What We’ve Been Up To

Apologies for the long period of silence. We haven’t been on holiday. Nor have we given up blogging. Quite the opposite. In fact, Blog Relations is just getting over the shock of having a client that is employing us more or less full time right now, and, hopefully, at least part-time over the coming months.

When Matthew and I set up Blog Relations about a year ago, we had visions of a flood of British businesses signing us up to chart their progress and help cultivate their online reputation in the blogosphere. We soon realised that that we were sadly mistaken - apart from anything, the openness that the concept implied was completely alien to British business managers. We decided that our future lay as a podcast publishing company, hence Storynory for kids. We’ve had some nice small jobs on the consulting side, for which we are grateful, but all the promising meetings and discussions for longer term business relationships came to nothing. There’s even been a couple of juicy jobs that we thought were in the bag, but somehow weren’t.

When I received a call on my mobile from somebody called Martin in Seattle, I had just an inkling that his idea of us writing for him from London was so crazy, that he must be serious. When the unasked-for advance arrived in our bank account, before we had even done any work, it became apparent that this guy was of an entirely different breed from les autres. At least, it shut up my friends who told me that the mysterious American was far too good to be true, and that he must be a lunatic, time-waster, fraudster, etc.

My trip to see his company, Exbiblio, in Seattle, was a fabulous week in which I was made to feel like a long lost friend, rather than a outside ‘consultant’ for want of a better word. I was met at the airport by this modest dotcom multi-millionaire in his anything but flashy VW, and immediately taken out to a fabulous sushi restaurant for a long evening of wide-ranging conversation.

This last week, back in London, I’ve been working fast and furiously on a blog design with Exbiblio’s Adam Behringer. The Instant Messages have been flying back and forth. Adam’s going to be relating the insider view on the Exbiblio blog - and I’m going to be the outsider. If, as might just be possible, the blog turns into a book about the story of a start-up, Blog Relation’s Matthew Lynn, will play a bigger part.

I’m looking forward to working with Adam, who has a keen eye for design, and who takes some great photographs (as well as being able to code just about anything).

It’s a brave and interesting idea to have an outside blogger with a sense of distance from the company (10 hours flying distance, in fact). Hopefully, I will see the big picture and make sure that the story unfolds in a way that comes alive to people who are not immersed in Exbiblio’s interesting ambitions and culture. It seems to be a company that has taken openness to heart, and I think it’s going to be a very full and frank account that should, if it works, strike a cord with people in business in all fields.

I will be dropping in on Exbiblio about once a month. I see it like watching a baby grow. If you are an adoring parent, watching every day, you don’t notice the fast rate of change so much. The grandparents who see the baby once a week or so, notice the changes much more sharply.

This is a fabulous opportunity to prove that the concept of an outside blogger has a lot to offer. I’ll let you know the blog URL when it goes ‘live.’

P.S. Now live at Blogs.Exbiblio.Com

This entry was posted on July 22nd, 2006 and is filed under Best Practice, Blog Home, blogosphere. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.