!!!!!

Letter after letter. Phone call after phone call. Meeting after meeting. No
after no. Maybe after maybe. Hang-up after hang-up, rejection after
rejection, They have to hang tough. They have to take no prisoners. They can
leave no stone unturned. They have to work, work, work, and work some more.

You know what it is? It's attitude. That's right... attitude. Sorry to put it
this way, but I believe that to survive in publishing you have to have an "I
don't give a crap ... I'm going to sell this &^%ing book... or die trying"
attitude.

You show me a publisher who gets out of bed every single day, gets into the
office (which already functions well because she planned it that way and
invested in the infrastructure) and who does five,... just five things a day
to sell her books, and I'll show you a successful publisher. Yes, five things
(calls, letters, meetings, mailings, interviews, articles, etc) a day for 300
days a year (yes, you will have to work some weekends) and I'll show you
someone who is a success.

And I'll be the first to say that this is NOT the fun part of publishing.
You've already had the fun. You wrote the book or you brought someone else's
creation to life. You enjoyed the design process and you were thrilled to
open the first box of books and see, touch, and smell what you have wrought.
Now is the time to get to work. Now is the time to get tough. Now is the time
to be the boss, the bad-ass, the unstoppable force. Now is the time to see
what you are made of. Now is the time to see if you really, really "want it."
What are you made of? Will it be success or failure? Tell me. Right now. Tell
me!

Get down on it, get out there, run on the field and kick some butt. Failure
is not an option. You CAN do this. You SHOULD do this. If you want to be a
success in this business, you will HAVE to do this.

And when the phone does not ring or the orders do not come in, don't quit.
Don’t quit. You cannot quit. No quitting allowed. Make more calls, write more
articles, give more speeches, see more store managers, think, think, think,
think, think!!! Goddamn it, if it were so %$#@ing easy, everyone would be
doing it.

So stop crying. Stop whining. Forget about your fear (you are going to die
someday anyway no matter how fearful you are, so get your ass into the arena
and play the game.) Pick up the phone and call/write/meet with someone who
needs your book or product. If you believe in yourself, and if you believe in
your product, and if you convey this with sincerity and integrity, the world
will beat down your doors wanting what you have.

You can make it as good as it gets.

And if you fail, so what. Big &^%$ing deal. No matter what, you are one of
the special ones. One of the few, one of the brave, one of those who did
something they truly believed in. It is to you the following was written.