E-mail Books

If you want the author's opinion on how to behave on the web this is for you. However, if you were hoping for something more interesting than opinions, pick up another book (I can't find any that seems interesting on the subject however).

I was hoping for a book that would explain how to CREATE or MANAGE a netiquette, or for a book that would really explain the complexity of Netiquette in the age of digital pollution, social networks, user-generated content...

There is only 8 pages on Netiquette and the World Wide Web. The book only gets to the web on page 63 (out of 139 pages) and begins by saying "Do not use pre-fetching web accelerators".
Here is what I think:
A. Google offers web accelerating soft so is it really so bad?
B. The author argue that it's bad for ISPs because it waste a bit of bandwidth to accelerate your browsing: oh no! Poor ATT, poor ComCast!
C. I don't consider that to be truly Netiquette because it's not directly about people interacting together! (of course I understand that since we are all tied to the web, people action on the web bear an impact on all of us but then the author could say "All webmaster should upgrade their server to quad core because it's good for the web!" and that could be considered "Netiquette" too!

Another kind of useless advice:
"Don't use the links " because it could get your friend on a spam list! Duh really? But perhaps that's how the website is making a living (although they should not!!!): why take side with ISP and then advise against using some functionalities (that can be useless on trusted website) to safeguard you against malevolent website owners.

A collection of useless opinions that's what this book is!

By the way Matthew: good Netiquette on Amazon is to allow "Look Inside" so people can look in detail at your table of content and not be very disappointed by your book!

It's inevitable that how to behave in a civilized manner on the Internet should be dubbed "netiquette." And no doubt all of us good citizens want very much to know exactly which fork to use with the salad and whether we should extend our pinkie finger when drinking tea--or perhaps be told that such an extension is a vulgar genteelism. Furthermore is it okay to now drop the hyphen in "e-mail" and close it up, thereby saving a keystroke from the top row of the keyboard? All up-standing burghers want to know.

Matthew Strawbridge, who has the kind of proper English name from feudal times that inspires confidence and is obviously a right proper English gentleman, is here to tell us what Emily Post is no longer around to tell us.

First, yes it is okay to write "email." Although Strawbridge doesn't say so in so many words, "email" is the form he uses throughout and that's good enough for me.

Second, no forks and no pinkies are mentioned. (I was just J/K--See "Appendix A - Instant-messaging abbreviations.") Wait a minute! "J/K" is almost as hard to write as "just kidding" and I don't like it nearly as much as what I sometimes use, "JJ" for "just joking." Perhaps we have a Brit-Yankee usage problem here.

And if I see one more smiley face I am going to scream. (But nobody can hear you when you scream on the Net.) ;-)

Strawbridge divides the book into three parts, "Forms of Online Communication"--email, forums, real-time messaging, browsing, blogs and wikis; Online Services--file transferring, auctions, domain names and such; and Other Issues--advertising and spam, security, spelling and grammar, emoticons, and when and if it's okay to write all caps or all down style. (All caps is still SHOUTING and uncultured while all down style is okay in instant messaging, but otherwise lazy. Well, he doesn't say "lazy" exactly. He merely points out that all lower case writing is not easy to read.)

In a sense Strawbridge's book is an introduction to the Internet as much as it is a primer on Internet etiquette. It's crisp, concrete and easy-to-read. He packs a lot of information into 160 pages. For example, do you know what a CAPTCHA is? It's "a picture of a word or number that has been stretched and skewed in such a way that it is still readable by people but difficult for software to extract." CAPTCHA stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"!

You know about Wikipedia of course, but did you know that a "wiki" in general is a website with pages that anyone can edit online. The term comes from Ward Cunningham who named his software after the very quick Wiki Wiki bus service at the Honolulu Airport.

Strawbridge is a reasonable man whose advice, if followed by all, would make the World Wide Web a better place. Of course it would be nice if we could get the spammers to disappear. Not so curiously, Strawbridge is mum on what we can do about those rascals except to note that if people stopped patronizing the spammers they would go out of business. If. Only.

However despite Strawbridge's eminent good sense I do have a quibble or two. In the section on "flame wars" Strawbridge notes that a "disproportionate number of arguments take place online" and blames the lack of visual and tonal expression in text messages and the fact that there are so many different opinions expressed online for the arguments. But he doesn't mention the fact that people are emboldened because they can hide behind relatively anonymous screen names to say things they would never say in person. Also he recommends not directly challenging self-styled "experts" as a way to avoid arguments. That will work but I think it's better to brave the flame than to let an erroneous or cockeyed opinion go unchallenged.

One final thing. In the abbreviations appendix Strawbridge writes that he prefers "LOL" to "HAHA" which he finds "deeply annoying." Isn't it interesting that HAHAHA is annoying but ROTFLMAO is not. I wonder why. Maybe because it seems that the HAHAHA is aimed at the reader.

I'm a long-time computer geek, and I'm well aware of what is generally acceptable behavior on the 'net. But when asked to list the "rules", it's tough to come up with a comprehensive source that you can point the newbie to. Matthew Strawbridge has taken a shot at that goal in his book Netiquette: Internet etiquette in the age of the blog, and it's a commendable effort.

Contents:
Introduction
Part 1 - Forms of Online Communication: Email; Forums; Real-time Messaging; World Wide Web; Blogs and Wikis
Part 2 - Online Services: Transferring Files; Online Auctions; Other Online Services
Part 3 - Other Issues: Advertising and Spam; Security; Miscellany; Conclusion
Appendix A - Instant-messaging abbreviations; Appendix B - Netiquette for Internet Service Providers; Appendix C - Summary of Rules; Glossary; Bibliography; Index; About the Author

I know some people will take exception to these "rules" and assert their right to do whatever they please. Conversely, Matthew has gathered together the conventional wisdom that has evolved over time about how people expect others to behave when they're online. Making an attempt to generally follow these guidelines tends to make everyone's experience much more pleasant. For instance, the forum rule "lurk before you leap" means that you should observe the flow of an online group and get a feel for how things are done before diving in. Breaking the established norms of a discussion group gets you started off on the wrong foot and can ruin what might be otherwise be a beneficial exchange of views. Or another "for instance"... for bloggers, "check the spelling and grammar of your blog posts." Instead of just blasting out something on the keyboard and hitting submit, take a second and read your entry back to yourself. Make it easy for your reader to follow what you have to say. And yes, I've been guilty of this one far more than I'd like to admit.

I would expect some readers to quibble with particular entries, such as "don't use VoIP unless you need an immediate response." Depending on who you're calling and what the situation is, VoIP might be perfectly acceptable. Or the one that states "only create a blog if you really need one." Yes, there are far too many abandoned blogs out there, as well as too many that discuss things that no one cares about. But how would you know if you need one unless you give it a try? But in my opinion, these "judgement calls" are few and far between, and the vast majority of the rules are ones that you should disregard at your own risk...

Good book, and one that you'll probably want to gift-wrap for your favorite troll or SHOUTER...

This book gives you quick overview on email in general, sendmail
short ref and a lots on qmail. Accompany with diagrams and
examples, it is easy to follow and precise.

This book has a fundamental non-understanding of security concepts. Default configurations are replaced with wide-open ones where possible, all the while noting that the default configuration is probably good enough in the first place. The chapters on spam discuss issues that were relevant in the early 90's, but email spammers have come a long way while the material contained has not. Technical explanations are lacking, and non-technical explanations are non-existant. In all, a thorough waste of money and trees.

I really liked this book. It gave a great intro to the different email protocols and the big three MTAs (sendmail,qmail,postfix). I have no postfix experience, but have used both sendmail and qmail. As a matter of fact, I just used this book in conjunction with "The qmail Handbook" by Sill, to switch from sendmail to qmail as an external mail relay. I liked the quick treatment and explaination of all three MTAs. This book gave me an un-biased explaination of the three. That enabled me to make an informed decision on IF I wanted to move from sendmail, and if I did, do I choose postfix or qmail. In the end I decided qmail was the way to go. qmail ROCKS!!
Anyway, this is a great book for anyone needing a good comparisson of sendmail-qmail-postifx. It also provides some good ideas for security.

This book contains all the the neophite to e-commerce needs to build a strategy from inside the organization. The history and background of the Internet are captured in a very easy and friendly read. Cunningham takes the reader from the basics through to "how to make it happen" in a pleasing and fast moving format. Sprinkled liberally throughout the book are very useful hints, tips and actions for those trying to get their organziation to move forward with e-business technologies. An excellent and easy read. For a more detailed read, try his book on B2B.

The Author goes straight forward and considers all relevent issues concerning the web. Its very easy to read and summaries occur twice on every single page. It hardly covers any topic in depth. His proposals concerning migration into the e-bizz are shallow and most of them are very general without authentic examples. This book is fast to read through, but the useful information start in the thrid chapter and sum up to a single line per chapter. I am also missing new and detailed proposals and inspirations, could be written some five years ago.

This book has been written as a comprehensive, fast and entertaining read on a complex subject. The book provides an integrated tour of the major business, technology and dramatic work process changes required for successful E-commerce solutions. The text is full of examples, quotes, strategies (that have worked for many companies and organizations), that should make learning and applying what others have done relevant for the reader. Over all a good book .

Once upon a time there was a little girl and her name was Alisson. Alisson was an orphan girl and she had no one to take care of her. She dreamed about people having great families. She dreamed she had one all the time that loved her and cared for her. Finnally a couple of years later she got a family. She was so happy and excited. Alisson found out they were loving and caring. She loved them too.

My friend came across this book in a bookstore in Glasgow in 1994. The Internet was pretty different then but in any case he opened the book and thought I might be listed. There I was, next to President Clinton. I was rather more surprised to be listed than he was to find me. Anyway, now that the Internet is so much more widely used, everyone can have their 5 minutes of fame and we don't need a book like this anymore, after all anyone with the email address in a book is probably going to get even more spam than they already get. Still, back in 1994, this kind of stuff was quite good fun.

I have read this book, and it is funny but there could be more done in this category. I hope that I eventually find a good internet joke book.

This collection of jokes all actually sent over e-mail at one time or another is a truly hilarious compendium of humor--the musician jokes are side-splittingly funny. This book is a great gift for all your cyber-pals!

The Hopi Survival Kit - Chapter 6 - Prophecies Past and Present - Page 207/ 208.

Hopi Elders Quote:

Quote:
Let us take a look into the future through the eyes of our prophets. They say that along the way the industrialized world will have certain problems. Throughout the world people will be uncomfortable because of the changing times. The worldly woes people will be going through. People will have to make adjustments to fit themselves into new life styles and environments.

The industrialized nations will become careless in getting more of the resources they need out of the earth, oil, coal, etc. Believing all these things will last forever. Soon natural resources will be depleted. Fuel shortages will occur; industrial machinery will come to a standstill. The machinery used for planting, harvesting and transport will become useless. The white man (Bahanna) with all his intelligence and technology will not be able to repair the damage.

Now let us review our knowledge briefly, the centuries old prophecies which warned us what would happen when we forgot the principles of right and wrong in our behavior. We will see extraordinary events in Nature and Earth, including mankind: because modern man ignores the wisdom of ancient culture and religion. Modern man looks upon old wisdom and knowledge as dead, useless and no longer respected.

Modern man began to depend on the money system and no longer Mother Earth for food. According to prophecy when this happens Mother Earth will hide the nourishment which she provides because of the view that ancient food is poor man's food.

When all food disappears modern man will try to correct his mistake, the conditions he caused upon the earth through his inventions. He will try to achieve some kind of method to heal the wound, but this will not be possible when we reach the point of no return.

Only through peace the survival of mankind and our planet Earth is possible. Only if we, the human race, are willing to change.

Thomas E. Mails was chosen by the Hopi Elders to deliver their prophecies and warnings to the world. These millennia-old prophecies identify current disastrous problems like environmental degradation, fraudulent politics and unhealthy technology etc. leading to the collapse of the world as we know it. Additional instructions are given on averting disaster and acquiring spiritual equanimity. Survival is hopeful for those peoples that are connected to Earth's rhythms, those that blend with nature and celebrate life. The material in The Hopi Survival Kit is fascinating and the keepers of this wisdom are beyond reproach. The value of the traditional Hopi worldview is without question the equivalent of a World Heritage treasure, yet Thomas Mails' delivery couldn't be more jumbled, pompous or paranoid. The rhetoric, tedious opinions and manipulative language found in The Hopi Survival Kit do not do justice to the beauty and truth of these ancient teachings. One wishes that it had been presented concisely with a clear progression of ideas, not with a miscellany of bad metaphors, constant repetition and finger-pointing. Mails' claims that elements of Christianity are identical to Hopi cosmology are ridiculous. As if a culture in a different time and place could not have developed a completely unique and original relationship to the Great Mystery. Interpretations of a divine order or Creator without hierarchy, patriarchy or control DO exist. I wish it were otherwise, but the significance of the Hopi's message is compromised by Mails' inept writing skills and his lack of objectivity. In the book he discusses his own writing style (!!?) and claims that it is only expediency that is required for the delivery of the Hopi message, not good writing. Well, I disagree. Good writing would have given the book more credibility and it would have reached far more people. Perhaps a re-write by a brilliant (or at least competent) writer could give this book the wider exposure it deserves. It is time for indigenous knowledge to be highly valued, held sacred even, for these Hopi teachings can contribute to the restoration of sanity to the human race and balance to the Earth.

I was allowed to borrow this book by a friend of mine who met Dan Evehama and was taken under his wing. To those who only read or hear others at "word for word", you will ALWAYS miss the point of ANY discourse, written or spoken. This book is valuable not only for the first ever, first-hand account of this tribe's religious beliefs, but their prophecies and their politics. Those who couldn't get past Mr. Mails' zeal probably wouldn't have listened to Christ, either.
V.L.Harris, avid historian,amateur theologian

Interesting, but weird. Have an open mind, or don't bother. The politics of the book got me fired up. Some of the mystical content left my jaw hanging open.

Regardless of writing style, as a Native American woman who practiced her Medicine on Third Mesa in Hopi for years I assure anyone who wishes to find the true Prophesies will find them in this book bearing Dan Evemhema's signature. Strictly for profit books on the subject, however beautifully written would not contain such pure renditions of the Prophecies, as strictly for profit books on the subject are not a part of Hopi Religious Culture. Don't be fooled. The Elders were very aware.

Jim sends us in the cyberworld of email marketing. He stresses building customer relationships with your targeted audience. More importantly, retention. Let's keep them coming back for more!

This book gives some handy guidelines as to what to do (and more important: what NOT to do) with email campaigns. Although the book keeps telling you to use a particular opt-in email list (it almost looks like the author has some stock in this list), it's a very useful book to start with. It will not give any technical details on how to realize an email campaign, but there are other books about this subject.

Prior to reading this book I did not have a lot of experience with Email Marketing (other then a "victim"). I would really advice anyone in this situation to read this book before sending out any email. It really got me started on the subject and I know ordered several other books for a more detailed discussion of several aspects.

There is some discussion about how to answer email send to you. However, most of the book is focussed on sending out (batches of) emails to you clients/prospects to get them to do something (most of the time visit your website or place an order)

This books is a real *must* read for anybody wanting to use email as a marketing tool. It will prevent you from making numerous of costly mistakes and it will give you plenty of tips and hints you probably didn't think off.

"Email Marketing: Using E-Mail to Reach Your Target Audience and Build Customer Relationships" contains a wealth of information on using opt-in e-mail to grow business. It covers the negatives of unsolicited e-mail (or spam) and the positives of opt-in and opt-out e-mailing, crafting an e-mail campaign, writing attention-getting e-mail and testing response to a campaign. It also discusses producing effective e-newsletters and e-promotions, advertising in other people's e-mail and how to use persuasion techniques in messages.

When a Web site offers the opportunity for a person to enter an e-mail address on the company site and receive promotions, newsletters or other information, they are using opt-in e-mailing. Opt-in (or permission based) e-mail advertising, is stressed throughout the book.

"Email Marketing" goes into the nuts and bolts of opt-in to show how to do it well. It is filled with first-hand accounts from a diverse group of companies on how they use opt-in e-mail to stimulate business. The book also shows several Web sites and documents used in direct marketing.

Companies considering the use of e-mail sales messages as a marketing tool to build a client base for their businesses should look at this book first to see how to use e-mail effectively without spamming and hype. "Email Marketing" covers the positives and negatives of using e-mail to capture prospects and customers.

"Email Marketing" is no flimsy tome on spamming. It is a serious attempt to help businesses use the positives of e-mail to increase their customer base. Without using technical jargon, "E-Marketing" covers the thorny problems of setting up e-mail format to relate to many different messaging programs. Reading this book is an excellent first step to create a successful e-mail campaign.

"Email Marketing: Using E-Mail to Reach Your Target Audience and Build Customer Relationships" contains a wealth of information on using opt-in e-mail to grow business. It covers the negatives of unsolicited e-mail (or spam) and the positives of opt-in and opt-out e-mailing, crafting an e-mail campaign, writing attention-getting e-mail and testing response to a campaign. It also discusses producing effective e-newsletters and e-promotions, advertising in other people's e-mail and how to use persuasion techniques in messages.

When a Web site offers the opportunity for a person to enter an e-mail address on the company site and receive promotions, newsletters or other information, they are using opt-in e-mailing. Opt-in (or permission based) e-mail advertising, is stressed throughout the book.

"Email Marketing" goes into the nuts and bolts of opt-in to show how to do it well. It is filled with first-hand accounts from a diverse group of companies on how they use opt-in e-mail to stimulate business. The book also shows several Web sites and documents used in direct marketing.

Companies considering the use of e-mail sales messages as a marketing tool to build a client base for their businesses should look at this book first to see how to use e-mail effectively without spamming and hype. "Email Marketing" covers the positives and negatives of using e-mail to capture prospects and customers.

"Email Marketing" is no flimsy tome on spamming. It is a serious attempt to help businesses use the positives of e-mail to increase their customer base. Without using technical jargon, "E-Marketing" covers the thorny problems of setting up e-mail format to relate to many different messaging programs. Reading this book is an excellent first step to create a successful e-mail campaign.

Great title, but the substance of the book is lacking. It reads with the big powerful words of a direct marketer, but it reminded me of the direct mail I hate. Alot of power words, but nothing to really sink my teeth into.

A book that is great for the person starting out is Make Your Website work for you. It's a basic book, but it gives a more robust program. There's also one about affiliate marketing and developing associations. I think both will help you better market online.

If you want to build traffic to your eBay site... buy this book, read it, do it, and enjoy the return.

This books packs about 20 pages of content in to 250 actual pages. Uses big text and lots of white space. Also fills space by repeating same basic ideas over and over.

Would make a good pamphlet. Don't waste your money.

This book has one idea -- feed from a data base -- and he beats it to death. It is not really helpful beyond the data base idea.

First of all I am shocked, shocked I tell you that the American Management Association would publish a series of books of this low caliber.

Like most things these days the buildup and hype is overshawdowed by the delivery. On the back cover of the book it states that "This unvelievably powerful book shows step-by-step how to get all of your items listed not only on eBay but also on Amazon.com..." but it doesn't it only briefly mentions Amazon; in two places in only a very minor way (check it out for youself, use the look inside to check the back cover, table of contents, and the index.)

This is the most simplistic of internet books I have ever read...with all the the practical internet nutrition as a bag of skittles. Most chapters are no more than 7 or eight pages, with unbeleivably huge font type and paragraph headings that it ressembles a kids book.
For example Chapter 10, Creating Yahoo Ads, totals less than two full pages!!! This chapter only has about 48 (FORTY EIGHT) lines of full text, about what a sixth grade reader would expect.

I first picked up the book because of the cover text which states, "Use Froogle, Datafeeds, Cross selling, Advanced Listing Strategies and more to boost sales on the webs #1 auction site."
Being interested in the concept of datafeeds I was dissapointed when I got to that portion of the book.

One other mention here. The author does a good job of making a plug for his other books and websites, but I suggest you go to his website. For someone that is making money on the internet and writing books about it the site looks like those from 10 years ago, about the time eBay was started. It has the coolness factor of white shoes with plaid pants. I will say though that he did have a good idea with the diagram about linking multiple websites on page 127.

Very dissapointed. Do your self a favor and look for other ebay books.

The book is so bad that I'm compelled to review it so that others do not make the same mistake and waste their time as I have.

* Many of the chapters are 2-3 pages each. This would have been less annoying if there was valuable & concise information in those few pages. However, the ideas are shallow, not well supported, but the author rambles and repeats them over & over.

* Spelling errors -- for example, "umbrella" was spelled as "unbrella" and "advertise" as "advertsie" and these were just two I noticed without even looking very closely. This is small thing but makes you think that the author just threw the book together.

* Overall, the book is very conversational & unprofessional. The author used sentence fragments in almost every paragraph, and many times the author would introduce a topic by asking "What is XX? Well I'll tell you." (literally, this is the sentence structure, word for word, what was used over & over).

* Author advises for several topics (e.g., photographing items to sell) that the reader should buy his other books to learn more in depth. This is frustrating since nothing in the book is covered in any depth.

I read through this book in about an hour, and it was enough to decide to return this and look to get other Ebay books instead.

With a copyright date of 1993, I was expecting this book to be a little dated. If you look carefully at the copyright page, however, you'll notice that the original copyright date is 1964 with another edition in 1984. This version isn't really a new edition, it's simply a hopelessly outdated waste of time.

Frankly, I am shocked that Simon and Schuster would publish and promote such a worthless, outdated re-tread of a book. This certainly makes me think less of their brand.

Here's the deal: If you are serious about making money in mail order or direct response, don't get any of these waste-of-time books that "claim" to show you the business. The ONLY book that I've ever read that can (almost) exactly mirror exactly what I do for my $7-million per year business is a book by Vincent James called The 12-Month Millionaire which you can get on eBay (or type in on a search engine) since it's not a regular published book. The only thing I wouldn't follow in that book is the low priced items he recommends selling like wrinkle creams and weight loss pills (stick with information courses of $199+ with mail order as a RULE, ALWAYS). Lower end products of $99 or less will cause you to lose money in mail order EVERY TIME!!

E.J. Cossman's book is part of my support system and changed my life for the better. E. Joseph Cossman advice helped me to go from debt to success (out of debt) in less than 3 years. The book contains advice to help anyone. The advice is not limited to mailorder, and applicable to all businesses and professions. Yes, your job can benefit from the advice. Don't be afraid to invest in this book and use the advice to help yourself from debt to success. Sounds like a good title for a book.

All the best, Franklin

I work a lot with new businesses. In fact, that has been a ministry of mine for the past twenty years. This book is the book I recommend or out right give to anyone who is just starting out in business. Just the first chapter alone is worth the price of the book. Those who have sour grapes concerning this book are just ignorant. My father used these same principles to start a successful catering truck business that lasted until he was too old to do it anymore. So, what he has to say REALLY, REALLY works! The book is cheap, gives good advice and is funny as well. What more could anyone ask for? BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!! You won't be sorry!

Mr. Cossman probably inteaded this book to help others on the road of financial prosperity through a home based mail order business. However he falls well short by only going into little detail on many areas instead of great detail in some areas. If you are looking for a wonderful motivation tool than this book is for you. However, if you are looking to make a million I suggest you purchase something else.

This is a very useful tool for real estate agents, & the letter templates are good. My only complaint is that they have a floppy disk included in the back of the book to download the forms onto your computer. If it had been a cd instead of a floppy, it would have been much better. Nothing wrong with the material, I can recommend the letters, but some computers don't even come with floppy drives anymore. If they'd switch to a cd, then they'd have a winner.

Did not find this useful at all. I would not recommend and would not waste time or money on this book.

I was pretty disappointed. Most of the letters are very short and no much creative sentences. Feels like I need to get another one for business letters.

As any real estate agent knows there isn't a lot time to sit down and come up with new letters for every transaction. This book really comes in handy. There isn't a lot of solicitation letters but all the other one's make up for it.

I use and recommend this book as a handy reference for letter writing. When I come upon an unusual situation it's a great place to start. There are so many letter templates available that I can usually find one I can modify to fit my needs. Some of my favorite letter templates are in the Chapters: "Responses to Owner Inquiries" and "Servicing the Listing." There are several "Response to Value Inquiry" letter templates I have found to be very helpful. Overall an excellent resource!