Co-collaborated book - The Age of Conversation

I’ve just finished reading The Age of Conversation. The book’s part crowdsourcing - the Editors set a topic and put it out to the writing community. And part co-creation - the Editors worked with these writers to polish the product. The idea is simple, 100 writers, bloggers and thinkers, 1 topic.

The book focuses on how businesses should consider ‘talking’ to their customers. The overriding theme being ‘listening’ is the order of the day. All in all. it’s good - there’s a bit of repetition, but enough variety and perspective to make it worth reading.

Each writer has submitted a short article, no longer than a single page. Two of my personal favorites are:
Kate Chatfield. Her view is that brands should play the lively host, building an experience and forum for like-minded individuals
Drew McLell. His piece, ‘full circle’ hit’s the money, highlighting that, we are moving back to a traditional, village culture, where honesty is the key.

If you’re interested in how brands are going to have to change the way they communicate with their consumers in the 21st century, this book’s a good start. Even better, all proceeds from the sale of the book goes to charity, which should help you feel all warm and fuzzy :) You can pick up a copy here

Why have I blogged this?
I like their approach.They’ve decided on a theme and used the market they are selling to, to help them build something worthy. Through hard work and an open approach to book writing, they’ve come up with something informative and without doubt sellable (they’ve almost reached the $10,000 they were aiming for).

I really like the company they’ve used to print the book as well. Lulu.com is an online self-publisher. Their aim is to make selling books in the ‘global marketplace’ feasible, no matter niche your audience.

Technorati Tags: co-creation, collaboration, conversation, crowdsourcing