From Information Age to Recommendation Age

Not too long ago, when someone wanted information, she would have to drive to the library, use the card catalog, and search the stacks of books and magazine to find it. Then the Information Age arrived. Computers and the internet have brought information home to the average person. There is now too much of a good thing because of this fact. Many people believe we are still in the Information Age. What they do not realize is that people are drowning in too much information to the point where they are easily overwhelmed. Anyone who wants to test this can look up almost any search term on Google to experience the feeling of information overload. What people are really looking for is not the information, but what results the information will give them. Someone who buys a drill is really buying the holes that the drill will make. One who buys a mattress is in search of a good night’s sleep. Information is a means to an end. Now people are looking for more than information. With too much of a good thing ready at hand, what they want is a trusted guide to go beyond facts and figures to provide a recommendation. They want advice, easy answers, and a shortcut to the answers they seek. Society has moved from the Information Age to the Recommendation Age. The savvy author and entrepreneur who understands the Recommendation Age can become the industry leader in his or her area of expertise and build a business around a book even before the manuscript is complete. Ken Jensen, author of It Takes Guts to Be Me How an Ex-Marine Beat Bipolarism, of ItTakesGutsToBeMe.com currently offers the book as an electronic book or e-book. He is building a business around his system for conquering bipolar disorder and getting feedback from readers as he prepares to publish the book in print. Jensen worked with my team at AwakenTheAuthorWithin.com to create the book and build a well-developed business model around it. The Entrepreneurial Authoring Program teaches clients to write a money-making book in 12 hours of actual writing time. Clients who complete the program discover how to write a book that is “entrepreneurially sound.” Taking this program, Jensen has discovered how to turn his expertise into a step-by-step system through which people that have bipolar disorder can achieve better physical and mental health. His consulting and speaking business is growing steadily. The feedback he is receiving as a result of working with individuals and speaking to groups allows him to develop his business to match the wants and needs of his target audience.