A couple of weeks ago, after a lot of time and energy spent mobilizing, I lost a contest. It was a close race and I learned a lot about organization, timing, and strategy, even though I botched all three. Someday, I’ll do a write-up (just don’t expect to see me enter another voting contest like that).

In the meantime, I said that if I won, I was going to give away 5 books. Seeing as the contest organizers gave me a consolation prize for our team’s efforts, it only makes sense that I say thank you with my own consolation prize. I really do appreciate all of the help and encouragement and passion you guys exhibited.

I’m giving away 3 new hardcover books. I’ve included some descriptions and contest details.

Book #1 Guitar Lessons: A Life’s Journey Turning Passion Into Business by Bob Taylor (link)

Wiley Books is responsible for some of the best books on internet marketing and social media. I love their publishing focus. They were kind enough to provide me with an extra copy of this newly released book a couple of weeks ago and invited me to give one away. How nice is that? Follow @WileyBiz on Twitter to hear about new books (and maybe win some).

This is the backstory and business lessons from one of the world’s most successful acoustic and electric guitar manufacturers. In my experience, you can often get more inspiration and creative ideas from reading someone else’s story rather than reading about what to do.

Book #2 World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers That Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories by David Meerman Scott (link)

This is another awesome book from Wiley with some beautiful formatting, full of facts, case studies, and ideas for viral marketing. David Meerman Scott has published several books on marketing and I love the way he approaches content. The man is in his prime right now (but be forewarned – I don’t think the book says anything about hosting a real rave).

Book #3 The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When To Stick) by Seth Godin (link)

This cute little bundle of joy is one of Seth’s well-designed treatises on thinking differently about common problems. Like that of other smart marketers, Seth’s writing is full of fun and engaging rhetoric coupled with relevant examples. As a bonus, the book is illustrated by Hugh Macleod. Can’t go wrong there!

So what does it take to get one of these?

Super Easy Contest Guidelines: Just Tell Me What You Want

You have between now and 12 pm MST on Friday, February 4^th, to leave a comment here, telling me which of these three books you want (pick one).

At the end of the contest, the winner of Book #1 will be drawn (Random.org-style) only from among those who said they wanted Book #1. Book #2 and #3 winners will be selected similarly. Chances of winning depend entirely on the number of entrants (but this isn’t a mommy blog – you’ve got a decent shot).

Here’s the one catch: I’m not going to publish any of the comments until the contest is over. So if you’re trying to improve your odds by going for the book with the least competition, good luck with that. I like to keep it interesting.

U.S. Shipping Only (or Canada if you ask nicely).

Thanks again. You guys rock my world!

Contest Results!

The winners of the books, by complete randonimity:

Daniel Sellers

Chris Kirkham

Jon Sheppard

Congratulations!! If you folks are cool with it, I might have to do one of these again.

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SHAZAM!  Justin Bieber has the highest Klout score. On Klout.com‘s 100 point scale, the teenage popstar (whose name I recently learned to pronounce) scores 100/100. With more than 10 million fans and placement on nearly 500K Twitter lists, I don’t think you’re going to get much higher than that. (Note: scores are current as of June 24, 2011.)

If you’re looking for other high Klout scores:

• Lady Gaga (@ladygaga): 93
• Reverend Run (@revrunwisdom): 92
• Rihanna (@rihanna): 90
• Katy Perry (@katyperry): 89
• Pete Cashmore (@mashable): 88
• Barack Obama (@barackobama): 85

Like many of you, I’ve been thinking more about social measurement lately and its many drawbacks. Even in the academic world, this is troubling. Last night, I read “The Impact of New Media on Customer Relationships” which provides a solid breakdown of the current challenge:

“A major limitation of existing research on EWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) is the lack of consistent measurement approaches, with existing measures coming from different platforms (e.g., blogs, Yahoo, Barnes & Noble, Usenet), industries, (e.g., movies, books, software), and—for EWOM valence—coding approaches (e.g., stars, text analysis). So, more work on the measurement of EWOM is needed. The same is true for modeling approaches…”

Klout is part of the first wave of solutions taking social measurement seriously and subsequent waves will improve upon the existing ones. The aggregation of reach, amplification, network size, etc. (like Klout provides) is a good step toward finding some common ground (although there’s still tremendous value in dissecting influence on a per social network basis). While there are a lot of people voicing out against Klout because the scoring system perpetuates the age-old popularity contest, runs the risk of gaming, forces people into a caste, etc., I think it’s fantastic for the industry. With these types of scoring systems and the ultra-fascinating approaches companies are taking in rewarding online influencers by Klout, like Disney has recently done, we’re only going to see the advancement of solid marketing theory in this area. Even if it feels like high school all over again.

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Gavin Elliott, Creative Director at Carrot Media, recently put together a great post by asking 30 of his fellow designers one question: Where are you most inspired? He posted the uncut individual responses from the designers and left it as a fascinating stand-alone glimpse into the minds of some very creative individuals. Here’s a table summarizing the designers’ responses (Note that some designers gave more than one response):

Other singular responses: In the backyard, At conferences, After leaving the computer, In book shops, At clothing stores, In the bathroom, At home, While surfing, While looking at work of other designers, On the train.

There’s an obvious correlation between inspiration and isolation. I’m sure a lot of designers would admit to coming up with some very innovative ideas in an atmosphere of collaboration, but it doesn’t come out in the responses. The absence of distraction seems to be a unifying theme here.

What About You?

Think back on some of your most creative ideas. What would your friends or coworkers say your most creative ideas have been? Examine how and where those ideas materialized and you have a general recipe for replicating some of the magic the next time you need it. This may mean changing your behavior, your preparation, and your circumstances to optimize for the occasion.

Inspiration and Application

Like many designers, I’ve had some of my brightest ideas as my mind was near sleep. As many of you have probably seen, telling yourself that you’ll remember your idea in the morning doesn’t work. Even if it did, great ideas that can create passion (even if it’s just your own passion) are a rare commodity and should be guarded against loss. I keep a Sticky Note pad and pen next to my bed, ready to scribble in the darkness.

I get inspiration when I’m faced with a question or a problem. Unprompted inspiration is entertaining (like my idea for a three-edged sword), but inspiration that can answer questions and solve problems is always more valuable.

I get inspiration when expectations are low and when I’m not crunched for time. I don’t always have that liberty. I respond by trying to maximize the amount of time I have to work on a problem, thinking about it before it becomes critical, and even letting others know this is when I’m at my best.

My advice is to learn from creative people whenever you can. You need to set aside time to keep ideas in the pipeline and determine which circumstances and situations help you be at your best, creatively. As more people in the world become more and more creative, you don’t have time to sit around and hope that creativity pays you an unexpected visit.

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Students in Maranjab, Iran congregate to await the launch of Scottergories.com.

The official kickoff of Scottergories.com on July 1, 2009 was met with pleasure by Iranian Internet users, who rejoice whenever a website launches without being censured by the government. The blog’s launch was heralded as “pretty good” by “Majid,” one Iranian who stayed awake long enough to see it happen. The site launch was originally intended to occur at 3 a.m., but was postponed for several hours while the webmaster was busy washing dishes, exercising, and surfing the Internet. A handful of Iranians expressed feeling “put out” after realizing that they could have gotten a full night’s sleep instead of waiting around for the site launch, which finally occurred around 9 a.m., Tehran local time. Nevertheless, the official beginning of Scottergories.com was considered to be a success.

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