Touche, Jim, touche! I've had two "real" books published by big print houses - McGraw-Hill for the first one and Wiley for the 2nd. (Bet I even had the same editor as you too.) I have to concur that having a "real" hard-copy, hard-cover, trade print book is a game changer. A friend of mine, Jane Genova, calls a book you "price of entry."

However, I also agree that the face of publishing is changing. And, when none other than Seth Godin, says so, that's worth paying attention to.

I won't say that, if I were to write a crime novel, for example, that going the traditional route wouldn't still be preferable. In our world, however, everything changes so fast. My latest book, which was published in Sept. 2009, is way out of date, at least in terms of the section of social media tools. And, I have no way to update it. None.

I'm going the self-publishing route and limited that exercise to Kindle and ebooks as well.

Paul, thank you for riffing about the series I'm doing. I appreciate it and I know I speak for everyone at Practical Ecommerce when I that.

Just as an FYI, in September we're going to be doing a webinar on the topic of social commerce with a specific focus on f-commerce. If you don't mind me sharing the link, here's where you can get more info: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/webinars/41-500...

Thanks again for expanding the conversation. I hope you know how much I respect this blog. I know of no one who covers the social commerce space better than you.

Based on the results of past polls, I'm not convinced that the readership is completely comprised of leading edge social media devotees. More than anything, I think this testifies to the influence of Facebook.

@graubart - Your point is well made. It's the modus operandi here however; not sure we could do it another way.