The Big Book Giveaway
Yesterday while looking at site stats I noticed two things:
- Almost all of the sites referring to me are personal finance related.
- The posts which are most popular (in terms of search traffic, Stumbles and comments) are also related to personal finance and wealth building. The posts leaning towards self improvement tend not to be as popular, with the exception of my 101 thoughts on losing 100 pounds.
So I am going to concentrate more on personal finance writing going forward, with emphasis on investing, wealth building and economics. I’ll still throw in my occasional thoughts on other topics (health, career, family, etc.) but the impression I get is that I should separate the topics.
The Big Giveaway
Today I am announcing a contest to give away FIVE excellent books. That’s right - five. I am not going to review them, since they are very well known, but you can feel free to check out the amazon reviews or links to other bloggers’ reviews to see more about them.
X Marks The Spot (e-book): From the authors of Location Independent Living, this e-book gives you the down low on living out and about. It’s not for everyone – but if you’ve ever thought of detaching yourself from the idea that you live in one place and traveling the world while you work, this book is for you. It’s an entertaining read and the blog is well worth following, too.
Zen To Done (e-book): I originally wrote a lengthy review of this ebook but I’ll defer to this review. Leo is one of the first bloggers I started reading on a regular basis. Zen to Done takes a little bit of Getting Things Done, a little bit of 7 Habits of Highly Organized People and mixes in a little cool Web 2.0 and voila.
The Rules
To enter, you can do one of the following 4 things. You can only enter each way once, so the maximum number of points you can get is 50 (1 + 4 + 10 + 35). You have to rank the books, but you can abbreviate the titles (1 Zen, 2 Salesman, etc.).
- Leave a comment on this post ranking these books from 1 to 5 in the order you’d like to win them (1 being the one you want the most). (1 point)
- Sign up to follow me on Twitter, and send an “@bripblap:” twitter to me with your rankings (abbreviated, obviously). (4 points)
- Send me an email (bripblap located at gmail.com) with the subject “Big Book Contest” ranking these books from 1 to 5 in the order you’d like to win them (1 being the one you want the most) AND the secret code you’ll find at the bottom of my RSS feed (10 points).
- If you are a blogger, write a post about this contest (which must include your ranking of all 5 books) and link back to this post. Send me an email with the subject “Big Book Contest” and a link to your post (35 points).
All entries must be received by midnight Eastern standard time Friday March 7th.
I will tally up the points. In the event of tied points, I will use a randomizer to sort out entries. Any entries not ranking the 5 books will be discarded! Any entries without a valid email will also be discarded.
I will then start awarding the top finisher their first choice, the #2 finisher their first choice if available or their second choice if #1 already took their first choice, and so on. I will email the winners, and (depending on how quickly I receive replies) I will announce the winners Tuesday, March 11th.
Obviously don’t enter the contest if you won’t feel comfortable giving out your postal address (which I will not use again for any reason). The e-books can go anywhere but the books are restricted to US and Canadian addresses.
And finally, I reserve the rights to goof up the point tally but I will do the best I can!
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1=Your Money or Your Life
2= Zen To Done
3= X Marks The Spot
4= The Greatest Salesman in the World
5=Getting Things Done
1 Your Money or Your Life
2 The Greatest Salesman in the World
3 Getting Things Done
4 x Marks the Spot
5 Zen to Done
Okay, I’m in of course. Thanks for the contest!
1 = X Marks
2 = ZTD
3 = YMOYL
4 = Salesman
5 = GTD (I actually own this, so don’t want it at all)
Very cool idea but I am out 35 points since I do not blog
1 Getting THings Done
2 Your MOney or Your Life
3 Zen to Done
4 X Marks the Spot
5 Greatest Salesman in the World
i just found your blog a couple of weeks ago and immediately bookmarked it. i love your posts and i love your writing style.. very cool.
i’m not a blogger, though. no 35 points for me
1. The Greatest Salesman in the World
2. Your Money You Life
3. Zen to Done
4. Gettting Things Done
5. X Marks the Spot
1. Your Money or Your Life
2.Greatest Salesman in the World
3. Zen to done
4. X Marks the Spot
5. Getting things done (already have)
1. Getting Things Done
2. Your Money or Your Life
3. Zen to Done
4. The Greatest Salesman in the World
5. X Marks the Spot
Sweet!
And the award for the most complicated book giveaway goes to….
I’ll take whatever book is available – I’m not picky!
@Four Pillars: No, it’s not the most complicated giveaway ever – I’m sure someone somewhere made a trickier one…
And no, you have to express a preference! Them’s the rules!
Steve, I’ve got to say I love your posts on career, family, health, etc. They add a personal element to your blog that many personal finance blogs don’t have, and if you drop them, I will miss reading them (as will many others, I am sure). I will especially miss the career perspectives you share; I am at a stage where I am trying to balance career goals with life goals.
I agree that most people classify your blog in the personal finance realm, but that is because you write about how money and career related decisions make it possible to live the life you want to live – on your terms. The way you write brings all these elements together seamlessly, with the common thread of using money as a tool to live.
Your blog is a blog about life. And therein lies its appeal.
Very nice contest.
I don’t Twitter-pate, so I’ll miss out on a few points, but that’s OK. I have a long reading list right now anyway.
1=Your Money or Your Life
2= Zen To Done
3= X Marks The Spot
4= The Greatest Salesman in the World
5=Getting Things Done
1-X marks the spot
2-Greatest Salesman
3-Zen to done
4-Getting Things Done
5-Your money or your life
Great contest!
I agree with Patrick! Don’t lose the individuality of your site by becoming just another personal finance site. You can do mostly pf blog entries, but the occasional digression is what makes your blog different and enjoyable.
@Ruth, @Patrick: Oh, don’t worry – I didn’t mean I was going to completely go over in that direction. I do think – very much like Patrick suggested – I’ll just try to tie everything in around money. It’s hard to maintain health/family/etc. – going all over the place – and maintain a “theme.” I just meant I would try to be a little more thematic. I’m not going to wholesale go over to personal finance only – just that I’m going to try to keep my topics a little bit narrower and maybe not drift off into some of the esoteric areas I find myself drifting off into sometimes.
Then again I have an idea for a post on artificial intelligence which has nothing to do for money so it may be a short-lived resolution….
Books:
1. Your Money or Your Life
2. Getting Things Done
3. X Marks the Spot
4. Greatest Salesman
5. Zen to Done ( I have this one)
I hope you don’t go over totally to finance either although I look forward to reading more from you on investing and wealth building. I also enjoy your self improvement posts. Do you think that you get more traffic from the PF sites because it’s easier to promote through carnivals, festivals, etc?
wow, those are some complicated rules. I do like the blog though, especially since I am an accountant myself..
Ok, I think I’ve figured it out.
1=Getting Things Done
2= Zen To Done
3=Your Money or Your Life
4= The Greatest Salesman in the World
5= X Marks The Spot
Also – write about whatever you want.
I don’t think your give away is that complicated and I certainly won’t complain because it is a FREE give away.
My preference would be:
Getting Things Done
Zen to Done
Xmarks the spot
Greatest Salesman
Money or your life