Writing copy - the cup of coffee rule

When writing copy, it’s always a good idea to take a step away from the work for a few minutes and then come back fresh. Writing up a storm, it’s all too easy to get too close to the work and lose track of the effectiveness of the whole. Stepping back gives your mind a chance to reboot, as it were, and allow you to see the forest that was blocked by all those pesky trees.

My personal rule of thumb is a cup of coffee following every couple pages of writing. Stepping away from my desk, brewing a cup, and then returning is enough of a pause to kick me out of focusing on a sentence or phrase and allow me to see the work as a whole. When the work is of particular importance, a little stroll down to the café for a latte is likely in order. The cup of coffee rule has always given me the chance to reflect on my writing keep things focused.

Of course, where the cup of coffee rule falls apart is when it’s far too late for any further caffination and I’m posting to the blog; as yesterday’s penchant for the phrase ‘take it upon themselves’ demonstrates.

Serenity

This is a word of mouth marketing case study in the making.

A couple of years back, there was a television show called Firefly, written and directed by Joss Whedon (creator of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'). A Western set in Outer Space ... or maybe it was a Space film with a Western motif ... the shows premise was creative, the story extremely textured and the dialogue smart and witty. The show deservedly earned good reviews, but the good executives at FOX decided to run the episodes out of sequence and repeatedly pre-empted it for sporting events. Thirteen episodes were made - only eleven of which aired - and then the show was cancelled.

When the show was cancelled, fans started letter writing campaigns to have it picked up or to be moved to another network. Though the campaign was not enough to save the show, it did convince FOX to release the show as a DVD set. The DVD sales were through the roof, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Universal Pictures stepped up and allowed Joss to bring the show back as a major motion picture, due out this Friday.

But here's what's really interesting, and why I think Serenity is destined to do well at the box office. For the past three years, the loyal fans of the show, with a little egging on by Joss and Universal, have been prosteletizing and drawing in new members to the flock. Those that watch the show, generally enjoy it. So fans have been on active campaigns to show Firefly to as many people as possible. Some hold parties to screen the show. Others purchase a second DVD boxed set for the express purpose of loaning to others.

Others have taken it upon themselves to do what they can to increase the visibility of the brand and franchise. From taking it upon themselves to restock store shelves to give the Firefly DVD a more optimum placement, to dressing up as characters from the show for science fiction conventions, to plugging the film on call in shows. One fan has taken it upon himself to, within the confines of an online video game, spray paint on every wall he finds 'Watch Serenity'.

And it's not just within games that the online buzz is growing. BlogPulse shows that on any given day, there are some 15000 blog entries made about the show. A Google search on 'firefly fan' will bring up hundreds of fan driven websites. 'The Signal', a podcast devoted to the show, is currently the number one program listed on Podcast Alley.

I would be very surprised if the film does less than $20 million on its opening weekend, and expect if the film lives up to the show the final take will be around $75 - $100 million. And this a film with no big name actors, based on a tv show that was cancelled before even completing its first season.

Shownotes for Podcasts

Having drunk deeply of the podcast KoolAid, I am fast gaining an appreciation for well written source notes. Show notes help to identify links to items discussed as well as provide an overview of the show. For an example of shownotes done right, view the work of Neville Hobson on the podcast 'For Immediate Release'.

The problem with shownotes is they are very time consuming to create. Tracking down and confirming all the links are true and keeping track of who's talking and when, typing it out and posting it; all of which can end up taking more time than the actual production of the podcast.

So I'm listening to Adam Curry's Daily Source Code. Adam asked his listeners for ideas on how to make the shownotes an easier go of it, and his listeners responded: put the shownotes in a wiki.

>slaps forehead<

The answer to it all is so simple, I can't believe it's only now been suggested. What a brilliant idea. Enlist your listeners to do the building, maintaining and improving the show notes. You not only end up with great show notes, but a thriving and active community as well.

Authors Guild sues Google

Everyone’s talking about the weather nowadays, so you may not have heard about the latest kerfuffle involving Google. Seems the Authors Guild and a handful of individual authors have launched a suit against Google for what they call “massive copyright infringement”.

Google has a plan to make searching books as easy as searching the web. If I, for instance, was trying to locate a book about the origin of hot dogs, Google will give me a list of books that contain the words “hot dog” and “origin of the”. A snippet of the text around my search term is shown. A synopsis of the book, bibliographic info and table of contents are available to help me further decide if this is the text I’m looking for. Having determined that a specific book is the right one – links to booksellers and libraries help me to obtain a copy.

Publishers can sign up for the program, and providing Google with digitized copies of the text and accompanying info, benefit from direct links back to their site and display of their company logo. To obtain the text of books no longer in print or in the public domain, Google has struck deals with several Libraries to digitize their entire collections. Should a publishers or author not wish to participate, they may request a book be excluded from the search tool.

Google makes a good argument that the material they’re displaying is ‘fair use’. They’ve systems in place that – where the publisher has provided permission to read a full page – limit you to viewing a handful of pages from the same text. In any search of a copyrighted work, the amount of text shown is no more than you would see in a review or scholarly reference.

Where Google runs afoul of the Guild and authors is on a few technical points. In order to digitize the material – Google must effectively make a copy. Traditionally, to make such a copy, permission must be sought first. Instead, Google is going forth and insisting that authors who do not wish to take part must opt out.

The ‘opt out’ aspect is a significant issue. By putting the onus on the one making a copy to obtain permission, the author is freed from having to constantly and vigilantly police the use of their work. However, the flip-side to the law as currently writ is that in cases of orphaned works, where the author can not be identified or located, nobody can use the work. And in the instance of a project such as Google Print, where 20,000,000 books are to be scanned, the time and cost to locate and obtain permission for each work would make the project an impossibility.

As discussed by professor Lawrence Lessig, this is yet another of a growing number of cases where copyright laws are not in step with a digital world.

Could the Authors Guild really be so behind the times as to not recognize what a boon a search tool like Google Print would be for their members? Maybe I’m just cynical, but it would seem the Guild is trying to use the shortcomings of our current copyright laws as a way to try and squeeze hefty licensing fees out of Google for providing material that’s clearly ‘fair use’. I would hope that the 8000 authors who belong to the Guild recognize the stance their organization is taking for what it is.

There are 20 million books out there to choose from. Google is making it a snap to find the right one out of those 20 million. Personally, I can’t understand why an author would write a book and then not want it to be found.

I’m with O’Reilly on this – the economic scourge of creative professionals is NOT piracy. It’s obscurity.

Breaking radio silence...

The past month I’ve been getting re-acquainted with and caught up on a number of technologies, which is partly responsible for my lapse in blogging.

I’ve had a sip of the podcast Koolaid, and with ipodder now installed and tied into WinAmp, I’m getting acquainted with a number of quality programs. I’ve even begun looking into getting an MP3 player so I can use my daily commute to keep up with my podcast listening.

Skype is now installed on my system and the purchase of a mic means I’m now VoIPing. Hopefully Skype-in numbers will become available with Canadian area codes. Having a number based in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto would certainly make it possible for me to expand my client base outside of my own region.

And I’ve been playing with a number of blogging tools. While I’ve been familiar with WordPress and Movable Type, it’s high time I became intimate with their inner-workings. I’ve also been making some use out of MediaWiki, putting it through its paces as a collaborative tool.

Upon reflection, my thoughts and reflections during all this testing, installing and trying out of these tools would have been great material for the blog. D'oh.