Years ago, before I wrote Purple Cow, purple was just another color, sitting in the back rows with orange and teal and magenta. The success of that book transformed the way the color was treated, and I watched with surprise and then delight as more and more of the world embraced the notion of purpleness.

At some point, though, creation needs to be rewarded. Writing is a lonely and risky endeavor, and if people are able to blithely take the work of another, we'll soon run out of writers.

Add to this problem the rampant linking that goes online. People are always linking to this blog, for example, without asking first. Not to mention those that might discuss one of my books in a meeting (at a profit-making business, no less!) without permission or payment of royalties.

That's why today (appropriately) I'm reporting the results of several lawsuits I quietly filed over the last year. My lawyers were able to trademark the terms Purple® and Purple Cow®, and beyond that, to get a design patent on the idea of using Purple® in the marketing of a product.

Several entities have already reached a settlement with my firm. On the international front, Radojka Glavonjić, a farmer in Slovenia, is paying an ongoing royalty for publicity and endorsements surrounding his new calf. (Worth noting that it's a bull, actually).

We were unable to reach a settlement with Prince Rogers Nelson, but he has agreed to retitle his hit song Bluish Red Rain.

For those that might accuse me of overreaching, please consider that we took no action at all against this Purple® squirrel.

Critics will be pleased to know that we are granting the US Army a royalty-free license to continue calling it a Purple® Heart.

PS by reading this post, you agree to the shrinkwrap license and terms and conditions that have become used by some in the industry, and thus agree not to use the word Purple® in any conversation or memo or text or tweet without sending me one simoleon each time you do.

I know that you, my loyal readers, will support me as I continue to pursue a fair and honest settlement with others that seek to profit from my insights and risk taking. It is, after all, the only way I can produce this blog without selling a significant number of ads. Though I may add the advertisements anyway, because more is better.

[Please don't email me about this until the second day of April. Thanks.]

• http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/emdRoWss2J4/monetizat...">Email to a friend •

One of the dumbest forms of criticism is to shout down an expert in one field who speaks up about something else. The actor with a political point of view, or the physicist who talks about philosophy. The theory is that people should stick to what they know and quietly sit by in all other situations.

Of course, at one point, we all knew nothing. The only way you ever know anything, in fact, is to speak up about it. Outline your argument, support it, listen, revise.

The byproduct of speaking up about what you don't know is that you soon know more. And maybe, just maybe, the experts learn something from you and your process.

No one knows more about the way you think than you do. Applying that approach, combining your experience, taking a risk--this is what we need from you.

• http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/RGE16PWQ_mM/stick-to-...'t)%20know;4145781">Email to a friend •

• http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/sBxJVTmel5k/worth-a-m...">Email to a friend •

Extraordinary photos from around the globe forwarded to me and now to you.

------ Begin of Forwarded Message

The  world's highest chained carousel, located in Vienna, at  a height of 117  meters.      

                                             
  

  

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000yxb77/g21>   

Thor's  Well  a/k/a  "the gates of the dungeon" on  Cape  Perpetua,  Oregon. At moderate tide and strong surf, flowing  water creates a fantastic landscape

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000z04gr/g21>

   Emerald Lake in the crater of an extinct volcano.

Tongariro National Park  - NewZealand

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000z1x80/g21>    

Restaurant  on a cliff on the east coast of Zanzibar.

Depending  on the tide the restaurant can be reached both on foot and by  boat.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000z20ec/g21>    

Office  of Selgas Cano in Madrid   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000z3wa1/g21>    

 Desert  with  Phacelia  (Scorpion Weed). Flowering once in  several years.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000z50fr/g21>    

Balloons  in Cappadocia.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000z64wd/g21>    

Dubai.  The view from the skyscraper BurjKhalifa. The height of buildings  is 828 m (163 floors).

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000z9h8k/g21>

And this is the view down

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/00111edt/g21>    

 These  trees grow in the forest near Gryfino, Poland. The cause of the curvature  is unknown

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zcpp1/g21>    

 The  border between Belgium and the Netherlands in a cafe

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zfe1s/g21>     

Twice  a year in the Gulf of Mexico rays migrate.

About 10 thousand stingrays swim from the Yucatan Peninsula to Florida in the spring and back in the fall.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zgrkg/g21>

 In  the resort town of Skagen you can watch an amazing natural  phenomenon. This city is the northernmost point of Denmark,  where the Baltic and North Seas meet. The  two opposing tides in this place can  not merge because they have different densities.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zhspy/g21>    

 In  the Chinese province of Shandong is a bridge across the Gulf of  Jiaozhou. The bridge length over 36 km is calculated for eight car  lanes, and is the longest sea bridge in the world.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zpqd2/g21>    

 Day  and night. The monument in Kaunas, Lithuania

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zq1rc/g21>

   
An  unusual tunnel in California's  Sequoia National Park

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zryfx/g21>

This  statue, created by Bruno Catalano, is located in France     

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zttg7/g21>    

 Family  photo

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zwge0/g21>    

 The  longest traffic jam in the world recorded in China.

Its length is  260 kilometers

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zxcy7/g21>    

 Paris computer games store. In fact, the floor is absolutely flat.   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zyp7c/g21>    

 Marcus  Levine - slaughtering an artist in the literal sense. He creates  his paintings by nailing a white wooden panel. At his  latest series of paintings exhibited  in a gallery in London, Marcus  has spent more than 50 000 pieces of iron.   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/000zzxrp/g21>    

In  the city of Buford (USA) lives just one person. He works as a  janitor and as a mayor.   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/001015se/g21>    

 Autumn camouflage

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/00104y5y/g21>    

 Haus Rizzi - Germany.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/00107yzr/g21>    

 Lena Pillars. Russia, the Lena River.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/00108w7r/g21>    

 Banpo Bridge in Seoul, South Korea

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/001093r6/g21>    

 Favelas of Brazil. The boundary between wealth and poverty.     

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010apfd/g21>    

 Lost paradise in the Indian Ocean. Isle of Lamu.   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010bxsk/g21>    

 Balcony of floor 103 in Chicago.   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010cw1b/g21>
From the outside it looks like   

  

View  of the sunset from inside the wave.   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010dkt4/g21>    

This  is a unique geological phenomenon known as Danxia landform. These  phenomena can be observed in several places in China. This example  is located in Zhangye, Province of Gansu. The  color is the result of an accumulation for millions of years of red sandstone and  other rocks.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010ea2r/g21>    

 In northwestern Montana, USA. The water is so transparent that it seems that this is a quite shallow lake.

In fact,  it’s very deep.  

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010fh6s/g21>    

 Airport  in the Maldives is located on an artificial island in the middle  of the Indian Ocean   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010g25x/g21>    

 Lighthouse guard in Mare, France must be one of the most courageous people on  the planet! Not  everyone will have a smoke in such weather, and in such a  place!

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010rtz1/g21>    

 Photo of storm in Montana, USA, 2010

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010stbc/g21>    

 Skyscraper-Crescent  Crescent Moon Tower (Dubai)   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010t1tg/g21>  

  
Heavy fog in Sydney, which enveloped the whole city   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010w9tr/g21>    

 The river above the river: Magdeburg Water Bridge,  Germany.

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/0010xqy0/g21>    

 Morning Glory - kind of clouds observed in the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia   

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/00112pse/g21>    

 Gibraltar Airport is one of the most extraordinary airports around the  world

<http://pics.livejournal.com/neferjournal/pic/00113r61/g21>    

 
------ End of Forwarded Message