Happy New Year, Dialogue Mappers and Aspiring Students!

By now many of you already have a copy of my book, Dialogue Mapping.  I am very proud of it and hopeful that it contains the right balance of Big Ideas, Interesting Stories, and Practical Know-How to make it useful and appealing to a large audience.  It's up to the market to decide.  And that's why I'm writing.

Book distribution status:  We in the US are in a funny little twilight zone with book distribution at the moment, due to the book being published by the UK division of Wiley.  Amazon.co.uk has been selling the book since early December at 30% off the UK price (about $35 US), while Amazon.com and the rest of the non-UK bookselling world are still waiting for the book to arrive in their warehouses.  That should happen any day now, but in the mean time they are taking pre-orders at a retail price of $60.

I personally think the $60 price in the US is a bit too high for the primary market of consultants and facilitators, but Wiley is not interested in my input on the pricing.  Since Amazon.co.uk slashed the price by 30% from the very beginning, I think it is likely that Amazon.com and the other US resellers will do something similar when they get the book in stock.  The point is, if price is an issue for you or people you want to recommend the book to, stay tuned to the book's page on my website ... http://cognexus.org/dm_book.htm ... and I will keep it updated with the latest news about pricing and availability.

My Vision:  I've been working on this book for about 13 years.  The reason I wrote and published it is that I am passionately committed to the possibility that dialogue mapping can be more accessible to consultants and organizations in every sector.  Dialogue mapping is a facilitation tool that reliably increases the level of shared understanding among stakeholders on complex ("wicked") problems.  It is relatively easy to learn and apply, and now that Compendium is such an amazing software tool (and free!) the way is open for anyone to read the book and start practicing the language and facilitation skills with their own families, communities, and organizations.  The world is in desperate need of more effective dialogue and collaboration ... dialogue mapping is one way among many to raise our chances of turning things around.

Reviews needed:  The most powerful way that word about the book will spread is by "word of mouth" from the people familiar with this work.  That would be YOU.  This includes:

• Emails sent to friends and colleagues with a link to my web page or Amazon.com's or Amazon.co.uk's
• Customer reviews you write and post on bookseller websites
• Reviews or announcements you write and post on discussion lists

I can post announcements on the various lists that I belong to, but I think it is more effective if the promotion comes from 3rd parties.  I'll let you know how book sales are going as I get any information, and I welcome any suggestions about other ways to get the word out.

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year,
Jeff Conklin

Dr. Jeff Conklin              < mailto:jeff@...>
CogNexus Institute ... Collaborative Display, Collective Intelligence
http://cognexus.org           Phone: 707-256-3425  Fax: 707-256-3903
1037 Juarez St., Napa, CA  94559    USA