Interview with Paul Petrone of VoiceGlance

Paul Petrone is consistently the most viewed of my 500+ connections on LinkedIn. He is the Communications Manager at VoiceGlance. I asked him 5 questions. His unedited answers are posted below.

1. How do you get so many views on Linkedin?

Well, I think it is all about writing something that has some real value to the viewer.

For example, I write a lot of case studies on how certain companies hire, and those seem to be very popular. Why? Because along with being interesting, they are insightful – people can learn from it.

Also, I do my best to avoid every possible platitude and replace it with real, actual facts. For example, I hate when someone says something like “we are going to have a truly collaborative process” or something vague. What does that mean?

I believe fundamentally in just discovering and telling the real truth. I think people are interested in that.

2. What percentage of your work relies on social media?

The vast majority of my blogs’ readers now come from LinkedIn. So tremendously.

Before, in other places I worked, it was all about Facebook or Twitter.

But those are just vehicles. We live in a great time today – if you produce great content, no matter who you are, it can get picked up and shared and read by thousands of people. The key is still producing great content, that should be the main focus of any writer, artist, whatever.

If your content isn’t getting much attention, ask yourself this – is it really that good? How can I make it more relevant to my readers? Am I being fully honest in my writing?

Be hard on yourself. Work to improve and things will work out.

3. As an expert on the hiring process, what do you think companies tend to be overlooking the most?

The key is to go beyond the resume and try to find real insight about each applicant.

That’s why I’m so excited to be at VoiceGlance. I feel like it does an amazing job of matching companies and people. After all, it has to be both a great fit for both the candidate and the organization for the hire to work, and I think VoiceGlance does that better than any tool on the market.

Additionally, most other tools make for a bad experience for candidates. VoiceGlance is easy to use for both hiring managers and candidates, so both win.

4. What single piece of advice would you give to people seeking work in the current hiring atmosphere?

Be yourself. Just like companies are searching for the right fit, candidates should be searching for the right fit. Don’t worry so much about money – money will come if you find something you like.

5. What makes a good communicator?

Honesty. Obviously, you can’t say whatever is on your mind whenever you want to say it. But if you are having a problem with someone, take them aside and hash it out.

A big thing I always push for is to demand to talk about the root cause of the problem. Often, fights happen over other issues than what really is the root problem, and if that root problem isn’t fixed, they’ll continue.

So be honest and discuss the problem with the person, and generally it can be resolved. Again, though, it should happen one-on-one, so both people can talk freely.

Abominable: A Light-Hearted Look at French-American Relations

Merriam-Webster describes the word “abominable” in the following way: worthy of or causing disgust or hatred: detestable. Interestingly enough, the word is spelled the same way and means the same thing in French. If I had to give abominable a face, it would look like the face of my 2nd grade classmate, Stacey Johnson, when I told her at the swing set one day that my parents and I ate snails for dinner the previous night. It was not that dissimilar from the look my father gave me when he bit into his first chili cheese dog with extra onions from 7-Eleven. I’ve always been a big fan of liquid orange cheese dispensed from a pump. My dad not so much.

What’s complicated about how the French and Americans find each other mutually abominable is how the feeling comes and goes. In the early days of U.S. History, during the American Revolution and its afterglow, many Americans looked to the French for enlightenment. 

One of the leaders of this francophilia was none other than Thomas Jefferson who served as Minister to France from 1785 to 1789 and urged support for France, even during the unsavory Reign of Terror. It’s been well documented that Jefferson was a lover of all things French, including French food. In 1802, Jefferson may have inadvertently launched the single most important culinary adaptation in U.S. history when he had “potatoes served in the French manner” at a White House dinner. Jump forward 200 years, and the tables are completely turned when U.S. Congress officially changes the name “French Fries” in Congressional cafeterias to “Freedom Fries” to contradict France because of its distaste for the invasion of Iraq.

When I contemplated the food of my childhood, there was no doubt that I had loved some of my father’s dishes: Cassoulet, Quenelles, Beef Bourguignon, Ratatouille, Moules Marinieres. These are just some of the legendary French classics he served that you’ll find in the great French cookbooks by Escoffier, Bocuse, Ducasse and which were later replayed by francophiles such as Julia Child.

Frenchie's Financials

Hey,
So I'm not a Wall Street guy or anything like that, but I take an interest in the stock market. Here is a short list of some stocks that I observe. Don't take my word for any it.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)

- CEO Elon Musk is a genius. In the not-so-far-off future, his car company will rule the automobile industry.

SAFE PLAY

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

- They’re not going bankrupt anytime soon.

A WILD RIDE

GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO)

- Hot tech company that sells wearable cameras. On a huge roll recently. Extremely volatile. Buckle up.

DEFINITE MAYBE

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA)

- Another very hot tech company. Recent IPO was huge. Has fallen slightly since the IPO but will most likely rise over the next 6 months to 1 year.

BUY LOW, SELL HIGH

Gordmans Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:GMAN)

- Midwestern department store that will soon celebrate its 100^th anniversary. The stock is in the toilet, but if it ever turns itself around, you’ll be able to retire.

A Sample from My Novel

The following is an excerpt from my novel, which is due to be published in 2015:

When he was a boy, Harry Flores loved books and spent much of his spare time at the public library in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas, reading as much as he could while other boys practiced being cowboys, played catch, went fishing or did dozens of other outdoorsy things that many boys in that area did during the 1950's. When he was 12, Harry wrote his first story about a boy who was abducted by aliens in the desert. He submitted the story and others that came later to magazine contests but never won anything. Nonetheless, he continued reading and writing, for it gave him great pleasure, and eventually, he became quite well-read and also a strong student in school, which enabled him to become the first Flores to attend university. 

At university, Harry applied his passion for stories to the study of journalism, which he reasoned would allow him to make a solid living someday as a writer, even if he never attained his dream of becoming a famous novelist. As it turned out, Harry was an excellent journalist and earned a very strong living as one. After working his way up the ranks with various news services and television networks, Harry got his own talk show and became one of the most respected and distinguished interviewers in the country.

Every weekday afternoon, Harry taped an interview to be aired later that night with a person of interest at the same table in the same midtown Manhattan studio that he had been using for 13 years. Wearing his trademark dark suit, Harry looked into the camera and began speaking.

"My guest tonight is a fiction writer whose total book sales have sold over 2 billion copies. Having recently surpassed William Shakespeare, he is widely considered to be the bestselling author of all time. His latest thriller entitled "GloFish Syndrome" is his 134th book to be a New York Times #1 bestseller. I'm very pleased to interview for the 23rd time on this show Richard Brink. Welcome once again to the show, Richard, and thank you for being here."

"Harry, I feel like I should probably just buy the studio and the neighboring apartment and move in, since I'm here so much," said Richard Brink, the author, as he reared back in his chair and let out a great laugh at his own comment. Then he brought his right hand back down, slamming it onto the table with such force that the cups of water on the table shook and spilled over slightly.

Brink, wearing a pastel blue-green 3-piece suit and pink tie, continued, "By the way, Harry, It's 2.5 billion copies sold to date. Two billion is so yesterday."

"My apologies, Richard," replied Harry. "Let's talk about your latest book. I'm told that you wrote it in 19 days of non-stop writing."

"That's right, Harry. Kerouac wrote "On the Road" in 20 days, and now I've written my book in 19. There's no other real comparison between us, however, because you can't really call what Kerouac did writing. I mean, come on!  A rambling stream-of-consciousness account of two guys bumming around the country. That's not a plot. That's a hippy journal."

"Your books are known for their intricate plots and unexpected twists and turns," said Harry.

"Correct, Harry. I don't just sit around toking it up in an opium den in Tangiers waiting to feel inspired and then spew out whatever pops into my drug-clouded mind. I actually do some work. I research my books extensively, which are usually on highly complex subject material, and build a world inhabited by very intelligent and believable characters faced with enigmas that must be overcome to achieve meaningful resolutions."

"In keeping with this propensity for complex subject matter, your new book, 'GloFish Syndrome', tackles the controversial topic of genetically modified organisms or GMOs," said Harry Flores. "Where did the idea for "GloFish Syndrome" come from?"

"Oddly enough, Harry, I got the idea for the book in the most mundane of places -- a pet store -- if you can believe it -- that I recently visited while searching for a present for my accountant's daughter's 7th birthday. I know what you're thinking, Harry. Why didn't I just send someone from my staff out to run this humdrum errand? Harry, sometimes I like to mingle with the ordinary people, study their habits and quirks. I filter my findings into my characters. Who knows, Harry … you might be in one of my characters. Anyways, my brain, which is constantly in overdrive, refused to submit to the cruise-control mode under which most people's brains operate, and I was able to extract a mesmerizing story out of the total dullness of a typical pet store. 

"Here's how it happened. When I informed my accountant that I intended to buy his daughter a pet for her birthday, he quickly unraveled into a tizzy of objections as he often does when confronted with change and made it clear to me that most pets were not welcome in his apartment, particularly the ones that give off an odor, make noise or require considerable care, that is to say, nearly all pets. Not wanting to further fluster my accountant, who can belabor a point with soul-draining, vampirical intensity, I agreed to confine myself to the fish section when seeking out a pet for his daughter. It was there that I found the girl's birthday present and also a kernel of inspiration for my next book. The GloFish, is a small fish that reaches lengths of 2 inches in adults and which comes in a variety of fluorescent colors that include "Electric Green," "Sunburst Orange" and "Moonrise Pink." We've all seen them, but what most people don't realize is that these fish glow as the result of a biotechnological process involving the insertion of genes from other species, namely a seal coral and a jellyfish, into the fish's embryo allowing for the integration of the other species' genes into the fish's genome."

Harry jumped in, "Are you telling me that these GloFish that you can buy at any pet store are genetically modified organisms?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, Harry, and the repercussions of this kind of science are precisely what "GloFish Syndrome" is about. Without revealing too much, I think it's safe to say that my story is a kind of morality tale in the same way that Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" is but with more intellectual meat to it, and, of course, it moves much more quickly and deftly as it must for a contemporary audience."

"Fascinating," responded Harry, "that you were able to come up with such an intriguing story from an ordinary, everyday kind of event. Please tell us what happened next. Do you have a process or routine that you follow once the book idea comes to you?"

"Like I said earlier, I have an extremely active and powerful mind that allows me absorb and process information at a much higher rate than most people. One of the features of my mind that allows me to do this is its photographic memory. As you can imagine, this is a useful tool for a fiction writer who has to create a world full of details that lend credibility to the fictional world. Even with my photographic memory, Harry, I still write outlines prior to diving into the 1st draft that serve as basic roadmaps for the story. 

"I also read constantly. When I'm not writing, I'm reading. I read up to 3 books a week, usually on a topic that helps support the information in my story. For this book, I read stacks of scientific journals on genetic engineering. I also interviewed 5 of the top scientists in the field. 

"As you can imagine, my days are quite full, so I awake at 5 a.m. each morning, do 30 minutes of cardio, have breakfast  and start writing by 6. I write 4,000 words by 10 am at which point I take a break to answer emails, respond to phone calls, talk to my agent and generally handle the business of being me.

"I take lunch at noon, and then in the afternoon, I read, research and conduct interviews so that I'm ready to write the next day. By 6 pm, I've completed my formal work for the day. My evenings are reserved for book signings, lecturing, fund raising, giving interviews and other public appearances. For the completion of this book in just 19 days, I was forced to forego this evening portion of my agenda and isolate myself to complete a second daily writing session equal to my morning writing sessions."

"Incredible," responded Harry. "So, basically, you were writing 8,000 words a day to complete 'GloFish Syndrome.' Tell us if you will -- what was your goal in wanting to finish the book so quickly. I mean -- 19 days, it's unbelievable. Why did you do it?"

"Harry, it's hard for ordinary people to understand men like me, and by men like me, I mean historical figures: DaVinci, Michelangelo, Tesla, Edison, Einstein and so forth. We're men of endless curiosity and feverish inventiveness. Our creativity knows no bounds, so we must create for ourselves new challenges to keep our own work fresh to ourselves. Harry, I'm the most prolific and successful fiction writer in the history of the world. What was there left for me to accomplish? How can I go on without new goals, new summits to reach? Speed writing is my new summit. You could say I have a need for speed …hehe."

"So now that you've written a bestseller in 19 days, what's next on the horizon?"

"This is just the beginning of the speedwriting sessions. I will continue to write bestsellers, each one more quickly than the preceding one. Then a time will come in the not-so-distant future when I will write one in a single uninterrupted session, taking only short nourishment and bathroom breaks."

"We eagerly await it," said Harry. He paused briefly, gathering his thoughts for the next line of questioning. This gave Richard Brink a moment to pour himself another cup of water from the pitcher sitting at the table between him and Harry.

"Now I'd like to shift over to a new topic," said Harry.

"Oh, God, here we go," said Brink. "You can't resist going there, can you, Harry?"

"You're a household name, Richard, a very public figure whose every move has been the subject of great debate and speculation."

Brink cut in quickly. "Listen, Harry, my private life is of no concern to anyone except myself."

Now it was Harry's turn to jump in. "In theory, I would agree with you, Richard. However, when your private affairs regularly become front-page news, and the topic of this news frequently revolves around the same themes, then fans, colleagues, critics and most other sentient beings want to know the truth. It's only natural. They want to know about the wizard behind the curtain pulling the levers and pressing the buttons of the greatest creative writing machine this world has ever known."

For the second time that evening, Richard Brink reared back his torso and threw his head back and let out a great bellowing laugh.

"Harry, you slay me," he said. "You really are the best, which, like you mentioned in your opening, is why I've been on your show 23 times. But if you think you can butter me up with a line like 'greatest creative writing machine this world has ever known', think again. First of all, I know it and don't need you to tell me. Secondly, I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears 20-something Ivy League graduate with a couple of books published to his name who fancies himself to be the next Hemingway. I've been in this game 30 years, spent 27 of those years in the limelight. I've been dubbed by the press a communist, a socialist, an anarchist, a terrorist, a racist, a bigamist, a sexist, a rapist and just about every other -ist in the English language. There are haters out there, Harry, who are envious and want to see a man like me taken down just because they can't stand the thought of my perpetual success."

"You're one of the most notorious bachelors on the planet. Do you ever plan to settle down, marry again, have more children?" asked Harry.

Without hesitating, Brink answered, "Settle down? I'm too busy to settle down. Besides, I'm only 55-years-old, and I have the body of a man 10 years younger. There'll be plenty of time to produce more offspring in the future if that's what I choose to do, Harry."

Harry jumped in again, "Interesting that you should say that, Richard, because a handful of women already claim that you have more offspring."

"Harry, stop reading the tabloids. Until I receive a court order for a paternity test, these claims can be taken about as seriously as an alien abduction story," replied Brink. "I'm a billionaire, and I like to have fun. Some of these women will do anything they can to pick my pocket."

"Including take some hush money?" asked Harry.

Brink reached for his glass of water, raised it to his mouth and took a long drink. He put the glass back down gently and then turned to look into the camera. "This concludes my 23rd and potentially last interview with Harry Flores." With that, he stood up and walked away from the table.

Self-Publishing on Amazon: an Interview with Author Dave Walsh

I met Dave Walsh in 2007 when we were both editing press releases for PR Newswire in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It quickly became apparent to me that Dave is a superior editor and writer. He is also a musician and songwriter and expert on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), among many other things. His jump shot, however, could use a little work. He has a special affinity for kickboxing and owns www.liverkick.com . Eager to put all of his skills to the test, Dave self-published his first novel "The Godslayer" on Amazon.com in January of 2013. As per Amazon, "The Godslayer is a journey inside of the mind of a professional athlete who competed at the highest level but lost everything in the process and takes a rather unique look inside of the world of Mixed Martial Arts." It's an excellent read! I recently presented Dave with some questions about self-publishing on Amazon that he was most gracious and generous to answer in his typically candid style. The following is the text from our emails:

Hi Dave,

How are things? I'm just now getting around to reading your book. I look forward to it.

I've also started a new blog -- www.rerehey.blogspot.com

Would you be interested in talking about how you published the book in an interview format that would be posted to the blog?

Best,

Milo

Sent from my iPhone

Milo!

I'm doing okay, how about yourself?

That's great, man, I hope that you kind of like it. What version, the Kindle one or the print?

Yeah, I'd be down for that. Just lemme know.

--D

Kindle version. How are the sales? I'll work up some questions and email them. 

1. What do you see as the benefits of self-publishing on Amazon?

2. Was the process of self-publishing easier or harder than you expected?

3. Would you recommend self-publishing to other writers?

4. Did you pursue literary agents? Will you in the future?

1. The benefits of self-publishing on Amazon are pretty vast at this point. The traditional publishing model is an involved process that involves reaching out to tons of people inside of the industry and trying to fit into their tastes, schedules and business plans. I had reached out to a few hundred agents (not kidding) and got a few really promising replies, but most were "come back to me when you have something else," "we are targeting tween females right now and this doesn't appeal to them" or "I like this, but my plate is full. Get back to me in six months and we'll revisit this." 

I was impatient and looking to get my start, so I just did it. It was a good idea and a bad idea, in retrospect. I learned a lot about the whole process and what to do differently next time. The benefits were vast, though, like I was saying. There might not be an advance that goes into your bank account, but self-publishing on Amazon nets 70% of your revenue from sales, where traditional publishing you don't see anywhere near that. Usually you'll get your advance in three chunks; when the contract is signed, when the manuscript is delivered and then when the book is released. Then, most contracts, will only pay you out after the publisher has recouped costs from the run and  you get your pittance. If you are moving a million copies this isn't a big deal, but if you plan on moving a few hundred or so, well, this is a huge deal. 

I've known a lot of writers who have published through small presses and they might get some money up front, but they'll sell a limited number of copies and that will usually be the end of it. I'm not going to give you my sales figures or anything, but I was a bit disappointed in it until I spoke with a few other writers who told me that they had wished for such numbers, so yeah, it was over 1,000 and less than 2,000. That's not monster sales, but for a first-time author on a small press you probably could expect that in a best case scenario, I just got the keep most of the money from it. 

2. It was pretty simple, once I set my mind to it. Once I wrapped my head around the idea of not achieving this distant, far-off dream of getting my first book published through a major publishing house and selling a million copies and being able to live in a cabin in the woods releasing a book every ten years it became a lot easier. Like with everything else, the Internet has changed everything. I really mulled over this decision for about a year, I'd say. The book was done and I let my editor just sit with it for a while and take their time while I tried the traditional blind querying and bugging people process. 

While going through that process I spoke with a few writers that I knew about self-publishing and this was 2011/2012 or so and it still wasn't as big as it is today. A few said, "this looks to be the future, there's no shame or black mark that comes from it anymore," so that was really what gave me that final push. That and some of the delays the traditional process was presenting me with. The idea of waiting six months to a year to even start talking about getting contracts signed and beginning the process while being paid maybe a $2500 - $5000 advance in chunks was depressing. So I went for it. 

Formatting an ebook is something that will either come naturally to you or be the bane or your existence. There are people out there who charge money to format them for you, but the reality is you need to toss in a few HTML tags here and there and you are done. Most of it can be done via MS Word, even, which makes it a lot simpler. You need to do provide everything yourself, though. I mean everything. You need to have your book edited, formatted and set, then you need a cover. I'm lucky enough to where I could do most of this on my own. I won't say that I didn't make mistakes along the way, because I did. I actually first published the ebook with the wrong, unedited document, which is a stressful thing. I had saved over one that I had edited and I had a crazy, fourteen hour day where I just sat down and fixed as much as I could before republishing it. That's the good thing about ebooks, especially through Amazon's KDP; you can just fix it whenever you want and the new version will just seamlessly push out like nothing happened. 

The print version was another story altogether, I used Amazon's CreateSpace, which seems okay. I didn't want to do a print version at all, but I had requests from a few friends and family who had zero desire to buy a device, nor did they have a tablet or a way to read anything outside of a phone. So I got pressured into formatting a print book. This is where you get into typesetting, needing a full cover, meaning front, spine and back, plus having to get proofs mailed to you, make changes, send for another, etc. This was frustrating and a lot of work, especially considering how many physical copies that I ended up selling. We're talking the range of 20 compared to the thousands of ebooks. I ordered about 10 for myself and I still have six here on the shelf next to me. So yeah, ebook is just better in every way, even when it comes to the payout for it. 

Long story short; easier than I thought, but I am good with web stuff and that's all it takes.

3. Yes. I'm not even sure that I'd recommend the traditional route for anyone at this point. It's a dehumanizing process at this point and it's looking more and more like the publishing industry is changing. Every once in a while I check Amazon's Top 100 Authors page and while it changes daily as sales happen, I was shocked when I last checked it and saw five out of the top ten on one day being self-published authors. We're talking heavyweights like Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Tom Clancy, etc. being knocked out of their comfy top spots by women who are writing vampire erotica from home, or nerdy dudes writing about sword-wielding aliens. 

There were success stories floating around before of self-published writers making thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on book sales via Amazon before, but it's more of a reality now. Major publishing houses can't keep up with the times and demands of readers today, they overcharge, they underpay the writers and everyone knows this now. Our society has ADD right now and you kind of have to adjust to that. If there is a book series that you really enjoy, you have to wait and wait and wait for the next book to come out. Some of that is the writer taking their time, working on other projects, while some of it is the publisher and their schedules. They don't want to market these big books every four months, they want to market them every year or two. 

A lot of these indie authors are pumping out like 4 - 6 books a year and it seems to be working for them. Is that the way to go? Not always, no, but there is an audience for that, looking for easily-digested content who don't want to have to wait for the next book for a few years. You also don't have to kowtow to what the taste-makers in the New York publishing world think that you want to read. Like, you know, Twilight happened and then every agent was looking for the next Twilight to publish. The industry is reacting, not taking risks anymore. You can take those risks now on your own and if nobody reads it, well, that sucks, at least you tried, right? You might make $10 where you weren't going to make a thing getting form replies from agents.

4. I did pursue agents, for the better part of a year. Hundreds and hundreds of blind queries out into the wild. Most of the time there was a form reply, sometimes there was a personalized one, the rest of the time there was nothing. Querying agents was a depressing, frustrating and obnoxious process. I also had a book that maybe didn't make sense for that forum. I -- possibly foolishly -- chose a topic in fiction that was a bit niche. The more I look at "The Godslayer" the more I realize that I could have done a few tweaks and made the main character a retired rock star and it would have moved a lot more copies and gotten a lot more interest from agents and publishers. 

It's a situation where you live and you learn. I wrote about something that I had stuff to say about that might not have the largest reader base in the world and they weren't biting. Maybe I would have done things differently, but maybe I wouldn't. I don't know. 

As for if I'll do it again, I'm on the fence about it. I'm working on a science fiction novel right now, one that I know would garner some interest. The problem is that I know the process well now, I know how long it'll take and I know how frustrating it can be. There's a backdoor now into the publishing industry that comes through self-publishing. Having self-publishing success can lead to agents and major publishers knocking on your door, not the other way around. Seeing as though I've always been a difficult and stubborn person, I feel that my path will look more like that than the traditional route of years past. 

I learned a lot from that first book that I self-published. There were a lot of lessons to take away from it, like being patient and making sure that it's 100% before you hit publish, like having confidence in it and that your friends really can help you out in the process and become vital to your success and public image. Another big lesson is that people will always make big promises about what they'll do to help you, but that you can't rely on them to follow through, or if they do, that they might follow through 40% of what they promised. I learned that these are my projects and that it's great to have help, but the more that I can control and do for myself, the more I know will actually get done. I feel that the next one is going to be a whole lot smoother and easier, that's for sure. 

A part of me still has that vain hope of being that writer who gets to live in seclusion and pump out one piece of literary gold every five to ten years. That part of me wants to get an agent and do things the traditional way. The rest of me sees the industry changing drastically and knows that it seems like a better idea to push into the new horizons as opposed to trying to make some fantasy happen.