The Newsletter on Newsletters

Workers' Comp Executive Wins NL/NL's Top Journalism Award For Reporting That Opened Records and Meetings of California Agency

Two years after a series of scandals rocked the State Compensation Insurance Fund, forcing the resignation of its president and vice president, the California legislature passed a bill opening both the agency's records and meetings to public inspection.

To be sure, like almost every open records and open meetings law, there were exceptions, records that needn't be available to the public and portions of meetings that could be held behind closed doors.

But still, for an agency that had operated with almost as much secrecy as the National Security Agency, the bill was a major breakthrough.  It opened almost all the windows, so the sunlight of public scrutiny could pour into the agency, disinfecting corrupt practices and questionable decisions.

This year's Newsletter on Newsletters Award for Public Service goes to Providence Publications' Workers' Comp Executive, for its reporting of the issues and challenges as a bill opening the agency to the public neared legislative enactment in 2008.  While the award covers reporting in 2008, in reality the award is for WCE's work over nearly three years that resulted in the bill being passed and signed into law.

In eight articles, beginning last April and running through September, WCE detailed SCIF's attempts to gut the measure.  By quoting industry executives and attorneys, WCE was able to show how those efforts would make the bill pretty meaningless.

Along the way, WCE discovered that SCIF was hiring its top management team as if they were consultants, not regular employees.  But hiring them as contractors, SCIF was able to keep the terms of their employment secret.

Once the bill imposing open records and meeting requirements on SCIF passed, WCE told readers how to file a public records act request of the agency.

Bess Shapiro is capitol correspondent for WCE.  J. Dale Debber is publisher.

Award of Special Merit

"Parity as a Reality: A Civil Rights Victory, but Business Impact Unclear," Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, Allison Knopf-Insinger, editor; Karienne Stovall, executive managing editor; Sarah Merrill, associate editor; Gary Enos, contributing editor.

Congress passed a long-sought law that put addiction treatment on the same footing for insurance purpose as medical services.  But it was unclear whether it would result in more patients for treatment providers.

The staff of Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly did extensive reporting, and produced an article that gave providers and others with detailed information to help them get ready for the day the new law takes effect.

Best Individual/Company Profile:

           1^st Place: Dean & Provost (Jossey-Bass/Wiley), Joan Hope, editor; Paula Willits, executive editor. 

The winning entry, Dean Dialogue, focused on why Craig McAllaster, dean, Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College, is staying in a job that typically sees a new dean every 3.7 years. 

The entry was clear and well written. Telling why people take the job, what he's accomplished and what brings enjoyment.  It also discussed the negative aspects of the job and what McAllaster does about them, and how McAllaster will know when it's time to leave the administrative job and return to the faculty.  A sidebar talks about how to prepare future  deans for challenges.

2d Place: Development & Alumni Relations Report (Jossey-Bass/Wiley), Cynthia Gomez, editor/Paula Willits, executive editor. 

Best Technical Article:

Bruce R. Hopkins' Nonprofit Counsel (Wiley), Bruce R. Hopkins, editor.  Isabelle Cohen-DeAngelis, executive editor.  All tax law is complex, but the winning article, "IRS Issues Ruling Concerning Division of Remainder Trusts," makes it seem simple through the use of good typography and clear writing. 

With regard to the typography, the article summarized  two fact situations, as described in an IRS private letter ruling.  It then dealt with the conclusions by identifying them as issue and topic; for instance "Issue 1 (Qualification of Trust," "Issue 2 (Basis)," etc.  This makes it easy for the practitioner to follow the discussion and to focus on what's important.

Best Feature Series:

The Successful Registrar (Wiley), Richard Rainsberger, author; Joan Hope, editor;  Paula Willits, executive editor.  To put it simply:  If I was a college registrar, I would subscribe to The Successful Registrar to read Rainsberger's monthly compliance article, which focuses on the Federal Educational Rights & Privacy Act.  It's one of those federal laws filled with traps for the unwary, but Rainsberger explains it in clear, simple actionable language that responds to actual questions facing registrars every day.

Best Deadline Reporting:

Workers' Comp Executive (Providence Publications), Brad Cain, editor; J. Dale Debber, editor.

We received several entries in this category from Providence Publications, and each was of excellent quality.  But "SCIF Hides President’s Performance Bonus" stood out.  "Workers' Comp Executive is the journal of record for California workers' comp professionals in all facets of the system.  While we reflect the views of our audience, we never function as a mouthpiece and hold these same professionals accountable," Debber explains.

With California considering an open public records act, Cain and Debber began asking questions about the employment contract of Janet Frank, president, State Compensation Insurance Fund.  What made the contract particularly interesting was the fact that Frank was in California only four days a week, returning to her home in Denver, Colo., for the remaining three.

SCIF's public affairs office refused to supply a copy of Frank's contract, despite the fact it was a public document.  Debber and Cain then began contacting sources to get answers.  What emerged was a mass of contradictions about Frank's bonuses and travel expenses. 

WCE then ran a story about the stonewalling.  The next day, SCIF answered all their questions -- to a competitor.  The answers didn't jibe with what WCE had been told, and what it had learned from other sources.

In a follow up story, Cain and Debber revealed the tactic, saying it was probably meant to slap them for exposing SCIF's cover-up.  But it wasn't the newsletter that looked bad:  Instead, SCIF demonstrated that it was less than candid and far less than transparent.

An SCIF spokeswoman tried to say Frank hadn't an employment contract, but WCE had a copy that it obtained through a public records request.  Among the things the contract revealed:  Frank had received a signing bonus, not money to assist with moving to California.

Best Feature Article

1^st Place.  "Journalist in the Jury Pool," Workers Comp Executive (Providence Publications), Bess Shapiro, Capitol Correspondent.  Beth Shapiro's adherence to professional journalistic ethics was enough to get her booted off a jury.  The reason:  She honestly told the court that while the Constitution assures a person has the right to remain silent, exercising that right would lead her to assume that the defendant had something to hide and probably was guilty.

2d Place, "Shed Light on Problems Caused by Students’'Porn Addiction," Student Affairs Today, Claudine McCarthy, editor; Paula Willis, executive editor. 

Pornography has become normalized on college campuses, and as it has become more widespread, what constitutes pornography, but students and officials have become less sensitive to it.

That's bad news for students, because when they graduate they will find little acceptance of porn in committed relationships and almost zero tolerance in the workplace.

Most counselors aren't prepared to deal with pornography addictions, and simply putting porn filters on university computers won't solve the problem.  One reason:  Porn addiction often is "a mediator for deeper problems, usually unreal with, such as depression, anxiety, roundedness from family dysfunction, sexual abuse and impaired social skills." 

The article provides student affairs professionals with advice on how to develop a program to deal with the spreading problem of addiction to pornography.

Best How-To

"Adopt a Comprehensive Plan to Retain Adult Students," Enrollment Management (Jossey-Bass/Wiley), Joan Hope, editor; Paula Willits, executive editor.

Back in my day, one applied to the admissions office to get into college, and then it was up to the deans and registrar to keep one in college.  Now that function has been consolidated, and while admissions officials, registrars and deans all play a vital role, the entire recruiting/retention effort is lumped under the title "enrollment management."

The newsletter of that title is a tremendous resource, and nothing illustrates that as much as the story, "Adopt a Comprehensive Plan to Retain Adult Students."  Adult students present life issues -- such as pregnancy, work issues or illness -- can get in the way.  This story outlines a comprehensive strategy of gathering information to develop solutions to retain adult students. And just like every other field of endeavor, retention is in some ways more important than the original sale:  For every student retained, that's one less new student that must be recruited.

In the issue we looked at, this was one of about four stories that grabbed out attention as providing solid, need-to-know, easy to implement solutions for real problems in a vital  area.

Best Feature Series

"State Budget Watch," Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, (Wiley Periodicals), Alison Knopf-Insinger, Editor; Karienne Stovell, executive managing editor; Sarah Merrill, associate editor; Gary Enos, contributing editor.

At a time when state budgets are severely strained, alcohol and drug treatment programs are prime targeting for cuts because many legislators still consider addictions to be moral failings rather than diseases -- and since they are moral failings, the argument goes, in tough times they are unworthy of funding.

But treatment can actually save government money.  In California, for instance, for every dollar spent on treatment, $2.50 less is spent in other areas, such as corrections. 

As the battle over treatment funding got underway, Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly began an effort to report what was happening in state budgets -- and particularly how providers were able to reduce many of the cuts proposed in legislatures.  ADWA's coverage will help other agencies preserve their funding -- and that will help reduce the carnage caused by alcohol and drug abuse . . . and that, in turn, will help reduce government spending in areas such as corrections.

Best Government Coverage

"Governor Schwarzenegger Puts SCIF on the Block," Workers' Comp Executive (Providence Publications), J. Dale Debber.

As part of an effort to solve California's budget woes, Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed to sell $1 billion in assets owned by the State Compensation Insurance Fund, the largest workers' comp insurer in California.  The problem:  SCIF is already financially impaired and the insurer of last resort.  Stripping it of its assets could destabilize it completely. 

Publisher J. Dale Debber learned of the proposal while it was still being crafted in secret and obtained a preliminary copy of the proposed language.  He learned the state finance director was to handle the sale, and that the state insurance commissioner and the attorney general were to be cut out of the transaction.  The proposed legislation ordered SCIF's board to approve it.

In writing the story, Debber quoted the language of the measure, then explained in plain English what it meant.  He also explained that if the $1 billion in assets Schwarzenegger wants to sell result in the fund being insolvent, the State would be required to pick up the claims.  But that, of course, would occur under the next governor.

Best Newswriting

29% Rate Hike Coming, Worker's Comp Executive (Providence Publications), Brad Cain, editor.

No one covers government meetings any more -- except newsletter editors.  And that in- person coverage results in need-to-know news, as Workers' Comp Executives editor Brad Cain demonstrated when he learned the California Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau was going to recommend a whopping 29% increase in workers' comp rates.

Cain filed his story, and it created a stir.  Business publications picked it up, crediting WCE for the news.  On the same day, Gov. Schwarzenegger's office wrote a letter to the insurance commissioner urging him to reject the increase.  One reason for the increase was two adverse decisions issued by the Workers Compensation Appeals Board, and the insurance commissioner asked the Appeals Board to vacate the decision, which it did.

Then the commissioner rejected the increase, advising carriers not to raise rates at all.  The Executive's early reporting alerted the entire workers' comp community, including the commissioner and governor, that workers' comp costs were starting to creep up. 

FTC Tells How to Keep Your Online Trial Offers Honest

Asia berry products, colon cleansers and Google job offerings are giving free and low-cot trial offers a bad name, officials from the Federal Trade Commission, Visa and the Better Business Bureau say.

It's an important issue for newsletter marketers, because many of us use similar offers to build our subscriber base -- especially those who offer online newsletters themselves.

Visa said has terminated more than 100 merchant accounts related to these offers, and FTC officials say they are bringing enforcement actions against marketers who don't play fair with consumers.

At the same time, FTC officials acknowledged that free trial offers can be an efficient way to sample a new product or service without paying for a membership, subscription or  service contract. 

The problem is some companies making negative option offers -- those where the customer must contact the company within a certain time period to avoid charges -- make it tough for the consumer to take action to prevent negative option billing.  Among those practices which the FTC denounces as deceptive:  Hiding terms and conditions in tiny type, using pre-checked boxes as the default setting and putting conditions on returns and cancellations .

If you use negative option promotions, take a moment now to review them and make sure you meet these standards:
   -- Disclose important terms of your offer in plain, understandable language.
   -- Make your disclosures clear and conspicuous.  Don't bury them in tiny type at the bottom of your page.
   -- Disclose key terms of the offer before the consumer pays or incurs a financial obligation.
   -- Get the consumer's affirmative consent.  Don't use a prechecked "I agree to the terms and conditions of this offer."  Instead, require the consumer to check the box himself.
   -- Make sure your cancellation procedures work efficiently and as promised.

By Brent Sampson

Is your business card laminated or matte? What type of paper stock is used? What type of font and at what size? Is your business card full-color on one side (or both sides) or spot color? Is it entirely black/white? Does it feature your company logo at the top (left or right corner) or toward the bottom?

More important than the answers to these questions is realizing that for approximately as much effort as one expends designing and producing a business card, one can compile their information and publish a handbook about their business. With the advances in print-on-demand technology, one can then control the quantity and availability of the book to meet their specific needs.  Presto!  A published book is now your business card of choice.

Of course, one wouldn't suggest that a book replace your business cards entirely. Rather, the book becomes a supplement to your branding and promotion efforts.  A business card still has its place and is certainly preferable in some instances. On the other hand, handing a potential customer or client your book at the end of a meeting, pitch or seminar immediately elevates you to a higher level.  New customers or clients will look at you with a different perspective -- as a published author, as an expert. 

Don't allow the concept of writing a book to scare you. Your book should not be a 1,000-page tome.  In fact, approximately 100 pages would be the ideal length.  Make the length congruous with the content. This is easy, because people also like Top 100 lists. For example, "101 Ways to Sell More by Mail and the Web," by Jane Smith.  One tip per page. One hundred and one pages. Done and done.

Imagine then, if your 30-second elevator speech sounded like this: "I'm Jane Smith and I recently published a book that can help you increase your profits by 30%. Would you like a free copy?"

Doesn't that sound much more compelling and memorable than "I'm Jane Smith.  I'm a marketing consultant.  Here's my business card."

A book does a number of things that a business card cannot do.

1)      A published book establishes your credibility in your field and can help to further establish your expertise.  Consider this: If you had a house to sell and were deciding between two agents, one with a business card and the other with a published book, who would you choose, everything else being equal? Probably the published author.

2)      People keep books, whereas many business cards reach the trashcan before the end of the day, or wind up lost in a digital rolodex.  People place books on shelves, refer to them later, and even pack them in boxes when they move!

3)      People share books with other people. Through no additional effort of your own, you become an expert to that secondary customer, too, rather than just a name and a number on a business card.

4)      Receiving a free book is memorable. After all, the whole point of handing out business cards in the first place, and having an efficient and effective elevator speech, is to be remembered.  How inclined are you to share the story about the time a real estate agent handed you her business card?  Now, how inclined are you to share the story about the time you bumped into a published author in an elevator and she gave you a free copy of her book?

5)      Books leverage marketing opportunities.  One of the worst things about handing out business cards is you have to personally hand them out, which means the number of people receiving your card is directly related to the number of people you meet personally.  This is neither an effective form of marketing, nor very efficient.  By contrast, having a published book allows you to market your business to potentially millions of people you may never meet. The book does the marketing for you. All you have to do is make your book available for potential customers to find and buy on popular Web sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Google.

Publishing your book and distributing it through the Internet is easier than you might think. With the turn of the millennium came a seismic shift in the publishing industry, with the proliferation of self-publishing companies that help authors, entrepreneurs, experts, poets, business owners, and everyone else easily and affordably publish books for public sale.  Nearly all of these companies can produce short-run paperback books for your personal use, and many of them can also include distribution through some of the world's largest book wholesalers so that your book is listed on Web sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others, exactly like any other book. 

Then, by using Internet marketing strategies, you can efficiently drive large numbers of potential customers to your publication, thereby removing the business card hurdle of having to personally "bump into someone" in order to hand them your business card.  Instead, they type in "home for sale" into an Internet search engine, and your book appears among the listings (notice how you astutely put that key term into the title of your book, "101 Ways to Sell More by Mail and the Web."). 

Don't worry too much about making money from the sale of the book itself. The real profits come from making the book exceedingly affordable (more so than competitive books) and extremely informative, so the reader is compelled to contact you directly with additional (more profitable) business, like selling a home.  The margin for a selling a home is much higher than the margin for selling a book. Don't step over a dollar to pick up a penny.

Naturally, your contact information should be easy to find within your book, but it is important that the book contain valuable, helpful information, and be professional in its appearance and content.  The first goal should be to share your knowledge and expertise so that readers are compelled to become paying customers.  Equally important is the quality of the book itself. After all, rarely do professionals hand out business cards they designed and printed themselves from their home computer. So be sure to choose a publishing company that can provide important functions like professional editing, formatting and cover design.  Like your business card, your published book needs to be a high-quality reflection of your professionalism and value.

Try it! You will be surprised and excited by how effective this new business marketing tactic is.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brent Sampson uses a published book as a business card. He is the best-selling self-published author of "Sell Your Book on Amazon" and "Self-Publishing Simplified," and  has helped thousands of authors realize their dreams of publishing and distributing their books worldwide with Outskirts Press. Now when you go to http://outskirtspress.com/ebooks you can get TWO FREE E-BOOKS on how to self-publish your books the simple, successful way.