It works, says Amazon: Amazon.com has issued a press release claiming that books participating in its new “Search Inside the Book” feature are selling at a rate 9% better than those not. (Like they would have issued a press release if they weren’t.) I’m sure that within those 120,000 books are many, many titles that would have never been sold had not someone discovered them via the service.

No way MS will buy Google: The NY Times is reporting that Microsoft has held talks with Google (reg. required) that may lead to merger discussions. This is not about to happen. Too much like the Intuit deal. Google is too big for this to pass DOJ muster even under a Republican administration. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the EU. No way. Absolutely no way.

Creme puff: Gee, sometimes even really lame dreams come true. (If this link is dead, don’t worry, you’re not missing anything.)

En fuego: MediaPost’s Larry Dobrow profiles one of my favorites, ESPN Magazine.

I’ve been caught: According to this story, “the storage industry’s two favorite professors have completed their annual look at data growth” and discovered that I personally am out of control.

Quote:

The average North American consumes 11,916 sheets of paper each year compared to 7,280 sheets chewed up by European Union residents. The average U.S. Internet user also spends more than twice as much time online as do users in the rest of the world. The world average is 11.5 hours per month of online time.

I am tempted to list other things we consume more of in the U.S. than they do in the E.U., but I’ll stop before I really get out of control.

Cool: Nashville newsletter publisher (a really big one) M. Lee Smith has announced a transition strategy that involves the president of Lawrence Ragan, the PR newsletter company, joining M. Lee Smith with the option of purchasing it. Lee Smith is a great guy and rabid Vanderbilt basketball fan. Once I even saw him thrown out of a game for hassling a referee.

Scooped: How bad is this? Hammock Publishing (what I do when I’m not blogging) wins a big national award and the Nashville Post gets the news posted before the rexblog does. That isn’t all bad, however, as the Nashville Post actually has readers.

Since the Nashville Post requires a subscription (and it’s a bargain, however, and well worth it), here is the news:

MyBusiness Magazine Wins Gold Eddie Award

Nashville, Tenn. - Hammock Publishing, custom publishers of corporate and association magazines, newsletters and online media, today announced that MyBusiness magazine has won a first-place Gold Eddie Award at the FOLIO: Show 2003 in New York, NY.

MyBusiness, which is produced bimonthly for the 600,000 members of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), won the award in the category of “Association magazine, circulation six or more times a year.”

Presented by FOLIO: Magazine, the leading trade publication in the magazine industry, the Eddies judge how well each entry articulates and adheres to its editorial mission statement. Winners are determined by the title’s fulfillment of its mission, the quality of its content, and its overall design and production.

Rated by Fortune magazine as the nation’s most powerful business lobbying group, NFIB has relied on Hammock for more than a decade for a broad range of print publications and online services to enhance its member communications. The bimonthly MyBusiness features articles and interviews, tools and tips, and in-depth coverage of the latest small-business trends.

“Working with NFIB to publish MyBusiness for its members nationwide is a great privilege for Hammock Publishing,” said Rex Hammock, president of the company and editor of MyBusiness. “So, to be honored by FOLIO: for the magazine’s editorial excellence is icing on the cake.”

Other 2003 Gold Eddie Award winners include: TIME, for general interest/news; Bon Appetit, for epicurean; Health Magazine, for health/fitness; and National Geographic Traveler, for travel.

I don’t know what to say except I’d like to thank the academy and Sally Field for this honor.