April 2013

HISTORICAL FICTIONISTAS GOODREADS GROUP GIVEAWAY

Firstly, I am so excited Spirit of Lost Angels will be featured as the Author group read for June, and I’m really looking forward to discussing the book with you.

For members of the Goodreads Historical Fictionistas group, I am hosting a giveaway before the group read begins.

The giveaway will start on May 1^st and end on May 10^th, to give the paperback copy time to arrive from France.

One paperback copy will be available for international readers and two e-copies in whatever format is desired.

Please send me a message on Goodreads to enter and I will make up an anonymous draw.

An excerpt of the book can be found here.

If you would like to listen to a Podcast of Spirit of Lost Angels.

Reviews of Spirit of Lost Angels.

Many thanks to all those members who choose to participate.

Online Advertisers Getting Hosed

Here at Ad Contrarian Worldwide Headquarters, one of our axioms is that there is no bigger sucker than a gullible marketer convinced he's missing a trend.

We're starting to think that the same can be said of the entire advertising industry.

Our industry has been desperately trying to convince itself that the web is a fabulous advertising medium. We share each others' anecdotes about the

New Triskle Books covers

Stunning covers from the talented JD Smith for the four new Triskele Books launch on June 1st. Gorgeous!

Spirit of Lost Angels Giveaway

Many thanks to Leah, of Uncorked Thoughts, for her lovely review of Spirit of Lost Angels. Enter Leah's giveaway, running for the next fortnight, to be in the running for a signed paperback or two e-copies of the novel.

Being Right And Hating It

Over three years ago, on December 28, 2009, I published the following post:

How About the "Terrorist Differentness Ecosystem Dashboard?"

Regular readers know I like to divide the people of the ad world into two species: simplifiers and complicators.
This also applies to the non-advertising world.

I evaluate the potential efficacy of social and political activities by
whether they are

Fake Is The New Real.

Apparently, the market for fake Twitter followers is exploding.

According to The New York Times...

"There are now more than two dozen services that sell fake Twitter
accounts... there are now as many as 20 million fake follower
accounts."
Being the Luddite that I am, I am way behind the curve in attracting my fair share of fake followers. As far as I know, I don't have any. I mean, unless

Who's Missing The Big Picture?

A very typical -- and typically muddle-headed -- piece called John Hegarty's Missing the Big Picture By Saying TV Ads Stink appeared last week in Ad Age. It was written by the ceo of a “video content marketing agency.”

The article lamely tries to take on John Hegarty, founder of BBH. Hegarty recently contrasted tv advertising with the resurgent excellence of some tv programming and found it

Indies at 2013 London Book Fair

Read this article from my Triskele Books colleague, Catriona Troth, on how indie authors blew up a storm at this year's LBF.

Social Media Morons

There is no describing the stupidity of some people.

While there are imbeciles in every field and at every level, for some reason marketing and advertising seem to attract a disproportionate share of them. And of all the disciplines within advertising and marketing, social media seems to be the one these people gravitate to.

In a completely inexplicable display of ineptitude and

Triskele Books at London Book Fair

Thanks to our Triskele Books rep, Catriona Troth, we are getting first-hand news of the big event. Very pleased to see all our lovely books lined up together on the Triskele Books shelf...

GIVEAWAY FOLLOW-UP

Last week, Laura from Colorimetry kindly hosted a giveaway for Spirit of Lost Angels. I'm pleased to say the giveaway was a great success and garnered many comments. In an effort to answer all the questions, I have posted a guest blog on Colorimetry.

Mobile Everything Everywhere

There is nothing dumber than a magazine with a vision. And there's no kind of magazine with a vision dumber than a trade magazine with a vision. And there's no kind of trade magazine dumber than an advertising trade magazine.

So today we are going to discuss an article that wins the triple crown of dumbness -- an article with a vision of the future, from a trade magazine, in the advertising

We're Number One!

Every morning and every evening I check where 101 Contrarian Ideas... is on Amazon's advertising book chart. And every morning and every evening it's the same -- #2 behind David Ogilvy.

This has been going on for months. Every now and then it will drop down to #3, but then it pops back up to #2.

Obviously, with 19,352 books in their advertising category, there's nothing wrong with being #2.

The Biggest Advertising Opportunity Ever

How would you like to be the next Steve Jobs? The opportunity is sitting out there waiting to be taken.

All you have to do is find an effective advertising use for the web. It's that simple.

The web is an enormously powerful medium, but no one has figured out how to make it a great advertising medium. It's as if TV existed for 20 years and no one had invented the TV spot.

We have all kinds of

METADATA WEBINAR

Yesterday I attended a webinar on Metadata, hosted by the Bookseller, in association with BIC (Book Industry Communication), sponsored by Virtusales. My Triskele Books colleague, JJ Marsh, beat me to a blog post, and explains it far better than I could.

Success Is Never Final

We like to think that history has an inevitability to it. We like to believe that there is an arc that goes from the bad old days to the good new days; that things move toward virtue; that freedom and prosperity will inevitably triumph and evil and depredation will ultimately be vanquished.

There is absolutely no reason to believe this. And yet we do.

It's the same type of silly belief we have

The Hidden Danger Of Precision Targeting

There is very little difference between your customer and your competitor’s customer.

And get ready for a shock. To them there is very little difference between you and your competitor.

Most consumers are oblivious to the positioning subtleties among major brands. The average consumer has no idea why Coke is different from Pepsi, or Crest is different from Colgate. They see no difference

Spirit of Lost Angels up for The People's Book Award

Anyone who has read and enjoyed Spirit of Lost Angels, I'd really appreciate your vote! Thanks in advance.

Opening Day 2013

Today is Opening Day for the World Champion San Francisco Giants. Here is my traditional Opening Day post.

The economy is still in the toilet. Somewhere, asteroids are heading
toward Earth. Web pornography is warping the minds of our children.
Grown men and women are relentlessly Tweeting each other. Yes, my friend, the end is near.

But who gives a damn?

It's
Opening Day. I'm going to

Latest review of Spirit of Lost Angels

Many thanks to Megan, of Reading in the Sunshine, for her lovely 5-star review of Spirit of Lost Angels.

The Data Delusion

Systems in extremis often delude themselves into believing they are something they are not.

Our educational system has convinced itself that it's not really in the education business. It's in the "self-discovery" business or the business of "celebrating diversity" or other such nonsense. The result is that it is very successful at not educating our kids.

Pepsi decided a few years ago that it

10 Rules For Happy Living

Today, I begin a new life as an irresponsible drain on the treasury of the United States.

It's a career I've always felt well-suited for. I'm afraid it's not going to last long because I'm already drawing up plans. But while it's here I'm going to enjoy it.

I am kicking off my new situation on a positive note. I know, it's not really my brand, but what the hell.

Having lived now for a couple

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