Monthly Archives: December 2008

Poetry 2.0

Posted on by
Reply

J.E. Jacobson is not your average poet, but a man with many hats. To begin with, he teaches high school English and Creative Writing in Colorado. He is finishing up his Masters Degree in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Creative Writing. He plays bass. He is married with a new baby. Oh, and then there is keeping up with “Haiku the Wonder Dog,” the family’s Black Labrador.

What makes him unique is that he uses several new mediums to express his work. It starts with his blog, A Poetic Matter, which he updates regularly. On his blog, he does everything from critique others’ work to publish snippets of poems he has written to discuss his role in inspiring the youth of Colorado.

J.E. has published two books through online self-publishing tools now avaliable. His latest book is called Somewhere, Love and is “a sequence of 100 Tanka poems recording the journey of a husband and his wife preparing for their first child.” This book is available through CreateSpace. His first book is a little more light hearted, is called Summer Leaves: An Original Selection of Haiku & Senryu, and is available through Lulu.

What brought J.E. to our attention is the unique way in which he uses YUDU. He has partnered with musician, Garret Hope, and has put his poetry to music in order to create a virtual dramatic reading. He has created a library on YUDU where he hosts the audio files from these readings and then links to them from his blog. In true Bob Dylan fashion, J.E. Jacobsen has found unique way to express himself and his talents.

Why push the creative boundaries? According to J.E., “not to prove anything to anybody, but to add my part into the chorus of artists and writers trying to figure it all out.”

With YUDU and all of the other tools available to artists and experts today, we are blessed with greater access to amazing content. At YUDU, we give experts a voice. We thank J.E. Jacobson for chosing to share his with us.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Your Own Personal "Bailout"

Posted on by
Reply

Much has been said of the US government’s bailout of its critical industries, such as banking, insurance, and automotive. Seems that many of these firms need to not only be saved from a faltering economy, but often from themselves. However, in times like these, everyone can use a little extra.

eBay has become one of the great success stories of the Internet. For all of us pack rats, there was finally a place we could list and sell all of our old junk and make money from our “treasures”. This giant garage sale spawned hundreds of small businesses who make a little money on the side by finding great bargains and bringing them to the masses.

Although YUDU is only a few months old, we have seen the same thing start to develop with content publishers. We have found that everyone is an expert something. YUDU now gives you a chance to make some money with your expertise. It is like clearing out the hidden corners of your mind, getting it down in a stunning digital publication, and selling it to the masses. With our YUDU Marketplace, we are looking to create our own mini “rock stars”.

In trying economic times like these, why not become your own personal “bailout”? Finally make some money from that expertise it took you a lifetime to develop? YUDU gives you the tools and the audience.

YUDU Adds Albums, Groups, And Subscriptions

Posted on by
Reply

For those of you who have been uploading documents and adding things to your library over the last couple of days, you may have noticed a couple of extras buttons in the navigation. We have responded to several requests by our users and have added 3 new features: albums, groups, and subscriptions. As always, all of our features are still in beta (which is a simpler way of saying please don’t get mad at us while we tweak things to make them better).

Albums allow you to group several different publications, photos, or other files into a single album where it can be sold or viewed as a group. This makes using YUDU much simpler for musicians, photographers, or authors who want to group their work together in packages.

The groups function allows you to set up and moderate your own interest groups to share your passions, knowledge and expertise with other like-minded users. A group can be public, moderated, or private and can have its own library and discussion forum. This feature is ideal for groups that want to get together, share, and discuss topics, reading groups that want to read and discuss a particular eBook every month, or even a place for school or work groups to collaborate on projects.

Finally, the subscriptions feature allows you to create a subscription group to sell access to multiple items – or multiple issues – over time. It’s great for weekly or monthly magazines, newletters, or even a series of eBooks. You can even archive content (such as videos or podcasts) that your subscribers can access and can market additional subscriptions to your group by giving members a free issue or teaser version.

YUDU has always been about sharing your expertise with the world. With these new features, we have given you greater flexibility in grouping and selling your expertise and in finding kindred spirits with which to share it. Please let us know what you think!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Eco-Friendly Dog Lovers of the World Unite!

Posted on by
1

At YUDU, we are lovers of great ideas and interesting expertise, especially when it comes to making our planet a little greener. Such is the case with Paw Luxury, an online retailer of eco-friendly products for your dog. Paw Luxury combines the best of two powerful worlds: pet lovers and green advocates. With the growth of sites like Care2.com, Treehugger.com, and Dogster.com, it is easy to see why a green eStore for dogs is long overdue.

Adam & Wendy Leidhecker created Paw Luxury out of their desire to find earth friendly and natural products for their lovable boxer named Lola. Though they found a few products in many different places, there was nobody that offered all eco-friendly dog products under one roof. Paw Luxury was born.

In addition to offering all eco-friendly products, Paw Luxury also strives to offer products primarily sourced and manufactured in the USA under Fair Trade standards. Everything is built around their motto of “healthy dog, healthy earth, happier life.”

Paw Luxury offers products in the areas of Treats and Eats, Collars and Leashes, Toys and Fun, Health and Wellness, Apparel and Gear, and more. Visit http://www.pawlux.com for a complete listing of products and information.

As a kindred spirit in the battle for “bringing green back” through digital publishing, we salute the staff at Paw Luxury for doing their part. In fact, check out our Green Business Guide for both the USA and the UK for “51 Ways That Your Business Can Save Money AND The Planet.” Hey, if a dog can do it, so can you!

Silky Smooth Publishing

Posted on by
Reply

Browsing the YUDU ePublication Marketplace is a favorite pass time because we often run across the most interesting publications. We recently had a fan of YUDU praise us on Twitter (@hesika for you Tweeters) and wanted to find out more about her business. Hereke Silk Carpets sells “The finest carpets of the world”. These luxurious silk carpets are hand made in Turkey, where they have been produced for hundreds of years. They are a combination of art and comfort and are sold out of Berlin, Germany.

As Solveigh Calderin, owner of Hereke Silk Carpets, puts it, “Our business is an online business and it is not feasible to send a catalog around the world.” Hereke Silk Carpets takes advantage of YUDU’s ePublishing tools to produce a stunning digital catalog that it uses to market its carpets all over the world. When you have a luxury good like silk carpets, the best way to convey the craftsmanship and quality is through a YUDU digital publication. The ability to add multimedia, embed the publication in your own website, and the simple wow factor make the selling process that much easier.

“It’s been really great! I have searched for just such a possibility,” says Solveigh. With YUDU, Solveigh can make her marketing materials look as beautiful as her carpets.

Girls Can Woot Too!

Posted on by
1

Do you love the website, Woot.com? The “one-deal-at-a-time” (ODAT) format has become the rage for bargain shoppers of all types. Today marks the launch of RedTagCrazy.com, the newest bargain shopper site targeted specifically to women who enjoy high-end fashion apparel and accessories. Unlike standard Woot, which sells one item per day, RedTagCrazy sells one item until it’s gone or “max time” runs out, which they say will last less than 2 hours in most cases. This is similar to the famous “Woot-off”on Woot.com.

Of course, the recipe for success is deep discounts (50-80% in most cases), top name brands, and limited time and quantities. It has been proven to fans whip fans into a frenzy and create huge followings with online properties like Woot.com and Steepandcheap.com as well as brick and mortar providers like Costco Wholesale. RedTagCrazy is hoping to ride the success of its predecessors to quickly establish a name for itself in the bargain fashion world.

Like each new player in the market, RedTagCrazy is making its own improvements to the ODAT model. One of the greatest complaints of “Woot-ers” is having to pay shipping with each individual item puchased. RedTagCrazy has introduced functionality that allows you to either ship immediately or hold and bundle before shipping. You simply pay the initial shipping fee and then $0.99 for each additional item. Alert tools are even available through a Firefox Add-on and iPhone ap.

“We’re creating a unique solution for exclusive brands to engage customers, move inventory, and create buzz”, stated Eric Ingram, Chief Executive of Truly Networks, Inc., parent company to RedTagCrazy.com. We think the bargain fashonistas of the world will agree. Combine fashion expertise with a great business model and the result is RedTagCrazy.com.

The Business of Rebuilding

Posted on by
Reply

What happens when you combine years of experience in building homes with the reconstruction effort in storm ravaged New Orleans, Southern Mississippi, and Southern Texas? You get Rebuilding Management, LLC.

Rick Westmoreland is a Kansas City area home builder who built an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system for his business to manage his building projects. With his years of experience, he was able to build a system that could handle all aspects of the building process, including cost estimating, material and contractor bidding, purchase and work orders, scheduling and labor management, and more.

After he watched the destructive force of storms like Katrina and Ike leave a wake of destruction along the southern coast, he saw an opportunity to help. He felt that the software he built for his own business could also help organizations looking to rebuild these cities after the storms.

According to Rick, “We decided it would be best to let local not for profits use the software because they had the case management systems in place and were more qualified to deal with the victims.” They also partnered with TradeCubate to develop a trade contractor incubator in order to devlop local trade contractors into better business people.

According to the website, “In addition to the construction-management system, Rebuilding Management offers a pool of top-performing, local trade contractors and high-quality material suppliers for you and your homeowners to choose from.  Homeowners can even select building materials (such as flooring, paint, and lighting fixtures) without ever leaving home. Rebuilding Management’s online catalogs make the selection process easy.”

“What started in New Orleans has now spread to Galveston and the Mississippi River Valley and San Diego fire disaster areas,” says Rick. Wherever there are natural disasters, there will be those looking to rebuild their lives. Rebuilding Management, LLC wants to make that process as smooth as possible. If non-profits are using donated labor and materials, there is even no charge to use the software, outside of a small transaction fee for online payments to vendors.

What next for Rebuilding Management? “We provide a reusable knowledge base in an intuitive survey sytem that we will combine with green building and energy star features in our next revision.”

For more information about Rebuilding Management, LLC, visit their website at http://www.rebuildingmanagement.com

Elevator Pitch: An Interview With CEO, Richard Stephenson, by The Guardian

Posted on by
Reply

YUDU Media CEO, Richard Stephenson, was recently interviewed by The Guardian for its Digital Content Blog, PDA. In its feature called Elevator Pitch, Jemima Kiss from The Guardian shot several questions about at Richard about YUDU, its business model, his own background, and where he looks for inspiration. His answers are listed on the blog.

You can read the entire feature at http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2008/nov/26/startups-digitalmedia. Let us know what you think!