Today I was talking with a New York Times bestselling author. He was explaining to me how he had used video to drive his most recent book onto the best sellers list. “Nothing sells like video,” he explained.

Many authors have done this in the past few years, including Brendon Burchard, Gary Vaynerchuck and Chris Brogan.

In an effort to make Handel’s “Messiah” more accessible to a younger audience, Grant Woolard recorded this auto-tuned version of the “7th Chorus.” Enjoy!

Why do books have “running heads”? This is where publishers put the title of the book on every other page, usually alternating with the chapter title. Comedian Brian Regan asks, “Why?”

Gail and I are going to see Brian live on Sunday night. I can’t wait! Second only to Ken Davis, he is my favorite comedian.

Meet Nelson, Coupland, and Alice, three concepts for the book of the future. These don’t yet exist, but they might in the near future. I love what technology is making possible for the future of reading.

Yes, the title of this post is intentional. Watch the video to see why. If you are a publisher, an editor, or an author, this is a must-see video. Hilarious!

Yes, the iPhone 4 is a very cool device. Two cameras, front and back; LED flash, retina display, and the cool new iOS 4 software. But how tough is it, really? This is the question Blendtec seeks to answer in this episode of Will It Blend?

This short video is aptly titled. It is a presentation by Daniel Pink, author of Drive. The video summarizes the content of the book.

The video all by itself is very cleverly done. But the message is very powerful, especially for leaders who are trying to figure out how to motivate their teams. The results he presents are indeed surprising. Think you know what motivates people? Think again.

The world of social media is changing rapidly. Whenever I speak on the topic, I almost always begin with Erik Qualman’s excellent video, Social Media Revolution. However, he has just updated it to reflect the most recent statistics. The facts go by quickly, so he has written out the most important ones in text-form on his blog, along with a list of his sources. You also might want to check out his excellent book, Socialnomics.

Apple has officially announced that the iPad will be available on April 3, 2010. The more I learn about this device, the more excited I get. I am beginning to think this could be a game-changer. Check out this new ad:

Is participation in social media a good investment? How do you know? CEOs, boards of directors, and executives are all asking this question. Erik Qualman, author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, offers proof:

This is what the eBook of the future may look like. This is the coolest one I have seen so far! Could it be that this is what Apple has in mind? If this type of content can happen in magazines, it will also happen in books:

This is a segment from the The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. It is a fascinating segment that deals with the current book price wars, eBooks, and how people are consuming content today. Unlike the two-minute sound bytes you normally get in the mainstream media, this is almost twelve minutes. As a result, the piece explores the subject in more depth.

I read approximately 200-plus blogs a day. It takes less than 20 minutes. How? Simple. I use Google Reader. Using this simple tool, I subscribe to blogs I find interesting. When one of these blogs has a new post, the content instantly appears in Google Reader through the magic of RSS (“real simple syndication”).

You don’t have to understand RSS or the underlying technology to take advantage of it. Simply set up a free Google Reader account and start adding your favorite blogs. Here’s a short video to get you started.

Please note: I don’t read every new post that appears in Google Reader, but I scan through them all and read the ones that catch my eye. This is how I keep up with 200-plus blogs a day.

This video is a a great introduction to social media. It moves quickly, so you may want to watch it a few times. I have actually embedded in my slide presentation for Social Media 101.

The Church has two responsibilities to the world: evangelism and social action. I don’t view these as “either/or” but “both/and.” They go hand-in-glove. The neglect of either is unacceptable.

This video below is about a new ministry within the Orthodox Church in North America (of which I am a part) to serve the poorest of the poor. Even if you are not Orthodox, I think you will be blessed by the incarnational theology that undergirds this important ministry. If you are moved by this, please consider making a donation on the FOCUS web site.

Email desperately needs to be reinvented. Worse, we now have multiple inboxes in our various social networking accounts—Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Google decided to aggregate and transform the entire experience. Google Wave is the result. This could transform the way we communicate. (This video is an hour-and-a-half long, but you only need to watch the first 20 minutes to get the idea.)

If you want a quick introduction to twitter, this is it. This will give you an overview of Twitter in about two minutes. I have used this extensively with friends. It helps them “get it” in a way that nothing else does.