Marketing Books Even Non-Marketers May Like

Normally, I use my Novel Viewpoints blog to talk about fiction, but I do have an alternate blogger persona posting for clients about direct marketing and database marketing. For once, I'm going to let my blog interests overlap by sharing top new books about marketing. Why? Even if you aren't involved in marketing, you are certainly the focus of marketers. Wouldn't you like to know how you are being targeted and manipulated in this age of "big data," social media influence, "personalized" messaging, and scientifically crafted persuasion? I'll start with The Power of Broke by Daymond John, FUBU founder and star of ABC’s "Shark Tank." We all like rags-to-riches stories. John explains how "empty pockets, a tight budget, and a hunger for success can become your greatest competitive advantage," with inspiring illustrations of this hustle principle from his own life, his branding consultant experiences and "Shark Tank" success stories.  If only empty pockets were enough to put me in John's league! Don't Buy A Duck: Stop Wasting Money & Only Do Marketing That Works! by Derek Champagne is a guide to basic branding and marketing, sharing candid soup-to-nuts advice and humorous missteps. I put this one on the list for all my non-marketing readers because of the review by Seth Godin, co-author of The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook: "If you had a smart friend who knew a lot about marketing, this is precisely what she'd tell you over coffee." Viralnomics: How to Get People to Want to Talk About You by Jonathan Goodman lets readers look at their social networks the way psychologists and marketers do. Goodman explains how social media marketing can promote to the right audience--not by finding buttons to push but by finding, understanding and appealing to the influential people who push social buttons. Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die by Eric Siegel is more technical but has fascinating revelations. Learn how the mass of data from online and offline sources can be used to predict behavior for boosting sales, reducing risk, crime fighting, winning elections and more. Siegel covers intriguing topics such as predicting which people will drop out of school, cancel a subscription or get divorced before they know it themselves. You may want to insist that you're a statistical outlier, but you'll be fighting the data! For more options, go to http://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases/books/2698/ref=zg_bsnr_nav_b_2_3

On the Road to Washington, D.C., Fictionally

Watching the pundit-confounding presidential candidates, it dawned on me that one of these people will actually move into the White House and I might want to get a feel for his or her new home city. There are many historical, biographical and journalistic books about Washington, D.C., but I focused on fiction, especially mysteries and thrillers, hoping to dig under the facts to the politics-fueled soul of the place. Thanks to author Neely Tucker's scarred, Ducati-riding Cajun journalist sleuth Sully Carter in 2015's Murder, D.C.,  I can take a quick visit to the underbelly of the Washington beast. Tucker's series joins James Patterson's Alex Cross, David Baldacci's Camel Club, and George Pelecanos's D.C. Quartet series in the Nation's Capital setting--all best-seller mystery-thriller options. For a woman's angle, turn to two daughters of famous politicians. Margaret Truman Daniel (President Harry Truman's daughter) offers traditional mysteries with a D.C. twist in Murder in Georgetown, Murder in Foggy Bottom and Murder on K Street. Kristin Gore (VP Al Gore's daughter) has written Sammy’s Hill and Sammy’s House about the inner workings of Capitol Hill and the White House. River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke is an Oprah-endorsed novel about the emotional impact on an African-American family and community of a child's drowning in the Potomac. Now sometimes it's more revealing to consider a place from an outsider's viewpoint, so I was especially interested in The Guardian newspaper's British recommendations on D.C.-based fiction. Unsurprisingly, Pelecanos topped the author list, but other notable suggestions include 2002's The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen Carter, about two different privileged elites--the upper-crust African-American society and an Ivy League law school. Then there's Heartburn by the great Nora Ephron, a 1983 autobiographical novel of her marriage to Washington Post journalist Carl Bernstein and their divorce. Finally, although I don't agree with author Allen Drury's politics, I think British readers were right to choose his fascinating 1959 portrait of power politics in the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Advise and Consent about U.S. Senate confirmation of controversial Secretary of State nominee. For more views of Washington from "across the pond," see http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/sep/02/books-about-washington-dc-readers-picks

Mysteries Close to Home: Los Angeles Noir

It's a rainy winter day in Los Angeles, courtesy of El Nino, and a great time to stay at home with a good mystery. Since Los Angeles is the recognized home of "noir" police procedurals and "hard-boiled" private eyes, I'm gathering together my favorite "L.A. noir" authors. Start with Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye; in post-war L.A., iconic private investigator Philip Marlowe is dragged into a cesspool of dangerous lies after befriending a drunken, scarred vet with a rich nymphomanic wife who turns up dead. Then go neo-noir with James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia, the first in his quartet of novels about corrupt police and depraved post-war society, inspired by the gruesome, unsolved 1947 Elizabeth Short murder. Moving forward in L.A. history, there is T. Jefferson Parker's Edgar Award-winning The California Girl, set in Orange County's suburbs at the time of Vietnam, hippies and LSD, when three brothers (a cop, a reporter and a minister) collide over the decapitation murder of a teenage beauty queen. I also love Michael Connelly's maverick homicide detective Harry Bosch, and I'd recommend starting with the Edgar Award-winning The Black Echo. It's the first entry in the Bosch series and introduces Bosch as he fights enemies within the police department and his conflicting urges for justice and vengeance. For another tough PI, get to know Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer; The Underground Man has it all--a fire in the hills, a missing child, and Southern California's special brand of moral ambiguity. I'm also a fan of Jonathan Kellerman's child psychologist sleuth Alex Delaware, who helps the police root out the evil hiding under So Cal's sunny glam. A good starting point is the Edgar Award-winning When the Bough Breaks, in which Delaware tries to unlock the memory of a 7-year-old girl, the only witness to the murder of a fraudulent, sexually manipulative psychiatrist. Finally, for a very different angle on L.A, get to know Easy Rawlins, Walter Mosley's African-American sleuth. In the series debut, Devil in a Blue Dress, watch Rawlins transform from Watts day laborer to private detective. For more L.A. noir gems, see Jonathan Kellerman's recommendations at http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/31/jonathan-kellerman-top-10-la-noir-novels