An Author in the Making

In February, I was teaching an eCommerce class. You know, I deal with this every day and have found some key ways to teach my clients about how it works.

The first problem was that the book was called "electronic" commerce. Now, I understand that the "e" stands for "electronic" commerce, but who calls it that?

The book is pictured here and I should first apologize to Gary P. Schneider that I am the one to point out that his textbook is as boring as it is. I read the first few paragraphs and about fell asleep.

I looked for the credentials of the author and found the problem.

He is a professor of accounting and information systems.

Now, I understand that the first real issue is the fact that textbooks suck. I think that by definition, they are required to suck. Textbooks are too long, too hard to understand and try to teach too much to a group of students that won't need everything by teachers who likely won't have read the entire books themselves.

The second real issue is the mis-understanding of the importance of eCommerce decision making. Too many people think that online marketing is an IT decision, an accounting decision or a marketing decision.

They would all be wrong.

The desision for eCommerce, just like all marketing endeavors, should be a business decision. The marketer's job is to build the strategy and the tactics on how to get the business decision to be sold. The IT people make it work technically and should never decide on any business element. The accounting people need to analyze how it will be paid for.

The problem is that this type of book is written, generally, for the wrong audience. Students spend way too much time learning the tools that are only valid for a year or two at most. By the time the students graduate, the tech they have learned will be obsolete.

So, I am starting to write my own book. The current working title is the "CEO's Survival Guide to Online Marketing." I've been working on it for a couple of months and think that I need to document the proces. So, I'll be documenting my path... first, over the next few posts, I'll bring you up to speed as to where I am and then I'll blog live.

I'll look for any feedback I can get through the process to make sure it is the best product available.