Jeff, if you’re writing on a Mac, the em dash is shift-option-hyphen. If you aren’t on a Mac, then you’ll need to revise the “Choosing Your Platforms” section for the updated edition of Booklife. ;)

BTW, I’m pretty sure that you cut and pasted (and didn’t re-transcribe) the above excerpt and that the em dashes (and other things?) were left behind in the cutting and pasting. No biggie, I guess, but it does represent an ittybitty PR hiccup. Something like: “If the guy can’t make sure that the book excerpt on his blog is bulletproof, what business does he have telling other people to dot their i’s and cross their t’s?”

No matter. I’ll probably buy the book anyway.

As for the rest, if you truly feel that way then I don’t understand why you write. I write because I can’t not write, from a very personal place. Do I want an audience for it after I write it? Of course. The book is divided into Public and Private Booklife. Just read the private part first if you’re worried about being overwhelmed. But, as with anything, if you haven’t read it how can you have an informed opinion about it?

I am interested to know whether the Overland post was made on your behalf. If so, I will happily go away and find another problem to vex. If not, do you believe the Overland post has merit?

I talk to publicists and editors at big publishers all the time, and they tend to roll their eyes at authors who fixate on needing things like buttons. Still, if you’ve found a way to leverage buttons, good for you. One thing Booklife asks you to do is to test it, and in testing it take what’s useful to you and discard the rest.

Just make sure you’re not always using tactics without an overall strategy, because you’re just treading water otherwise. (All of this kind of thinking, how to take the long view, etc., is covered in the book.)