Buzz, Balls & Hype

Linktopia

1. I got a summer intern job with George Lois was I was in college... he was a great designer... when covers really were creative.
2. What's new with e-paper.
3. Women (who are the biggest consumers of books) face financial woes.
4. In detail, how one author turned podcasts into serious book sales.

Take the Challenge

As Galley Cat reports on the reaction to the DAM controversy  that John Scalzi's has also completely rejected the Deborah MacGillivray approach to bad reviews—instead, he invited other authors to post their worst reviews "and then, you know[,] get past them."  John Scalzi's blog

So I got 2 one star reviews for my last book and this was my favorite because The Reincarnationist wasn't  about the Catholic church and was not a conspiracy novel at all... but I'm brave so here goes

             

                another anti Catholic book, September 29, 2007       

      

       

By	showma  - See all my reviews

      

I put the book down after so many pages when I realized that it was probably going to have just another Roman Catholic/Pope conspiracy cover-up theme. How tedious. There is a great book out there that should be read by all of the anti-Catholic authors titled How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Now there is a refreshing thought.

Seth Godin on Silly Traffic

From Seth's Blog:

This is a truth of the Internet: When traffic comes to your site without focused intent, it bounces.

75% of all unfocused visitors leave within three seconds.

Any site, anywhere, anytime. 75% bounce rate within three seconds.

By unfocused, I mean people who visit via Digg or Stumbleupon or even a typical Google search. If your site is spammy or clearly selling something, the number is certainly higher. If you’re getting traffic because you have a clever domain name, it might be even higher. I don’t know of many examples where it is lower.

It’s good for your ego, that’s certain. You can brag about hits if you can get away with it, or pageviews or visits. But the bounce rate is still that scary 75%.

Continue reading here.

The Newspaper News

Is this is the first step for many local papers? if it is, at least,  there is more room on line for book coverage.

One Author Can Buzz in May

Ad author who had an AuthorBuzz spot in May has to move it to July due to a delayed book - so there is a late May opening for sale. Write to  us at AuthorBuzzCo at aol.com if you're interested. First come, first serve.

Watch It/Read it/Text it - or do nothing.

This article in USA TODAY offers a full report of what is coming soon to a cell phone near you. "Forget short clips and "mobisodes." Cellphone providers are ramping up their full-episode TV offerings, from Lost to The Office, and even movies."

But there's evidence - via this article in the Boston Globe - that maybe a little boredom would be better for our souls.

"If you think of boredom as the prelude to creativity, and loneliness as the prelude to engagement of the imagination, then they are good things," said Dr. Edward Hallowell, a Sudbury psychiatrist and author of the book "CrazyBusy." "They are doorways to something better, as opposed to something to be abhorred and eradicated immediately."

THE DOCTOR IS IN

Dear Dr Sue,

What does it say about a writer when she creates convincing characters who are stronger, smarter, braver or wiser than she is herself? Is this just a case of reach exceeding grasp? I can't help feeling there is something important going on when one of my characters turns out to be a mentor or paradigm for me. If indeed I am writing my own teachers, doesn't that suggest that I already know, at some level, what it is that I need to learn? Maybe I have to come at it sideways in order to see it at all?

Put in the Shade

Dear Shade,

Many intelligent and sensitive writers become accustomed to hiding their originality and brilliance. Our culture, as a whole, tends to reward obedience and conformist thinking, and to fear innovation. We all want to be liked and accepted, so we adapt.

Early on, perhaps a parent or sibling is threatened by the child's precociousness. At school, a lively, inquisitive mind may challenge teachers and earn the child a reputation among schoolmates as a nerd or teacher's pet. And girls often get the message that brains and ambition are incompatible with popularity and attractiveness. In self-defense, the child learns to "dumb down," to dull her sharp and sparkling edges--to present herself as smaller, less intelligent, and less knowledgeable than she is.

In adulthood, the habit of presenting a fake front of normality tends to be reinforced in the workplace. And habits, if not challenged become incorporated into our self-image. We begin to believe that we are the thing we pretend to be.

And so wisdom, originality, and bravery in a character we create can surprise and disorient us. We have forgotten that these qualities originate in us.

Whether such characters have literary merit is for you, your editor, and your readers to decide. In any case, I believe they can provide extremely useful psychological insights.

You may wish to use your journal or morning pages to dialogue with a particularly wise "mentor" of your creation Write out questions, then answer them in character. You may be surprised by what you learn. If the character's wisdom encompasses writing ability, consider inviting her to create or edit a story. In this way, you can begin to own the qualities you endow your characters with, and expand your personal and literary role repertoire.

Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with a New York City-based practice. A fiction writer herself, she specializes in issues affecting writers and other creative artists. Her book,  Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman's Guide to Unblocking Creativity (Seal, 2007) is now available in bookstores. Send your questions to her at Dr.Sue at mindspring dot com.  

The Ad Man Answers #33

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

Last time, the Ad Man brought you Part One of our interview with author Toby Barlow, who created a kick-ass website for his debut novel from HarperCollins, “Sharp Teeth.”

What’s unique about his site is that Toby himself is barely mentioned.  Since he’s is the Executive Creative Director at J.Walter Thompson (Detroit) he knows the advertising business inside and out.  So what was he thinking? The Ad Man asked.

Toby, as someone who's successfully branded clients like Ford, Kleenex, and Welch’s, how do you reconcile not branding "Toby Barlow the author"?  Someone like Michael Crichton has fans that'll pick up his next book, regardless of the topic.  But if your intention is to avoid the traditional author homepage, and only use the web to bring new dimensions to future books, are you running a risk of readers not being as familiar with your name, and not knowing about your other titles?

I'm not that interested in marketing myself. I probably should be, but right now it's the ideas that I'm working on that interest me more than anything. In a paradoxical sense, while the cult of personality ultimately sells a lot of books, it probably adds to the decline of literature because if you're famous you just don't have to try as hard. Michael Crichton is a brilliant guy and each of his books would probably be just that much better if he had to prove himself from scratch every time.

Who shot the "Is Your Dog A Werewolf" video?  I notice it's on YouTube and Amazon.  How else did you disseminate it virally?

I wrote and shot the "Is Your Dog a Werewolf" video driving around to friends houses who have big dogs. I asked a local editorial company called Kinetic to chop it together. They were the ones who really made something of it. We posted it on werewolf groups on Facebook and on MySpace. I think they've probably been viewed a thousand times or so.

Can you share any website traffic statistics that would support an argument that it was worth the expense and effort?

I don't have the numbers, but I am guessing it's been pretty successful as a site. There has been good buzz about it on the web.

How much traditional advertising did you do to support your book launch?

Not a lot. I made some postcards and some business cards that I sent far and wide. Every time I go to a restaurant I am really nice to the staff and I leave a big tip along with one of my Sharp Teeth cards. It's all kind of fun while being simultaneously pathetic. I'm not sure what good print would do. I think you could be pretty foolish with marketing money in this business, the whole industry is just so fractured. Then again, it seems like the publishing business doesn't quite know how to market itself properly. Incredibly enough, it's simultaneously one of the world's oldest businesses and a wild new frontier.

You also did a series of blog ads with Authorbuzz.  Did you find those generated awareness and traffic to your website?

Hard to say. HarperCollins controls the website and I haven't seen the numbers, but the click through rates from the blog ads were strong and sales have been surprisingly good for an epic poem about dogs, so I have to say that every bit helped. Someone once said that 50% of advertising budgets are wasted, you just don't know which 50%. But I'm pretty sure this was a good idea, I certainly don't regret the investment.

Are you and your publisher happy with the book sales thus far?  And if so, how much credit do you attribute to your website?

I am happy with the sales. I think my publisher would prefer a big bestseller, but I think they're pretty happy too. For a debut novel of free verse featuring werewolves to wind up getting as much mainstream attention as this has gotten is, to me, nice and incredible. I don't know how much the site helped, I just tried to make it worthwhile and have fun with it (which is sort of the same thing I did when I was writing the book). In the end, I think the site did what it was supposed to do.

Do you still get free grape juice?

Nope. In my experience, you don't get a lot of free stuff working on accounts. And while I loved working on Welch's, we parted company a little while back. They're good people. I have been really lucky in my career, I love having the chance to work with these amazing brands. Each one is a novel in and of itself. 

Thanks again to Toby for being so generous with his time and not unleashing his werewolves on MJ’s pampered dog.

And now a final question for you readers… which author has your favorite website?  Leave your nominations in the comments below.

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past decade, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, and the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his first mystery, KATZ CRADLE and is currently on submission. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.

Online Fatigue

This article is about Facebook fatigue but I've talked to people who report the same is true on most social networks including the ones devoted to books. People get actively involved early on and then seem to loose interest.

This is something to be aware of when you look at the stats of any social network sites. ... the number of members is cumulative - thousands of members have been inactive for months/years... and equally when these sites report how many emails are sent... that can be deceptive too. I get an email everytime anyone I've ever befriended updates a page but I delete everyone of those emails.... so ads bought in them are wasted on me.

The Virus

This article in FastCompany reports on an author who's gotten some viral attention for a book none of the bloggers have even read-- its not that newsy -- lots of use have attracted 50 or more blogs to talk about our books before they've read them. But what is worth noting is what's happened online with Case 1017.