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Being Alain Miles

May 11, 2011 in Marketing | 5 comments

Cowardly Lion

Read your horoscope today? Nor me. That stuff we read in the papers is all a load of nonsense, isn’t it? But sun signs? Believing that our personalities are shaped by astrological forces? That’s another matter entirely. I’m a believer.

In my early years I had no idea I was a Leo. Timid, introverted, lacking self-confidence, cautious, I was a disgrace to my sign. Not that I’m blaming myself. Astrology wasn’t the sort of thing we talked about in our house. It wasn’t till my mid-teens that I first got my hands on Old Moore’s Almanack. I remember slipping it between the pages of Playboy so my mother wouldn’t find it.

The pleasure I had in those secret moments with old Moore. Again and again I thumbed his pages, shivering with excitement as I re-read my destiny. I was King of the Beasts, a born leader, a creator, a giver and receiver of love and affection, a pleasure-seeker. And I liked the mane. Other boys my age wanted to be an astronaut, a pop star, an accountant. Not me. I wanted to be a Leo.

It took me a lifetime of dedication to get there. At first I was a Cowardly Lion, but when everyone was out of the house I shut myself in the cupboard under the stairs and practised roaring. Soon I began to overcome my fear and doubt; I learnt to lead and I was never wrong. I fought the status quo unceasingly, intolerantly. And now I feel I’m a true Leo. I’m not perfect of course: still today I wonder whether I’m sufficiently regal and pompous. But whenever anyone asks to see my profile, I just refer them to Traditional Leo Traits.

As with Leo, so with Alain. I wasn’t always a proper Alain – in fact, I wasn’t an Alain at all. For years I floated quite happily through life, perfectly content with the Alan Miles brand. Until I came to publish my first novel. And then, to my horror, Google told me that I wasn’t Alan Miles at all. Or if I was, then I already had several books in print, and I had a face that wasn’t at all the one I remembered. I checked the mirror. No, I was right: I wasn’t blond and my nose was more … aquiline. So then I called my mother. Had she been keeping a terrible secret from me?

- Oh that’s good. So you don’t have to write books any more then? And you can go back to your proper job?

Thanks Mum.

I did some more checking and it got worse. There was another A Miles writing too. Writing diet books. Now, it’s true that I have been thinking about writing ‘Cooking For Me And My Dog’ – recipes we both enjoy. But a diet book!? It hardly sounds like me. Lions don’t diet.

So what to do? I suppose pistols at dawn could have been a possibility. But remembering my positive experiences as a born-again Leo, I decided that the best thing was to be a born-again Alan. Now if you’ve ever been born or reborn, you’ll probably remember that one of the highlights is getting a new name. And that’s exactly what happened. I was a born-again Alain.

Why Alain? Well, many people think it’s French. Just the other day, a reviewer was discussing my dialog style – my refusal to use quotation marks – and concluded it was some kind of “French thing”. Actually it’s because after years of faithful service in my garden office, my computer has a few dead insects trapped under the screen, so when I have scenes full of dialog, it can get very difficult to read: is that punctuation or an insect? Since I can’t get rid of the insects, I decided to get rid of the speech marks. But if thinking of me as French makes readers happy, adds a little je ne sais quoi to the writing, then it’s a myth I’m happy to build on.

But the truth is that Al Ain is a city in the United Arab Emirates, a country that has happy associations for me. I considered other cities there too: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, even Ras Al Khaimah Miles, but none of them had quite the ring I wanted. And besides, I think I might have some kind of metaphorical affinity with Al Ain too: an oasis city, stuck in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by desert.

So Alain it was. A new life as a writer, and with my new nom de plume, a new identity. Following in the footsteps of the greats: George Eliot, George Orwell, Mark Twain and Pimbo. But even for a Leo – strong-willed, positive, independent, self-confident, with no such a word as doubt in my vocabulary, this hasn’t been easy. To become the new person, I need to eradicate all traces of the old: just try telling Facebook and LinkedIn that you’ve become someone else. Or your mother. Or your spouse. (This wasn’t so bad: she said she was pleased.)

I spent the whole day yesterday being Alain and leaving Alan behind. I launched the Alain Miles author page on Facebook, rebranded myself in LinkedIn, retitled the blog, created an alainmiles.com domain. There’s just one problem: I might be a fraud. Facebook is certainly suspicious. Before they’ll allow me to ‘claim’ my page, 25 people have to ‘Like’ it. Not see it, not read it, but actually Like it. What if it never happens? I could be left in limbo for the rest of my natural days, neither the Alan I’ve renounced, nor the Alain I intend to be, just a figment of my own imagination ….

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If you’d like to help me out of author purgatory, please Like the Alain Facebook page.

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A Wedding, a Politican, and the Pursuit of Happiness

April 25, 2011 in The TwitFace Project | 1 comment



I’m beginning to wonder whether this week’s Royal Wedding in the UK is one of the most audacious feats of political skulduggery ever.

My suspicions were alerted when I saw a headline in the Daily Telegraph this morning.

Archbishop of Canterbury hails plan to measure national happiness

It wasn’t the normal Easter address from the head of the Anglican Church, calling on Christians to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. Instead Dr Williams used the occasion to praise Prime Minister David Cameron’s proposal to replace GDP with GWB (= General Well-Being) as the primary indicator of the nation’s progress.

And then he called on us to celebrate the union between our future Defender of the Faith and his Kate, proclaiming ‘Let a thousand street parties blossom!’

Is it only your TwitFace correspondent who has noticed that hard on the heels of The Wedding – just a week later, when we’ll probably still be trying to find our shoes before we stagger home from the party – comes one of the defining moments in our political history? What defining moment? You’d forgotten? May 5th is the date set for our referendum on AV, the Alternative Vote, possibly changing the way we elect our politicians.

Every time I turn on the TV, I hear people talking about street parties. And what parties they’ll be! Starting on Friday, running all weekend, and continuing on Monday, MayDay. How do I read the timing of The Wedding and this incessant call for partying? Surely it must be an elaborate collusion between Church, State, Monarchy and Media to ensure that not a single person votes in the referendum? ‘Politics – blah! Pass me the Alka-Seltzer.’

A conspiracy? But of course. After all, AV goes against everything our Big Society stands for. The current system is monogamous: a voter chooses a single politician and pledges loyalty. But AV – ranking the candidates on a list – is designed to encourage open relationships with multiple partners. Some would call it a loosening of our moral standards. Some would say that at best it’s a ‘least worst’ electoral system.

Ever since he was hustled into his shotgun marriage with Nick Clegg, it’s been clear that Mr Cameron has regretted his vow to put AV to the public vote. And now I see that the Royal Wedding is simply a plan to scupper the referendum.

Some would call this plan devious – evil even – but not me. I’m full of admiration. It’s been brilliantly conceived, carefully concealed, and skilfully executed. And I’m sure that our Prime Minister will take no pleasure in the thought of those millions of people waking up with a headache after a week of partying, far away from their polling-station, and trying to remember why May 5th was important. I’m confident that his motives are exemplary because he’s a forward-thinker and a democrat. How else could you interpret his quest for General Well-Being?

I’m convinced that, like me, the PM realizes none of the current proposals for electoral reform address the fundamental flaws in our democracy. Which isn’t democratic. He’s done his sums, I’m sure. He’ll know that even when a candidate secures a 50% majority, the voting turnout is rarely more than 70%. What does that tell us? That there will always be a majority of people who either actively oppose the winning candidate – or could care less. Surely there must be a better way.

And of course, there is.

Tell me how many people in your household voted in the last national election? How many in the last local election?

Now tell me how many people in your household use one of the social networks – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, for a start? And how many of them have registered a vote for something they’ve Liked in the last 24 hours?

No contest, is it? You may have exercised your chance to vote in an election once every few years. But here on the web we do it several times a day. The beauty of it is that we don’t even have to read more than a few words. As soon as we see a smart headline or a face we recognize, all we need to do is click on the ‘Like’ button. Surely that’s how democracy was always supposed to work!

It’s only unfortunate that having reached this conclusion, Mr Cameron then commissioned a quango – the Office for National Statistics – to carry out a £2 million, 9-month research project to give him the answers he already knew. I know! I know! Old habits die hard.

But with respect, Prime Minister, may I suggest that the time for action is now – or at the latest May 6th – the day after nobody has voted in the referendum. Close down the Office for National Statistics immediately, demonstrating your firm yet even-handed control of the nation’s purse-strings, and implement these reforms. The country will thank you.

1. Abolish elections

Let the people’s representatives be those who garner the best support in the social media. Those who are most followed, most Liked. Or perhaps you could use The Independent‘s clever algorithm, which ranks Twitter users by Authority, Audience and Activity.

With your 1 million plus Twitter followers, you need have no fear for your own seat, but abolition would result in the de-selection of almost all sitting MPs. At a stroke, you’d remove the lingering public suspicion of expense-mongering. And instead of Vince Cable, Ed Balls, Theresa May for company, you’d have Stephen Fry, Russell Brand, Rio Ferdinand … luminaries whose voices and opinions the people really trust.

Think of the change as a move away from end-of-year exams and toward continual assessment.

2. Abolish campaign funding

Approximately £67 million was spent on campaign funding in the UK during the 2010 election year, money that could be usefully diverted to other urgent social causes (such as my upcoming sequel to “The Social Network” – “Birdman of Folsom Street“).

Not one of The Independent’s influencers owes their position to external funding. Surely this must also increase public confidence in the integrity of our representatives.

3. Abolish parliament

My proposal is actually that we should restrict political statements to sentences of not more than 140 characters. Twitter has shown how completely unnecessary longer utterances are, and it provides the perfect platform for debate. I had a concern that replacing parliament with Twitter might lead to a devaluation of content, but research from Pear Analytics shows that in fact, the two forums are virtually indistinguishable. Analyzing Twitter content over a 2-week period in 2009, Pear organized tweets into 6 categories:

  • Pointless babble – 40%
  • Conversational – 38%
  • Pass-along value – 9%
  • Self-promotion – 6%
  • Spam – 4%
  • News – 4%


4. Sell off the Houses of Parliament

Since our representatives will communicate in cyberspace, there’s no further requirement for a property which occupies a prime development site in the heart of London on the bank of the Thames. No longer will Members need to maintain a second home in London (no more expenses scandals!), and the money raised from the sale could also be used to support my film.

5. Re-brand democracy.

The public is tired of hearing the same call to action for over 150 years – ‘One man, one vote’. That’s why turnout is often so low in elections: people expect different these days, people expect more. My suggestion is ‘One man, 104,000 Likes’.

The number has been carefully calculated. In a single week, each person would be allowed a maximum of 2000 Likes, in my view perfectly sufficient to express a point of view. More than that, and there’s a danger that campaign farms could be set up by candidates eager to wield influence, persuading followers to Like them day and night.

I’m not quite comfortable with ‘One man’. It cleverly builds on the original campaign, but perhaps we should make it clear that women have the Like too. Your suggestions would be welcome.

I’m quite certain that Mr Cameron’s thinking will be far in advance of mine. That’s what you’d expect from a man who has stated that the National Well-Being scheme should ‘lead to government policy that is more focused not just on the bottom line, but on all those things that make life worthwhile’. That he wants Britain to be ‘in the vanguard’ of efforts around the world to change the accepted measures of national progress ‘rather than following meekly behind’.

But he needs our support. So if you believe this plan could reawaken the public’s interest in tired old politics and politicians, then please click on the Like button below. Remember that in Egypt, it took only a month for social media activists to transform the political landscape. With your help, Mr Cameron could do the same.

Recent posts in The TwitFace Project:

Entertrainment
14 Ways To Make Friends With Americans

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7 Way To Engage Readers

April 24, 2011 in Reflections | 1 comment

Here’s a post from a year back on reader engagement. It’s a little dated – who remembers Tony Blair and Brangelina now? – but the advice still holds. Maybe I should re-read it too.

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Fame Costs - Book cover

This is the book I’ve been reading lately. Bet you didn’t think I was into that kind of thing. To be honest, nor did I, when Lena set it down next to the computer a couple of weeks back.

- It was only 20p at the stall in the market.

- Was it?

- Thought it might give you a few ideas.

Uh-oh. Been spending too much time on the damned book recently and not paying enough attention. So she buys me a Mills & Boon. Why didn’t she just say something?

- Look here – under the smiley man. ‘A true story of the author’s struggle to break into print.’ Useful?

- Um, yeah. Maybe.

Humour her.

 

Fame Costs is the true story of F.T.Unwin – or Pimbo, as he liked to call himself. He was from these parts, a Cambridge man, and it was Cambridge he wrote about. Not the university town. Not the tourist town. His books were full of stories of the people who have always lived here, and probably always will. Sentimental, nostalgic stuff. ‘He was, undoubtedly, an awful writer – which is all part of his naive charm’, that’s how he was remembered recently. Not much to appeal to today’s reader.

Unless that reader happened to be me.

Pimbo had a life-long ambition to be a writer, paid for writing courses, submitted to magazines, and after 30 years of rejections decided to go it alone with his first novel, using a vanity publisher. He managed to place a few copies in local shops, did some signings, and sold less than 100 books. So what to do with his stock?

Here’s what. He gets on the bus with a bagful of books, heads for one of the outlying villages, and starts selling door-to-door. Sets himself a small target every day and doesn’t take the journey home till he’s hit the target. Writes in the morning, gets the bus in the afternoon. He’s around 60 years old.

The first year was hard, but he began to attract attention, with a little press and radio coverage. Then it was local TV. Pimbo did it his own way. He was a character.

And the next year, when he took his new book on the same routes, people remembered. They invited him in, told him their own stories – which of course were then featured in his next novel. Pimbo’s readers began to have a personal stake in his books.

By 1987, with around 20 titles to his credit (nobody seems to know exactly how many), he had sold 80,000 books. Did his readers love them? Well, just about every review I can find includes the word ‘awful’, but as one commentator puts it:

Fred Unwin probably had a larger readership amongst local people than any better known author, and certainly amongst those who might not normally read books … He built up a list of regulars, brought great pleasure with his visits, and when he had made enough money from selling one book he would write another. He commands huge respect for that.

 

So what am I recommending? Write slush? Get out there selling door-to-door? Neither. But the lessons of reader engagement in Pimbo’s story still hold true today just as they did then, 30 years ago. Just one thing has changed. We don’t have to wait for the bus any more. Because we’re on the magic bus – the web – and we all have a free pass. This bus is especially magic because although you still need to start by going out to find your readers, you can soon get them coming over to your place – it takes just a second – if they enjoy spending time with you.

This is what I’ve learned from old Pimbo:

  1. Know who your readers are. For him, it wasn’t people who went into bookshops, or the city’s temporary residents, but the people who had lived in Cambridge all their lives.

    2.  

  2. Go find those readers. We shouldn’t expect people to buy our books just because they’re in the bookshop. Once we’ve identified our typical readers, we need to find where on the web they hang out, and spend some quality time with them. Not selling all the time: people hate that. But chatting, discussing, commenting, sharing, becoming one of the gang. And then when it’s time, inviting them back to our place – or places. (Different places for different types of reader.)

    3.  

  3. Make the visits frequent. Pimbo’s visits were once a year. Everyone would know when he was due back in the neighbourhood. Times have changed, and now our visits are two-way. When your friends drop in to visit you on your blog or website, there needs to be something new every day. Maybe not a major new post like this. But latest updates, new links, anything to keep the content fresh. And you need to be going out visiting every day, too, or people will quickly forget you. Of course, there’s not time to visit all those great sites you’ve bookmarked and leave comments. Only the key ones. But you can remind friends of your presence by posting regularly to Twitter or Facebook, at least a couple of times a day, maybe three or four.

    4.  

  4. Make every visit pleasurable. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it, if you want people to come back to your place again? But how? There are some great ideas from Misty Belardo in The 8 Types Of Posts That Get Maximum Comments. She suggests how-tos, competitions, personal experiences, showcasing your work, resource lists, thought provokers, creative work, humor. I’ll add only two things – there should be a place for most of these in your website or blog – and that the content needs to change quickly enough to keep it feeling fresh. Nothing turns people off faster than a static site.

    5.  

  5. Keep it personal. Pimbo met people face-to-face. We’re not actually going to meet most of our readers, but we can still engage with them personally, by encouraging questions and comments and reactions. I don’t think it’s necessary to respond to every comment individually – not if you’re busy – but we should be acknowledging the feedback we get, and we should aim always to answer questions. Within 24 hours. You might want to encourage readers to post their questions via Twitter – because all interactions will be less than 140 characters long. Nobody will expect long email answers.

    6.  

  6. Make the experience interactive. For Pimbo, this meant gathering stories from those he visited. In A Real Writer, I want to encourage everyone to assist with the research – by helping me, everyone helps themselves. And if readers do get involved, they’ll feel they have a stake in my success.

    7.  

  7. Remember that you’re part of the story. Pimbo’s novels were pretty awful, remember. And yet he sold 80,000 books. Let’s face it, my writing friends, a book very rarely stands or falls on its quality alone. Pimbo sold because he was a character. Then there’s this Tony Blair fellow – the one who’s book has won him a £4.6 million advance because, as his US publisher says, he’s ‘such an exceptional writer’. Would anyone have given him £1000 for a book in 1982, when he stood for Parliament in a by-election, won only 10% of the vote and lost his deposit? Unlikely.

    For your book to succeed, it really helps if you have a compelling story for yourself. I’m not suggesting that you necessarily need to start a war or two. And please don’t start telling your readers what you had for breakfast this morning, unless your name is Brangelina. But what is it that makes you stand out from the crowd? Start preparing that story too.


Have you found any new ways to engage with potential readers recently? Did you actually engage with any new readers today? How?

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Entertrainment

April 21, 2011 in The TwitFace Project | No comments

Spring

On a dazzling blue summerish spring day like today, there are few pleasures to match a train journey through the English countryside. Our green and pleasant land is awash with color. Bluebells and primroses cluster on the embankment; in the meadows, dense white sprays of blackthorn and cow parsley rejoice in the sunshine, while horse chestnuts have spired and turn to flower; in parks and gardens, there’s delicate pink cherry blossom and stately copper beech; and we slice through famland impossibly yellow with rapeseed.

But of course, you wouldn’t expect your roving TwitFace correspondent to notice any of that. As I travelled by rail in the late morning, my interest was in communication, the effective use of media, the quality of engagement and the return on investment.

Since my journey took me through London, I was able to observe the current status of social marketing for both the overground and the underground service. The rail authorities have kindly requested me to submit a full report of my findings ( – “If you have comments on our services, please contact us at …”). But in the meantime, here’s an interim summary.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

While rail seems to understand the importance of social media and has significantly increased its output and improved its content for travellers, there are still too few opportunities for genuine interaction, as my suggestions will indicate.


Factual information and reminders.

Accurate but uninspiring. The correct routes and stations were pre-announced, and doors were there to be minded when we were told to do so. I always remembered to collect all my personal belongings when instructed.

Suggestion: work on the style of the scrolling marquee text in the carriages. Instead of:

The next station is Charing Cross

try:

OMG. Charing X next. LOL

Length

Generally acceptable, though an occasional tendency to ramble:

Good morning. This is your train controller. I’m sorry to tell you that I won’t be issuing tickets on the train today because my ticket-machine is broken. But I have alerted the main-line stations and … use your tickets … buy new … blah … blah … Thank you.

After starting well, he quickly lost our interest, and well before he came to the end, we were all back to sending our own text messages.

Frequency

I timed the silences between platform messages at an average 1 min 35 seconds (slightly shorter on the underground), which is acceptable. No travellers complained that they’d been left unattended.

But a real opportunity has been missed on the in-carriage information boards on mainline trains, where the distance between stations is considerably longer, yet no new messages are displayed for several minutes.

Suggestion: Link the information boards directly to Twitter. Then maximize exposure and feedback by creating the hashtag #amtravelling.

Originality

Poor on the underground with frequent repetition of the colourless – A good service is available on all lines.

Surprising creativity on the main-line station platform:

Parents and guardians are requested to keep children under supervision at all times. Trains may pass through this station unexpectedly and at high speed.

‘Unexpectedly’ made the announcement instantly memorable – and I duly Liked it.

Linking

Some evidence of both internal and external links.

To ensure your safety and comfort on this journey, please observe the instructions posted in the carriage.

On checking, I was pleased to see notices pointing accurately to the fire extinguisher and the alarm bell at the door of the carriage.

More ambitiously:

We would like to inform passengers that services on this line will be disrupted at the weekend due to planned engineering work as we seek to improve our services. For further details, please check our station noticeboards or visit our website at xxx.com.

Suggestion: make it possible for travellers to Like these improvements to the service.

Entertainment value

Strategically placed – right in the middle of the main-line carriage – was a woman’s group on a day-trip to the city. This was pure social marketing genius: the group was loud, brash, on-topic and ready to share with everyone.

For example, here in the UK we have a royal wedding coming up next week – everyone’s talking about it. From our women, I learned the secret history of Royal Icing – on the outside of the wedding cake. Unfortunately I can’t tell you here … because it’s a Royal Secret. But I also learnt that another way to say 2:30 is ‘visit to the Chinese dentist’. (Two – tooth … you see? Never mind. I’ll save it for Twitter.)

Suggestion: This experiment would have worked even better if fellow-travellers were able to give feedback. A button perhaps, on each seat-rest allowing us to Like or Rate each story, joke or phone conversation overheard in the carriage. Think of it as a social icebreaker.

Retweets and Mentions

The system clearly works well on the underground, and in fact I’m presenting the Samuel Beckett RT Award to the oldish gentleman with electric gray hair, gray shirt, loose-fitting trousers over loose-fitting legs, and a brown paper bag in his hand. He lurched across the platform in my direction, shaking his fist at the arriving train and all its well-socialized passengers.

Mind the gap. Stand clear of the doors.

- Min’-the-gap. Stan’ clear o’ the fuckin’ life!

Other TwitFace Project posts:

The TwitFace Plan
7 Health & Safety Tips For Bloggers
Donate A Family. Save A Writer
14 Ways To Make Friends With Americans
Shiny Happy People
What Is Web ME 2?
How To Hypnotize Readers
One Of Our Tweeps Is Missing

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One of our Tweeps is missing

April 18, 2011 in The TwitFace Project | 2 comments

Ommwriter message

A disturbing message

I’m locked into a world where there’s only a blank screen.

Nothing else.

No buttons. No menus. No pop-ups. No tabs.

Blank.

Alone.

No Twitter. No Facebook. Nothing

Friendless.

Likeless.

My head is ambient. Random patterns of sound, swirling, surging, repeating, fading. Electronic leaves falling. Electronic pulse. Electronic argeggios. Going nowhere. Piped into my brain, inescapably.

- You’re a writer? Then write. It’s your only escape.

I press keys. Thinly, they echo back, as shards of sound explode around me.

The page begins to fill, as I write my way back to reality.

How did I get here?

It was Joel Friedlander, The Book Designer, the writer’s friend. I trusted him. I’ve been greading his articles for years, meaning to look at them some day. Until, one day, I did.

When? I can’t remember. There are no clocks in this place, no sense of time.

I can’t even remember exactly what he said. There’s no window to the outside world, no point of reference, no way to send messages.

He said something about a writing tool. Something about concentration and focus. A recommendation. OmmWriter. Omm.

Omm.

There’s a sound sequence I recognize. I’ve been here before. The landscape becomes familiar. A friend. My friend.

- Is it enough? Have I done well, my friend?

- You must write. Always write. Only write, if you wish to escape.

They lied, and it’s a trap. They want to keep me here forever. Just writing. Word after word after word, tumbling out in arpeggios, falling like leaves.

Unnoticed.

Unfriended

Untweeped.

Help!

—————


This was the disturbing message I received, unsigned, this morning.

At first I thought it might be a hoax. You never can tell with the web. But I checked the references, and it’s true that Joel Friedlander posted an article a week back: OmmWriter Dana: My Second-Favorite Writing Program of All Time.

Now Joel’s credentials are of course impeccable. He’s written thousands of articles helping independent writers. Surely no ill can have been intended.

But I followed the trail back to the Ommwriter site, and my fears began to mount:

As mere mortals, we also face the usual challenges of daily life: a multitude of windows open on our computer desktops, messages, emails, calls, meetings, and those crazy thoughts that pass through our minds. OmmWriter emerged as an internal tool to help transport us away from the humdrum noise …

What else is this but a thinly-veiled attack upon the things we value most? Humdrum? Twitter? Facebook? Say it isn’t so. And look carefully at the name of their text editor: Ommdata Dana. Why Dana? Could it be “Download And Never Associate”.

And why are they so insistent on their mortality? Why do they claim to come from Barcelona? My mind is full of questions.

I’m convinced that my message was a genuine cry for help. So what if there was no signature, no avatar? Perhaps this hapless tweep has already been stripped of his – or her – social identity.

We’re a caring community, and I believe that we have a moral obligation to mount a rescue – to save this poor soul from a lifetime of perpetual writing. I would volunteer myself … but Monday’s always such a busy greading day for me, after the weekend.

If you’re as brave as I am, please do what you can … but perhaps you’d be advised not to go in there wearing headphones.

More from the TwitFace Project:

The Twitface Plan
Donate a Family. Save a Writer!
Shining Happy People
+ follow the Twitface Project tag.

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13 considerations when setting up an email subscription service

April 17, 2011 in planning | No comments


There’s no way for me to subscribe!

Time to restructure my blog.

A few days back I described plans to offer a sign-up option for those who wanted to register as one of my Author Associates. As an Associate, you’re entitled to:

  • purchase my published ebooks at discounted prices
  • get special offers for your friends or reading-groups
  • make sure you never lose the copy you’ve purchased when you change your computer or reading device
  • participate as a reader/reviewer as I release early chapters of my next novel.

All well and good. Except there’s nowhere really for you to sign up. Or that’s what one of my readers told me the other day. In fact, that’s not quite true: you can subscribe to an RSS feed of the blog by clicking on the folded newspaper at the top right of the screen. Huh? RSS? There’s the problem. Many readers aren’t familiar with RSS. And even if they are, maybe they won’t spot my subtle signal. And then, even if they do, will they actually read my posts?

Let me be honest. I’ve subscribed to several blogs via RSS – I request a download to my Google Reader … and then I hardly ever read them. It’s another example of ‘greading‘, acquiring more reading matter than I could ever hope to read in a lifetime, let alone a single day. It’s not that I mean not to read these blogs – I set out with the best of intentions. But there’s just never enough time.

What do subscribers want?

What I do read every day is my email. Email’s important. It includes messages that I probably need to respond to, and which I can’t afford to miss. For that reason, I’m much more selective when I subscribe to a blog via email. Before I sign up, I ask myself these questions:

  1. Is it content that really matters to me – or could I afford to live without it?
  2. Is there any tangible benefit I get as an email subscriber?
  3. Is a digest offered, so that I can scan the main topics and see what I need to read?
  4. Do I have the option to receive new mails at the pace I choose? Is there a weekly as well as a daily option?
  5. Am I likely to be spammed with offers or content that I don’t want – and am I sure that my email details won’t be passed on to others who may send spam?
  6. Is there an easy option to stop subscribing if things don’t work out?

If I’m going to offer my readers the option to subscribe via email, I need to be sure I’m treating their inbox with the same respect that I expect others to show mine.

What does the blogger want?

But now let’s turn things round and look at my requirements as the provider of the service. For a couple of years I’ve been using Google’s Feedburner to allow readers to subscribe to the blog. It’s been a useful basic tool for promoting the blog, but it only really shows me how many subscribers have looked at a post. There’s no kind of interaction with them.

I also need to distinguish between different types of subscriber. My blog serves three purposes. It’s a place where, most days (but not today), I indulge my love of fiction – I try to put on a live writing show. Second, the blog allows me to interact with supporters of my ‘permanent’ writing, the published work. And third, I intend it to be a resource center for those who like me, are hunting down emerging writers who excite and inspire. (More about this in the next post.) So this is what I need to ask:

  1. Can readers specify the type of content they want to see? For example, if they’re interested in emerging writers but not in signing up as an Associate, can they do so?
  2. Can I then group members by their interests, so that they only receive notifications about the content they’ve requested?
  3. Whenever new subscribers sign up, can I be sure that they’ll receive all the necessary instructions to make the best use of the blog, depending on the content they’ve requested? For example, if they sign up as Associate, will they receive posts describing how to apply for discounts or gift-vouchers on my ebooks?
  4. Does the subscription list allow me to maintain my own database, making it easy for me to contact individual members or for them to contact me, when, for example, they apply for special offers?
  5. Will all this integrate seamlessly with my WordPress blog – so that once the system is set up I never need to worry about email notifications again?
  6. Does my email marketing service give me statistical analysis, so that I can easily see the impact of a post on readers – whether it’s moved them to take action or not?
  7. Can I afford the email marketing service I choose?

The last question is critical. When you live by your writing, you very quickly learn the importance of running a tight ship. As I’ve researched, I’ve already found powerful email management systems – costing hundreds of dollars a month. A great idea – for insanity publishing! It may be necessary to sacrifice some of the bells and whistles I’d like for something that fits my budget right now.

As ever there’s lots of guidance on the web: I’ve started with the Email Marketing Services Review from TopTenReviews, and I’ll be checking out each of the providers there in the coming hours – I’d like to have the system up and running by tomorrow.

But perhaps you’ve already been through this process and can point me in the right direction. Or maybe I’ve missed something important. Either way, I’d like to hear from you.

References:
Danielle McGaw, also running the Ultimate Blog Challenge marathon, has been showing us how to minimize expenses if you want to live without a salary. A recommended series for hungry writers.

Here’s the earlier post I refer to at the beginning of the article: Introducing the Author Associates Scheme

Or if you’re new to my blog, and you want something a little lighter for the weekend, try this: 14 ways to make friends with Americans (If you are an American, this post is for you too!)

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Social Saturation

April 14, 2011 in Reflections | 2 comments

At 3.22 this afternoon, I reached saturation point. I’d been busy on the web for hours, checking tweets and posts, following Facebook flows and LinkedIn chains, looking for inspiration and affirmation.

The morning hadn’t been wasted. I was delighted when someone tweeted that they were ‘becoming addicted’ to my writing ( – but be careful with that!) and I connected with Sara Sheridan, whose Guardian blog post today, ‘Why writers must embrace social media, no matter the genre‘, is recommended reading.

But suddenly it was all too much. Like being in a crowded room at a party, when all you want to do is get out and take a deep breath of fresh air. Who are all those smiling faces? And what am I doing here anyway?

I tracked back over the last 100 tweets. A quarter of them were from writers trying to sell me their book. Around 20 gave me news that didn’t really interest me. Most of the rest were either desperate to teach me something, letting me eavesdrop on gossip, or quoting something deep and meaningful.

Only one led me to a blog where I was truly entertained. Seth Godin again – you might have guessed.

Again the question. Why am I even here, blogging?

I guess the answer is that I’m selling too. Except the difference is I’m not going to headline “my AWESOME new book, just $0.99 at Amazon today“.

Instead, my aim is to put on a live performance. Not talking about writing, not trying to teach anyone to write, but just really writing. With proper stories, plot progression, characters you’ll love, hate, laugh at, feel sorry for. And if that gets you hungry for more, well then you’ll be able to get the book at the door at the end of the show.

It’s a two-way thing. Every artist needs an audience, and when it’s live like this, I can hear from your reactions whether I’m getting through to you or not.

And you know what? If I’m going to put on a good show, then I probably need to rest up more and spend more time in rehearsal. I’m not saying I shouldn’t talk to my friends and supporters – that’s an important part of the feedback – but maybe I shouldn’t spend so much of the day trawling for readers. If the show’s good enough, word will spread and people will arrive, I’m sure of that.

But wait. This has been a rant, not a performance. So let’s put that right. Here’s a 5000-word short story that I’ve just reposted on Smashwords: Waiting for Orders. It’s free, an irreverent satirical romp, short enough to be read in 20 minutes, and needs to be read in the voice of a young Jack Nicholson. Does it work for you? Cheers or hisses or silence?

And that brings me nicely to tomorrow’s topic – the importance of the short story, and why I’m going to be spending much more time reading (and sharing with you) other emerging writers I admire.

# # #

If you’ve never used Smashwords before, you’ll need to sign up first. Then refer to this guidance page to optimize your reading experience. Smashwords allows you to download in a number of different formats to suit your e-reader. I’m still using my PC and the quickest way is to use the HTML version offered. But I much prefer using Kindle for PC – a free download – all the details are on the guidance page.

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Introducing The Author Associates Scheme

April 11, 2011 in planning | 6 comments

On a more serious note today, I’m going to introduce a new scheme – Author Associates, intended as a model to strengthen the relationship between writers and enthusiastic readers. I want to look again at Andy Woodworth’s eBook Reader’s Bill of Rights, and suggest how we could give our readers real ownership of the eBooks they buy (which Amazon denies at the moment). And I want to show why Smashwords is one of the indie writer’s most important tools.

Expensive Tastes

First, let’s recap. In my last post, I explained (well, narrated really) why I’m increasing the price of my e-novel – to $5.95 in the US and £3.75 in the UK (plus all the various delivery charges and taxes that eBooks so unfairly attract). The reason was to change reader expectations. At $0.99, the expectation is probably low, and I may be damaging my book’s prospects in two ways: first by not attracting the right kind of reader; and second, by attracting the wrong kind of reader.

‘Right’ and ‘wrong’ is not a value judgement – it’s not the same as saying ‘good’ and ‘bad’. In the book market, there’s plenty of room for both fast-food and fine-dining. Both have their place. But you’d better be sure that if your customers are expecting McDonalds, you don’t offer soft candlelight, an expensive wine-list, discreet table-side service. Or vice versa. You’ll just get them confused – and probably unhappy.

What sort of customers do I want? I’m looking for discriminating readers – people who’ll come to the table with high expectations. They want a good yarn told with craftsmanship, artistry, polish. By increasing the recommended retail price, I hope I’ll be able to find them.

The Value of Sharing

Yet in earlier posts, I’ve often promoted the importance of sharing and the value of free. Not long ago, I wrote:

‘If I look at the books and the authors I love best, almost without exception I started reading because of the recommendation of a teacher or reviewer I respected, or a friend or a family member. In many cases, I was a borrower, then a convert, then a purchaser.’

Look at the copyright notice on The Lebanese Troubles and you’ll see that I’ve encouraged readers to share the book with friends and family, instead of insisting (as most eBooks do) that each reader must purchase a separate copy. It’s not because I don’t need the money: like most writers, I need to make enough to support my habit. But I’m taking the long-term view.

Will readers really recommend? If my work’s good enough, I believe they will. Our libraries and music collections define us: they show our friends who we really are. That’s why Goodreads is so popular. And if we spot a new talent, so much the better: we can claim credit for being one of the first to notice. Yes, people do talk when they find a writer or a musician they really enjoy.

So What’s The Pitch?

Here goes our schizophrenic writer again, raising the price on the one hand while advocating sharing on the other. How can this make sense?

Like this.

The recommended retail price sends my value signal to the market – and that’s where the price will settle in the long run. But at this point in my writing career, volume sales are far less important than winning the support of key ‘influencers’ – people who care enough about my writing project to become participants themselves. I need readers to post thoughtful reviews on the key reader sites – Amazon (US and UK), Smashwords, Nook, Goodreads. I need them to recommend my work to friends. And not least, I need direct feedback.

Where am I going to find these people? Right here, on this blog, if I use it properly. By investing the same amount of creative energy and care into the blog as I would into a novel, it becomes an interactive showcase for my writing. I hear some writers complaining that blogging takes time away from their real writing. For me, this is real writing, and it’s the place where I can interact best with my readers – putting on a series of live gigs. If you enjoy the gig enough, chances are that you may start buying the published material … and hopefully you’ll tell your friends too, so they can catch up with the next performance.

The Author Associates Scheme

It’s because this core group of influencers is critical to my success that I’m launching my new scheme. This is how Author Associates works.

If you enjoy the blog, or already have a copy of ‘The Lebanese Troubles’, you are invited to register. Then, as an associate, you may:

1. Purchase your own copy of ‘The Lebanese Troubles’ for just $1.99, via a discount coupon that will allow the eBook to be read in any format. This offer will expire after 200 coupons have been issued.

2. Apply for a batch of 5 gift coupons, allowing friends and family to get the eBook free of charge on your recommendation.

3. Apply for up to 20 discount coupons, allowing members of your reading-group to purchase the eBook at half-price.

4. Register your TLT purchase. Then, if you have purchased for one e-reader, you will be able to view the eBook in any format. You will also be entitled to a free replacement copy, should your original copy become inaccessible, for whatever reason.

5. View and comment on draft chapters of my next novel, scheduled from August 2011 onwards.


Reader Rights and Redundancy Marketing

Before we look at implementation, let’s just pause for a moment on clause 4 – being able to view the book in any e-reader format, and getting a free replacement copy if your original copy is lost or broken. My thinking here has been greatly influenced (again!) by Andy Woodworth’s e-Book Reader’s Bill of Rights. Here’s his complaint.

‘Digital Rights Management (DRM), like a tariff, acts as a mechanism to inhibit this free exchange of ideas, literature, and information. Likewise, the current licensing arrangements mean that readers never possess ultimate control over their own personal reading material. These are not acceptable conditions for eBooks.’


I wholeheartedly agree with Andy’s stand. In the digital age, equipment manufacturers and content providers have profited enormously from built-in redundancy. If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the Betamax/VHS divide in the early days of VTR. When VHS finally won out, my whole investment in Betamax videos was wasted: if I loved a film, I had to buy my Betamax version all over again to watch it on my new VHS machine. And then again when DVD swept in to replace video. And then again when I moved back from the Mid-East to the UK, only to find that my DVD player wouldn’t work with European disks, and that my new European player read my existing collection as a series of question-marks. It happens with printers as well. I’ve been using my trusty printer for years, but now they’ve stopped issuing the ink cartridges for that model. And how many times does Microsoft want me to buy their operating system? It’s just an operating system, for goodness sake! I don’t care!

We’re going the same way with eBooks, unfortunately. Yes, there’s apparently an industry-standard – ePub – and the ePub version is fine for the iPad and the Nook. But not on the Kindle. And if I publish via Amazon, using the .mobi standard, that’s fine for the Kindle, but not anything else. I worry about closed systems. I worry even more when I see, in the small print, that the purchase I thought I’d just made is only a license: the eBook doesn’t really belong to me, as a printed book does. If the only concern is to maximize sales and profitability – to sell the same product again and again as hardware is updated or replaced – then all this makes perfect sense. But for anyone who feels that the customer’s interests should come first, redundancy marketing is repugnant.

The good news is that – because I’ve taken the indie path to publishing – I can take a stand and offer my readers a much better deal. With a little help from Smashwords.

Smashwords To The Rescue

Smashwords is a very popular digital publishing platform, but I hear the occasional criticism from authors who say they never actually sell anything there; readers flock to Smashwords looking for free books, but when they want to buy, they go to Amazon. That may be true at present, but it’s a misunderstanding of the Smashwords mission. The site has been built by a writer for writers, and it’s a place where the writer’s interests always come first, where we can truly exercise our freedom to publish, price and market in the way we choose.

When I publish there, my eBook is automatically converted into 10 different formats. So no matter which e-reading device the reader prefers – Kindle, iPad, Nook, the Sony Reader, the PC or laptop, a mobile phone – one of the Smashwords versions is going to do the job (- not necessarily perfectly, but we’ll come to that another time).

The second huge Smashwords benefit is that it gives me complete control and authority over any discounts that I choose to offer. It gives me the flexibility to offer gift vouchers and discount coupons via Author Associates; better still, it has a reporting system that allows me to relate a coupon number to an individual associate, so that I can track coupons already used, and monitor the effectiveness of my scheme.

Getting Started As An Associate

There’s still work to be done to perfect the new scheme. Smashwords doesn’t tell me who’s purchased my books. Nor should they. I personally wouldn’t want to be pursued by every writer whose book I’d downloaded just to take a look-see. It’s important that Author Associates should be an opt-in scheme for readers who are genuinely enthusiastic, and that no-one should feel pressurized to participate. But that means I’ll need to build a special sign-up tool here on the blog. (Don’t be surprised if you see scaffolding here in the next few days.) I’m going to need a good database too, to keep on top of the interactions with associates. Luckily in another life, I’m a web/database designer – so I’ll be able to cope. No doubt there’ll be other teething problems…

But to get started, there’s nothing like starting. So if you’re interested in joining me as an Associate, and taking advantage of any or all the benefits of the scheme, just let me know right now in a brief comment, and I’ll get back to you by email with more details.

Related posts

Triple Filtrée – No Smooth Outcome. Positioning the novel – as a large potato, or a large beer?
Whose eBook – Yours, Mine or Amazon’s? Am I buying the eBook or just licensing it?
Go On! Lend My Book! – My original post on book-sharing – including a sample ‘sharing’ copyright notice.

Other References

The eBook Reader’s Bill of Rights: Andy Woodworth
Smashwords: sign-up page
Smashwords: my novel page

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What is Web ME 2?

April 8, 2011 in The TwitFace Project | 3 comments

World-Changing Articles

In 2004-5, two seminal papers changed the way we think about the web, the world, and everything.

Tim O’Reilly’s “What is Web 2.0” explained how the web had become interactive, with dynamic blogs replacing static websites, and readers/users becoming directly involved in the creation and promotion of new products. Proponents of Web 2.0, he said, knew how to “harness collective intelligence” – just the way that Wikipedia does it with literally thousands of volunteers adding, editing and correcting content daily.

Chris Anderson’s article, “The Long Tail“, showed how digital content would change the dynamics of marketing. Since the physical product – a DVD or a book, say – was no longer required, shelf-space effectively became infinite. Which meant goodbye to shelves, goodbye to bricks-and-mortar bookshops, goodbye to ‘out of print’, goodbye to big-publisher control of the market, goodbye to restrictive pricing practices. Later, in a follow-on book, Anderson included charts showing that, while a small number of best-sellers (‘the head’) would continue to dominate the digital market, the new niche products (‘the tail’) would always find buyers, and that the more digital content released, the more we would consume. While the tail didn’t exactly wag the dog, it was far longer than we ever imagined.


The Fourth Dimension

So according to Anderson, it all comes down to dimensional shift. When Length, Width and Depth are no longer a consideration, marketing and the supply-chain evolve. But there was another dimension he didn’t consider. A dimension that never changed. Time.

If I were a mathematician, I’d insert a formula here. But since my mind copes better with images, let me put it this way:

Give a dog a bone and he’ll eat it. Give a dog 5 bones and 2 minutes and he’ll take the easiest bits.

It’s not a perfect analogy. To get it working you’ll have to train your dog to be time-aware and give him a stop-watch. But you see my point, don’t you? That with the torrent of digital material unleashed upon us, and limited time, our consumption patterns were always bound to change. For the marketer, that’s irrelevant. He’ll count what’s easy to count. The number of dogs. The number of bones. Their availability and price. The cost of dog ownership. That’s how we measure our success in the digital economy – with numbers.

Most of us have learnt to go with the flow, whether reading or listening. Certainly my reading habits have changed. I’ve talked elsewhere about ‘greading‘ – the acquisition of more written content than I could possibly consume in a lifetime, just in case someday I might find the time to read it. ‘Headlining’ is another conveniently-packaged reading technique: scanning the latest news or posts, then dropping into the detail to speed-read where something interesting catches the eye. But reading – taking time with words, interpretation, deep understanding … thinking! – well, who’s got the time these days?

Of course there will always be die-hards who try to resist the inevitable. Watch this BBC video clip now and wallow in the nostalgia for a couple of minutes – but don’t forget to come back!

Telling, isn’t it, that they choose to listen on vinyl? Unreconstructed technophobes!


Web ME 2

In recent weeks, a new feature has been springing up all over the web – the Like button. The purpose of the button, as far as I can see, is to eliminate the need to read entirely. Not long ago, I used to get dozens of requests a day to read someone’s blog or book. Doesn’t happen any more. Now people just ask me to Like their work. I have to confess that at first – forward-thinker though I am – I was uncomfortable with this innovation. It seemed so … uncritical somehow. I’m not the sort of person who gets pleasure out of voting people down, and I wrote to a number of the sites offering ‘Like’ to ask if they could also offer an ‘Indifferent’ or ‘Can’t be bothered’ button.

But I’ve given the matter some thought, and I now see ‘Like’ as a very positive development.

First, it’s undoubtedly a time-saver. I’m saving dozens of hours a week not reading material that otherwise might have seemed important.

Second, Liking is deeply embedded in our democratic traditions. Politicians have known for years that what matters is not whether people read or understand their manifestos, but whether they have an opinion about them. The key to a successful election campaign is not sound policy but momentum in the opinion polls, building up an irresistible force of people who Like you. Why should it be any different with a blog or a book?

Third, this is a textbook application of Newtonian physics, as marketing scientists have explained. ‘Every body attracts every other body with a force that is proportional to the mass of each body.’ Thus, the attraction of a blog or a book which has 200 Likes is 100 times greater than the attraction of a book with only 2 Likes.

Look at O’Reilly’s definition again, and you’ll see that we need to redefine it. Web 2.0, it turns out, is not about harnessing collective intelligence, but harnessing collective opinion. ’1000 people say this blog is great. I’ll go along with that.’

Web 2.0 has reinvented itself as Web ME 2.



References

Of course I’m not expecting you to actually read these world-changing articles. But in case you want to gread them, or just Like them, here are the references.

What is Web 2.0? – Tim O’Reilly
The Long Tail – Chris Anderson

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Shiny happy people

April 6, 2011 in The TwitFace Project | 4 comments

Thumbs-Up

A big thumbs-up to Amazon and Smashwords after they introduced a Like feature recently on their book pages. Many of us are so busy greading that there’s no time any more to read reviews, let alone write them.

What I like about Like is that it requires no thought or time at all. It’s an entirely involuntary reaction, like a smile or a wave. You’re out shopping or running an errand in WebLand: you can’t just stop and chat with everyone you meet, or you’ll never get home. But a Like just lets them know that you’ve seen them, that all’s well with the world, that you’ll get together and catch up sometime – even if you’re busy right now. It makes the world a better place, full of shiny happy people.

But it’s important not read too much into a Like. Just because I Like you, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I want to have your babies. Let me illustrate.

Yesterday was a special day for me, an occasion. As you know, my TwitFace schedule doesn’t allow me a lot of time for getting out. In fact, it was the first time I’d left the house for three months. But I’d been unlocked from my computer chair, and there I was, on the train, heading south, to visit my aged parent.

It was in London that I saw the girl. All the seats were taken, so I stood next to the door, rucksack at my feet, laptop on my shoulder. I scanned the passengers, reading newspapers, text-messages, ads, thrillers. I made a mental note. Write in 15-minute segments: aim for the commuter-market. ‘Short is more’.

But she was different. She was reading on a Kindle. I Liked that. Maybe she sensed it. She glanced up. I let her know. Thumbs-up and a smile.

I sensed her coloring as she went back to her reading. Perhaps it was my book! What a coincidence that would have been. Did she look like one of my readers? Did my readers look like her? As our eyes touched again, I gave her two thumbs-up.

She turned to the guy on the seat next to her, and whispered. He looked at me, curious, rose. We’d connected.

- Hey man, why you coming on to my woman?
- No, not coming on. I was just Liking her.
- You gotta be kidding me.
- I thought maybe we could be friends.

Well, clearly he wasn’t a Facebook user. Fortunately it wasn’t too long before the next stop, and although not having my glasses meant I couldn’t post last night, I’ve been able to get a new pair this morning. So no permanent damage, only bruising.

I never did manage to ask if it was my book she was reading.


References

If you’re a commuter-reader, you might Like 40kBooks and eCapris, thinking of people like you.

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