Tales from Tweet Camp

I believe that Kirk Biglione may well be the Bob Ross of Twitter.* Not only does he have a soothing voice and easy-to-follow style that would make him perfectly suited to Scott Brick’s Share the Experience audiobook contest, but in just an hour’s worth of sessions (spread conveniently over five days) he manages to explain the ins and outs of the Twitter experience in a way that even the newest online member could follow. A good thing, too, because before participating in the beta version Booksquare University’s Tweet camp the only thing I knew about Twitter was that it had a character limit.

Oh, and that people who Twitter were not called twits (apparently some even actually find that insulting).

Broken out into short videos (averaging ten minutes), the BSU Tweet camp explains how to set up your Twitter account, the vocabulary of twitter (hashtags, retweets, and followers), and how to use your Twitter account to promote yourself. Each video, narrated by Kirk, is accompanied by various articles (often written by Booksquare herself, Kassia Krozser) with links to other helpful Twitter related sites. Despite the short length, the videos do everything but tell you when to breathe and the articles follow-up and enlarge upon the concepts related in the videos.

After completing the course, you should be a perfectly proficient tweeter, capable of following conversations and enticing followers of your own. Use it to promote you next book, your website or your business. Use it just to join the conversation. Hell, you’ll use it just to follow the conversation (although that has gotten easier now that Twitter has hyperlinked the hashtags—try #sbtd #sbtd#amazonfail).

Additionally, upon completion, you might learn that tweeting is not your thing; something that I think is just as important. It was after BSU Tweet camp I realized something that has been plaguing me for a long time—I’ve been suffering from computer fatigue. I get home from work and I don’t want to type. I don’t spend as much time on the computer as I used to, and when I am on, it’s usually to read a book. This fatigue transfers to Twitter as well, despite its short character requirements, which is not surprising as I also don’t text. I’m following some very interesting people, and I’ve definitely used my page to follow lit flair ups (Alice Hoffman et al), but beyond posting a few links I don’t have much to add at the moment. That may change now that I’ve started my Sony adventure as part of the Smart Bitches Sony test drive #sbtd

*I believe this to be a compliment, by the way, as I have very pleasant memories from my childhood of Bob teaching me to paint happy little trees.

For you Zombie Vamp lovers: The Strain (book trailer)

I knew that The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan had come out, but I hadn't seen the book trailer.




Nice.

I expect this will transition well to the big screen when they get around to it.

Please (sort of) Steal This Book

Every time I run across commentary on DRM and ebooks I'm reminded of the xkcd comic on DRM and music. This time it was Smart Bitches column DRM-free publishers that triggered my quick search of the xkcd archives. The idea that readers would want to read something on whatever device the own? Absurd!

Everyone knows those computer thingies will never catch on!

The quote from Elizabeth of Dreamspinner press as it gets to heart of books and readers:

Ultimately happy customers buy more books and the type of reader that seeks out free pirated titles isn’t going to buy them in the first place.

So true. Although the key words here are "free pirated titles." As the SB column goes on to drive home (in both the column and the comments) it's that a lot of people stripping DRM from ebooks are doing so because they've already bought the content but want/have to--for whatever reason--switch it to another device. It's not because they want to send it to everyone in their family or give it to the population of China, they just want to put it on their Sony reader from their Kindle.

Or download it onto their new laptop.

God forbid we would want to reread the book.

It lives...at the library

Since the move I've been visiting the library a great deal more than I used to and I've been reminded of what a great catalog we have here in Portland. My reasons for library-ing it instead of buying are many-- the proximity, the economy, the fact that I no longer receive free books--but the result is the same:

I'm wait-listed, like everyone else.

It seems the world has rediscovered free:

Check out all the coolness of the most wonderful library comic of all at Unshelved.com.

Too bad a crappy economy means that while circulation is up, the money for library budgets is probably in the tank.

Happy Holidays

Merry Holidays everyone. We've been in the new house a few weeks, but we just got the kitchen up and there are still no bookshelves (so it feels really, really naked). I'll be back after New Years!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

I've been in the process of moving for the last few days so I apologize for the belated Thanksgiving (to all those in the United States, a very, very belated Thanksgiving to all you Canadians, and to everyone else, happy weekend). Between getting the house ready to move into and trying to weed through four years of accumulated stuff, blogging has been the last thing I've had energy for. Once we get internet at the new place though we should be back up and running.

Can’t see the Books for the Trees: A bookstore experience

I’m hanging out in a bookstore the other day, waiting on a car swap when I happened to overhear a cell phone conversation going on a couple sections over. A woman with serious cell phone voice* was talking to her daughter.

“What table was it on?”

She asked this about three times as she circled some display tables.

“I don’t see it, what was it called again?”

More circling of the tables before wandering into the children’s section.

“Honey, I don’t see any book by that title.”

Back when I was bookselling this would have been my cue to pop over and ask if she needed help finding anything, but as I was no longer bookselling I just continued to eavesdrop as it was obvious that the daughter WANTED THIS BOOK (yes, the caps were necessary).

“Honey, I just don’t see a book called Twilight anywhere. Are you sure that’s the title?”

Suddenly it was all becoming clear—but even clearer then the daughter’s need to read the book all of her friends had was the huge display of Stephanie Meyer’s books on one of the tables the woman had looked at. I’m talking gigantic, with the books in a water fall display down over the side of the table to the floor with Twilight in both paperback editions playing a central part.

“I just don’t see it. You’re going to have to come to the store with me next time and we’ll look then.”

Call it latent bookselling syndrome or whatever, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed a copy of the trade sized Twilight** off the table and walked over to where the woman was still talking.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I think you’re looking for this.” I held it out to her in a manner—now that I think of it—reminiscent of the book’s cover with its apple. As I walked away I heard her tell her daughter:

“Some girl heard us talking and just found it for me.”

She also handed you the more expensive copy, lady, but bookstores can use all the up-sells they can get right now.

*Cell Phone Voice: the phenomenon where cell phones users voice automatically becomes three decibels louder when they are having a conversation on their phone. Note: Studies have shown that Cell Phone Voice is not necessarily a reflection of the quality of reception the user is experiencing.

**I’m anti Movie Tie in (MTI) covers as for the most part they are ugly. The Twilight MTI cover makes me think that Robert Pattinson is contemplating eating my face.

Happy Halloween: The Great Pumpkin Link edition

I know that it has been (the living) dead around here lately, for which I apologize for the shallowness of another link post, but in honor of the holiday I wanted to post these links:

In case you were on the fence about buying it, the SF Signal reviews the zombie anthology The Living Dead as well as several other Halloween appropriate books. Somehow I don't think my mustket will protect me...Note to self: Buy crowbar.

In honor of Zombies, how about a little Yuppie Brain Juice from i09. Yum!

While you're having a drink, you can check out Bookgasm's review of Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide to plan your movie viewing during los dias de los muertes (which I believe is the name of a very bad zombie movie I saw on the scifi channel not too long ago, but I could be wrong).

Lynda Hilburn investigates "Why do Women love Vampires."

And finally, here's a little treat from the man made for Halloween--Christopher Walken interprets Poe's "The Raven" (via Bookshelves of Doom)



Happy Halloween everyone!

Google me this: Weighing in on the Google Book Search Settlement

I've been in painting lala land the last several days (someday we will be able to move into the house, I know we will), but this had to be posted. An agreement has been reached in the Google Book Search dispute and you can read the actual settlement here.

The O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing blog has a round-up of blogging reactions to the the settlement. If you've got the time, it's worth reading how people are taking the news, and how they think it will impact the future of how we read.

Personanondata, Michael Cairns, has posted his own thoughts as well.

Brave New World refers to it as the Great Book Bank Robbery?

The digitalist coins the word Googlezon in Googlezon: Good or Bad?

Book stripping

Colleen Lindsay of the Swivet has a link to J. Steven York article (on a bookstore who loved their books so much that they wouldn't strip them for returns) as well as an explanation of the book-stripping.

My own explanation on stripped books (from 2005, yikes!) can be found here.

Entering the SciFi Zone

The Science Fiction Genre has been a hot topic on the interwebs these last few days. To catch you up:

First we have io9s Why Science Fiction Still Hates Itself--a look at science fiction shows on tv and their attempts to distance themselves from their genre.

Next we have a the SF Signal's response in Fear and Loathing in Science Fiction.

SF Signal follows up with a round up of links and an overview on the Borders' decision not to stock as many Scifi authors and titles in Do You Care if Borders Doesn't Stock All Science Fiction Books?.

Here is my take on the Borders decision: SciFi probably isn't the only section affected. Their new concept stores are based on the idea of fewer titles to allow for more face outs. More face outs means a better chance at that title catching a browser's eye, but it also means there is not as much shelf space for other titles and authors, especially stock that may run one or two books per store.

This doesn't stop people from special ordering a book for in store pick up. I've read that booksellers are saying they can't order the books in, but personally, I read that as booksellers can't order books in to put on the shelves. If you want a Tobias Buckell title, they can special order it for you in the store or you can set it up via their website. If they show a high number of special orders then they might change their mind about a particular title. I could be wrong--I have been before and will be again--and these titles might not show up even on the website, but it is worth a try.

And is there a moratorium against ordering SciFi on all the stores? That depends on the management. If you've got a bookseller who thinks they can really hand-sell a title, it’s up to the manager whether or not they order in the book be it from the warehouse or from Partners West, etc. While big box stores don't specialize to the level of the independents you do have to know your customer base. We were crazy about ordering specifically for our clientele at my old store, and we had the sales numbers to back it up.

Borders is making a business decision, but if a particular store can prove the stock is necessary to not miss out on the business (e.g. you are the Borders in Gregory Frost's home town), then an argument could be made to stock a title or author on a case by case basis. Lord Tophet, for example, is available on the Borders website.

This is not a defense of the Borders decision, so much as a perspective. Do I agree with the decision? Not in the way it has been phrased, a bookstore is there to sell books, and the best bookstores know their customers. As a company Borders has a tendency to forget that by simplifying everything down to price per item, upselling at the register, and other numbers that forget about the very human aspect of bookselling. The best booksellers are people who love books and know how to talk books to other people. The best booksellers have titles that they would walk across hot coals to hand-sell--to convert the non-reader to whatever the bookseller loves.

Measuring the Immeasurable: The Who, What, Why Edition

more music charts

When I first heard about Internet Explorer's new Incognito Mode, I reaked out. Immediately I emailed all my techie friends with questions like "What does this mean?" and more importantly, "How will I ever get an accurate viewer number from my Google Analytics program now?"

Reactionary? Very much so. Not only was I not posting with any regularity at this moment (nor had I been for some time), but I wasn't looking at the big reader picture. Why should I care whether or not someone is using a version of the Incognito mode to read my blog when there are already many other possible readers I can't quantify?

Google Analytics, as well as any other analytics programs, can only measure hits to my actual web page and therefore cannot measure any syndicated content or people reading via RSS feeds. This means that not only can I not measure any possible readers on JacketFlap or LiveJournal (where this site is syndicated), but I can't "see" anyone using bloglines, Feed Burner, Google Reader or another program. Since I've authorized a full content feed the only reason someone would need to visit my actual URL would be to comment or to view content that doesn't transfer (e.g. Flash content like Sprout is not viewable in Google Reader), and even then the information I receive is negligable as you can see below.

So is there anyway to measure your RSS feed readers?

You can always look on the blog reader sites. A quick search of Google Reader the following information regarding my blog and others.


But whether people are actually reading the content, skimming, or even using the Google Reader account anymore remains to be seen.


You can set up a web bug (a concept I don't really understand in practice) or a bounce page to measure anyone who signs up for you blog through a certain reading device. Still this tells you nothing about who is reading your content and what they would be interested in reading next. Are they readers? Your family? That creepy person who won't leave you alone on Facebook?

In the end, unless you are really looking to make money from your blog (via click throughs on ad content, etc) numbers won't matter as much to you. Instead you should keep the following in mind:


If you are referencing something in the side bar, that side bar will not be visible to anyone using sydicated content, so you'll need to be specific so readers can decide if they want to click though to see it.


If you're just posting flash widgets, let people know, as with Google Reader at least, no one will see it.


If you're using a blog reading device yourself, I would suggest you sign up to follow your own RSS feed. This way you can see how long it takes scheduled content to actually hit your reader* and also to see what (if anything) does not transmit (that's how I found out about flash).

Analytics programs can be addicting if only for the randomness of why someone clicks on your blog,** I know I'm a recovering addict, but as an author don't let your readership drive your content unless it is something you are interested in writing about. Blogging shouldn't be something you dread.

*Edited to add: for example, this post didn't hit my Google Reader until three hours after its scheduled post:

** For the person who keeps searching with the term "the sale of this book without its cover" I can tell you that means the book was stripped and therefore cannot be sold legally.