Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business (Guerrilla Marketing)

Product Description

Houghton Mifflin Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business 0395906253 / HOU0395906253 / Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small BusinessRevised and expanded Third Edition. A valuable resource for any small-business owner. Contains strategies for finding clients, marketing on the Internet, cultivating repeat and referral business, and management lessons in the age of telecommuting. Paperback. 400 pages. 9 x 6 x 1. / Sold As 1 EA / Houghton Mifflin / SKU: HOU0395906253

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful book.......2007-05-12

I had just started my own business and heard about this book on Dave Ramsey's show. I bought the book and found that it had a lot of great ideas about how to reach new customers and ways to keep existing ones.
I highly recommend this book for anyone starting a small business.

Worth the Investment.......2007-04-13

This is an outstanding book and what I consider a must-have for every small business owner.

Jay: A Man in the Know.......2007-02-01

This book is the how-to in marketing. It has something for EVERYONE!

Thanks Jay!

Ja-Naé
Wild Women Entrepreneurs President/Founder

Guerrilla Marketing/Levinson.......2007-01-19

Although I bought this book for a gift and did not read it myself, I received it promptly and in excellent shape. Thanks!

If you're a small business owner..........2007-01-03

If you're a small business owner, you need this book. Real life examples of how to market your company,make it more professional, and to make yourself feel more established in your field. Along with "Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants", written in 2005, you will get into the proper mindset for self-promotion. Be brutally honest, put in some brainstorming hours and commit yourself to succeed. I will refer to both these books yearly to refresh my marketing campaign. (Written in 1998, so Internet and email marketing methods are not discussed in relevant terms).

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking

Average customer rating:

basic concepts presented as something fresh and radical
Exciting message, accessible style
Left feeling teased, and a little cheated.
Empower your customers
Great book, but just a primer

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking
Andy Sernovitz
Manufacturer: Kaplan Business
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly
Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message
Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force
Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide
Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff

ASIN: 1419593331
Release Date: 2006-11-01

Book Description

Who Is Talking About You?

Master the art of word of mouth marketing with this fun, practical, hands-on guide.

Foreword by Seth Godin and Afterword by Guy Kawaski.

With straightforward advice and humor, marketing expert Andy Sernovitz will show you how the world’s most respected and profitable companies get their best customers for free through the power of word of mouth.

Learn the five essential steps that make word of mouth work and everything you need to get started using them. Understand the real purpose of blogs, communities, viral email, evangelists, and buzz—when to use them and how simple it is to make them work.

Learn what sparks the irrepressible enthusiasm of Apple and TiVo fans. Understand why everyone is talking about a certain restaurant, car, band, or dry cleaner—and why other businesses and products are ignored. Discover why some products become huge successes without a penny of promotion—and why some multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns fail to get noticed.

Open your eyes to a new way of doing business—that honest marketing makes more money, because customers who trust you will talk about you. Learn how to be the remarkable company that people want to share with their friends.

Customer Reviews:

basic concepts presented as something fresh and radical.......2007-10-07

I've just gotten into WOM marketing and so I assumed that my knowledge on the subject is limited. After reading this book, however, I came to think that I could be a marketing guru as well. The ideas described in this book could be summarized on three pages and still those pages would not be worth reading! Rules such as: make your message interesting or make it short or make it easy to remember are obvious for all those who are capable to think logically. Others (e.g. Chinese banquet example) are simply ridiculous!
I expected to learn a lot from this book. I learned nothing new. Plus, the book appear to contradict all the rules he lists: it could definitely be shorter and more interesting!

Exciting message, accessible style.......2007-10-04

I loved this book not only for the specific word of mouth marketing tips, but for the enthusiasm Sernovitz brings to the subject matter as well.

I am nobody you've ever heard of - just a woman starting her own business. Sernovitz made me realize that there is a whole new way of doing things, a whole world out there that I have had no connection to.

First, this book made me feel not so bad about my lack of experience, because plenty of people with experience are just not getting it! And second, Andy's book taught me that if my business was going to have an internet presence I'd darn well better get up to speed on how to become a part of the online community and be as smart as I can about making sure people know about my product, find my website, and buy! I'd better blog - I'd better get out there - I'd better make connections, and friendships, and be a part of the conversation!

"Word of Mouth Marketing" has an exciting message and is very accessible even for the novice. This book should be a part of anyone's Business 101 learning, and I highly recommend it.

Left feeling teased, and a little cheated........2007-10-03

I was really torn between giving this book three or four stars. What inclined me toward four was that I didn't get a straight run through it, but instead was three quarters of the way through and had to put it aside for a week-which is a long time to put reading aside and then pick up again without it losing a great deal of its momentum. So, I went with the higher scoring in the belief that I would have had a more positive experience with the material if it had not been for a circumstance beyond the author's control.

That being said, you may still be wondering what I found lacking to keep it from getting five stars. First of all, I don't hand five stars out like candy (and I wish a lot of other reviewers would follow that lead, as it seems as though there are an over-abundance of five stars over at Amazon). I feel that a five star rating is for the exceptional. A four star is for the good. Three stars for the nominal, with two and one stars relegated to the bad and really stinky. I steer away from half stars as that smacks of indecision (and would require me having to add those images to my library and they are difficult to come by).

I rate this book at four stars because it is good. It is not exceptional. If you're purchasing as marketing advice, it will provide you with enough to know that you need to buy more books by other authors that go into a good deal more detail. If you've already purchased a couple of marketing books, it will reinforce what you've already read and give you a good pep talk to keep you motivated. It is not going to enlighten you to anything new (unless it's your first purchase of marketing material-in which case see point above about now knowing you need to buy more books).

As a writer, publisher and editor myself, I have to make one comment about the writing-more precisely the voice, or tone, of the book. I received the distinct impression that Mr. Sernovitz saw a trend of sales in marketing books, whipped one together with no real effort or research beyond what he already knew off the top of his head (which is considerable-no argument from me there) and tossed it out onto the market. Again, as in one of my prior reviews of a different book, I wish the author had taken more time, gone more indepth, researched and added to what he already knew and given us a real read. In many ways I felt teased, and a little cheated.

Empower your customers.......2007-09-19

I typically gauge an effective marketing book by how much actionable information is provided. My measure is simple, lots of earmarked pages indicates good ideas that can be impactful. After reading this book on the train I had 12 ear marked pages and had left myself three voicemails about ideas my company could implement immediately.

If you want to make a measurable improvement in your marketing programs and empower your customers, buy this book.

Thanks,

David Baeza
Area Vice President, Customer Acquisition
Citrix Online

GoToMyPC
GoToMeeting
GoToWebinar
GoToAssist

Great book, but just a primer.......2007-09-03

An easy-to-read primer to Word of Mouth Marketing. If you're new to WoM, start here. However if you're looking for more details, you may be disappointed. Wish he would have included more case studies. Very up to date with a strong focus on the online world, something that's missing from Emanuel Rosen's "The Anatomy of Buzz".

Average customer rating:

Simply the Best
Great for a classroom study but not for....
The Ultimate Book about Che!
the best book on che
thorough

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
Jon Lee Anderson
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Political | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey
Guerrilla Warfare
Manifesto: Three Classic Essays on How to Change the World
El Che - Investigating a Legend
Self Portrait Che Guevara

ASIN: 0802135587

Amazon.com

Even to those without Marxist sympathies, Che Guevara (1928-67) was a dashing, charismatic figure: the asthmatic son of an aristocratic Argentine family whose sympathy for the world's oppressed turned him into a socialist revolutionary, the valued comrade-in-arms of Cuba's Fidel Castro and a leader of guerilla warfare in Latin America and Africa. Journalist Jon Lee Anderson's lengthy and absorbing portrait captures the complexities of international politics (revolutionary and counter); his painstaking research has unearthed a remarkable amount of new material, including information about Guevara's death at the hands of the Bolivian military.

Book Description

This New York Times “Notable Book of the Year” is the definitive biography on Che Guevara, whose epic dream was to end poverty and injustice in Latin America through armed revolution. Anderson’s biography traces Che’s extraordinary life, from his comfortable Argentine upbringing to the Cuban revolution, from the halls of power in Castro’s government to his failed campaign in the Congo and assassination in the Bolivian jungle.

Customer Reviews:

Simply the Best.......2007-08-28

This is an excellent biography. It shows Guevara from all perspectives; personal, political, and as a historical figure. I can't recommend this book highly enough. As for Anderson, he needs to include better documentation for his sources. This is supposed to be history not a movie script.

Great for a classroom study but not for...........2007-06-03

This book is so full of information it begins to sound more like a step by step account of Che's life. I was sincerely looking forward to reading interesting and historical facts but there are more long winded historical segues and side stories narrated in the third person than one would expect from a biographical book. One example relates to an account of Che's purchase of a gift for a friend which spans 2 pages--was this a major event by normal standards: probably not. At times I felt as if I was reading the report of someone who had too much information but did not want to truncate it under the belief that it would seem dishonest.
However, if you dont mind reading minute details about someone as interesting as Che, then you should buy this book. If you are more interested in getting to the heart of his ideology and political inclinations, look elsewhere.

The Ultimate Book about Che!.......2007-04-30

This book is extremely detailed about Che's life. The author has researched his life so thoroughly. It is also very unbiased, explaining flaws of his character.

A capitalist at heart, this book made me understand the anti-imperialist sentiment in the world, as Che visits Mayan ruins and an American copper mine in Chile. The book also explains the United Fruit Company's presence in Latin America and the politics behind it.

This book also details the Cuban revolution. What an interesting story!! I didn't realize how smart Castro is or that he came from a rich family.

By the time you finish this book, you may not LOVE Che, but you will understand why he fought.

the best book on che.......2007-02-20

This is a balanced, well researched, and easy to read treatise on Che. A good portion of the book details the revolution and you also get to know Fidel well.

thorough.......2007-01-03

Excellent and objective book on Che Guevara. A long read (750 pages) but written in a very readable and chronological fashion. This book is also very insightful regarding the events leading up to and after the Cuban Revolution and provides a lot of insight on Fidel Castro as well. Highly recommended.

Guerrilla Marketing Weapons: 100 Affordable Marketing Methods

Average customer rating:

Completely outdated
You don't need this book!
Guerrilla Marketing Weapons
New to Marketing
This book should get 10 stars

Guerrilla Marketing Weapons: 100 Affordable Marketing Methods
Jay Conrad Levinson
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Marketing | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Guerrilla Marketing Excellence: The 50 Golden Rules for Small-Business Success (Guerrilla Marketing)

ASIN: 0452265193

Customer Reviews:

Completely outdated.......2007-09-18

When I bought this book, I didn't realize it was published in 1990, so there is nada regarding the internet. If you have even a modicum of knowledge regarding marketing, it's a complete waste of time. This is for someone with zero or little marketing background. Absolutely elementary information.

You don't need this book!.......2007-06-28

I have lost my 3 hours to read it. Don't loose yours!
There is nothing interesting in this book and very easy concept

Guerrilla Marketing Weapons .......2007-01-09

Anyone who wants to be successful should have this.
Others should not.

New to Marketing.......2006-11-11

Super book for anyone new to Marketing. Lot's of practical advice for free of cheap ways to get your business noticed.

This book should get 10 stars.......2005-11-30

When I first started my business 13 years ago I didn't know the first thing about marketing. The book is divided into two parts, 50 things you can do that don't cost anything and 50 things that cost. This book was my bible and there were only 3 things that wouldn't work with my business. My phone began to ring and my friends were impressed with my marketing skills. I didn't feel I had marketing skills. I just knew how to read and follow instructions. I highly recommend this book for anyone getting started or for anyone just wanting to jump start their business and see if there is anything that they could do and maybe aren't.

Average customer rating:

Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days
Disappointing effort
A great plan
My Favorite Guerilla Marketing Books
Try Another Levinson Book Instead

Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days
Jay Conrad Levinson , and Al Lautenslager
Manufacturer: Entrepreneur Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Customer Service | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Guerrilla Marketing for Free: Dozens of No-Cost Tactics to Promote Your Business and Energize Your Profits
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The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook (Guerrilla Marketing)
Guerrilla Marketing Weapons: 100 Affordable Marketing Methods
Guerrilla Marketing In 30 Days Workbook (Guerrilla Marketing)

ASIN: 1932531297

Book Description

A Blueprint for Great Marketing!

In Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days, co-authors Jay Conrad Levinson and Al Lautenslager take the best selling marketing series in history, Guerrilla Marketing, and boil it down into one dynamic package of the most up-to-date guerrilla tactics.

Whether your goal is to develop a complete marketing plan or to focus on improving a specific component, this is the book for you. From competition and research to execution and expansion, you get 30 action plans via guerrilla marketing tips, methods, ideas and values—where the major ingredients are time, energy and imagination, not hard-earned profits. And on each and every day you’ll have developed plans to improve and re-engineer a piece of your overall marketing blueprint to maximize profits and increase customers.

Customer Reviews:

Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days.......2007-07-15

Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days is the latest addition to the Guerrilla Marketing series. Like all of the books in this series, this book explains marketing and the importance of marketing in real life terms that directly relate to any business. Moreover, these easy to understand explanations are always accompanied by realistic commonsense methodology that the reader can tailor to suit his or her business needs.

Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days is unique in this series as it pulls together marketing knowledge and know how into a 30 day plan that the reader can use to start and then build his or her own marketing strategies. This plan gradually takes the reader through the essentials of determining his or her business's marketing goal and understanding his or her target audience through the many ways to learn from the successes and mistakes of competitors to specific ways to make the most of his or her marketing budget. This book tutors the new business person in Marketing 101 giving him or her an important edge in business. The reader well versed in marketing strategies will also find this book essential reading material as he or will gain new marketing tools and management skills that will his or her to sustain and continue successful marketing strategies.

Disappointing effort .......2006-08-19

I've read a couple of Levinson's books but this may be the last. This book was flawed in so many important ways that I would not recommend it for anyone with more than a cursory understanding of marketing.

As a couple of other reviewers pointed out. Levinson is trying to take complex marketing principles and transform them into bullets and coy little catchphrase. In the process he looses the complexity and richness of the topic, reducing the principles to a "taste great, less filling" tagline. While this might be successful if he is selling beer where "taste great less filling" is enough information for us to make a decision about what beer we are going to drink it is too superficial for framing our marking efforts.

Second, the writing is so awful it's uncomfortable. Poorly constructed sentences, incorrect word choices, and mixed and sometimes inappropriate metaphors abound. For example, on page 30 we are to believe that marketing is a bit like being a duck hunter were we blast our target (our customers) with a shot gun but on page 31 were the "big ducks" that flap our wings presumable being shot at by others if we are to follow his metaphor?. This doesn't make sense.

Third, the structure of the book--30 days to guerrilla marketing--is artificial and not very helpful. A thematic arrangement (like in his other books and most other marketing books) might have been more useful.

Now, on the other hand I did find helpful the basic messages of the book--that marketing is an ongoing process, not something you doing once or twice, that marketing is about knowing who you are and who your competitors are, and so forth. Unfortunately the messengers gets in the way of the message in far too many cases.

For my money, Levinson's other books are a better value as is The Portable MBA in Marketing.

A great plan.......2006-08-09

Follow the plan. It all makes sense at the end when you make more trips to the bank!

My Favorite Guerilla Marketing Books.......2005-05-10

I read Levinson's original Guerilla Marketing Handbook a couple of years ago and liked it alot. I thought there were some good ideas for my small businesses; web design and wedding DJ. I've thumbed thru some of the other Guerilla Marketing books at bookstores, but got excited when I saw Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days. I've neglected marketing my business in the past year or so and saw this book as a roadmap for getting back on track. I think it's a great companion to Levinson's original masterpiece.

One of the things the authors recommend is to think about your marketing every day, which is something I haven't done. But I got stoked as I went thru the process and the exercise was made easy because it's all laid out for you. Low and no-cost marketing ideas? That's for me!

I have already gotten some inquiries which were the direct result of the marketing plan I put together with this book, and I'm sure more leads and sales will come.

Over the weekend, I began re-reading the Guerilla Handbook looking for some new ideas going forward. Tonite, I see that Amazon is offering BOTH books as a special. I think it's the best 25 bucks an entreprenuer can invest in their business.

Try Another Levinson Book Instead.......2005-05-09

I bought this book becasue I thought a 30 day, self-guided tour of Guerrilla Marketing would be a handy tool in my marketing tool kit.

I was disappointed.

The book is a regurgitation of Levinson's principles, which are more fully described in Levinson's other books,like Guerrilla Marketing. The 30 day approach is artificial, and the marketing advice in this book is almost too simplistic to be actionable.

Levinson has written so many insightful books that you'd do better to dive into one of his thoughtful books and absorb his timeless advice. This book misses that mark with its pat advice to complex marketing issues.

I think the format for the book is a good one, but the execution wasn't.

Guerrilla Tactics for Law School Academic Success

Average customer rating:

Guerrilla Tactics for Law School Academic Success
Sandra J. Ware
Manufacturer: Law Student Success Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Legal Education | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Test Prep Central | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Law School Confidential (Revised Edition): A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students
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Acing Your First Year of Law School: The Ten Steps to Success You Won't Learn in Class

ASIN: 0974302309

Book Description

Packed with practical, specific advice, Guerrilla Tactics for Law School Academic Success shows first year law students sure-fire study strategies to maximize law school performance and to minimize anxiety. This no nonsense guide offers straight forward methods on: goal setting and creating a roadmap for success; effective time management; organizing for efficiency, including how to organize course materials in a manner similar to the way trial attorneys prepare a trial notebook; formulating and following a study plan; class note-taking strategies; and how to customize synthesizing these materials into each course outline based on what the professor thinks is important (its not just what she says in class).

This no nonsense guide will also give all law students straight forward methods on preparing for exams, and discusses exam taking tactics, including how to avoid common exam mishaps and disasters. Once the grades are in, this book shows all law students how to follow up on their exam results so that they can dramatically improve their future exam performance and law school grades. Guerrilla Tactics for Law School Academic Success is also suitable for 2Ls who wish to improve their law school performance.

Top internet sites for law students, along with links that provide answers to some of the most frequently asked questions that law students are afraid to ask are also included. Due to the rising use of web sites by professors to teach their courses, and the rapid evolution of computer technology in law schools, this book also provides a primer on how law students can get the most out of these resourses.

The author also discusses making the Law Review, what law students can do to make the most out of their summer before the second year of law school, and more!

Insurgency and Terrorism: From Revolution to Apocalypse; 2nd Ed., Revised
Average customer rating:

A great book to understand insurgency and terrorism

The Textbook on Insurgency and Counterinsurgency

Great Reference

Beginning to Develop a Science of Terrorism

Insurgency and Terrorism: From Revolution to Apocalypse; 2nd Ed., Revised
Bard E. O'Neill
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Strategy | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Military Science | History | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Freedom & Security | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century

Inside Terrorism

ASIN: 1574881728

Book Description

A systematic, comprehensive, and straightforward textbook for analyzing and comparing insurgencies and terrorist movements, Insurgency and Terrorism was first published in 1990 to broad acclaim. Observers, scholars, students, military personnel, journalists, and government analysts worldwide found it worthy of study. Now Insurgency and Terrorism has been thoroughly revised and updated to cover activity that has since occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Philippines, Colombia, and elsewhere and to address the new tactics and weapons used—and threatened. Author Bard E. O'Neill, the director of studies of insurgency and revolution at the National War College, addresses insurgencies with respect to ultimate goals, strategies, forms of warfare, the role and means of acquiring popular support, organizational dynamics, causes and effects of disunity, types of external support, and government responses. Course syllabi included.

Customer Reviews:

A great book to understand insurgency and terrorism.......2006-08-08

I have read the first edition of this book and I found it very useful to understand insurgency and terrorism. Moreover I wish I had read this book when I was in Colombia or in Haiti where we had to deal with insurgencies. In my opinion the book is an important tool for the intelligence analyst because it shows a framework to analyze the complex phenomenon of guerilla and insurgency. It was very valuable for me to learn about the four strategic approaches (conspiratorial - military focus - protracted popular war - and urban warfare)

As I wrote above, I read the first edition, so I don't know if the ideas that I'm going to write about are been included or not. The first one is about the "Legal Warfare" that was developed by the Insurgencies in Colombia and Argentina. It consists in accused soldiers of violations of human's rights. On almost every occasion they were false accusations. Therefore, they were judged and condemned by the civil authorities. However, nobody accused the terrorists of human right violations. The last one is about the insurgency that is developed from a defeated army. This is the case of what Col Volckmann said in his book "We remained" about the resistance in Philippines in World War II.

In conclusion, the book is brilliantly written and is very useful to understand and defeat insurgencies.

The Textbook on Insurgency and Counterinsurgency.......2006-03-15

Terrorism and Insurgency by Bard E. O'Neill, is an invaluable resource for those interested in understanding insurgency and the relevant factors that lead to its success or failure.

This book appears to be written for a classroom audience (the author in fact provides a proposed semester-length class schedule complete with lesson plans and assigned reading). However, O'Neill also has government analysts and policy makers in mind. Throughout the book, and especially in chapters covering government response and the conclusion, he stresses the value of providing as complete a picture as possible while keeping in mind objectivity and maintaining an unbiased approach to analysis.

O'Neill begins his book by looking at insurgencies and the related fields of terrorism and guerilla warfare. His framework for analysis includes understanding the nature of the insurgency, insurgent strategies, both political and military, understanding the physical as well as human environment, organization, and the role of external support.

In the final chapter, O'Neill lays out a comprehensive lense through which a government analyst could view its adversary and policy makers can create successful counterinsurgency operations. Urging the avoidance of polemics and shortsightedness, O'Neill provides a credible and realistic lense through which to create effective countermeasures.

O'Neill helps to settle many unhelpful arguments and issues for analysts. For example, he rejects the false dichotomy of freedom fighter versus terrorist, as one deals with ends (freedom fighter) and one is a means to get their (terrorism). As such, a freedom fighter can use terrorist tactics to achieve his ends.

Also, a driving factor that many insurgencies use to determine their strategies are the physical and human environment around them and the perceived and real government response. Understanding this is invaluable both for insurgents and counterinsurgency operations.

The ideology, or political campaign, the insurgent group promotes, serves the valuable function of differentiating friend from foe. Providing an alternative to this ideology is integral to separating insurgents from the majority population (assuming the insurgents are a minority).

Many insurgencies survive through external support from other states or insurgent groups. One method students and analysts can use to find weaknesses to exploit is by knowing which insurgent groups do and do not receive external support and the motives for the disparity.

Finally, many responses to insurgency fail because of inflexibility, sloppiness, ignorance, bias, anger, bureaucratic imperative or psychological aversion. These failings create often flawed and fatally mistaken counterinsurgency strategies. Avoiding this should be of primary concern.

Great Reference.......2006-02-17

This is an excellent book. The author is a well known and respected expert of the field. The book begins with an introduction that attempts to level set and baseline definitions and meanings. Although this may appear to be semantics, the differences both subtle and great is important. The book is well organized it is easy to refer to a specific chapter or section in the event you need a quick refresher and or reference. The book is well written, concise and offers a large quantity of foot notes at the end of each chapter. This book is for both the expert and the novice.

Terry Tucker, Adjunct Professor, Military Studies/History University of Maryland and Senior Doctrine Developer SANGMP, Vinnell Arabia

Beginning to Develop a Science of Terrorism.......2005-07-27

I had never thought of insurgency and terrorism as having enough material to justify having a textbook on the subject. Then again I didn't realize just how many different insurgencies are going on at any one time. In fact, he concentrates on the contemporary world, only mentioning in passing that Roman Armies also fought insurgents.

Part of a scientific analysis is to classify them into types based on common attributes. By assigning names to these classes, we make it so that we can use these names and immediately know what kinds of programs have worked against them in the past, and of course what have not.

Dr. O'Neill has looked into the Types of Insurgencies, Politics and forms of Warfare, Insurgent Strategies, the Physical Environment, the Human Environment, Types of Popular Support, Organizational Structure, External Support, and Government Response.

Through these classifications, he is, for the first time beginning to draw together a consistent approach to the study of terroism. Perhaps this is the start of a Terrorism Science to go along with Naval Science or Military Science.

Guerrilla Marketing for Writers : 100 Weapons to Help You Sell Your Work

Average customer rating:

fun to read and full of practical advice
Nice Guys Finish .... First?
Be inspired!
Armed and dangerous
You've been guerillaed.

Guerrilla Marketing for Writers : 100 Weapons to Help You Sell Your Work
Jay Conrad Levinson , Rick Frishman , and Michael Larsen
Manufacturer: Writer's Digest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Publishing & Books | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Over 75 Good Ideas for Promoting Your Book
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ASIN: 089879983X

Amazon.com

There are writers who would be horrified at the tactics laid out in Guerrilla Marketing for Writers, perhaps because marketing oneself as one might a commodity is at odds with the artistic temperament. Alas, those writers are unlikely to find themselves at the helm of such publishing fleets as the Chicken Soup or, well, Guerrilla Marketing series.

HarperCollins publishes 1,200 books a year, according to the authors of Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. Is there a snowball's chance in hell that their publicity department can adequately promote all of them? Of course not. Don't let someone else's publicity department drop the ball when it comes to your book. Guerrilla Marketing's 100 weapons for selling your work range from creating media kits and promotional calendars to appearing at book-group discussions and fundraisers. Each "weapon" is rated by its monetary cost to the author, and well over half are free. While the authors advise that this book will help in the promotion of "any kind of book, from poetry to textbooks," most of its tactics seem best suited to nonfiction. The authors' overarching philosophy? Think like an entrepreneur. "Don't think like a writer who has something to say; think like an author who has a lifetime of books, products, and services to sell." --Jane Steinberg

Customer Reviews:

fun to read and full of practical advice.......2007-03-18

This book is both fun to read and full of practical advice! Described as a "what to do" as opposed to a "how to do book," it really explains the importance of marketing for authors as well as many ideas for "what to do." So what is "guerilla marketing?" I'd say marketing intelligently and inexpensively, instead of just throwing money at it.

It's no surprise to authors or anyone that has done some research that authors are responsible for making their book sell. It doesn't matter whether you have a big name publisher or are self-published, you need to promote and market your book. One of the biggest parts of my book proposal for Blogging for Business was on marketing/promotion and certainly a good part of why the publisher liked it.

Also, a book is not a be all and end all. It won't make you rich. It probably won't even make you much money from book sales, but the "expert status" gained, sales of additional services (consulting, speaking, etc.), and related information products can make it very worthwhile. Guerrilla Marketing explains this all in a simple to comprehend and digest format.

The "weapons" are really in two categories, at least in my mind. Things to do, such as press releases, webcasts, email signatures, surveys, strategic allegiances, media kits, and things to motivate and think about, such as your enthusiasm, your professionalism, etc. I found both categories useful. Obviously not everyone will find all the weapons appropriate for them, but certainly enough to make spending the time being amused while reading this book worthwhile.

I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, and it's sitting on my nightstand. Every night or two, I reread a section and get more value, and practical ideas.

Nice Guys Finish .... First?.......2007-03-15

Perhaps the sub-title of this book should have been "Nice Guys Finish Last." - This is the book that tells it like it is, that an author's job is only half done when the book is published. The other half comes down to promotion, and you have to BE AGGRESSIVE. BE - BE, AGGRESSIVE. (That's right, you have to be your own cheerleader, too!)

I cannot tell you the number of traditionally published authors who have lamented to me about the lack of marketing muscle their publisher is putting behind their book. At least when you self-publish, you are not surprised by this inevitability. Hint: Unless your name is Stephen King, your publisher isn't going to heavily promote your book. Why? Because their marketing budget is all tied up in Stephen King's book, that's why. If you have a horse race between your book and Stephen King's book, which one do you bet on? The same one the publisher chooses. That harsh reality is why books like Guerrilla Marketing exist. Ready, aim, fire! May the most knowledgeable authors hit their goals.

Brent Sampson, author of Self-Publishing Simplified

Be inspired!.......2007-01-31

Levinson et al have produced a book loaded with inspiring ideas for promoting and marketing my books. I can't wait to get to the end so I can sit down and pull together my own Promotional Plan and get going. Some of the ideas pertain specifically to USA but many more can be translated to any country, even little old New Zealand. Thanks guys!

Armed and dangerous.......2006-12-04

This was the first book I purchased to help me promote my book CAPITALIZING ON BEING WOMAN OWNED. It was a very good first exposure to possibilities and to what the Publisher might or might not do. This book provides enough ideas that every author should be able to find some that fit his/her book, personality and situation. It does take some effort to pull out the best information for you because the weapons are not divided by book type.

You've been guerillaed........2006-08-01

The introduction pretty well sums up the fatal flaw in this book: "But [this book] isn't a how-to book, it's a what-to book."

You have to ask: How much good is knowing what to do if you don't know how to do it? Go rebuild the engine in your car. I told you what to do; you will have to find out how to do it somewhere else. Save yourself the trouble and go somewhere else to begin with.

I bought this book to learn how to market my novels. I get: "In this respect [promotion] novelists are luckier than nonfiction writers. Not much is expected from them in the way of promotion.(page 87)" How much less? None? A little bit? Which ones of the 100 "weapons" should I use? Though I forced myself through the rest of the book and its interminably boring lists, I never found the answer.

I will have to say the authors practise what they preach. I would bet they have used all the gorilla (my spelling) weapons in this book, and then some, to sell every copy they can; including, I suspect, many of the glowing reviews on this page from members of their "network." You push my book and I will push yours.

It is a shame that American literature has come down to who is the best marketer. Maybe that is why many new novels, which used to keep me glued to my seat, now get slammed shut after the first few chapters. Maybe the next one will be better.

This book is cotton candy: real yummy but no substance: sugar air. The best part is the money-back guarantee, which the authors proudly proclaim, is a safe bet because most people won't take you up on it.

I have to give it some credit for the appendixes. Of course, you could get the same thing with a few simple internet searches, but I hate to be all negative.

If you buy this book, you may find yourself saying: "I've been guerillaed."

War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare

Average customer rating:

On Sale at Home of US Special Forces
Guerrilla Warfare lessons never learned.
The Best Work on Guerrilla Warfare
Reprint of a Classic
Outstanding study of guerrilla warfare

War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare
Robert Taber
Manufacturer: Potomac Books Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1574885553

Book Description

“The guerrilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog’s disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with.” With these words, Robert Taber began a revolution in conventional military thought that has dramatically impacted the way armed conflicts have been fought since the book’s initial publication in 1965. Whether ideological, nationalistic, or religious, all guerrilla insurgencies use similar tactics to advance their cause. War of the Flea's timeless analysis of the guerrilla fighter’s means and methods provides a fundamental resource for any reader seeking to understand this distinct form of warfare and the challenge it continues to present to today’s armed forces in the Philippines, Colombia, and elsewhere.

Customer Reviews:

On Sale at Home of US Special Forces.......2007-09-08

First published in 1965 and recently re-issued, this book is written by the only American who was with Castro instead of the CIA at the Bay of Pigs. In retrospect, and given that the anti-Castro Cuban exiles used their CIA training to assassinate John F. Kennedy (see Someone Would Have Talked: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Conspiracy to Mislead History, this American is clearly a just man and a wise man.

There are two bottom lines to this book:

1. No indigenous people have ever lost, in the very long run, to foreign occupiers. See also The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People

2. The win-win for both democracy and capitalism is to do away with unilateral militarism, immoral capitalism, and predatory "false" democracy that embraces dictators rather than publics. See Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy; Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions; The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project); Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror; and Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025, among others.

The author ends the book with three recommendations for US foreign policy that I for one happily adopt:

1. Abandon all forms of military assistance

2. Declare an Economic "New Deal" for the Third World starting in South America and the Caribbean and Central America.

3. Embrace the Revolution, and live up to our Constitutional ideals of justice and liberty for all.

The author packs numerous pearls of wisdom, firmly rooted in ground truth, into this book.

1. Governments assume they are legitimate when they are not, they assume a monopoly on force while ignoring crime. Legitimacy and morality are strategic assets that most governments have abandoned. Cf. The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century.

2. Terrorism has been the logical asymmetric response of the poor and down-trodden since time immemorial. The author points out the hypocrisy of Israel, which was founded on the basis of terrorism against the people, claiming that terrorism targets non-combatants, while we ignore the fact that the US Air Force bombs entire villages of non-combatants without a second thought.

3. Class war produces the conditions that spawn successful revolutions, which the author is careful to define as those revolutions that have or can acquire popular support. The corruption at the top, and the poverty at the bottom, eventually collide.

4. Guns are the least important tool of the guerrilla (and all of the guns are provided by the occupying power or the illegitimate military). Guerilla operations are a state of mind, a spreading awareness of the possibilities of ultimate invincibility, firmly founded in root legitimacy.

5. The author points out the two fallacies to avoid, both heavily characteristic of current US operations in Iraq:

a. Revolutions and insurgency are NOT a conspiracy, e.g. Iran may be aiding the insurgency in Iraq, but at root the insurgency is home grown and will continue until the US is driven out.

b. Counter-insurgency is NOT about tactical "methods." The long war is about the will and rights of the people everywhere. As General Smedley Butler, USMC concluded, War Is a Racket: The Anti-War Classic by America's Most Decorated General, Two Other Anti=Interventionist Tracts, and Photographs from the Horror of It

6. The author is a gifted writer. He points out that conventional armies are burdened by a dependence on bases and "things" (vehicles, weapons systems) while the guerilla is "liberated" by their poverty, able to move past roadblocks by simply walking in the jungle 100 meters to the left or right. Conventional forces focus on patrols and real estate. The guerilla focuses on the message and the public.

7. The guerilla is a voice, a message. The fact that the guerilla exists means that the political process has FAILOED. The primary asset the guerilla has is not a weapon, but their relationship with the community of people within which they survive.

8. The author believes that in the era of globalization, the laboring class has been empowered but does not fully realize its power to carry out a legal general strike, to demand labor unions, to not consume products whose "true cost" is onerous.

9. The guerilla is militarily weak but politically strong and economically dangerous. I continue to marvel at the idiocy of Dick Cheney in seeking to capture Iraq's oil and intimidate Iran (Persia) while ignoring the fact that ten oil pumping stations in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, if blown up, can take oil to $200 a barrel overnight.

10. Three conditions are cited as being necessary for a revolution:

a. No other alternative.

b. Cause is compelling.

c. Possibility of success.

11. A general strike by the public can follow an armed insurrection, or stand on its own as a clear signal to the government that it has lost its legitimacy and authority. I cannot help but feel that the United States of America is today badly in need of a legal ethical general strike by the public that continues until Dick Cheney resigns from office and Congress declares an end to our unilateral militarism around the world.

12. The essence of guerilla warfare is to take the profit out of oppression and occupation (colonialism, corruption by corporations) with a clever strategy that is clearly and publicly enunciated, and popular as well.

13. Time, space, and will favor the people over any occupying force. Occupiers lose twice:

a. Their presence provokes anger in the people.

b. They supply the insurgents with all the arms, ammunition, food, and other supplies needed (this is one of two dirty little secrets of the US occupation of Iraq; the other is that we have returned 75,000 of our honorable men and women to America as multiple amputees who are not being well served by the Veteran's Administration).

14. US *talks* about hearts and minds but *spends* only on death and destruction. We are still not serious about global stabilization & reconstruction, humanitarian assistance & disaster relief.

As I put the book down on the flight back from Tampa, I thought to myself that this author is completely correct in pointing out that terrorism is of, by, and for the indigenous people, and it is neither deviant nor apart from the fabric of the society it seeks to save. The author also points out that terrorism is vastly less costly than conventional war in every sense of the word: dead, wounded, collateral damage, destruction of infrastructure, and financial as well as moral cost. The author makes it quite clear that the USA is in *denial* when if fails to understand that an insurgency is a civil war, not a conspiracy or communist or terrorist inspired "conspiracy."

The latter half of the book provides a series of truly absorbing and sensible "lessons learned:"

1. Algeria taught us that urban areas can be occupied and dominated by torture, but at a cost so huge that the occupying government is weakened politically and economically. Cheney remains in denial on this point.

2. The three "failures" of indigenous revolution in the short term:

a. Philippines, government combined social work with amnesty and land grants that took away the basis for revolution among the Huks.

b. Malaysia, the insurgents lacked a rural base with its own food production capability, and could be isolated.

c. Greece, the guerillas lost contact with the public and lost militarily by engaging conventionally.

The author cites Sun Tzu in pointing out that there is nothing "modern" about terrorism or warfare. It is all based on deception and competing claims to legitimacy. He lists six conditions for a successful revolution in his conclusion:

1. Valid popular grievances
2. Sharp social divisions (or ethnic)
3. Unsound or stagnant economy
4. Oppressive or illegitimate government
5. Moral leadership within the guerilla movement
6. A foundation on the truth rather than lies

For the 27 secessionist movements in America, the author notes as have others that anytime an empire is engaged in a far-off debilitating military campaign, internal secessions are easier to accomplish.

In my view, the USA is clearly vulnerable to precision sabotage of the kind that Peter Black, Winn Schwartau, and I discussion in the early 1990's. We were ignored, and today our infrastructure is ten times to a hundred times more likely to collapse from its own decrepitude that from "enemy" action. The two "mainstream" political parties are so corrupt they have run American into the ground (Cf. Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It

I may never be Director of National Intelligence, since I am predisposed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and that is best gotten with the 96% of the information that the secret world refuses to notice. However, if I were, we would have three objectives and three objectives only:

1. Terminating all dictators through buy out plans they cannot refuse.

2. Ending all corruption by any government, organization, or individual.

3. Providing free connectivity and free on demand education in all languages to all people, with hundreds of millions of volunteer tutors able to education the five billion poor "one cell call at a time."

Guerrilla Warfare lessons never learned........2007-06-13

Oddly enough the US Military refuses to study and learn from Guerrilla wars we've been in. They all want to fight WWII all over again. That's why they loved Desert Storm 1. Now they are in Iraq and can't get out of it. The politicians and generals and people at the Pentagon ought to be made to read these books ever few years.
A good read.

The Best Work on Guerrilla Warfare.......2007-05-30

Seeking to learn more about guerrilla warfare, I read Che's Guerrilla Warfare and Mao's On Guerrilla Warfare, yet I felt somewhat unsatisfied with each of those works and purchased Taber's War of the Flea hoping for better. Taber's work far outshines the works of Che and Mao. Taber has the advantage of not having a legend to defend and draws from both works, as well as The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Taber focuses not only on the Marxist inspired revolutions of recent times, but also on the revolutions of national liberation in Palestine, Cypress, and Ireland. Through all of these, he demonstrates how the application of the philosophy behind Guerrilla warfare presents the organized state or foreign colonist with only the prospect of political and/or military defeat.

The lessons in Taber's work are as true today as they have been throughout time. They are lessons that Americans should learn. One cannot win a war against guerrillas. One can either pull out, reach a negotiated defeat, or expend one's precious time, resources and the lives of the young in a hopeless struggle descending into inevitable defeat.

Reprint of a Classic.......2007-02-21

There have been a lot of books on guerrilla warfare. They typically fall into one of two categories. Those by Americans are written by university or military types who have studed irregular warfare from an academic or counter guerrilla war aspect. (Example, the forward to this book by Bard E. O'Neill of the National War College.) The other class of books are those written by practictionners who are not American such as Che Guevara. This book was written by an American serving with Castro's forces during the revolution in Cuba.

The book was first published in 1965 and became a classic. Long since out of print, the occassional rare copy that became available was quickly purchased at any price. Now Potomac Books has reprinted the original book, with as stated, a new forward.

If you are headed to Iraq buy it, it will give you a better understanding of what's going on. If you're interested in Iraq, buy it before it is gone again. If you're in the media, don't bother, your interest is ratings not reporting.

Outstanding study of guerrilla warfare.......2006-11-10

As a college professor who has taught the history of unconventional warfare for many years, I cannot rate this book any higher. It is outstanding. While Taber uses examples from the past, it still provides a lucidly clear understanding of guerrilla warfare. I only wish it had been "must" reading for the Bush administration. Maybe we would not be in the predicament we are currently facing in Iraq.

The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook (Guerrilla Marketing)

Average customer rating:

this is NOT true guerilla marketing
Timeless tactics for small businesses
Easy money
original marketers
Too Old

The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook (Guerrilla Marketing)
Jay Conrad Levinson , and Seth Godin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Marketing | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Guerrilla Marketing Excellence: The 50 Golden Rules for Small-Business Success (Guerrilla Marketing)

ASIN: 0395700132

Book Description

This book will guide marketers into the world of positioning and selling products and services. The authors lead the reader step by step through the process of developing a marketing campaign. They offer detailed descriptions of more than a hundred marketing tools from contests to affinity programs, from direct mail to billboard advertising. Anecdotes, graphics, and rules of thumb are also included.

Customer Reviews:

this is NOT true guerilla marketing.......2006-12-13

The authors' use of the term "guerilla marketing" is completely inaccurate. This book is about TRADITIONAL media -- guerilla marketing is the complete opposite. It was also written in 1994, before the advent of the commercialized Internet, so it's a very very very old school approach to advertising. It has some good information about traditional advertising for small businesses, but most of the reference information is way out of date. If you're looking for subversive, alternative approaches to marketing, read "Under The Radar" by Bond & Kirshenbaum instead.

Timeless tactics for small businesses.......2005-08-05

The beauty of this book is that most of the tactics inside it are as relevant and useful today as they were 20 years ago. I first got this book when my professor (a highly succesful multi-millionaire) recommended it to me. He said it was as good as any Marketing degree. Well I have my Marketing degree and would have to agree with him. The best promotional campaign is the one that costs the least but gets the most results. That is what you have here. This is especially helpful for small niche businesses. Those types of businesses can really take advantage of this book.

It is admittedly weak on the web side of things but I have never really found that to be a very useful avenue for anyone but the major players that can afford to buy costly advertising. No this is for small businesses that do most of their deals face to face.

Easy money.......2005-08-04

This book is great. It's easy enough to follow for the complete layman but inciteful enough for the experienced entrepreneur. I would recomend this book to anyone with a business of their own or just a passion for sales and marketing.

original marketers.......2005-04-17

there are countless copycat books on publicity and marketing. if you can't learn pr traditionally, then this is the next best thing. levinson and godin practices what they preach. both are well known around the world. their books are well known and classes are well attended. do not be fooled by others claiming they are pr experts when they are not well known or do not have any well known students or products.

Too Old.......2004-06-09

The information in this book is too old.

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