The first of many
Last night my dad came down to Metro Parks headquarters to swear me in before the first park board meeting of 2012. It was also the first meeting of my six-year term as an elected Metro Parks board member. I look ahead to all the interesting things we have coming up, and knowing that I'll be there for them is really exciting.
I saw some movies in the last couple of weeks …
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a really good action movie. Enjoyed it a lot. It's also better than Sherlock Holmes 2: Game of Shadows. SH2 had all the weaknesses of the first Sherlock Holmes, but fewer of the strengths. Young Adult features a very unlikeable character, but it's still a pretty funny movie. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was slow and deliberate. A little too slow and deliberate. (I read the book previously and enjoyed it.) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher version). I've now seen two movie versions and read the book. I've liked it in all versions. The American Read more…
Have you read one of my books?
One of the great things about self-publishing is getting reviews and feedback from readers. This one was came yesterday from a new Executive Director of a nonprofit who took the time to email after reading The Little Book of Gold. "It's given me incredible 'peace' in fundraising and outlook in the future, a few ideas I thought about abstractly which you confirmed in your book. It is truly appreciated and just thanking you for this resource." Now, first–holy cow! This is soooo incredibly gratifying. But alternatively, The Little Book of Gold sits on the Amazon shelf without a single Read more…
10 Days on an Amazon bestseller list (no, really!)
My self-publishing experiments actually began in 2009, before I started publishing murder mysteries to the Kindle. I wanted to create a book that would be helpful to people. The thing I knew the most about was managing nonprofits. And what I saw were a lot of nonprofits who were terrible at fundraising. This was most true in small nonprofits, where the organization was too small to have paid development staff. My model was Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. I wanted a book that was very short, readable, and specific to a very narrow segment. Even though I think Read more…
My year in Instagram photos
I've been using the Instagram app all year. Here was my year, as captured by Instagram. The Robert Burns Dinner. I tried haggis for the first time, and am–amazingly–still smiling. A visit to Carleton College in Minnesota in early April. They get very excited about spring there. Two photos from the St. Louis City Museum. An amazing outdoor playground (and yes that's a bus hanging over the roof). Looking down on a 12-story spiral slide. I love this place. New York City, from the Highline Park. The new park is an incredible public space. The Campaign. Button up! Three Signs Read more…
2011: Year in Review
When I did a year-end post last year, I focused on what I’d “shipped.” This was based on a blog post by Seth Godin, and it reminds me of a quote I read in the Steve Jobs biography–“Real artists ship.” Essentially: you have to finish and deliver something. And looking over what you finished and delivered in the last year is a good way to do that. And I’ve finished and delivered a lot last year and this year. But this year has also taught me that there are many things just as good as shipping. I would say that Read more…
Merry Christmas!
I'm in St. Louis with Mary's family for Christmas and New Year's. I've always liked Christmas Eve, maybe even more than Christmas Day. Have some eggnog, sing a carol, a watch Elf, or whatever Christmas movie is your annual tradition. I'll post some photos and a year-end review at some point this next week, but for now–Merry Christmas!
What can free do for your book?
Self-publishing is all about experimentation. What works, what doesn't. So far I've tried many many different drivers to spur sales. Pay-per-click advertising Display advertising Social networking "Loyalty transferring" blog posts Targeting other books to piggy-back sales on … That list goes on and on. Some have been modestly successful. Some only a little. It turns out that so far the best promotion I've done has been–without a doubt–giving the book away for free. Yes, giving away a free book generated the most amount of sales. Let me explain. It was a trial run: use Amazon's new "promotions" opportunity to make The Read more…
“Hugo”
Mary and I saw Hugo last night, Martin Scorcese's new 3D family movie. He hits all the right notes. The 3D is used well, the family movie vibe is right on. And it's fundamentally about movies. Makes me want to pick up a camera and direct something again. Making movies is just a lot of fun. Maybe I'll have to adapt one of these novels someday … 🙂
“The back half of the chessboard”
Matthew Yglesias had a really interesting post last month that I keep thinking about, so I've finally decided to post on it. There's an old story about a king who agrees to pay someone by putting one grain of rice on the first square of the chessboard, two grains of rice on the next, four on the next, then eight, sixteen, thirty two, etc. Each square has twice the number of grains of rice as the previous one. The king things he's got a bargain, but with 64 squares on the chessboard, he's actually bankrupted the kingdom. By just the Read more…
^