When does 237 = 15,000?

Image by andrewodom via Take 237 generous authors.  Cull them from 15 different countries.  Add in 8 topics of discussion and what do you get?  Hopefully, $15,000.  But for sure, you get...

Age of Conversation 2.  Why don't they get it? 

After a very long process, the hardback, paperback and e-book versions of Age of Conversation 2 are on sale, starting today.

As many of you will recall, Gavin Heaton and I got a wild hair in the spring of 2007 and solicited 103 authors to help us create the first book, Age of Conversation. 

With that book, we were able to raise over $14,000 for Variety, the Children's Charity.  Surely, with twice as many authors, we can top the $15,000 mark. I'm hoping for $20,000 - truth be told.

Each author contributed a single page chapter and wrestled with topics like:

• Manifestos 
• Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation
• Moving from Conversation to Action?
• The Accidental Marketer
• A New Brand of Creative 
• My Marketing Tragedy
• Business Model Evolution
• Life in the Conversation Lane

Put it all together and you have insights from social media pros, traditional agency veterans, authors, ministers, directors of marcom, artists, PR experts, non-profit directors and many others in between.

The book will make you think, shake your head and on occasion, laugh.  It will also mean that you helped us raise money for a very worthy charity that cares for the world's children. 

As my friend (and one of the authors) John Rosen succinctly said...Buy this book.  Period.

Here's a complete list of our gracious authors.

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Comments

[Arun Rajagopal]

Hello Drew & Gavin:
Kudos and thank you for your amazing spirit that has led to the 2nd edition of The Age of Conversation. It's a great honor to be a part of AOC 2.0.
You guys rock, as always.
Cheers!
Arun

[John Rosen]

Drew:

I have, indeed, ordered my copy. Looking forward to seeing if Lulu is even more efficient this year!

CONGRATULATIONS on successfully completed it, once again.

John

[Karin H.]

OK, bought it (and 'surprised' to see the price came up in GBP ;-))
Now the waiting begins - how long will it take to cross the ocean?

Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

[Mike Arauz]

Congratulations and thanks for all your hard work!

[BIG Kahuna]

I wish I could buy it but I was not able to purchase 10 hard copies because of browser issues:

info: Welcome to Lulu.com! An online representative will be with you shortly. Your wait time will be approximately 0 minute(s) and 24 seconds. Thank you for waiting.

info: You are now chatting with 'Aimee G'
Aimee G: Welcome to Lulu. How can I help you today?

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: I'm trying to place an order and I get this message: The apartment number you entered doesn't match any address in our shipper's database.

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: it's the right address

Aimee G: Hi there. Sorry to hear that, one moment please while I check on this

Aimee G: Is this the first time you tried to place an order to that address please?

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: it won't let me move on? My address is:
swhite@brandidentityguru.com: 304 Newbury St. Suite 555, Boston, MA 02115

Aimee G: Thanks for the address, did you use this address before please or from your previous order?

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: No, first time ordering but that's my address.

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: It works for the rest of the world....

Aimee G: Sorry to hear this. Can you try to click on Back to get out of the error message please? Then click on your My Lulu tab, then go to CONTACT LIST on the left navigation column, then add your shipping address in there. And then go back to your cart and try it again

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: one second

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: I'm getting a blank page when I click on contact list

Aimee G: Please try to refresh your page

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: nothing, this is a joke. Do you make it this hard on everyone to order or just me?

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: Can someone call me to take the order? 617-504-2305

Aimee G: I am sorry but the blank page looks like a browser issue. You may need to change some settings on your computer or in your browser. First try clearing your cookies.

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: no, call me at 617-504-2305 and I'll place the order

Aimee G: If it doesn't solve this, would it be possible for you to switch browser and try Firefox? We've found that users using Firefox have less trouble with Lulu than other browsers. It's a free download if you wish to try it.

Aimee G: www.mozilla.com/firefox

Aimee G: I am sorry but we only take orders online

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: no

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: i am an author

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: the first call i make is to Drew and Gavin

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: this is bad, really bad

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: can I call you to place the order?

Aimee G: I am sorry for the inconvenience. I will create a ticket and will pass this on to our site engineers so they can check and sort this out

Aimee G: Sorry no, we do not currently have phone support

Aimee G: I have created a ticket for you. Please be sure to keep your ticket number in a safe place so all of our operators will be able to see the history of this issue and can better assist you. You will also need to include the ticket number in any emails that you send to us regarding this issue, preferably in the subject header. We usually respond to tickets in 1 to 2 business days so you should have an answer on this issue soon.

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: So at this time I am unable to purchase 10 books at @$29.99? And no one will call me to place the order, is that right?

Aimee G: I'm afraid yes. Sorry for this trouble. Our site engineers will check on this and contact you via email

swhite@brandidentityguru.com: I must say a 2 minute phone call for a $300 sale is not crazy but to each their own.

Aimee G: I am sorry but we do not currently take orders by phone

info: Your chat transcript will be sent to swhite@brandidentityguru.com at the end of your chat.
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to drew@mclellanmarketing.com at the end of your chat.

[John Rosen]

Big Kahuna:

As I said in my post, I'm looking forward t seeing if Lulu is more efficient this year!

John

[Drew McLellan]

Scott,

So sorry to hear that you're having trouble. Did you try a different browser, like she suggested?

We've processed literally thousands of orders through Lulu.com and although their shipping (because they print the books on demand) wasn't always as fast we we would like -- they have been great quality and good service.

We had one Lulu rep who helped us get 100 or so books to Luc in Belgium in time for a huge meeting. We had another who went out of her way to track down the printing and shipping of books for an author who was using them for client gifts around the holidays.

So...in the experiences we've heard about, they've been wonderful to the authors and buyers alike.

Drew

[Faris]

ordered my copy - nice work again dudes!

umm - and everyone should use firefox or chrome ;)

[Katie Konrath]

I just bought four copies at Lulu and didn't have any trouble at all.

Maybe it was a browser issue, or you had some security issues with your computer. I used the latest version of Firefox, so try that.

It seems to me that it's a pretty legitimate help dialogue, and - while it's unfortunate that Lulu doesn't take orders by phone - it makes sense from a cost standpoint. The customer service rep didn't seem disrespectful, and gave several solutions that should work.

I know it could take a couple moments more to try it in a different browser, or to clear your history, but I'd just try it again.

[Thomas Clifford]

Hi Drew,

Well, I couldn't wait to order mine copies so promptly at 8:00am, I ordered several books...without a problem.

Hats off to you and Gavin for pulling another rabbit out of the hat!!! You guys are magicians in my book. :-)

[Timothy Johnson]

Had ABSOLUTELY NO problems placing my order... very efficient and easy and pleasant.

Not sure what "big" Kahuna was hoping to accomplish by publishing his isolated incident for all to see. Seems a little counterproductive to the cause.

To the rest of you, give it a shot... no problems on this end.

[Sandy Renshaw]

Yeah! The official day is here. Congratulations to all the authors and especially those who coordinated this effort - Drew and Gavin - and all those unseen folks who assisted.

I just logged on to lulu.com and placed my order. I'll be ordering more copies for business associates, friends and relatives soon but I had to get my personal copy on the way. It was painless and easy. Took me just a couple minutes. I can't wait to get the book. Now I'm off to write a blog post...

Sandy

[C.C. Chapman]

Thanks for all the hard work you put in on pulling this together.

I ordered a hard copy and the downloadable PDF this morning because I didn't want to wait to read it. *grin* I hadn't ordered through LuLu that much before so I was glad to see how easy they may it to do so with PayPal.

While I've started reading the electronic version I really can't wait to put the hard cover on my shelf!

[Gaurav Mishra]

Hi Drew,

I just ordered my copy at Lulu and it worked like a dream. Thank you.

Gaurav

[J. Erik Potter]

Just placed my order - in and out in 3 minutes using Firefox.

[Andy Nulman]

Shit happens, man. Been dealing with Lulu on both sides of the coin for two years and never had a problem. Downloaded my PDF in three seconds. Hope that Big Kahuna/swhite doesn't let this incident bum out the great karma that permeates the whole concept.

[Shama Hyder]

So excited about this book! Was a breeze to order. Sorry about the trouble you had Scott.

[Michelle Lamar]

It's out! I ordered two copies, I've been told by clients they ordered copies today too! No problems with Lulu. Thanks Drew and Gavin for letting me participate!

[David Reich]

I ordered my book this morning and had no problem at all. Maybe the lulu site was having a problem when commenter Big Kahuna tried, but when I did it, it was quick and smooth.

Kudos to you and Gavin for another spectacular effort.

[Sonia Simone]

Drew, us IE folks *hate* when people tell us we should use FF. :) I personally can't stand it. Different strokes.

That said, I ordered two copies in despised IE6 and it worked fine, no hitches. My sympathies, though, BigK, that sounds completely maddening.

[Matt J McDonald]

Just put my order through with no problem and I am so psyched to get my copy of this book. I grabbed a hardback for myself and a few paperbacks for local agencies and business that I think would enjoy all of our fine work.

Rock on!

[Jenny]

Thanks for getting it out today, guys. I ordered my copy in about 45 seconds total from Lulu.com this morning, easy as pie!

[Brian Reich]

I just bought both an online version and a hard copy version. It was super easy, the whole process took just a few minutes from start to finish (and that included having to register for a Lulu account, since I guess I didn't set up one last year when I ordered AOC1). The online version looks great, and I know the hard copy version will be cool as well.

[David Meerman Scott]

I had some issues with Safari (I am a Mac user) but it worked fine in Firefox, I am looking forward to getting my copy (and in hardcover)

[Paul McEnany]

Got the ebook, and ordered the hard back! Thanks for all the hard work, Drew! Even better this year!