21 days until Great Powers comes out

Obviously, I would like a best-seller like Pentagon's New Map, so please consider buying advance copies on either Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com, as both count for the list. The book comes out on the 5th, but any purchase between now and the end of my first full week of sales (Saturday, the 14th of February) will count in the first week's total.

I make the bulk of my living giving speeches for money, and getting another best-seller would do much to enable my capacity to continue the blog and this whole line of work, so however you can spread the word helps plenty.

Sean will be following up from here on out on this countdown. I know such efforts come off like PBS on a pledge drive, but remember I maintain this blog--at considerable cost and effort--as a free offering of daily content to all of you, and that, like everybody else, I have to make decisions in tough economic times about what's paying off for this sole provider for six (I toss in the three cats for free because they're the first to go!), so my plea here is both heartfelt and real.

When I started this blog almost five years ago, I had a hard time convincing my wife that it made sense to give away my analysis on a daily basis to a load of strangers over the Web for no money. Imagine that! She had a hard time seeing the value proposition for the father of three with one on the way. Well, she still bugs me on that point now and then, especially as we save up to adopt child #5--hopefully later this summer.

Let me make it clear: I'm not asking for a hand-out. For a very nice price, I'm offering you almost 500 pages of material, in addition to all the extras we're offering on the site over this month leading up to the release date.

So, simply put, I think it's a good deal and a reasonable request on my part after the roughly 7,500 posts I've spent the last five years crafting.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here. I just want you to reach out and touch some people who aren't already wearing robes!

Hell, I've already bought copies for every living known relative I have--as in, every damn cousin. That means they should all go out and buy copies for their friends!

BTW: CSPAN IS THREATENING TO COVER MY LUNCHTIME TALK AT NATIONAL DEFENSE U. ON 11 FEB. WORD IS, THE PUBLIC CAN ACCESS THE TALK, SO COME AND BE PART OF THE NEXT DVD!!!

(only nit being, I don't make a dime off those tapes, even as they benefit me plenty)

Comments

[Patrick]

FWIW I went to my library in Pasadena to make sure they ordered a copy and saw that they had already ordered two, This may not effect the best seller lists but everyone's local library should have at least one copy.

[stuart abrams]

Does ordering online make a difference? In a very un-globalized, un-connected way, I believe very strongly in supporting my local independently-owned bookstore, and I was planning on getting my copy there.

[Chuck Biggs]

Is there a procedure for getting my copy signed by the author?(I got my copy of the map signed at the Belmont-Abbey brief.)

Congrats plenty, Dr. Barnett.

Rock on

[Mark Wilcox]

I just ordered my copy.

And I sincerely wish there was some way I could pay for a copy of your talk that you got some money for. Because regardless of content - you were the first person who showed me - PowerPoint doesn't have to suck.

Best of luck with the new book

[Sean Meade]

no, Stuart. Tom says 'ANY sale online or in bookstores between now and close of business 14 Feb counts.'

[Bo McGowan]

Read your blog--am going directly to Amazon to buy 3. Please tell your Wife that I personally appreciate your service to me. I first saw you during my Air War College study and your brief was incredible. Plus, anyone who thinks Teresa Wright "hung the moon" in Best Years has my support--Incredible what you have done for me in causing me to see the Core, the Gap, the Seam, SysAdmin, Leviathon, and Connecting. You inspire me to think and as an old fighter pilot, I now understand what Admiral Stockdale meant in his great work "Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot."

[Will]

Pre-ordered mine a few days ago. I'll enjoy it, I'm sure, but I'd buy it even if I planned to set it on the shelf. The least I can do for the only blogger worth reading.

[Chad]

Tom,

I'd like to see you on the Daily Show, great press for the younger crowd. BTW, will you sign books in Indy? Hope to see you here at some point. Besides, we're famous for a runaway pilot in Fishers, you could surely top that.

[Tom Barnett]

Sean will repost instructions on how to get signed.

Simply, send book with SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) sufficient to get it back to you in a second envelope addressed to me at

PO 970Franklin IN 46131

I stop by Franklin regularly and check the box. When I get your mailing, I open, sign, stick in new envelope and send right back.

Best not to send cover along--no purpose and it can get beat up.

[michal shapiro]

When will you know if C-Span is actually covering?You may not make a dime, but it gets the word out extremely well; it's how I learned about you.Does Carnegie allow or ever do videotaping?