A flurry of new reviews out there, including four thumbs up and our first mediocre review. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the book , and to write a blog post about it. Here’s a summary of the reviews.
BlogWrite for CEOs’ Debbie Weil (author of the Corporate Blogging Book)gives Now Is Gone is a “Stellar Unreview” today. This was particularly great because Debbie was the first A List marketing blogger to give a review since Valeria Maltoni’s. Here’s a snippet:
Nine (out of 10) stars for Geoff Livingston’s [and Brian Solis’s] Now Is Gone… First and last, rush online and order this book. It’s a gotta-have for your book shelf if you want to understand social media and how it fits into the new marketing mix (and yes, it does).
After The Launch’s Shama Hyder dubbed the book a must read today:
I have two vices- books and good food. Due to my first vice, I have read over 200 books this year alone. And one book that really stands out in my mind is Now Is Gone by Geoff Livingston and Brian Solis.
Open the Dialogue’s Chris Thilk (also on Movie Madness) gave the book a lukewarm thumbs up on Monday:
If there’s one thing that I took issue with in Now is Gone, it’s Livingston’s tendency to paint things as definitively right or wrong or to characterize the social media world as if it operated with a single collective conscious… While there are points of view in Now is Gone I don’t exactly agree with, it is worth picking up and reading.
Mobile Diner’s Chris Parandian also reviewed the book over last weekend (congratulations on the new gig, Chris):
The book continues at a nice pace with examples of companies utilizing social media and the success of having two-way conversations with consumers. There were some instances in the book where I was wanting more from now is gone. However, this topic is a big one to tackle and Geoff focused appropriately on those who might be interested in social media but have not committed to it. That is a growing constituency and this book could be a catalyst for engagement by some companies.
Fleet Street PR’s Dave Fleet says your boss needs to read Now Is Gone:
If you (or your boss) find yourself confused, apprehensive or unsure about delving into the world of new media, then Now Is Gone is for you… For me, a particular strength of the book is that it doesn’t automatically assume that you should market your business using social media. I’ve found that a lot of people fall into “shiny new object syndrome.” Instead, Livingston challenges the reader, asking questions like whether they are ready to relinquish control of their message, whether their audience is ready and whether they can dedicate the necessary resources.
Again, thank you to all five reviewers. I know reading books take time as do blog posts. It’s an honor that you invested this time in Now Is Gone.
We’ve had 19 reviews including bloggers, Amazon and publicity, and this post actually has some of the best of them and the most pointed criticism to date (Thilk’s). Overall, all of them recommended Now Is Gone.
Next week, we will take some time to examine some of the points that folks have questioned in the book… Why would we do that? Well, it is a conversation, right?