When Skimlinks approached me about this project, they brought with them an interesting pitch. They wanted me to author, with contributors, a useful, valuable guide to monetizing online forums. In order for it to be truly valuable, they recognized that it had to be independent and that is why they came to me. They told me, flat out, that they wanted me to mention their primary competitor. That caught my attention.
So, Skimlinks paid for this book. They paid me, they paid the contributors (even though they didn’t get to pick them) and they put time and resources behind this project.
I’ve been a Skimlinks publisher since the spring of 2009. I am a fan of the company. At a conference, they once bought 10 copies of my book, which were given away at their booth, which I appeared at for an hour or so. I hold stock in Amazon.com and have been affiliated with SitePoint for many years. Both companies are mentioned in this book, along with others that I have a publishing relationship with. It is important that you know all of this, in the interest of full disclosure.
It’s one thing to claim independence and another thing to actually have it. For that word to have meaning, before I agreed to take on the project, Skimlinks had to give me the control I wanted, which was complete, unquestioned editorial control. They wouldn’t see the full work until it was finished and, no matter what, I had the final say on every word included, in addition to who was allowed to contribute those words.
Therefore, for example, when you see that Alicia Navarro, the CEO of Skimlinks, contributed to portions of this book, beyond the foreword, it is because I wanted her to, not because I had to allow her to do so or because that was part of the deal. It wasn’t.
It’s not that I don’t trust Skimlinks; because I do. I like and respect them. I just wanted to eliminate as much perceived bias as I possibly could. Skimlinks gave me money and I went away, wrote a lot of words, collaborated with people I respect and presented them with a finished product. Beyond being the only way I would have worked, that is precisely what they wanted, which in my view speaks volumes about the company.
All organizations mentioned in this book were included at my discretion. Other contributors to this work did not decide who would or would not be mentioned. They didn’t even decide if their own company would be mentioned, let alone what, if any, competitors. A mention should not be taken as an endorsement by me or anyone involved with this project.
If you know me, you know that I care about forums and online community. I have been managing them for 12 years. I care about this space and I believe in it. I also believe in making money, but doing it in the right way and maintaining the right balance between member experience and revenue generation. That is how it must be, to be sustainable.
This is an important project to me because this isn’t something I regularly do. In fact, prior to this, I had written precisely zero free ebooks and white papers. There is a certain perception of free ebooks that we can’t get around: most of them are a marketing gimmick. They have some information, but it’s perfunctory and the aim is to get you to ask for more. Not all of them are like this.
Personally, we wanted it to be more. I approached this project with the same seriousness and commitment as I would a book for a major publisher – and that is how I want it to be treated. I want you to review it like you would review a book you purchased. My nightmare would be for this to be some throwaway ebook that will be tweeted and retweeted for a few days and then forgotten.
No, I want this project to be useful long beyond the marketing cycle and for it to be referred to for years to come. I want it to be the most valuable resource for those looking to monetize online forums, to date. I realize that is an aggressive goal.
As you read this ebook and consider its value, please don’t judge it as something you received for free. I want you to judge it as if you paid for it. Hold it to that standard. Review it online. Tell people what you think about it. And please let me know how we did.
Thank you.
Patrick O’Keefe
patrick@ifroggy.com