Zen Habits Interview, Facebook Page, Free Book Bonuses, and More

If you’re up for some fresh content, Zen Habits just posted a monstrous new interview with me.

Leo Babauta asked really good questions, so I gave them a lot of thought. This interview is very long — nearly 7,000 words — about the length of a typical book chapter. I promise you it isn’t fluff though. I did my best to answer each question with depth and honesty, so I think you’ll find that this interview is filled with thought-provoking ideas.

Our interview covers a wide variety of topics, including passion, dealing with criticism, avoiding communication overwhelm, daily routine, staying motivated, and more. Some of the questions are especially relevant for bloggers.

It’s ironic that the interview title labels me a “Blogging God” while the final question is about humility. What are you trying to do to me, Leo? 😉

Blog World Expo

Last weekend I attended Blog World Expo here in Las Vegas. It was my first time attending, and I had a blast! I can’t post a full review, but it was definitely worthwhile. I thought it was a little heavy on the promotion and monetization side — I’d have preferred to see the emphasis shift to the content side — but I definitely learned a few things.

I met Dave Taylor while I was there, and I offered to speak at Blog World Expo next year, so we’ll see what happens with that. At first I resisted speaking at blogging conferences because blogging is my medium, not my message. But lately I’ve softened on that stance because I obviously can’t escape being branded as a blogger, and I think I can do some genuine good if I focus on helping bloggers in the area of creative self-expression (which I believe is the core essence behind building substantial traffic). Not long ago I gave a 90-minute presentation called “Creating Compelling Content” to a group of speakers, and that could easily be adapted to blogging.

At one point I was sitting in Jay Berkowitz’ session on monetization, and partway through I see a pic of StevePavlina.com on the screen. He was using it as a monetization example in his Power Point presentation. That was a fun surprise. I waved to him and ended up making a small contribution to the session. He recorded the whole session, and I think it may appear as a podcast on his site.

I had an especially good time talking to JB Glossinger from MorningCoach.com. He has the #1 self-help podcast on iTunes and was one of the conference speakers. We met up at one of the parties and ended up talking for hours, until the hotel staff moved in to clean the hotel ballroom and had to nudge us out. Then we talked some more. I really like his mindset toward personal growth — very open and authentic. I’ve already listened to a couple of his podcasts, and I recommend you give him a listen. He’s recorded over 400 of them!

Another speaker at the conference was Gary Rosenzweig, an old friend and fellow game developer from my pre-blogging days. I first met him at a shareware conference and hadn’t seen him for five years. I enjoying catching up with him and seeing how our career paths had developed in different ways. I moved into blogging, and he got involved in creating online videos. Small world!

Facebook Page

I recently joined Facebook after learning about it at Blog World Expo last weekend.

I’ve added more than 200 new Facebook friends this week already (mainly from tweeting about it), so it will be fun to see what happens after announcing it here. I was told the current friend limit is 5,000.

Thanks so much to Shama Hyder and Mari Smith for helping to educate me on using Facebook. I’m still a total newbie at it, but at least I’ve managed to get a few things working properly.

Facebook reminds me of BBSing during the early 90s. If you’re too young (or not geeky enough) to remember what a BBS is, it stands for Bulletin Board System. Local BBSes provided dial-up access via modem. Once you were dialed in, you could create a profile, chat online with people, play games, send messages, and more. Erin and I actually met on a Los Angeles BBS called Dreamscape in 1994. Dreamscape used popular BBS software called Major BBS, and it featured 24 dial-in lines. Using Facebook is like deja vu for me. Sure the technology is more advanced and the community is gigantic, but the underlying operating principle is the same.

While it’s certainly possible to overdo online socializing and use it as a way to procrastinate, I hold a more positive opinion of it. Many of my online social connections have led to offline friendships. I’ve found that when I maintain a robust social life online, it enhances my offline social life too. So you may even catch me doing live chats on Facebook now and then. I enjoy connecting with all kinds of people.

No doubt some people will question how Facebook could help me with my business. The truth is that I don’t really care. My modus operandi is to pursue growth experiences and mold my business around that, not the other way around. So all I’m looking for on Facebook is to make new connections that can lead to interesting growth experiences. I don’t center my life around a profit motive.

Book Sales – Top 200

My new book Personal Development for Smart People is off to a good start. Its Amazon sales rank broke the top 200 today (currently at 146). I expect it will break the top 100 either this week or next. I just announced its release in my newsletter this morning, and Hay House will announce it in their newsletters next week. Their list is 20x the size of mine.

The book already has three Amazon reviews posted, all of them 5 stars. That’s certainly nice to see. I’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback from readers via email, often from people who are only partway through it.

I suspect sales will be stronger in October, since it will be a while before the 400+ bloggers who requested a review copy have a chance to read it and post their reviews. Only about 2% of them have posted reviews so far.

Free Bonus With Your Book Order

I forgot to mention that if you order my book this month, you’ll receive several free bonuses. I think you’ll agree these are truly awesome. Their combined value is so incredibly high that I can’t possibly put a price on them.

Some authors try to convince you to buy their books by tossing in a bunch of crappy e-books you’ll never read. But obviously such a scheme is unworthy of a “smart person” such as yourself.

So I had to come up with something much more beneficial to you, something that would complement the book and add some serious value to it.

It took a lot of effort to develop these bonuses, but I think you’ll agree they make this offer absolutely irresistible.

Here’s what you’ll receive:

Bonus #1: Love and Gratitude

You’ll receive my unconditional love for helping to support my work (or is that conditional love?). Every day I take a moment to cast out love energy to everyone who’s read my book. The sooner you read the book, the more love energy you receive. In addition to the free love bonus, I also send out feelings of deep gratitude, so that’s like a bonus on top of a bonus. 🙂

But wait — there’s more!!!

Bonus #2: Heightened Awareness

This book will significantly increase your awareness. Even if you don’t do any of the exercises, I guarantee this book will change the way you think about your life — for the better. You’ll be able to amaze your friends and family with your newfound enlightenment.

And that’s not all!!!

Bonus #3: Pass It On Value

After you read the book, you can pass it on to someone you think would benefit from it. Then it becomes a powerful gift you can bestow upon another human being. I don’t earn any money when this happens, but who cares? These ideas are meant to be shared.

Hold on — we’re not done yet!!!

Bonus #4: Free Consultation

I can’t believe I’m including this, but here goes… With your order I’ll include one free astral consultation. Just go to sleep tonight and come visit me on the astral plane, and I’ll personally consult with you for free. Best of all, since there’s no time in the astral realms, you can take as long as you want! Just make sure you’re fully lucid; otherwise you may not remember any of it.

Still not convinced — it gets better!!!

Place your order within the next 10 minutes, and I’ll double your bonuses! That’s right — double! You’ll get double the love and gratitude! Double the awareness! Double the pass it on value! And double the consultations!

This offer is absolutely unprecedented!!! You’d better act now before I regain my sanity! 😉