Booktunes US registration – Thanks!

Exactly a week ago I was at a loss, did not know what to do regarding the registration of the Booktunes brand name in the US. Although it was really necessary to do (the plans are in some serious people’s hand now, and without the registration I would also lose my US priority rights I acquired six months ago by registering in the Benelux) I did not want to borrow money again. A good friend came up with a marvelous idea…

‘Post a help message on your blog & facebook, I’ll be the first one to react and donate 50 euros!’. Just before passing the gates to the subway and not knowing when we would meet again John told me he would double the money If I would write the article that same night.

His mucho motivating gesture worked! Within 72 hours I received €205 plus I found a friend willing to jump in for the other money that was needed – as an investment so no borrowing. Pfew!

Hereby I would like to share some info on the people that helped the realization of the Big Booktunes Trek. Feel free to find out more about them by clicking the links:

John aka JSTAR is a wicked dj, producer and tour manager. Go find his mashups and thank him when you’re at a Major Lazor gig for taking care.

Ytje is a graphic artist. Her portfolio hold portraits of hip-hop underground star El-P as well as the writer drawings – or should I say paper cuts – on our website.

Gosse de Skater is a dj and a skater. Pretty wicked considering he is a scientist as well.

Joanna is a cool stage & event manager. We shared a bottle of whine @ Jay’s Notting Hill residence. A pretty good one.

Job runs AMS-IX, one of the fastest growing Internet Exchanges. Impressive! His wife is writer Mina Witteman, whom all readers should definitely keep in check.

Thanks again!

Erik

Booktunes US – serious business – €1200 short

Easter Sunday I was happy to meet up with my good friend John Ayres aka JSTAR. He was in town managing Diplo on tour, so I checked them out at Amsterdam venue Melkweg… wicked! Today we met again to update each other with some bad planning: he already arranged to move to the EU mainland in June, while I set the 1st of August as a final date to move to the UK… Schade!

Always good to share your thoughts with like minds. Moombahton, Malcolm Gladwell, John’s girls, my wife, his beats, my beats, his laptop, mine – all good subjects. When I told him about the challenges I am facing according to the Booktunes project, John came up with a perfect solution.

For the past two years I have put a lot of work in Booktunes. The site is up, warmly welcomed as a promising next thing, we have a huge network of Booktunes contributors (writers, editors, designers, photographers, translators, tech wizards) ready to give it a go, and finally our plans reached some serious heavyweights in the business. This last thing is of vital importance because I am really willing to make Booktunes into a venture we all can gain from. You, the reader, me and my crew.

Because I registered ‘Booktunes’ in the Benelux 5.75 months ago, I now have one week left to register it in the US with retroactive effect. Because this week has only 4 working days, I have to register Booktunes in the US within 96 hours. That leaves 72 hours to get the first 1200 euros needed for the initial costs. If I fail to register… well maybe we should let the sleeping dogs lie.

John’s solution: ‘Put a message on your blog, your Facebook page, my Facebook page, any Facebook page, tell m! You should not let this pass, not at this point!!’
My thoughts: ‘Yeah I was four days away from letting it go, tired of trying to convince people Booktunes is a diamond in the ruff, feeling too proud to rely on my close friends and family (again)’.

Your thoughts? I am beggin’ here.. prideless with 72 hours counting down. We need €1200.

Booktunes says THANKS to all people helping us out on this one. I will keep you posted on the developments and any news regarding your donation. All supporters will receive a present. For questions about Booktunes or registering a product please feel free to send an email or give me a ring (+31614515496).

Thanks again!

Erik

Facebook Suicide notes 2

A lot of people seem to share the same questions on how to profile your business on Facebook. Being a small start up or a one-man business doesn’t make it any easier. ‘How to promote an honest and interesting venture without bothering your friends while maintaining a private life without scaring away business partners?’ is one question. ‘What account to choose for which needs?’ is another.

After a lot of helpful advice and a hot post-flu shower I made my decision on how to post what where. After brushing my teeth I said thanks to Robert van der Wolk, Thijs at Baskerville, Mina Witteman & Danny at Bataleon for their insights.

A few things I’ve learned:

1. Although it is much easier to make friends instead of fans, one should realize that Google indexes fanpages only. Sharing info in a closed community on the World Wide Web doesn’t make any sense if you are trying to really reach out to the masses.

2. Because it is much easier to make friends instead of fans, maxing out your friends to 5000 might be a good option to start with.  Just don’t worry about Google if their crawlers already index your website and RSS feeds you want to share on Facebook.  As soon as you hit 5000, ask people to become a fan and haul over your activity to the fanpage.

3. It would be great if every one just ‘liked’ the fan page we put our effort in and if every one just stopped making friends just because. It would be great if we would not spam friends with promo talk but in stead just wait for fans to show up and have a look on our wall.

And taking in account Erik’s & Booktunes’ Facebook needs:

I want to share the Booktunes news on Facebook.
I want to post Booktunes related things & comments on Facebook.
I want to have an indexed Booktunes Facebook page available for everyone.
I don’t want to bother people with double or triple posts.
I don’t want to bother friends with Booktnes talk – unless they are fans.
I don’t want to bother business relations with private ish.

Brings me the freshest thoughts:

The Booktunes Fanpage will mirror the Booktunes news section, and function as the Booktunes road sign on this over crowded highway.

The Booktunes Net account will be used to actively post Booktunes info along this road, visit other people, comment to posts and like things.  The Booktunes Net wall will display Booktunes related links and info such as this blog post, and inform you on our whereabouts.

Erik de Loor will dump some business friends and start a digital search for his real life family.

Of which I hope you all can profit or add to your own thoughts.

Any cons?

Facebook Suicide notes

I don’t want to discuss about whether or not we all should commit Facebook suicide only because it is far by the largest commercial database of personal data. For once I  join my wife’s motto ‘if you aint got nothing to hide, you aint got nothing to fear my dear’. She goes by the name of Rosalie van der Meulen (Den Haag, 19-06-1983), lives in Amsterdam NL, has a twin sister called Elize and is notably the only person I know that does not have one, two or three  Facebook accounts.

How many accounts do you have? When I started this Booktunes thing I decided to enter the social network, really to be more social and promote my new venture. I also created a Booktunes fanpage so we could share the Booktunes newsfeeds, twit a bit, post some pics etc. It only took me a few days to get confused and make, as I see it now, a mistake…

Soon publishers popped up and wanted become friends with me, Erik de Loor. Quite amusing, a company as a friend… who to address to if you want to ask your friend over for a drink? Nijgh himself? A.W. Bruna? So we at Booktunes decided to become a person too: Net, Booktunes is the name.

A good way to promote a start up. As long as you don’t have more then 5000 friends there are little limits, plus you can approach your public directly, post things on their wall, direct them here and there, tell them what to like. We only had our 205th Booktunes comrade added today but I already start to regret the fact that we are your fiend.

Me and Burdell, and probably a whole (facebook)group, think these ‘persons’ ultimately will kill the network. Facebook as a dating site won’t hurt nobody, but as a big market place with merchants singing the praises of long gone products will really piss people off. Are you getting tired of the impersonal Booktunes updates you get from this friend? You are lucky it is still only a one-man business! Apart from that, as a sole propietor it is quite laborious to keep up with yourselves.

Preferably I would like to:
1. inform people about Booktunes. – Let’s call them fans.

2. contact people that know me through Booktunes with al kinds of matters like this blogpost, work-related questions, work-related appointments. – Let’s call them collegues. Semi-fans. Semi-friends?

3. see my family and friends online, and not bother them with Booktunes spam. And of course let people tag me semi-naked and post party pics on my wall. – Let’s call them family.

Wich leads me to three options:
A. maintain a Booktunes Fanpage.

B. have one ‘at Booktunes, Erik is the name’ persona account.

C. have one true and only Erik de Loor Facebook account.

That will result in having three acounts that need a fix:
X. Haul over all ‘Booktunes Net’-friends to the Booktunes Fanpage and commit suicide for that account.

Y. Set up an ‘Erik at Booktunes’ account. Or adjust the ‘Booktunes Net’ account and kick out some ‘friends’ I really don’t know.

Z*. Kick out some business friends of Erik de Loor, search for more family and un-un-tag some late night flashes.

*note: I could skip option Z and commit one more suicide because friends are always welcome for dinner – no need for a digital invitation, Christmas is on it’s way so I will speak to my family soon, and if I do find out I have something to hide then at least Facebook won’t.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you run a business or promote yourselve in a way? Are you a person? What do real persons think of this question?