![\"Office](\"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/20090226_odlogo.jpg\")
Today I saw the most brilliant thing I have seen in a week or 2.<\/p>\nToday I saw the most brilliant thing I have seen in a week or 2.<\/p>\n
Okay, so you know how you go to the store and while you\u2019re waiting in line to cash out, there\u2019s gobs and gobs of utterly useless crap and empty calories surrounding you? They scream at you: Buy me! Buy me! You need me! You cannot<\/em><\/strong> live without me one more second!<\/p>\n I\u2019m mostly inured to that now. I\u2019m too busy trying to figure out how Nostradamus gets so much press and I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n However, today I had reason to go to Office Depot. Now, you must understand. Office Depot is like a crack house for me. I go in, I don\u2019t come out for days, high on the scent of new paper, new pens, new plastic floor pads (the ones that go under your chair). Ah, the smell of bubble wrap in the morning.<\/p>\n But today I only needed to return something and went straight to the counter. On my way out, however, in that space reserved for mindless crap wanting you to buy it, I saw a good ten linear feet (3 feet high) of trial-sized toiletries. You know, like at Wal-Mart. Only better. More thoroughly thought out.<\/p>\n I looked. Looked again (and crap, didn\u2019t take a pic; I\u2019ll go back). Studied what they had. Nothing useless and several brands of each type of toiletry (Crest and Colgate, for example).<\/p>\n You may think this is no big deal, but it IS. This is value-added at the finest. It\u2019s not Sony \u201cfashion earbuds\u201d (although those were way cute); it\u2019s not some weird executive toy I couldn\u2019t figure out how to work; it\u2019s not the ubiquitous calendar. It\u2019s also not the candy\/pop\/bottled water section.<\/p>\n No, it\u2019s TOILETRIES. People need those. People who shop at office supply stores need those because, you know, I bet lots of business travelers end up at an office supply store. And they might have had to stop at Wal-Mart or Target later to get one of those toiletry items, but they don\u2019t have to now because Office Depot had it. HALLELUJAH! I\u2019ll tell you, the trip from my Office Depot to my Wal-Mart (across a highway from each other) would take half an hour because of traffic, parking, and walking. That\u2019s money saved, people. And just think if a business traveler already knows those things are there! When he\u2019s in a strange city, he knows he can go to the nearest Office Depot and get his packing tape AND his toothpaste.<\/p>\n And BRANDING<\/a>! I will forever now associate the Office Depot BRAND with stocking things business travelers NEED. It\u2019s not a high-cost item. Doesn\u2019t take up much floor space. Dollar for dollar, I\u2019ll bet that\u2019s got a high ROI.<\/p>\n Okay, so what does this have to do with e-books?<\/p>\n Value added.<\/p>\n Things you can\u2019t get in the print version.<\/p>\n If you were inclined to buy my book, but you knew the e-book version had about 10 extra scenes or character vignettes or lists of resources I used or a list of the songs I listened to while I was writing it (things that are not in the print version), would you be more inclined to check it out?1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n I would. Give me a favorite author in e-book (one I\u2019m inclined to buy in hardback anyway), tell me it\u2019s got extra stuff on it, don\u2019t slap any stupid DRM on it, and I\u2019ll buy the e-book for the extra stuff and the hardback for the art.<\/p>\n Value added.<\/p>\n Value added.<\/p>\n Value added.<\/p>\n