So, after months working at Blizzard, I finally became a Full Time Employee. That means one thing, BENEFITS! I can finally get new glasses and other assorted things.



Also, this is the year I get to publish something dammit! So to write and see what can come out.

I ask once again, now that the week is ending to check all the pitches in the competition. Rate and enjoy each and every one. I haven't finished reading but hope to some deity that I finish before Friday. Also, read The Fox Goddess. That one is mine.

I wake up from the cold winter of December in Michigan and find Fox Goddess down? That can't be true. It must be a hypothermia induced dream. It is it true then the problem must be rectified. Vote for Fox Goddess for D2D2.

I go for a couple of minutes and Fox Goddess is three? No, no, no. Something MUST be done about this. Come on people. Vote for Fox Goddess, we might get good merch.

It's that time again, again. Mhm. It's time to self promote the best thing you have ever read... No no no. The best thing you have ever experienced. It's Fox Goddess time. Read it, comment, vote. It's that simple. And for every person that comments in the pitch they will get an elegant whatever (haven't decided yet) based on chibi art inspired by the characters of the Fox Goddess.

The pitch is up and completed to the very best of my ability, the contest is open and now it's up to you.

Please take a moment to check out Shaderin: Dusk to Dusk and vote for it in the D2D contest!!

Thank you all very much!
Brandon

Doesn't she look cute? Imagine that on a button that YOU might receive. You just have to read, comment and vote for Fox Goddess to get one fancy Hoshiko in Chibi form button/magnet/whatever.

I'm thinking that for "The Fox Goddess" to win I'm going to have to play around with the voters. Or buy them. I'm giving buttons crappily drawn by me for each vote I get of Fox Goddess. Remember, I am unemployed and this is a great cost as button-making cost money.

But I'll give a fair chance.

If you want a button before the become an expensive collectible, check the Fox Goddess script, comment in the pitch and vote for it.

P.S. Maybe I'll do some buttons of the second and third place. Maybe not. It all depends on your votes.

P.T. Barnum, Thomas Edison, Shaq, Autolycan. What do these people have in common?

If you check the new September/October issue of Creative Screenwriting - on newsstands now - you'll find an article by yours truly!  Huzzah!  As an example of the things I do when I'm not writing Black Jack, or struggling with the promotional aspect.

The story's about how to write for online web serials - which are getting hot these days, but are tricky to create.  You think getting a story into 22 comic pages is hard, try getting it into a two to four minute script.  But there's a company called Electric Farm Entertainment that seems to have found a model that works. 

A lot of projects seem to be doing the webisodes as loss leaders, a way to generate traction and get a development deal in some other medium (sound familiar?) but Electric Farm is making theirs profitable out of the box, strictly as web shows.  That's not to say that they can't still do a film or TV deal down the road, but they don't need to.

Their current project is called Gemini Division, and it started streaming a couple weeks ago through NBC Universal's web sites.  It stars Rosario Dawson in a kind biotech paranoia conspiracy thriller about artificial humans that have gotten loose and are hiding among us.  (Coming up next for them is a zombie comedy starring Jon Heder called Woke Up Dead.)  The article is built mainly around Gemini Division, and includes the complete script for the first episode.  I'm rather proud of it actually - it's just the sort of thing I'd want to read in that magazine, so maybe you'll like it too.

I've always known that it's not enough to cloister yourself off in an ivory tower someplace and let your imagination roam free.  Once you've produced something, you have to get out there and show it to people if you want them to read and respond to it.

But it's the cloistering and imagining part that I'm good at...

I do want people to read and respond to my work though.  Ever since I was a boy growing up very much alone in the wilds of rural Virginia, I've been obsessed with communication.  This was pre-Internet, mind you.  When I would come across magazine articles describing things like print-based "many to many" amateur publications or primitive telephone-based chatrooms, I'd be fascinated by them.  The common element for things that would turn me on like that was always media, always communication.  I really think all along it's been about how isolated I was growing up and how desperately I longed to make some kind of outside contact.

Nonetheless, longing doesn't create ability.  If anything, just the opposite.  The things you long for most are those you're exposed to the least.  And those are the things you're least prepared to deal with when they show up.  At any rate, I totally suck at networking and self-promotion and all that.  Totally.

I'm trying though.  I'm way behind all the other books in terms of this - though I've got some real life excuses for that.  But I'm hammering my way through a Facebook page, and things are going to start slowly trickling out here.  Also, if anyone wants to friend me on Myspace, Doctornaberius now has a page up there, and I desperately need friends to walk me through it. (I've not quite got Facebook figured out.  Myspace is like being airdropped into Uzbekistan.)

So thanks for being patient with me, and keep watching this space.  The wheels do turn slowly, but they are unstoppable once they get going.

Some nifty thoughts have been flying around in response to Tenzil Kem's post below about what it takes to be a success in the Z2H realm... The thoughts on self promotion were starting to take an interesting turn, so I thought I'd expand upon that a bit now...  

I've always been firmly in the camp of "to make friends you gotta be a friend" and believe the same holds true for self promotion- on any scale. Its not about pimping your work by standing on a soap box with a bullhorn (altho that can work sometimes too ;), but by finding a way to engage people and create a dialogue. I have a suspicion that we'll be talking more and more about this in the weeks to come, but I'd like to get the ball rolling by turning the conversation to existing examples of self promotion you've encountered (or even just heard about) that were successful. Big or small.


We all know that the key to getting the eyeballs is in getting people to *care* about the world you've created... and that the key to getting people to care is in giving them a sense of ownership in the work that they love. How many examples can you think of this sort of promotion working? I'll start you off with a few, but I'd love to hear about smaller scale efforts you may be aware of that the community wouldn't know about too!

1. Onering.net - Everyone knows about Peter Jackson's fantastic efforts to engage the Lord of the Rings fanbase before embarking upon his daunting task, but it worth highlighting again... Not only did he create a forum for direct fan feedback, not only did he *listen* to that feedback and respond (critical step a lot of people miss!) but after it was all said and done, he thanked each and every one of the fans that had contributed feedback in the credits for The Fellowship. Classy!

2. Star Wars and Lucas - in terms of respecting a fan base and encouraging emerson in his worlds, no body does it better... I don't know to what degree George had a hand in kicking off the enormous body of fan fiction/fan art/ fan films, etc that kept this franchise alive between films, but he certainly did nothing to dissuade it like some IP holders have done in the past. Encouraging the creation of (and then showcasing) fan generated content is an incredible way to keep the buzz alive when you can't be putting out content of your own.

3. Lily Allen - okay this is a weird one, and you may not think much of the singer yourself, but her very personal and regular blogging gave fans a window into her world that few creators provide. That shared intimacy gave fans a feeling that they "knew her" like a friend and secured their dedication to her and her music through thick and thin.

So! Daily blogging, encouraging fan feedback (and paying proper respect when its given), and soliciting fan generated content. Those are my three examples. Have you got any other examples of these three techniques - or others - being used to good effect to promote a property? Any cautionary tales of self promotion gone wrong? We'd all love to hear from you...

And Happy Canada Day Z2H!

Cheers,

Jessica Leigh Clark
Creative Director - Zeros 2 Heroes