Posts from — February 2008

From Dude Goes What

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E-mail from client:

ASAP. Send versions and copies of the investor presentations [sic] project. My hard drive crashed, and all the work it [sic] gone. I’m fucked.

My reply:

You never copied me on your edit or rework of my material. It was extensive. Also, you never sent me the data or charts as I asked. I don’t have copies of that material either.

My client is hosed.

I carefully save my work. First, I write it long hand so I always have a physical copy. It’s also just a better way to write.

I edit on a MacBookPro. That work is synced locally using a Mac Mini and also copied remotely.

I found one thing with this set up that is mesmerizing. When I screen share to my Mac Mini, I can then screen share back to my MacBookPro. This screen share of a screen share is like nested mirrors reflecting to infinity.

Changes in the foreground slowly tumble back down each reflection eventually lost in the distance.

Too many people told me to:

Practice what I preach

Eat my own cooking

Strut my stuff

Take one for the team

As every school boy knows: do as I say, not as I do. Let sleeping dogs lie.

To make a long story short, I say, “Damn the torpedoes. I will make my bed, and I will sleep in it.”

As my mother would reply, “What does that have to do with the price of eggs?”

——
Last week, I started Dude Goes What - http://dudegoeswhat.com:

I tell my clients, “Your life is interesting. Let’s write about that.”

“What?”

“You’re just scared. You hide behind your art. Go show yourself. It’ll help your business dramatically.”

“You first.”

“My life is boring.”

“You first. Or are you scared?”

“You’re a stubborn ass. I’m not funny. You’re funny.”

“Everybody funny. Now you funny, too.”

Dude Goes What.

E-Mail: tom.b.reeves [AT] gmail
Twitter: @tombreeves
Twitter: @dudegoeswhat

Eating a ruben sandwich with sauerkraut,
Don’t stop now, baby,
Let it all hang out.
- The Hombres

Neil Gaiman keeps a regular blog. It’s great reading for his legions of fans and for authors who wonder about the value of the web. His blog celebrated its 7th birthday yesterday.

In that time, he posted more than 1 million words. Although that is a big time commitment, I would speculate the effort helped his writing as much as it slowed him down.

Now for the interesting part. To quote:

One thing we’ve decided to do, as a small celebratory birthday thing is, initially for a month, make a book of mine available online, free, gratis and for nothing.

Which book, though…? Ah, that’s up to you.

He is running a poll this week. The winning book with be “out there, online, for free.” I’ll post the link when the free book is available.

A free book is quite an offer. He’ll gain hundreds of new RSS subscribers as a consequence. He consistently recruits an audience who feels connected to him because of his blog and who are much more likely to purchase the new book, movie, or comic simply because of that connection.

Direct Creative Blog had a post today about the above YouTube video. I loved the video. First, credit to Direct Creative.

Harlan Ellison gets very angry. He uses several bad words. It’s a great interview. Some money quotes:

“Everybody else may be an asshole, but I’m not. I said, “By what right would you call me and ask me to work for nothing? Do you get a paycheck?”

then,

Harlan Ellison: “How dare you call me and want me to work for nothing?”
PR Hack: “Well it would be good publicity.”
Harlan Ellison: “Lady, tell that to someone a little older than you who has just fallen off the turnip truck.”

then,

“They always want you to work for nothing.”

I know that my clients have an easier time paying for 2,000 words of worthless drivel than 200 words of tight prose that says more, says it better, and is actually worth the going rate.

I think Harlan Ellison knows that, too.

Too much choice can paralyze. Send a tired person into Borders for a half hour and he will scan a bunch of stuff, feel fatigued and overwhelmed, and walk out with nothing except a newspaper and the vague urge to return later.

Dr. Barry Schwartz, in his exceptional TED presentation, explains the paradox of choice (also, the title of his book on this subject). His warns that too much choice:

1. Creates paralysis, which is the decision not to buy any CD out of the thousands for sale, and

2. Destroys satisfaction, because a choice however perfect, suffers if compared against too many alternatives.

Dr. Schwartz’s ideas further illustrate how too much choice destroys satisfaction:

1. Regret and anticipated regret: this CD is good, but I know there was a better one that I didn’t buy.

2. Opportunity cost: maybe what I really wanted was a book.

3. Escalating expectations: with so many choices, I’m sure one must be awesome.

4. Self blame: since I picked a CD that was only good, I made a mistake and could have picked a better one.

In Almost Famous, Lester Bangs actually addresses the issue of choice. To quote:

Here’s a theory for you to disregard completely. Music, you know true music, not just Rock & Roll, chooses you. It lives in your car, or alone listening to your head phones, with the vast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain. It’s a place apart from the vast, benign laugh of America.

In aggregate, the contents of a near-by Borders is Lester Bang’s vast, benign laugh of America. A person is lost there. A fan, someone for whom the music has been chosen, is apart from that consequence of too much choice, that laughing vastness.

How can an author or musician change his relationship with that person walking into Borders?

Dennis Hope, the new band manager for Stillwater, recognizes the answer when he agrees (“truly, respectfully”) with Russell Hammond’s statement, “it’s not about the money, it’s about music and turning people on.”

Turning people on. Creating relationships. Or to again quote Seth Godin, “turning strangers into friends and friends into customers.”

How? Drip on people. How? Web sites are extraordinary tools for this interplay of permission and dripping. Readers choose to go to a web site. They volunteer, and should be rewarded. Seth coaxes out minor permission and then nurtures that slim focus to a broader relationship.

On Seth’s web site, he creates timely commentary and fresh thinking. He’ll point out other interesting work. It’s a place where he and his readers recognize a mutual interest. He turns web surfers into audience members.

And when he has a new book, he can explain its value calmly and succinctly without distraction, without the presence of alternatives. He has eliminated the paradox of choice. Instead he can say, “there are four reasons my book is great, would you like to buy it?”

That question is a yes/no question. It is simple choice without the explicit challenges that Dr. Schwartz details above. That is a powerful change. It’s good for the audience. It’s good for the author.

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Comments on Almost Famous:

When Lester Bangs and William Miller first talk, they are walking up a hill. Because, well, William has a hill to climb, yet.

Lester Bangs describes the record labels constant efforts to glorify rock stars as the “Industry of Cool.” Doesn’t walking into Borders or browsing Amazon feel kind of like going to Coolapalooza?

———
This concludes Part 6 of:

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

Earlier Parts:
The Halo Effect
Merlin mann Is Emily Rugburn
All Halo Merlin Mann
Feather Boas, Yeah!
Enter A New Manager: Seth Godin

A few of my clients are active in the current political campaigns. The mad scramble of the past week turned into a mad scramble for my time.

For clients on retainer, I offer expedited service - the ability to demand my time on rush, critical, last minute projects. For this service, I charge an expedited (read: high) hourly rate. I was expedited to the point of little sleep during this past week. Wow!

I completed five large writing projects, and several smaller ones for three separate campaigns. Total word count - 20,000. For perspective, I typically average 500 words per hour of tight prose. That effort interrupted my Almost Famous essay and virtually everything else.

With so much passion, wishful thinking, and sleep deprivation affecting my clients, I need an objective marker of the campaigns and the state of politics. For that, the political futures market at the University of Iowa are immensely useful.

According to last night’s prices:

Obama - 54% chance of the democratic nomination.
Clinton - 44% chance of the democratic nomination.

Democrat elected president - 59%.

I was talking with a friend who is a Spider Robinson fan and an aspiring SF Writer. He tipped me to the information at the end of Spider Robinson’s latest podcast.

Spider Robinson, with 25 books in print, has a long-standing, well-established fan base. He solicited donations for his podcasts. According to his calculations, direct donations provide $2 per hour of compensation.

Undiscussed is the conflict between entitlement and reciprocity.

If I buy a book, the author gets his share (not a fair share, but that is another discussion). He wrote, I bought and read. Transaction closed. I might be a fan now, but I am not entitled to a second book.

What if I listen to Spider’s podcast, and decide to buy Variable Star, a book he co-authored with the deceased Robert A. Heinlein, a real life testament to the power of SF? Again, Spider wrote, I bought and read. Transaction closed.

But what about his gift of a free podcast. Was buying another Spider Robinson book appropriate compensation? Perhaps. But if the podcast provided value, shouldn’t I honor it the same way I am compelled to honor the effort he takes to write a book. The difference is I can freeload.

I believe I have the responsibility to pay for the podcast even if I buy a second book. Two separate transaction.

Also, I try to buy books from the author’s web page so that they earn an affiliate royalty which often is larger than the payment for writing the book.

—
My friend’s usual lament is, “I know I can be better than Cory Doctorow.” He won’t show me much of his writing, so I cannot handicap that comparison. But at $2 per hour for a reasonable SF author, maybe it’s time to pick a different genre or job. Or get around the we-take-92% book publishers.

“I can’t wait for Little Brother. I’ll write circles around that.” Wishful thinking, to be sure.

I don’t think Cory is worried yet. See Cory’s full catalog.

Remember: Doctor Who? Doctor Oh!
—
The plug for Spider Robinson’s podcast, found conveniently on iTunes:

2/01/08 - Mindkiller
© 2008 Spider Robinson

In Spider on the Web #20 (Stories and Strings) I read you excerpts from all three of the novels represented in the LIFEHOUSE TRILOGY, the new hardcover omnibus just out from Baen Books. Because I was reading excerpts from all three books each one of them had to be very short and I ended up cutting at least one of them a lot shorter than I wanted to. I’ve decided to revisit it now: the short story “God is an Iron”, which later became the second chapter of the novel MINDKILLER. Musical selections will be performed by Spider Robinson. WARNING! Explicit language!

The Halo Effect is one part branding, two parts permission seeking, and many parts authenticity. The Halo Effect is the means of brightening your presence in the minds of your audience so that when you have something you want them to buy, they are maximally disposed to purchase. It’s what Merlin Mann does so well. We’ll talk more about Merlin later.

Instead, one more scene from Almost Famous:

Dick Roswell, Band Manager: Well, it seems the rumors were true, the record company has sent a big time manager here to try to talk you into replacing me. His name is Dennis Hope. I know you’ve all heard of him. He’s got all the big bands. And he’s outside right now, and he wants 5 minutes with you. And I, well, I think we’ve got to do this.

Russell Hammond: Well send him in.

Jeff Bebe: Yeah. Bring him in. We’ll send him out on a rail.

Seth Godin is the Dennis Hope of my story. He has a great body of work that provides significant insight into how an artist leverage the web. Seth Gogin is my replacement. I was just the old friend and hack band manager.

The Dennis Hope scene continues:

Russell Hammond: We already have a manager. [Thanks for the support]

Dennis Hope: Respectfully. We all have our roots. I believe in bands holding on to their roots. Those roots need to be augmented. Your manager here, needs a manager. [Unfortunately, I do]

Seth Godin wrote the book, Permission Marketing. Its subtitle is, “turning strangers into friends and friends into customers.” Doesn’t that sound exactly what a band or an author should do? I will quote the book for this piece. Please do me and Seth the courtesy of buying it. Here is the link on Seth’s website.

As if requested, he updated his blog with a summary of Permission Marketing. A quote:

Permission is like dating. You don’t start by asking for the sale at first impression. You earn the right, over time, bit by bit.

One of the key drivers of permission marketing, in addition to the scarcity of attention, is the extraordinarily low cost of dripping to people who want to hear from you. RSS and email and other techniques mean you don’t have to worry about stamps or network ad buys every time you have something to say. Home delivery is the milkman’s revenge… it’s the essence of permission.

Seth Godin is Dennis Hope, and he has chartered a plane.

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Some points on Almost Famous.

Jeff Bebe is the frontman of Stillwater, and therefore the frontman for Rock & Roll. He greets Dennis Hope by remaining prone on the couch. He won’t even sit up. Dennis gives his awesome permission seeking, “respectfully” speech, a stirring affirmation of the power of professional management. By the end, Jeff Bebe has fully sat up. He expresses complete agreement with Dennis Hope even if it means abandoning Dolores, their bus - the home and soul of the band.

Dennis Hope gets them to abandon Dolores, which is brilliant:

dolorous |ˈdōlərəs|
adjective poetic/literary
feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress.

———
This concludes Part 5 of:

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

Earlier Parts:
The Halo Effect
Merlin mann Is Emily Rugburn
All Halo Merlin Mann
Feather Boas, Yeah!