Authorian Adventures in the Ether

Breaking Even

Our good friend Mr. Webster defines Even as “leaving no balance of debt on either side”.
If we also take his second definition of Breaking “infringing, ignoring, or acting contrary” it would appear that I have acheived balance by acting contrary.  Which is what, at least this maverick, is all about.

Ove the past two weeks I had a flurry of activity in e-book downloads and paperback sales.  When I looked at the balances in my accounts, I discovered that I had earned more profits on my book than I had spent on formatting, editing, and promoting it.

Having reached this accounting milestone by intentionally pursuing a non-traditional publishing route is very gratifying to me.  But I must tell you, that my personal scales are not balanced, instead they remain tipped dramatically in my favor.  Finally telling the story after 40 years of thinking about it,  the 50 to 1 favorable comment ratio and the number of people who told me “I loved it” and “it was like you were in my head” will forever outweigh the cost in dollars of producing the work.

So now that I have recouped all these costs, will I do it again?  Probably not.   Will I tell another story?  Most definitely!  And then another and another, but if you want to read/hear/see them, you’re going to have to embrace these New Media digital technologies, because I intend to contine breaking what most consider even.

A Wiki Wiki in Review

Yesterday I saw Ed Begley Jr on the CBS Sunday Morning Show.  The story was about his commitment to being environmentally concious, but he had a quote from his Father that I though would be  motivational, regardless of your natural awareness. 
His Father told him,
“Don’t tell me what you’re going to do, tell me what you’ve done”.

So let me tell you what I have been doing for the last week or so:

1. Wordpress WordCamp followup: I have sent followup emails to most of  the Worpress contacts I acquired during the August 16th conference. I am asking them for more information on things like optimizing blogs for Search Engines, Setting up a WordCamp in Phoenix and various “plugin” features that can be easily added to our wordpress blogs. 

2. Wiki research:  Wiki is Hawaiian for “quick”.   In internet parlance Wiki has come to represent a quick way to set up a website that can be enhanced, amended and expanded by any user that happens to have something to contribute to the subject.  WikiPedia is the most notable example but check out Wookieepedia for a lesser known use of this collaborative approach to gathering and conveying information.   This week I began work on changing SomeplacElse.tv into a wiki.  What better way to create a truly Utopian community than to have everyone contribute?  It’s not quite ready to be unveiled so staty tuned.

3. 3D ebooks: One of my readers has been having trouble getting their DNAML 3D ebook set up on sharewareebooks. When I investigated, I found that DNAML has decided to release a whole new business model with ”better and easier to deploy Digital Rights Management”.  The original release date was early August, which was changed to August 18th, and is now August 30th.  While I applaud them for their efforts to make things better, those who have been trying to implement under the old model for the past several weeks are having a heck of a time.  I have found hardcopy of my original instructions from last November, so if you need some guidance, I think I can help.

4. Citizen Char : The individual who inspired the Charlene Davis character in Considering SomeplacElse sent me an email a few weeks back asking if she could write a blog using Charlene’s name.  The real Char was very much taken with the heroic deeds of the fictionalized Char and wanted to see if her exotic dancer life could begin to imitate art.  So not only did I give my permission, I set her up with a wordpress blog.  She hasn’t posted for a week or so, but she is in Denver right now, getting ready to cover the Democratic convention.  So take a look! 

5.  PFTF: There won’t be a link until I get the SomplacElse wiki done, but I did complete the script for the pilot episode of Podcasts From the Future.  The story takes place in the year 2020 and features a lone video podcaster trying to decide whether to trust the government and move to a land of plenty or to stick it out and deal with massive shortages of food, water and energy.  

So that was my week. How you “doin”?

Be Qoolity

As a member of the baby boom generation, my media of choice in my young adulthood was Big Black CDs (as my grandaughter calls them), Movies and Television pretty much in that order.  All of these are one way communications devices and, until about 30 years ago, they were highly controlled and, for the most part, rock solid money makers.  We(the U.S.A) even made most of the devices used for play back.  In those days we had a commerical for a manufacturer, I believe it was Zenith, that stated “The Quality goes in before the name goes on” 

Last weekend, I attended WordCamp in San Francisco.  It was a conference for users of Wordpress, the software that drives this Blog.  While I went to learn more about the Wordpress platform, I also went to observe Social Mediators in action.  And in the latter I received the bulk of my education.

Observation 1:  80-90% of the 400+ users and dozen or so presenters in attendance were using Apple computers.

Observation 2: 50-60% of the audience had their computers on and connected through the auditorium’s wireless network.  Apparently FREE WIFI, up most of the time, is EXPECTED for this type of  conference.

Observation 3: Those connected were literally all a “Twitter” throughout every presentation. In other words, they were constantly passing 140 character electronic notes during class.

Observation 4: The presentations were, for the most part, very enlightening.  However, those things that I found of keen interest,( like how to optimize your Blog for Search Engines), were allocated less time than those subjects that seemed to be of little interest to anyone, (like how to swtich to Wordpress from some other Blog software). Though I am sure the 10 or so folks who weren’t already using Wordpress appreciated the information.

Observation 5: Matt Mullenweg, the founder of Wordpress was much more engaging, entertaining and insightful than he was when I saw him at Blog World 2007.

Observation 6: Even free California Barbecue contains nothing to write about…The cornbread was pretty good though.

Observation 7: To this Social Media market, it is more important to get an idea out there, than it is to make sure it works correctly for everyone that embraces it.

Observation 8: PC users can do everything MAC users can do, but it’s just not cool.

Observation 9: The conference cost ONLY $20 and included a WordCamp T-shirt, Lunch, free WiFi and a chance to attend any 12 of the 24 sessions available.  This IS EXTREMELY COOL.

And from these observations comes the primary lesson of the weekend: 
Brand Quality is not the principal concern of Social Mediators.  It’s the Brand itself. 
And while the Brand has to deliver some reasonable INITIAL level of whiz-bang-imaginative-utility, once it’s embraced, the Qoolity goes in AFTER the name goes on.

Innerfacing

Ya, my blog looks different today…let me explain.

Last weekend I went to SF, CA.   SFO is linked directly to BART.  So when I got off the plane, I was determined to take a train ride to downtown San Francisco.  Plentiful signs directed me down corridors and up escalators to the ticket vending machines.  It was 8:45am and the only humans in the area were as dumbfounded as I by the ticketing process.  A paper sign proclaiming it would cost $5.35 to get to Union Square was taped to the machine, but another sign listing all of the train destinations, did not include Union Square.  The readout on the ticket machine warned that it did not make change, and directed us to another machine that only made change.
I swiped my credit card and the ticketing machine told me I would be charged 20 dollars, I canceled the transaction and turned to the person behind me asking if she knew how this worked.  “No” she said “but I’ll give it a try.”  She swiped her card and saw the same 20 dollar charge, but before she could cancel another patron told us “just push the minus buttons until you get to $5.35″.  ”OH” we cried, “it doesn’t vend tickets by destination, it vends by amount and each destination is a different amount”.

ALL we had to do, was press the minus one dollar button 15 times, then press the minus 5 cents button 13 times, then press the print single ticket button and we would have our trip to downtown.  A review of the destination chart showed that $5.35 would get us to the Powell Street Station…ergo, that must be downtown.

Now, I don’t know who came up with this approach to buying train tickets, but they most certainly brought a different perspective to the process.  And they can’t really be faulted for designing a system that, to them, seemed perfectly logical.  The real culprits here are the folks that approved the design. Were they so afraid of appearing to be stupid, that none of them dared say, “Hey, I don’t get it”?

Now that I know the trick, the next time I ride the Bay Area Rapid Transit, I’ll know what to do.  This doesn’t make it a good design, I just learned how to interact with it.

This brings us to the changes in my blog.  The reason I went to SF was to attend a conference on Wordpress, the software that powers this website.  It was an excellent conference and one of the things they preached constantly was to stay up to date with the latest version.  So, as soon as I got back, I upgraded to version 2.6.1.  Everything went smoothly with the upgrade until I brought the site back up.  All of my links to “Works of Heart”, “Considerations” and “Considerables” had vanished.

Further, there was no apparent way to fix my previous layout (it’s called a theme in Wordpress).  So I pressed the minus dollar button 12 times(aka reviewed a dozen or so other themes that would restore my links), then hit the minus 5 cents button about 6 times(aka replaced the default graphics with mine) and voila, a new look to my website. 

I’n not sure it’s as good as the previous design, but at least I fixed so YOU don’t have to relearn any interactions.

Check back tomorrow, I’ve got lots to tell you this week!

Ultramodern Chinese PROverbs

On Friday I watched the Chinese present one of the most symbolic and meaningful displays of true Olympic spirit EVER by focusing the world’s attention on what can be accomplished if thousands act in harmony.
No one was leading the drummers. There were no marks on the floor to define where the tai-chi circles were to be created. All of the majesty was acheived by individuals being aware of their surroundings, their neighbors and the role they were meant to play.
It required months if not years of dedicated practice to achieve this vision, to say nothing of the individual and collective commitment of resources. And while technology played a role in this triumphant spectacle, no machine could ever duplicate what these human beings were able to enact.
As Authors and New Media Publishers we would be wise to remember these lessons from the Bird’s Nest, and ensure there is more to our work than the mere quest for gold.

The Is of a Writer

I took my wife to Vegas this weekend for her brithday. Every so often I set aside my to do list for a few moments to let Melinda know how much I appreciate her. I know, it’s not often enough. So, when it comes to her birthday, I try to focus all my energy into some unique demonstration of my love and affection. But that’s another story for a different blog.

Today I wanted to tell you writers about the other way I struck it rich in Vegas. The town is so full of stories and characters just waiting for the right person to come along and collect, the odds are you will stumble upon a wealth of creative impulse if you are willing to risk paying a little attention.

There sitting across the old-school-still-serving-a-gambler’s-special restaurant were three characters, right out of your next book:
One, the ancient relic of a gold prospector come to celebrate the memory of his big strike,
The second an aged symbol of the 60’s gambler still wearing the Sinatra hat “the Chairman of the Board” had thrown into the audience after a show,
and the third a slick suited, manicured, pit boss with a large diamond stick pin holding his white tie in place against his black shirt.
Ah, I can’t wait to imagine the stories these three are going to tell me.

Quite literally on the other side of the strip was nouveau Vegas. Hundreds of petite and not so petite girls and women revealing as much as they possibly could in an attempt to rub, shall we say, elbows with Saudi (or otherwise endowed) Prince Charming while, shall we say, dancing to the throbbing beat of e-music at Club Hookup. As someone who came of age in the early 60s, I simply marvel at what has become socially acceptable, even in Vegas.
This trip I also witnessed the downside of “trolling”. When I left for the airport at 7:00am on Sunday there in the Mirage casino, slumped over a row of nickel slot machines were four young ladies, still in their little black dresses, looking anything but crisp and desperately waiting for the topless pool to open so they could sleep it off.

On the way to the airport, I learned about the mob-like Vegas cab business controlled by 9 men. Somehow, these capo di tutti cabi are still able to take 50% of all the fares and incentivize their drivers to direct riders to their various other enterprises, IF the driver needs to make more money.

That’s how I saw it. Your eyes may focus on something else, but you really need to look at Vegas as an enormous virtual library of tales quite ready for you to check them out.

Drilling for Ink

I’ve “scene” it a hundred times. The soldiers gather anxiously for mail call and when the looks of dejection appear on their faces, a drill sergeant shouts “Ya gotta writem to getem!”

It’s the same thing with Social Networking and Publicity. So, we’re going to do this by the numbers, and explain to you in very simple terms two, absolutely free, ways for YOU to whip your PR campaigns into shape.

1. HAROism
I came across a link to Help A Reporter Out while I was perusing the blog of Publicist Barbara Rozgonyi. The HARO site is a brilliant piece of networking simplicity. You join the site as a person seeking to provide information and/or as a reporter seeking to gather information. Then three times a day, Peter Shankman, the sites founder, sends the providers of information an email with queries from the seekers of information. There is no categorization or pigeon-holing of requests, Peter just sends out a list of everything the reporters are looking for and leaves it to the providers to determine if they can intelligently provide the requested perspective.

I signed up as a provider about three months ago. I usually find one or two queries a week that I feel qualified to comment on and, so far, I have been interviewed in 4 different articles. Once, they sent a photographer out to get shots of me walking to my day job, writing in my home office and showing off my grid connected solar panels.

As a writer I have found Peter’s service a great way to garner the attention of opinion formers merely by providing my email address and responding to the occasional query. I have also put out a few queries of my own allowing me to gather much needed information and contacts from expertise seeking an outlet.

2. eBroadcast Media Empire
As an author I tend to value the written word above all other forms of communication. But the simple fact of the matter is the vast majority of the current marketplace is much more likely to watch and listen than to read.
Fortunately for all of us Danielle Hampson recognizes this conundrum and provides a FREE forum for authors to broadcast their image and message to the world. You will find no better media value than a stint on The Authors Show or any one of Danielle’s other produtions.

Now drop and give me twenty…minutes of effort to get your story out there!

Comic Cons and Prose

This week San Diego will host some 125,000 people attending, Comic Con 2008. No one seems to mind that the politically correct term is now Graphic Novel. But then Graphic Con does not connote the real sense of whimsy that surrounds this event. On the other hand this is a serious market populated by a large and serious base that far exceeds the fraction of the fanatics that are lucky enough to attend. Many television and movie stars are expected to make appearances as there is widespread recognition of the marketing power inherent in this gathering.

This past weekend “The Dark Night” spread his wings and engulfed the masses shattering Box Office records. Much like the show in San Diego, this movie attracted its share of Jokers dressing the part, but there were also many more less extroverted consumers paying for their shot at simple summer escape.

I, apparently having no will of my own, found myself taking three of my Grandchildren to the market that targeted their need for simple entertainment, “Space Chimps“. This while my 30 something son, his wife and his in-laws took a chance on “Mama Mia” and my wife and youngest daughter were caught up in the dreamy good Knight.

So riddle me this marketers of the written word:
What is it that brings so many people of vastly diverse backgrounds to San Diego dressed as Heroes and Villians? Why does the 7th(or maybe it’s the 8th) movie about the Cape Crusader and the third rerun of Batman vs Joker attract $o much attention? How can Pierce Brosnan’s singing be associated with the #2 Box Office haul of the weekend? And why, OH WHY, did I have to sit through Space Chimps?

iRonically Delicious

Several months ago, I signed books at the Fountain Hills Book Festival in Arizona. I arrived about a half hour before the event began and witnessed dozens of people already forming a line in anticpation of Joe Gargiola’s arrival.
So it came as no surprise to me that when I arrived at this weekend’s Hollywood Book festival 90 minutes early, a much larger line had already formed in anticpation of another celebrity appearance.

The event was held at the Grove at Farmer’s Market in Hollywood. It is a gorgeous open air venue set along a cobblestone pedestrian-only street lined with upscale shops, restaruants and alcoves. A small park shaded by lush California foilage lies at one end(the site of our book festival) with an orignal LA farmers market anchoring the other.

We had been told not to show up prior to 9:00am, so my wife and I walked to the Farmer’s Market and enjoyed the ambiance, tastes, smells and old fashioned character of an outdoor breakfast nestled amongst dozens of refreshingly unique ethnic foods and vendors.

After breakfast we headed toward Registration. The “celebrity” line now stretched the length of the Grove’s main street. Who were they waiting for? Surely the grand prize winner of this festival would not garner this much attention. Had the organizers found some celebrity author to maximize attendance? Was that Ron Howard in hat and sunglasses ducking into the back door of Barnes and Noble?

As authors we, more than anyone, should appreciate irony. Therefore, it seems only fitting that at our festival honoring the written word “a manner of organizing so as to give full expression to contradictory impulses and attitudes” should literally upstage our efforts.

I smiled broadly when I saw the source of this massive interest…An Apple at the Farmer’s market was going to easily outsell all our books. On this day, the buggy next generation iPhone would gross more buzz than the collective works of all the authors being promoted by the Hollywood Book Festival.

We are in a different marketplace my friends. We are competing against all products that will occupy the time and interest of the consumer. I traded t-shirts for email addresses, was awarded the number 1 Display Table (right next to the cashier) and gave away my “Brain on Books” poster. For this, I sold many more books than I ever expected to sell. But more importantly, I finished 2nd or maybe 3rd in stopping traffic behind the fruit of Steve Jobs and the publisher giving away autographed samples of their wares.

All things considered, it was a Delicious expereince.

Watch Out!

Five of my six Grandkids now proudly proclaim that they can tell time.(the sixth just turned one, we’ll cut him some slack). I then inquire “What do you tell it?” To which they turn to their parents and say, “Grampa’s doing it again”.

Yes, Grampa is doing what Grampa does, asking them to think about the words they use. In this case it even goes a bit deeper than that. Ever since my kids were taught how to read the hands on a clock I have been asking the question, “Why?” What value is there in using this ancient display mechanism to “tell time”? Most of their teachers argued that with digital displays being so common place, kids could no longer read a traditional clock. “So?” I would ask. To which they would look at my wife and say “He’s doing it again”.

In the 60s there was a song by a quite harmonius group called The Association. The lyric from that song now etched into my psyche is “I took off my watch and found I had all the time in the world”. 5 years ago, I did just that. I took off my digital watch and stopped letting time tell me what to do. It’s been an interesting experience. Now when someone asks me “Do you have the time?” I can always answer “Yes”.

Last weekend I found the time to write the first draft of my pilot script for “Considering SomeplaElse: Podcasts from the Future”. For those of you who speak texting, it’s CSE or PFTF. I also watched olympic trials, fireworks, most of the Burn Notice Marathon (GREAT SHOW!), a few key episodes of the twilight zone, went to a 4th of July pool party(can’t be outside in Phoenix for more than 5 minutes unless you are, at least, knee deep in water), built a mosaic backsplash, went grocery shopping, shipped books to Barnes and Noble for an upcoming festival in Hollywood, AND completed the design of the “Read Books” Poster I am going to unveil this coming weekend. I accomplished all this without a timepiece strapped to my wrist and without ever watching time pass through the hands of a clock.

I know, I’m doing it again. I also know that some people need to measure time precisely in their work, like the time keepers at the Olympic trials. If you are one of those people, you need a very accurate time piece, that is easy to read and capable of measuring to hundreths or even thousandths of a second. A set of three hands on a clock face are not really going to be an optimum solution for you, even if you were taught this was the way to “know what time it is”. But if you just want a pretty traditional clock to carry around, you don’t need a watch…you need a Look.