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Book Review InformationBefore you spend that money, let's talk simply about history
by:
Kathy Burns
Have you detected
all of the advertisements on the Computer network from
"gurus" and folk who have "made it" with their Computer network business?
You cognize the ones, they tell you how in demand they are. They tell you
how they get several thousand dollars for each seminar they give. They
tell you how they've ready-made hundreds of thousands of dollars online. And
they tell you they'll give you their private secrets and formulas for the
"ridiculously low cost of $99.95"!
These characters are all actually slick. Their one page web site is
designed to draw you in, convert you, and take your hard earned
money. Several of them are written actually well and the product is very
tempting to buy. But makes a little doubt linger somewhere at the back
of your mind? Is there thing
holding you back but you simply can't
quite put your finger on it? There mightiness be a valid reason for that.
Let's travel through history a bit and see if we can numbers out why
you get those bantam doubts....
Orson Wells. Detected
of him? War of the Worlds. Detected
of that? I think
almost anyone in the U.S. knows several names, but for amusement I'll
summarize the story. The War of the Worlds was a fiction radio story.
I think it was broadcast in the 1940's or 1950's era but I don't
remember the exact date. This story happened to be science fiction,
and happened to involve aliens landing on Earth and starting a war.
Now the story was put on in full creation mode -- simply like the
fiction movies you see on TV now with professional actors. The only
problem is, galore folk tuned into the radio show piece it was in
progress, and they had no idea it was a fictional story! Panic and
chaos ensued.
Jump to the 1960's era. Did you cognize there was a book that was put on
to better marketer lists, even as although the book didn't actually exist? Yep.
A radio DJ au gratin up a plot to "fool" several people. He arranged to have
listeners go to bookstores and request a specific book. The book
didn't actually exist, and this was part of the prank. To his and his
listener's surprise: Their requests for this book stirred up interest
across the world. Folk were talking simply about the book everyplace --
reviews were even as written simply about it! And shortly enough it showed up on a
bestseller list. But the book did not even as exist. The non-existent
book was called "I' Libertine", and due to the furor created from the
prank, the radio DJ went on to write a real book by that name later in
life.
Now let's jump ahead simply about 30 years. In the 1990's, several of you may
remember computer communities called a "BBS". BBS stands for bulletin
board system, and back then this was a computer that you dialed in to.
Once connected, you could transfer
files, chat with another members and
play games. The public Computer network was not accessible back then, so this
was as close as you could get. One BBS was having a difficult time
getting itself off the ground. They had one major competitor, and they
couldn't seem to win customers away from that competitor. So the
owners distinct to lure the customers. The customers were about 100%
male back then, and one thing they were all looking for was a friendly
female. So one of the owners of the new BBS -- a man -- took on a BBS
personality of a female. They set up a charade basically, with all the
trimmings. This man would-be pretend to be female and chat with all the
guys on the competitor's BBS. During the chats, "she" would-be do sure
they all understood that she could be found more often on this other,
newer BBS. So, if they wanted to talk to her more, they would-be have to
go over there. And they did.
Jump ahead to the later 90's and the Computer network is simply coming into play
as a business medium. I'm in person
aware of several companies which
made themselves appear more larger than they were. How? Primarily by
putting up images of their "office" building on their company
website. The images they put up however, weren't actually their
offices. They were in an apartment, or basement in reality. But the
pictures showed gorgeous, upmarket
office buildings. They made
themselves look more bigger and booming than they actually were.
And now we have thousands of one page websites which tout the
accomplishments of their owners. These websites do galore claims and
sometimes those claims are hard to believe.
You see, there actually are consultants in this earth who do several
thousands of dollars for seminar presentations. But those consultants
usually have a corporate style, polished website. You can tell as soon
as you get there that they've spared no expense in acquiring the site
professionally done. You'll find links on the site too -- links to
corporate and/or adviser information, links to additional
resources, links to recent and approaching seminars. There are links to
their books too of course, and sometimes these links lead to Amazon or
the publisher's site. If the book is electronically published, you can
even buy it right on site. The point is though: there is detailed
information there, not simply sales hype. In short, there is supporting
evidence that they are who they say they are.
History shows us that folk can be fooled into thinking the earth is
coming to an end simply from a radio show. History shows us that people
will believe a book is fantastic even as once
they've ne'er
actually seen
it themselves. History has shown us that what you think you see or
hear is not actually what you've seen or heard.
So, once
you land on one of those slick, one page sales ballyhoo Web
sites. Before you spend your hard attained
money, finish and think a bit.
Is the person behind the site more likely telling the whole truth --
or skewing it in a way that wish do you believe what they want you
to believe?
Just simply about the Author
Kathy has been a booming freelance writer and small business owner
since 1997. Find her Palm Pilot articles and reviews at
http://www.PalmPilotFiles.com, Cool appliance articles and reviews at
http://www.TheGadgetFiles.com, and book reviews at
http://www.EBookCritique.com
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