The Steve Rubel Stream

I shot the photo above last weekend at my local bookstore. Barnes and Noble is featuring a special table of titles devoted to social media. 

When I first spotted the table I did a double take. Wow, is there a social media book bubble? From the looks of it, maybe. Apparently, publishers left and right are going hard after reputable consultants who I have met, like Tamar Weinberg. 

This got me wondering: is this demand creating supply or is supply creating demand? Who knows. All I know I am happy for everyone who scored a gig.

So what about yours truly? Well, actually over the years I have been courted several times to write a book about social media. I actually got very far with one publisher about a year ago. They offered a lucrative six-figure advance and more. 

In the end, I always declined. I felt that a book would steal time away from my work and also what I love, which is quickly curating new technologies and incubating them with our teams and clients.

More importantly, however, I felt that a book on such a topic is, well, old school (at least for me). Much of what I would have put down on paper in January would have been yesterday's lunch by June. I decided it was better for me and my career to put this energy more into participating online and I haven't looked back.

Still, when I saw the table, I was amazed that even a year later the books keep on coming. Maybe I am missing something. What's your view?

People ask me all the time why I haven't written a book yet. There are a few reasons: 1) I'd rather write/share online where I can collaborate, correct and remix in real-time, 2) time and 3) other people are already writing more smart things than I have time to read, let alone deviate from. 

With the last point in mind, here are three books to consider for your summer reading list. I have included a cloud of common words and phrases from each in a gallery, below, from Google Books. All three are available as ebooks too.

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge

Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg

The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein

     

Click here to download:

Summer_Reads_tagbooks.zip (1710 KB)

It used to be I would read/listen to dozens of books a year - mostly business and computer titles, occasionally nonfiction. However, I noticed that as the web becomes always on, so am I. This means that the times I would read, like on airplanes, I don't anymore. The Net ate my books.

So, I am curious to hear from you - is the Internet eroding your book time? I can't tell if this is a broader trend or not. If it is, what does it mean?