WineMaps Helps Wine Lovers Find Wineries and Wines: An Interview with Ryan Ornelas

February 17, 2012 Blog, Featured No Comments

In this exclusive interview, Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler (TCW) chats with Ryan Ornelas (RO), a San Francisco-area information technology expert about his latest endeavor, WineMaps.com. TCW: Thanks for agreeing to speak with The Content Wrangler today, Ryan. For those who don’t know who you are, tell us a little about yourself and what you do? RO: I am the former IT Director of Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JDV). I am now a consultant for JDV on the relaunch of their website which includes a new booking experience that will …

Everyone Into “The Content Pool”: An Interview With Alan J. Porter

February 13, 2012 Blog, Featured No Comments

In this interview with Alan Porter, Senior Digital Publishing Consultant for PTC, we discuss his new book, The Content Pool, which explores the most important hidden asset in your company, your content. We have a Chief Executive Officer and a Chief Financial Officer; why don’t we have Chief Content Officer? TCW (The Content Wrangler): Hi Alan, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. AJP (Alan J. Porter): Thanks, it’s always a pleasure to be involved with The …

Collaborative Authoring and Communication Tools Help Writers, Editors, SMEs Work Together

February 7, 2012 Blog, Featured 2 Comments

By David Kowalsky, Guest Editor Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed with trying to keep track of all the versions of a document that are being sent back-and-forth by you and your work colleagues by email? When opening a document to edit, have you ever had the experience of being frustrated by immediately seeing a message pop up telling you that the document is locked? Many companies have introduced features to their products to alleviate these types of issues, making collaborative authoring– projects where written works are created by multiple …

Understanding Word of Mouth Marketing

February 4, 2012 Blog, Featured No Comments

Straight from the horse’s mouth? Sorry, we could’t resist. This video from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), does a great job of demystifying word of mouth marketing. WOMMA is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing and advocating the discipline of credible word of mouth marketing and promoting word of mouth as a solution to business challenges.

The Financial Services Insider: Who Needs A Web Content Management System When We Can Print The Web?

January 11, 2012 Blog, Featured 2 Comments

by The Financial Services Insider (a secret, for obvious reasons) Too many companies are still treating enterprise web content as an animal separate and apart from the rest of the enterprise’s content. It’s a wasteful mistake that leads to some crazy behavior. Let me explain. I work for a financial services provider which is supposed to file its web properties with an industry watchdog or face audits and possible fines. When I started with the company, the websites had never been filed, and the compliance department was reluctant to increase …

[Webinar] Grammar Girl Takes Your Questions About Spelling, Punctuation, Word Choice And More

January 3, 2012 Blog, Featured 4 Comments

UPDATE: Due to a family emergency, Grammar Girl will not be appearing on January 13, 2012. This event will now take place January 27, same time, same bat channel. All registrants were sent an email invite alerting them of the change. Words matter. Selecting the wrong ones can impede communication. But, while word choice is critical, equally important are spelling, style, punctuation and grammar. Join me, Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, and Val Swisher, CEO of Content Rules, Friday, January 13, 2012 for our first show of the new year. …

[Infographic] You Are What You Tweet: 2011 Tweetview

December 29, 2011 Blog, Featured No Comments

You are what you tweet, so to speak. Check out the interesting and “tweetworthy” numbers visualized by the folks at FrugalDad in this fun and informative infographic that takes a look at some of the biggest and most influential Twitter users, tweets and hashtags of 2011. Source: http://frugaldad.com

eBook Creation Service Aims To Make Publishing Quality eBooks Easier

December 29, 2011 Blog, Featured 9 Comments

eBooks are making a big dent in the publishing industry. There’s no doubt about that. They’re convenient, and can be downloaded on an increasing variety of mobile devices. In order to “strike while the iron is hot”, many organizations are rushing to get their existing content converted to eBook formats (there’s more than one). But doing so is oftentimes more complicated — and expensive — than many imagine. It’s easy to make costly mistakes — errors that can impact the usability (and sales) of digital publications. Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL) …

The Phenomenal Rise of eBooks; Downloadable Books Now Outsell Hardbacks and Paperbacks Combined

December 28, 2011 Blog, Featured No Comments

The publishing industry is reluctant to give out detailed sales figures on eBook sales, but David Roth-Ey from publisher HarperCollins said: “The electronic market is really booming. We are seeing 600% growth year on year in eBooks. That is in a frankly stagnant book selling market.” On Amazon since April 2011, 242 Kindle eBooks have been sold for every 100 hardcover books, SkyNews HD reports.

Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler, On Adobe Technical Communication Software, Silos Busting, And Convergence

December 27, 2011 Blog, Featured No Comments

At the Adobe Technical Communication Enterprise Summit in Boston this past October, I was asked to comment on the future of technical communication, trends in the publishing industry, the importance of Adobe software tools for technical communicators, and related topics. In this short video montage, I discuss the move to eBooks and enhanced, interactive content. I also point out the biggest challenge (as I see it) facing Adobe as they seek to serve the changing needs of the technical communication industry — departmental silos. I suggest a “convergence” of Adobe …