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TOO BUSY? READ THIS NOW!
Aside from direct marketing and writing, Bob’s passion is working as efficiently and productively as possible, and eliminating all time-wasting activities from his life. Bob’s new book on time management and personal productivity -- 101 Ways to Make to Make Every Second Count: Time Management Techniques for More Success With Less Stress -- was recently released by Career Press. The productivity-boosting book can be ordered online at www.amazon.com or by calling Career Press at 1-800-CAREER-1. Trade paperback, 191 pages, $14.99.

DIRECT MAIL ON THE INTERNET
According to an article in Target Marketing, e-mail marketing budgets will rocket to an estimated $7.3 billion by 2005. And Forrester Research predicts online sales will reach $187.9 billion by 2004. If you want to start or jump-start your own e-mail marketing campaigns, we recommend you read Internet Direct Mail: The Complete Guide to Successful e-mail Marketing Campaigns, coming out in October 2000 from NTC Business Books. Bob coauthored the book with Steve Roberts of Edith Roman Associates and Michelle Feit of E-PostDirect, an Internet mailing list broker.

Bob writes a fair amount of Internet direct mail for clients. Several articles Bob wrote on “how to write Internet direct mail” are posted on the Articles page of his Web site, www.bly.com, and several sample e-mails are posted on the site’s Portfolio page. Also on the site’s home page you can click an E-Vendors button for a list of e-list brokers and related e-business solutions providers.

SELLING AND COMMUNICATING IN THE INTERNET AGE
Bob Bly has launched a new Web site, www.espeakonline.com, that is “an online forum and resource for people concerned about the Internet and its impact on writing, publishing, information marketing, and communication -- in print and on the Web.”

Visitors clicking onto the www.espeakonline.com home page have the opportunity to read a white paper titled “Is Reading Dead? The State of the Printed Word in a Cyberspace Society.” They can also participate in an online forum, vote in online polls, subscribe to a free e-zine, and access a library of downloadable “how-to” articles on communication and related topics -- everything from reducing stress and reading faster, to improving your writing skills and marketing with e-mail.

“If you’re a businessperson or communications professional, espeakonline.com can help you learn how to communicate more effectively in the information age and break through the message clutter bombarding your audience,” Bob says. “If you’re an information marketer or publisher, you will discover how to get people to continue to pay you handsomely for your information -- even in an age where copyrights are violated daily, and content is increasingly being given away for free to sell products or increase Web site traffic.”