AlphaMale

... Payback, Part 2

 Kevin Karpenske is blowing a great opportunity.

He's not producing any new fiction. He has a potentially large, rowdy, talkative cult audience for his stories. He earned the audience with a generous decision. (See "Payback.")

Now's his chance to win a booming readership, quite possibly an offer from a publisher, some real money writing the kind of story he loves. But he needs to write and post material, now more than ever.

Seth Godin says "overnight success" almost never is. It's preceded by long, intense groundwork.

What opportunity am I blowing? What about you? What groundwork aren't we laying?

A select but very substantial number of people need to know about a condition called Alpha-1. How do I get their attention?

Payback...

Kevin Karpenske is a famous writer.

In 1998, he was writing fiction nobody wanted to buy. So, like many others, he published his fiction online. He wrote for himself and a few fans till 2004, when Mozilla was forced to rename its new web browser.

Kevin gave away his site name. Type the words "Firefox.com" in your search box now and you get a note thanking Kevin Karpenske for donating the domain name. Then you choose whether you want Mozilla's web site or Kevin's. Inevitably, if only from curiosity, a good many people choose Kevin's.

Firefox is immensely popular, because it's widely considered the best browser on the planet, and it's free for everyone.

Kevin didn't get paid in money. But let's see...

Martha Grimes has a modestly popular web site. Sue Grafton's is much more popular. Janet Evanovich's is more popular than Sue's. Patricia Cornwell's is more popular still.

Kevin's web site tops 'em all.

Kevin would be much more popular, maybe hugely popular, if his site carried more fiction. His excuse: he's a legitimately busy student. (He writes great, entertaining excuses.)

Stephen King produces LOTS of fiction, one reason King's web site is yes, even more popular than Kevin's.

But these writers have sold millions of books. Kevin has sold none.

 

 

My cell phone battery source

I ordered a cell phone battery online.

Next day I found the problem: not the battery. Sent an email asking the company to cancel. Got an email saying the battery had shipped already. Got another email today that said:

"At the moment we are short staffed and unfortunately, by the time we saw your request, the order had already gone out.

If you wish to refuse the package, it will come back to us."

Not the answer I wanted. But from a real person, not an autoresponder. Short, frank, apologetic, no corporate jargon, with helpful information.

Even when you screw up, you can win a customer's heart with a prompt  explanation and solution.

Thank you, Shelly at Cellphone Battery Warehouse.

They're my cell phone battery source now.

Kids and Alpha-1

When a child is diagnosed with Alpha-1, it's often because of severe liver disease.

To any parent, few things are more frightening than having a child with a life-threatening illness. Sharing the problems and fears with other parents can be a huge help.

Here's where parents of Alpha kids can share stories and vital information.

Just the facts, and fast

Alpha-1 Fast Facts

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1) is a condition passed on from parents to their children. It may result in serious lung and/or liver disease at various ages in life. There may be up to 100,000 people with Alpha-1 (ZZ) in the United States.

The most common signs and symptoms of Alpha-1:

• Shortness of breath
• Wheezing
• Chronic cough and sputum (phlegm) production (chronic bronchitis)
• Recurring chest colds
• Eyes and skin turning yellow (jaundice)
• Swelling of the abdomen (ascites)
• Gastrointestinal bleeding (from large veins in the esophagus or stomach)
• Decreased exercise tolerance
• Non-responsive asthma or year-round allergies
• Unexplained liver problems or elevated liver enzymes
• Bronchiectasis

Alpha-1 has been identified in virtually all populations. It is estimated that as many as 1 in every 2,500 Americans have Alpha-1.

An estimated 20 million people have one normal and one defective alpha-1 gene. People with one normal gene and one defective gene (for example MZ) are called “carriers”. Carriers may pass the defective gene on to their children.

Alpha-1 can lead to lung destruction and is often misdiagnosed as asthma or smoking-related Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

•  Alpha-1 is the most common genetic risk factor for emphysema.
• As many as 3% of all people diagnosed with COPD have Alpha-1
• Alpha-1 can lead to liver disease.
  

The World Health Organization, American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society recommend that all individuals with COPD be tested for Alpha-1.

Alpha-1 can be detected by a simple blood test or the new mouth swab test.

For more information on Alpha-1, call the Alpha-1 Foundation toll-free at 1-877-228-7321

(This post is slightly condensed from the Alpha-1 Foundation web site.)

Alpha Male? You? Are you kidding?

An Alpha Male is a guy with an unusual health condition passed on by his parents.

It's called Alpha-1, short for a 26-letter phrase that only a doctor could love. Most people never heard of it. Most doctors have, but only marginally, a distant blip on the screen of their medical education.

I'm an Alpha. I have Alpha-1.

Long before I knew anything about the condition, it cost me major lung damage. 

I'm well, thank you very much. Lots of other Alphas aren't so well. They need help -- good information more than anything else. So this blog is about Alpha-1. Especially it's about one specific fact:

If you have Alpha-1, chances are about 20 to 1 that you don't know it.

I want the rest of the Alphas out there to know it. Then they can decide for themselves what to do about it. Because there's plenty that can be done.

P.S. Women also have Alpha-1, in numbers equal to men. But AlphaWoman, you'll have to get your own blog.