When Robbing You Blind, Priceline Perfers Passive

When I arrived at the airport yesterday, the airline's agent informed me my ticket had been cancelled and no seats were available on the flight.

I called Priceline, which sold me the ticket. Two agents spoke to me (after putting me on hold for 40 minutes) and told me the ticket had been cancelled and no refund would be issued.

They relied throughout the conversations on the passive voice, never admitting Priceline cancelled my ticket and Priceline is keeping my money.

It's ironic the two people have the title "agent."

Writing coach Sherry Roberts could well have had Priceline in mind when she described the passive voice:

"A sentence written in the active voice is the straight-shooting sheriff who faces the gunslinger proudly and fearlessly. It is honest, straightforward; you know where you stand.

"A sentence written in passive voice is the shifty desperado who tries to win the gunfight by shooting the sheriff in the back, stealing his horse, and sneaking out of town."

Failure

Woody Allen once told The New York Times, "If you're succeeding too much, you're doing something wrong."

Most people dread failure, so much so, they forgo any opportunity posing risk.

But failure brings transformation.

Edison failed repeatedly, but was undaunted. "I have not failed 10,000 times," he said. "I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work."

"The person who fails the most wins," Seth Godin says.

To keep failing, you've got to be good enough to keep playing.

Before he became an author, Godin was a book packager, producing a book a month for 10 years. You can bet that producing 120 books―many of which bombed―taught him about writing best-sellers.

Bloggers' Work Habits

Orbit Media asked 1,055 bloggers how they work. It found:

• Bloggers spend on average 3 hours to write a post (26% more time than a year earlier); only 1 in 3 spends less than 2 hours per post.

• 1 in 4 bloggers rely on an editor to improve their posts.

• The average post is 1,050 words long (19% longer than a year earlier).

• Nearly 50% of bloggers include lists in their posts; 15%, video.

• Most bloggers publish weekly; the number who publish daily is down by more than 50% from a year earlier.

• Over 95% of bloggers promote their posts on social media; a majority use email.

• 56% of bloggers routinely check their posts' traffic; 20% never do.

My work habits? Yours truly:

• Spends about 1.5 hours per post.

• Works without the benefit of an editor.

• Writes brief posts, 350 words or so.

• Loves to include lists and videos.

• Publishes 7 days a week.

• Uses social media to promote every post.

• Checks traffic, but not obsessively.

What are your work habits?

Apple is Killing Your Email Marketing

Ever since Apple released Version 10 of the operating system for its iPhone, your email marketing program has been under siege.

Version 10 of iOS begs the user to opt-out of the sender's list, if she so wishes, by displaying a mammoth unsubscribe banner above each incoming email.

To quit your list, all the user need do is click the banner. The click sends an email to you (or your email service provider) that instructs you to remove the user from your list.

Opt-outs have soared since the August release of Version 10.

There is one way to thwart Apple: enable opt-outs only through a website. If your email contains only a URL for unsubscribing, the ginormous unsubscribe banner won't be displayed.

HAT TIP: Thanks to Mike Bannan, CDO of Inspire 360, for bringing this to my attention. Before he mentioned Version 10, I was at a loss to understand the surge in opt-outs.

Burn the Boats

Resolving to begin life anew, when the mutineers of the HMS Bounty reached Pitcairn Island, they burned the boat.

Like the Bounty's crew, many of today's publishers and associations must self-administer the shock that flings them into the "conquer or be killed" mindset, or they're sure to wither and die.

Burning the boats—destroying outdated, expensive and unprofitable products and programs—may indeed take a few mutineers. Comfortable execs and boards aren't about to do it.

At Super Niche Media Event this week, I heard that idea expressed by attendees many times.

It may take a new generation to lead these organizations to burn the boats and behave like brands. Provided the ships don't sink beforehand.