Kenneth Atchity's Blog, page 230
August 6, 2012
Check Out the New Issue of Shelf Unbound
STORY MERCHANT BOOKS
Read the latest issue
of Shelf Unbound here: http://www.pagegangster.com/p/iSu62/
Read the latest issue
of Shelf Unbound here: http://www.pagegangster.com/p/iSu62/
August 3, 2012
AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH - DR JIN ROBERTSON ON MY ADDICTION
by
Nadine Maritz
MAJOR DREAM: FROM IMMIGRANT TO HOUSEMAID TO HARVARD PHD.
For many, Dr Jin Kyu (Suh) Robertson is proof that people have the power to have more fulfilled and satisfying life once they choose to become the sailor of their own ship. We are therefore immensely grateful to be able to have the opportunity to do an interview with Dr. Jin Robertson.
Dr. Thanks so much for the opportunity. As a start please introduce yourself to our readers. What events have brought you up to this point where you have now written a novel and flourished into an author?
I am a lucky woman who is living the life of my dream. I immigrated to America alone at the age of 22 as a housemaid with little English and $100 to my name. At 28, a mother of eight months old baby girl, I joined the U.S. Army as a private to escape from the domestic violence. Twenty years later, I retired as a major, received MA (at 43) and Ph.D. (at 57) both from Harvard.
In 1999, when Korea was going through an economic disaster, Major Korean TVs made documentaries of my story of American Dream to help those Koreans who were suffering from the national emergency. The documentaries inspired, motivated, and empowered millions of Koreans, literally having saved hundreds and thousands who were at the verge of suicide.
Those successes in media led me to become Korea’s most popular inspirational/motivational speaker (over 1,300 keynotes) and a bestselling author (over a half million copies sold), continuously inspiring and empowering millions in Korea, Japan, America, and other parts of the world.
Volume 1 of Major Dream is available. Please tell our readers what they can expect within the novel.
This volume begins with the scenes of my graduation from Harvard with a PhD, my childhood dream. The remainder traces back to my roots and the survival from the life full of obstacles in Korea, ending with the escape from the hopeless situation in Korea to begin a new life of an immigrant in America, the land of opportunities. I was 22 years old, alone, with little English, $100 to my name, and one way ticket.
Where can readers stay in contact with you?
They can reach me through my website, www.drjinrobertson.com, and/or e-mails to jo@drjinrobertson.com (my consultant, Joanne Palmer in the U.S.) and/or jin@drjinrobertson.com.
If they can read Korean, they can also contact me through my Korean web, www.cafe.daum.net/ilovecon and suhinchon@paran.com (my manager, Inchon Kim in Korea).
What can readers expect within the following novels?
Before I publish the second and third volume of my memoir of long version, we will publish a short version of my overall life story-- Limitless Sky: A Memoir of Shattered Glass Ceilings, to show readers how to live a life of success and happiness. I then will publish a book on how I, as a single mother, raised my daughter to be selected as a Presidential Scholar (an honour given to 141 of 2.5 million high school graduating seniors each year), graduate from Harvard (BA) and Princeton (MA), and become a U.S. Army officer. This book will show readers to successfully raise their own children, practically with opposite methods and strategies from Amy Chua’s Tiger Mom. Yes, raising a super star child doesn’t have to be so hellish and painful as my daughter and I are the proof.
You were born and raised in Korea. What made you decided to move on from what you had known your whole life?
Korean society when I was growing up was under strong influence of Confucianism which discriminated against women, especially those from poor and powerless family. I disagreed with such system and so longed to become a justice fighter to change it. I wanted to become somebody very successful to prove them wrong and help those defenceless sufferers. Yet, I ended up one of those defenceless sufferers myself, working as a factory girl in a wig factory, a waitress, and a housemaid. In such hopeless and depressing situation, my dream began to leave me as well. And that’s when I encountered a newspaper ad looking for a housemaid to work for an American family in the U.S.A., the country we, the poor Koreans, believed it to be a paradise.
My move to this land of opportunity was a major turning point of my dream life, and I am utterly grateful to myself for taking up that challenges filled with fear and difficulties.
Where do you currently reside the most? Do you feel as if your life has gone full circle and that you have accomplished everything you had set out to do?
I currently reside in Korea, making a major difference in the Korean society through my inspiring books and speeches. At the same time, I am preparing to publish the sequels of my autobiographies in English to quantum leap in impacting the world along with my inspiring/motivating speeches. Yes, I do feel as if my life has gone full circle and that I have accomplished everything I had set out to do and more.
From general research I have noticed that you are mentioned as Korea’s most popular motivational/ inspirational speaker. Do you feel that you have lived up to such a title or that you have merely lived your life and that people aspire generally to stories that carry success?
I feel that I have lived up to such a title. I also feel that I simply lived my life and that people aspire to such stories that carry success, especially with fantastic dramas and happy ending.
Where do you see yourself going from here? I mean from what I have read you have literally lived a couple of lives?
I plan to live as many lives as possible by continue to dreaming to make this world a better place than I first found. I will continue to enjoy my lives as well while inspiring and empowering as many people in the world as possible through bestselling books and top keynote speeches.
How has your struggles impacted on the way you raised your own child?
The TV producer of KBS (Korean Broadcasting System, top media in Korea), who made the first documentary of my life story, asked my daughter what her childhood dream was. Without any hesitation, my daughter, who was a junior of Harvard University then, replied that she wanted to become her mother’s clone! I inspired her to dream, motivated her to catch the stars, and empowered her to live and enjoy her successful life while leading her by example.
Do you have any inspirational words for fellow writers and readers out there?
We have no choice at our birth. We have no choice from death; we all will die one day. We have no choice but to live only one life. Yet, we do have a choice how to live that one life given to us.
Dear fellow writers and readers.
Take that life given to you and make it the best one as you want it to be. Be the amazing writer you want to be and be the star of your dreams. Have the time of your life! It’s the only and final one given to our mercy—the wonderful opportunity of our lifetime.
Dr, Thanks so much for this opportunity.
Nadine Maritz
MAJOR DREAM: FROM IMMIGRANT TO HOUSEMAID TO HARVARD PHD.
For many, Dr Jin Kyu (Suh) Robertson is proof that people have the power to have more fulfilled and satisfying life once they choose to become the sailor of their own ship. We are therefore immensely grateful to be able to have the opportunity to do an interview with Dr. Jin Robertson.
Dr. Thanks so much for the opportunity. As a start please introduce yourself to our readers. What events have brought you up to this point where you have now written a novel and flourished into an author?
I am a lucky woman who is living the life of my dream. I immigrated to America alone at the age of 22 as a housemaid with little English and $100 to my name. At 28, a mother of eight months old baby girl, I joined the U.S. Army as a private to escape from the domestic violence. Twenty years later, I retired as a major, received MA (at 43) and Ph.D. (at 57) both from Harvard.
In 1999, when Korea was going through an economic disaster, Major Korean TVs made documentaries of my story of American Dream to help those Koreans who were suffering from the national emergency. The documentaries inspired, motivated, and empowered millions of Koreans, literally having saved hundreds and thousands who were at the verge of suicide.
Those successes in media led me to become Korea’s most popular inspirational/motivational speaker (over 1,300 keynotes) and a bestselling author (over a half million copies sold), continuously inspiring and empowering millions in Korea, Japan, America, and other parts of the world.
Volume 1 of Major Dream is available. Please tell our readers what they can expect within the novel.
This volume begins with the scenes of my graduation from Harvard with a PhD, my childhood dream. The remainder traces back to my roots and the survival from the life full of obstacles in Korea, ending with the escape from the hopeless situation in Korea to begin a new life of an immigrant in America, the land of opportunities. I was 22 years old, alone, with little English, $100 to my name, and one way ticket.
Where can readers stay in contact with you?
They can reach me through my website, www.drjinrobertson.com, and/or e-mails to jo@drjinrobertson.com (my consultant, Joanne Palmer in the U.S.) and/or jin@drjinrobertson.com.
If they can read Korean, they can also contact me through my Korean web, www.cafe.daum.net/ilovecon and suhinchon@paran.com (my manager, Inchon Kim in Korea).
What can readers expect within the following novels?
Before I publish the second and third volume of my memoir of long version, we will publish a short version of my overall life story-- Limitless Sky: A Memoir of Shattered Glass Ceilings, to show readers how to live a life of success and happiness. I then will publish a book on how I, as a single mother, raised my daughter to be selected as a Presidential Scholar (an honour given to 141 of 2.5 million high school graduating seniors each year), graduate from Harvard (BA) and Princeton (MA), and become a U.S. Army officer. This book will show readers to successfully raise their own children, practically with opposite methods and strategies from Amy Chua’s Tiger Mom. Yes, raising a super star child doesn’t have to be so hellish and painful as my daughter and I are the proof.
You were born and raised in Korea. What made you decided to move on from what you had known your whole life?
Korean society when I was growing up was under strong influence of Confucianism which discriminated against women, especially those from poor and powerless family. I disagreed with such system and so longed to become a justice fighter to change it. I wanted to become somebody very successful to prove them wrong and help those defenceless sufferers. Yet, I ended up one of those defenceless sufferers myself, working as a factory girl in a wig factory, a waitress, and a housemaid. In such hopeless and depressing situation, my dream began to leave me as well. And that’s when I encountered a newspaper ad looking for a housemaid to work for an American family in the U.S.A., the country we, the poor Koreans, believed it to be a paradise.
My move to this land of opportunity was a major turning point of my dream life, and I am utterly grateful to myself for taking up that challenges filled with fear and difficulties.
Where do you currently reside the most? Do you feel as if your life has gone full circle and that you have accomplished everything you had set out to do?
I currently reside in Korea, making a major difference in the Korean society through my inspiring books and speeches. At the same time, I am preparing to publish the sequels of my autobiographies in English to quantum leap in impacting the world along with my inspiring/motivating speeches. Yes, I do feel as if my life has gone full circle and that I have accomplished everything I had set out to do and more.
From general research I have noticed that you are mentioned as Korea’s most popular motivational/ inspirational speaker. Do you feel that you have lived up to such a title or that you have merely lived your life and that people aspire generally to stories that carry success?
I feel that I have lived up to such a title. I also feel that I simply lived my life and that people aspire to such stories that carry success, especially with fantastic dramas and happy ending.
Where do you see yourself going from here? I mean from what I have read you have literally lived a couple of lives?
I plan to live as many lives as possible by continue to dreaming to make this world a better place than I first found. I will continue to enjoy my lives as well while inspiring and empowering as many people in the world as possible through bestselling books and top keynote speeches.
How has your struggles impacted on the way you raised your own child?
The TV producer of KBS (Korean Broadcasting System, top media in Korea), who made the first documentary of my life story, asked my daughter what her childhood dream was. Without any hesitation, my daughter, who was a junior of Harvard University then, replied that she wanted to become her mother’s clone! I inspired her to dream, motivated her to catch the stars, and empowered her to live and enjoy her successful life while leading her by example.
Do you have any inspirational words for fellow writers and readers out there?
We have no choice at our birth. We have no choice from death; we all will die one day. We have no choice but to live only one life. Yet, we do have a choice how to live that one life given to us.
Dear fellow writers and readers.
Take that life given to you and make it the best one as you want it to be. Be the amazing writer you want to be and be the star of your dreams. Have the time of your life! It’s the only and final one given to our mercy—the wonderful opportunity of our lifetime.
Dr, Thanks so much for this opportunity.
August 1, 2012
Crime Fiction Lover 4 Star Review of Rudy Yuly's Sparkle
// eBook
Sparkle
By DavidPrestidge ⋅
Written by Rudy Yuly –In a luxurious house in the hills above Seattle, Assistant DA Silver,
his wife and their six-year-old daughter Lucy are found brutally beaten
to death. Detective George Louis and his partner Pinky Bjorgesen are
assigned the case. Once the forensic team have done what they have to
do, the house is turned over to the professional cleaners. Sparkle is a
team of two brothers, Joe and Eddie Jones, who specialise in cleaning up
the aftermath of violent death scenes. Joe is a misanthropic,
chain-smoking baseball addict who runs the business, but it is Eddie who
actually does the cleaning work. Eddie is deeply autistic and locked
into his own strange world by childhood trauma. Joe is also a prisoner,
but of a different kind. While he profits from Eddie’s uncanny ability
to convert an abattoir of a murder scene back into a normal house, he is
literally his brother’s keeper. No-one else can manage the repetitive
rituals and piano-wire tensions of Eddie’s life.
While the hunt goes on for the killer of the Silver family, the
brothers are called in again to clean up a seemingly unrelated multiple
shooting in an illegal Chinese gambling house. In the Silver house,
while Eddie went through his exhaustive and surreal cleaning ritual he
was led to something tangible which may hold a clue to the killer’s
identity. Once again, in the bloody aftermath of the Chinese shooting,
he is shown something that the police have missed.
Rudy Yuly is a screenwriter and there is a clear sense of the visual
in his clear and direct writing. We know within a sentence or two
exactly what people look like and how they move and talk. Eddie sees
things with almost microscopic clarity. His vision gives us a vivid
picture, in particular of Jolie Walker, the beautiful zoo attendant who
takes him for a weekly walk around the pens and enclosures. This book
does not do comfort, and I physically wriggled with embarrassment at the
poignant exchanges between tongue-tied Joe and his wary girlfriend
LaVonne.
The author does a brilliant job of letting us see, hear and smell
Eddie’s world through his own senses. Sparkle is disturbing and edgy,
and there is a great deal of compassion extended to those who have to
deal with Eddie’s shortcomings and strange gifts. We are taken on a
high-risk course. It is one thing to introduce a supernatural element
into a story through the perceptions of one person as this can be
explained away by mood, confusion or the power of suggestion. It is
another thing altogether to have a piece of physical evidence pass from
the spirit world, via the live intermediary, into the hands of those who
are conducting a murder investigation.
This is such a difficult book to categorise. Yes, there is
criminality and yes, there is detection. But the bedrock here is a
description of misunderstanding, loss, and inadequacy. Perfectly decent
people blunder about trying to make sense of the incomprehensible. Bit
by bit what really damaged the lives of these brothers is revealed. The
original killer is finally unmasked, but the story is less about that
than it is about the terrifying and bewildering world of autism. My only
caveat about the story is the supernatural element. Readers who find it
troublesome will find the book less satisfying than someone who simple
accepts it and lets themselves be carried along with the narrative.
July 30, 2012
8 Women Dream: An Interview With Dream University Founder Marcia Wieder Part 1
1. What is the story behind the 1 million dream challenge?
The 1 Million Dream campaign is our lead initiative out of Dream University. The idea is to really change how people, think, speak and act upon their dreams. Instead of it being a “maybe someday,” ”when the kids are gone,” or “when I have extra money,” or “when I retire” dream the real question is: How do you want your life to be and what are you going to do about it?
So the idea is that we want people to post their dream on the Million Dreams website.
There is no cost to it at all. We just want you to get your idea out of your head to increase the likelihood of it happening by a thousand percent.
We define a dream much like 8 Women Dream does, as something that you want. It can be a professional dream, or for your health, or for a certain relationship. Not all dreams need to be what we like to call the “Mother Teresa” world dream (the “I want to be President” type dream). The dream can simply be “to spend more quality time with my family.”
2. In my experience with 8 Women Dream, I’ve seen people settle on a dream, only to never work on it, or want to constantly change it to something else they won’t work on either. What causes this? It’s like they can’t really figure out what their dreams are.
Create Your Future Now with Marcia Wieder
I think this is very common.
I’ve seen it in my workshops where half the people don’t know what their dream should be. We are often so mired in reality, so busy living from our clocks and our calendars that we don’t even know what our dreams are.
And some people choose dreams that they have no control over, like winning the lottery, which makes putting together simple steps to build their dream an impossible task.
I think you are very wise on 8 Women Dream in coaching people to take smaller steps.
Bring the dream down to a level where you will feel comfortable working on it.
For me it starts when someone says, “I don’t have a dream. I don’t have a dream!”
Usually these people are judging themselves and they are kind of panicked, and I say, “Look. Your dream is to have a dream!” And they look at me and have that light-bulb moment of, “Ohhhhh. I get it. I actually do have a dream.”
Then it’s more powerful to move towards what you want than to come from a place of moving away from what you don’t want, which is what you have probably watched those dreamers do on 8 Women Dream.
So their dream is really to have a new dream and their job is to spend the next 30 days on a “passion quest” to discover who they really are.
They (or anyone in the same state of mind about the idea of having a dream) should ask themselves the following question –
What makes me feel good?
The answers might be to take a bubble bath, or read a good romance novel. It doesn’t have to be ‘fly to Paris’ — that bigger than life thing.
Start small with what makes you feel good. What brings you joy?
Start doing more of these things and become aware of what your ‘this feels good’ feelings feel like when you are doing something that you love doing.
Another thing that happens during a challenging economy is that people think that their dreams are something soft — like something to do if they have “extra” — like a luxury item.
Until I tell them that people with passions and dreams live 7 – 10 years longer and enjoy a better quality of life and that statement usually gets them to sit up and take notice.
(I tell Marcia that I forgot about her “passion quest” which is an exercise I did myself some years back. It really does bring your dreams down to earth.)
I am so flattered that you’ve read my books because what you’ve created with 8 Women Dream is really quite extraordinary. I’ve been all over your site and I’ve read a lot of your posts and it’s so juicy … and organic … and engaging that I really, really acknowledge you. I hope you are going to come to my workshop in San Francisco on July 21st so we can meet and see how we can support each other.
(I should interject here that when someone you admire, who is living your dream on a mega-level tells you something like this …it’s hard to remember to breathe and take it all in. To know me is to know how much time I spend devoted to making this site the best that I possibly can so that it encourages women to do what brings them joy. And I am not talking about finding that joy in someone else, but in creating that joy for yourself. To have Marcia acknowledge my dream was a moment in the interview where I wanted to cry, but there’s no crying in interviewing.)
3. I know you are big on dream deadlines. I have seen dreamers flounder at the one year point of living their dream. How do dreamers come up with realistic deadlines that they will use for achieving their dreams?
Big dreams or long-term dreams can die when they just plop it on a to-do list, like publishing a book or start a business, which really should be broken down into smaller dreams or dream projects and strategies that can be accomplished in one month or less. Because a month is a short enough time for you to stay passionate and engaged, but a long enough period of time where you can actually produce a substantial result.
So if you choose a really big dream, like “to write a book” then by the end of 30 days say, “I am going to accomplish a smaller dream of having the Table of Contents done. 30 days from that I’m going to have my first chapter started,” and so on.
You chunk that big dream down into little dreams. Because dreaming is an interesting paradox. The difference between a dream like winning the lottery and a dream strategy is the dream strategy allows you to design a way to complete your dream. The paradox is that if you pick a dream where you can never go to strategy the dream just remains a fantasy or a nice idea.
But you also have to be careful because if you go straight to strategy too soon, you often end up compromising the dream down and selling out on it before you’ve allowed yourself the chance to explore the possibilities.
People have to find that balance between hanging in there long enough to open to the vision and the greater possibilities, along with other resources, miracles and short cuts — and all that other stuff that comes up as you take your next step, and then the next step so that you actually stay in action.
July 28, 2012
Dr. Fuddle and The Gold Baton Book Trailer
When the dark musician Jedermann gains control of the legendary Gold
Baton, Tyler, his sister Christina, and their friends are drawn into a
dangerous, mysterious adventure. Guided by the mythical Dr. Fuddle,
these explorers journey to Orphea, saving the land from chaos and
destruction, and return to earth with the gift of harmony.
Get the book
here-http://www.amazon.com.
Find out more about the author here- http://on.fb.me/DrFuddle
or read the blog! http://bit.ly/FuddleBlog
Available from Story Merchant Books – http://www.storymerchant.com/books.html
Dr. Fuddle and the Gold Baton by Warren Woodruff Middle Grade Fantasy
July 27, 2012
Guest Post: Penny C. Sansevieri
Part 2 - How to Optimize Your Message With Blogging, an Interview with Rich Brooks
Penny C. Sansevieri
Author and CEO, Marketing Experts, Inc.
We're back with Rich Brooks of Flyte New Media to continue our discussion.
Rich, we talk a lot about how often Google is shifting their analytics. Thirteen or fourteen months ago there was Panda and now there is Penguin. So that makes generating authentic content on your site even more crucial because of all of these updates. Right?
Right, they keep on shifting the sands underneath our feet and they come up with these changes. If you were an optimist you would say they are good changes because what they are doing is rewarding people who create unique and powerful content and they are punishing people who are just scraping that content or creating derivative content. Like any change, there are a lot of good people who get caught in the shuffle and a lot of people who had not been creating content lost a lot of traffic because of Google. That is very frustrating and I feel for the people that did. What I would say is the same thing that I have been saying since almost 1997, which is, just keep on creating content that is valuable to your customer. If you do that, and understand enough of the big picture of the search engine; like put your keywords in the title, put your keywords in the header, use your keywords a couple of times throughout the page. Create keyword links to and from that page. Those are the basics. Those are the things that seem to have not changed over the years and over all of the different changes that have gone on. By creating valuable content, in the long run you are going to win. That has been my belief all along, and it continues to be my belief. No matter what Penguin or Panda, or whatever the next key animal, and whatever comes next. You are going to be prepared by creating quality, valuable content to your end user.
Right, exactly. Guest blogging. Inviting people to guest blog on your site?
It is very powerful and works both ways. Guest blogging is when I blog on someone else's website or blog. The value for me blogging elsewhere is that I am able to capture their audience and if I write something intelligent I can then lead them over to my blog where they can register or learn more about me or buy something. Likewise, when I am blogging for somebody else, I can create keyword links pointing to my materials and my online presence, so that can also be my search engine optimization. The flipside to that is if I have a blog and I am trying to create some fresh content for it which is more than I can create for myself I can leverage people who are looking for that visibility and their content helps my blog in terms of search engine visibility. Chances are they are also going to promote the fact that they are writing for my blog, which then introduces me to a new audience too. It is kind of a win/win situation.
That is great. What do you think about, what are your views on repurposing content? Is it good or bad?
I think we might repurpose our content, we might get bored of our own content but chances are no one sees all of our content. If you are writing a blog post that you like but it is kind of an unfinished thought and then at the end of the month you are looking for newsletter content that you might take that same content out at a different angle or polish it up and send it out. I know that not everybody keeps track of my blog and to my email newsletter and reading my website, and my Facebook page. Nobody is going to do all that. So what I feel is the best thing to do is find that one piece of really valuable content and then distribute it through as many channels that seem appropriate to your business. Should you be posting it to a link to your Facebook, sometimes it is just about pulling people in by creating links to those places, but other times you might have an idea and say this is the month that I am going to talk about Google Analytics, or this is the month I talk about dog training, or whatever it is that your business is. You create a calendar where you are blogging about this, you create Youtube videos about this and you are putting out on your social networks and you are focused on one topic for the month. That way it is fine to repurpose your content.
Repurposing content used to be what people would say you need to be careful about because Google doesn't like it, but that is not really what Google is after. They are after people who are...
They are after people who are literally copy and pasting and putting it to their websites. I don't think there is a whole lot of value in that. But if you are putting up content, these days there are so many different channels. I create a blog post and it automatically updates on LinkedIn, it automatically updates my Twitter feed, and it automatically pulls to my Facebook page. So is that repurposing content? I think more you are just taking advantage of the different channels that are out there. If you build up audiences at each one of those places it only makes sense that you pay them with something of value.
You are right. Because people do not enter your message the same way. Some people know you on Twitter, other people know you on LinkedIn and Facebook and whatnot. So I think it is not a bad idea. Talk to me about other tips for blogging, because I want you to chat to me about the event that you have coming up.
Just one of the things that I stole from some of the other Internet marketers out there, most notably Amy Porterfield, my friend. I used to send out the entire blog post through the RSS feed, and then I noticed that Amy and a lot of other internet marketers that I respect, were sending out an email that would basically have a very casual tone to it and say that I was thinking about such and such so I wrote a blog post about it and I would love to get your thoughts on it and then there would be a link to the blog. I thought why not put the whole blog post in there, who cares where they read it, whether it be the blog or email as long as your message gets there. And she said that when they come back to my blog, they are more likely to share my content or leave a response. And I am like "duh" how did I not think of that? So lately I have been doing the same thing. Even though it is an extra step, and even though it is a little more work, I go in on my blog and WebWorks rather than just hit the publish button and send it out, I craft a personal message that has the person's name in it and send it out that way then I can attract more traffic than just sending out the entire post.
That is fantastic. Yes, Amy is great, we love her. I have interviewed her a few times about her Facebook wisdom which is just amazing. Talk to me a little bit about your event. I know that Amy is going to be there.
Yes, this is something that I am super excited about. The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Conference, it is here in Maine on September 14, 2012. I have been doing a great conference these past three years called Social Media FTW. It was three years, it was great, we sold out every years but it ended and I wanted to do something new. I really strongly feel that as much as I love social media I don't believe in putting all the eggs in one basket. Right now I feel the three most important channels are search, social and mobile. So as I played around with that idea I was thinking about a conference name that used the word "accelerate" but I didn't like it, so then I moved to catalyst but I couldn't find the right name for that. And then in the thesaurus I saw agents of change. I am a comic book geek; as soon as I heard agents of change, I am like, we are done, that is the name of the conference. So I worked with a friend of mine who is an illustrator and he came up with the artwork. We are on Facebook and the website. He designed the agent for research, the agent for social, the agent for mobile. Those are the three channels that we will be talking about. And here is the thing; I want you to come to Maine, especially because Maine in September is the greatest place on earth. But I know that not everybody can make it so we are partnered with The Post Network and they are going to produce a live video stream of the conference, so you can watch it live or watch it afterwards. We are going to have people from all over the country, all over the world. We have got Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents. Amy Porterfield, as you mentioned, author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies. And then one of the smartest men, or at least smartest marketers that I know, Derek Halpern who is the man behind Social Triggers. Three great presenters. We have already sold one ticket to somebody from overseas. It is going to be very energetic and I really want to show that Maine is a great place to visit, live and do business.
That is great! I am so excited about this conference. And you have got all these rock stars, right?
I think it was the tequila on the rooftops that convinced them to do it. But the bottom line is they are coming, it is going to be a great day, we are going to really focus on what businesses and organizations can do to improve their search engine visibility, their social media and their mobile. Really put together a mobile plan because I think that too many of us were not ready for the mobile revolution.
You are absolutely right. I want to commend you because I just think education is so important. People need to get out and network with other people in this industry. Really just get out and learn and stop being afraid of the Internet. A lot of businesses are intimidated.
You are right; they don't know where to start. I think that is part of the problem and so hopefully people are ready, most companies have a website, they have a Facebook page and now it is about how to use those. I think with mobile a lot of people are like, I don't even know where to start. That is going to be a part of the conference too. How do you create a mobile campaign? What do you do? What are the first steps? So that is going to be some of the stuff we talk about as well.
Awesome! Rich, thank you so much for making the time for this session. Good luck with the conference!
Penny C. Sansevieri
Author and CEO, Marketing Experts, Inc.
We're back with Rich Brooks of Flyte New Media to continue our discussion.
Rich, we talk a lot about how often Google is shifting their analytics. Thirteen or fourteen months ago there was Panda and now there is Penguin. So that makes generating authentic content on your site even more crucial because of all of these updates. Right?
Right, they keep on shifting the sands underneath our feet and they come up with these changes. If you were an optimist you would say they are good changes because what they are doing is rewarding people who create unique and powerful content and they are punishing people who are just scraping that content or creating derivative content. Like any change, there are a lot of good people who get caught in the shuffle and a lot of people who had not been creating content lost a lot of traffic because of Google. That is very frustrating and I feel for the people that did. What I would say is the same thing that I have been saying since almost 1997, which is, just keep on creating content that is valuable to your customer. If you do that, and understand enough of the big picture of the search engine; like put your keywords in the title, put your keywords in the header, use your keywords a couple of times throughout the page. Create keyword links to and from that page. Those are the basics. Those are the things that seem to have not changed over the years and over all of the different changes that have gone on. By creating valuable content, in the long run you are going to win. That has been my belief all along, and it continues to be my belief. No matter what Penguin or Panda, or whatever the next key animal, and whatever comes next. You are going to be prepared by creating quality, valuable content to your end user.
Right, exactly. Guest blogging. Inviting people to guest blog on your site?
It is very powerful and works both ways. Guest blogging is when I blog on someone else's website or blog. The value for me blogging elsewhere is that I am able to capture their audience and if I write something intelligent I can then lead them over to my blog where they can register or learn more about me or buy something. Likewise, when I am blogging for somebody else, I can create keyword links pointing to my materials and my online presence, so that can also be my search engine optimization. The flipside to that is if I have a blog and I am trying to create some fresh content for it which is more than I can create for myself I can leverage people who are looking for that visibility and their content helps my blog in terms of search engine visibility. Chances are they are also going to promote the fact that they are writing for my blog, which then introduces me to a new audience too. It is kind of a win/win situation.
That is great. What do you think about, what are your views on repurposing content? Is it good or bad?
I think we might repurpose our content, we might get bored of our own content but chances are no one sees all of our content. If you are writing a blog post that you like but it is kind of an unfinished thought and then at the end of the month you are looking for newsletter content that you might take that same content out at a different angle or polish it up and send it out. I know that not everybody keeps track of my blog and to my email newsletter and reading my website, and my Facebook page. Nobody is going to do all that. So what I feel is the best thing to do is find that one piece of really valuable content and then distribute it through as many channels that seem appropriate to your business. Should you be posting it to a link to your Facebook, sometimes it is just about pulling people in by creating links to those places, but other times you might have an idea and say this is the month that I am going to talk about Google Analytics, or this is the month I talk about dog training, or whatever it is that your business is. You create a calendar where you are blogging about this, you create Youtube videos about this and you are putting out on your social networks and you are focused on one topic for the month. That way it is fine to repurpose your content.
Repurposing content used to be what people would say you need to be careful about because Google doesn't like it, but that is not really what Google is after. They are after people who are...
They are after people who are literally copy and pasting and putting it to their websites. I don't think there is a whole lot of value in that. But if you are putting up content, these days there are so many different channels. I create a blog post and it automatically updates on LinkedIn, it automatically updates my Twitter feed, and it automatically pulls to my Facebook page. So is that repurposing content? I think more you are just taking advantage of the different channels that are out there. If you build up audiences at each one of those places it only makes sense that you pay them with something of value.
You are right. Because people do not enter your message the same way. Some people know you on Twitter, other people know you on LinkedIn and Facebook and whatnot. So I think it is not a bad idea. Talk to me about other tips for blogging, because I want you to chat to me about the event that you have coming up.
Just one of the things that I stole from some of the other Internet marketers out there, most notably Amy Porterfield, my friend. I used to send out the entire blog post through the RSS feed, and then I noticed that Amy and a lot of other internet marketers that I respect, were sending out an email that would basically have a very casual tone to it and say that I was thinking about such and such so I wrote a blog post about it and I would love to get your thoughts on it and then there would be a link to the blog. I thought why not put the whole blog post in there, who cares where they read it, whether it be the blog or email as long as your message gets there. And she said that when they come back to my blog, they are more likely to share my content or leave a response. And I am like "duh" how did I not think of that? So lately I have been doing the same thing. Even though it is an extra step, and even though it is a little more work, I go in on my blog and WebWorks rather than just hit the publish button and send it out, I craft a personal message that has the person's name in it and send it out that way then I can attract more traffic than just sending out the entire post.
That is fantastic. Yes, Amy is great, we love her. I have interviewed her a few times about her Facebook wisdom which is just amazing. Talk to me a little bit about your event. I know that Amy is going to be there.
Yes, this is something that I am super excited about. The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Conference, it is here in Maine on September 14, 2012. I have been doing a great conference these past three years called Social Media FTW. It was three years, it was great, we sold out every years but it ended and I wanted to do something new. I really strongly feel that as much as I love social media I don't believe in putting all the eggs in one basket. Right now I feel the three most important channels are search, social and mobile. So as I played around with that idea I was thinking about a conference name that used the word "accelerate" but I didn't like it, so then I moved to catalyst but I couldn't find the right name for that. And then in the thesaurus I saw agents of change. I am a comic book geek; as soon as I heard agents of change, I am like, we are done, that is the name of the conference. So I worked with a friend of mine who is an illustrator and he came up with the artwork. We are on Facebook and the website. He designed the agent for research, the agent for social, the agent for mobile. Those are the three channels that we will be talking about. And here is the thing; I want you to come to Maine, especially because Maine in September is the greatest place on earth. But I know that not everybody can make it so we are partnered with The Post Network and they are going to produce a live video stream of the conference, so you can watch it live or watch it afterwards. We are going to have people from all over the country, all over the world. We have got Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents. Amy Porterfield, as you mentioned, author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies. And then one of the smartest men, or at least smartest marketers that I know, Derek Halpern who is the man behind Social Triggers. Three great presenters. We have already sold one ticket to somebody from overseas. It is going to be very energetic and I really want to show that Maine is a great place to visit, live and do business.
That is great! I am so excited about this conference. And you have got all these rock stars, right?
I think it was the tequila on the rooftops that convinced them to do it. But the bottom line is they are coming, it is going to be a great day, we are going to really focus on what businesses and organizations can do to improve their search engine visibility, their social media and their mobile. Really put together a mobile plan because I think that too many of us were not ready for the mobile revolution.
You are absolutely right. I want to commend you because I just think education is so important. People need to get out and network with other people in this industry. Really just get out and learn and stop being afraid of the Internet. A lot of businesses are intimidated.
You are right; they don't know where to start. I think that is part of the problem and so hopefully people are ready, most companies have a website, they have a Facebook page and now it is about how to use those. I think with mobile a lot of people are like, I don't even know where to start. That is going to be a part of the conference too. How do you create a mobile campaign? What do you do? What are the first steps? So that is going to be some of the stuff we talk about as well.
Awesome! Rich, thank you so much for making the time for this session. Good luck with the conference!
July 26, 2012
Story Merchant Client Dennis Palumbo's Fever Dream - Portland Book Review
Fever Dream
Mystery, Crime & Thrillers
By Dennis Palumbo
Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95, 350 pages
When psychologist Daniel Rinaldi is called from his practice to the scene of a bank robbery, he has no idea just how much trouble is coming his way. As a consultant to the Pittsburgh Police, he aids with traumatized victims at crime scenes and the police need to question the lone survivor of a gory scene where hostages were killed at the bank. Soon Rinaldi is caught in a swirling morass of suspicion, kidnapping, murder, and politics. Death threats against the District Attorney, who is running for governor, further complicate the investigation. Then a reporter asks Rinaldi to accompany him on a journey to question a man who claims to have evidence of corruption by the DA. The reporter wants a psychologist’s take on the honesty of the man. The journey takes Rinaldi into a harrowing situation where he barely escapes with his life, and any evidence may have been lost or destroyed.
Author Dennis Palumbo is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice. Formerly a Hollywood screenwriter, he is the author of the mystery collection From Crime to Crime. His short fiction has appeared in magazines. Fever Dream is his second novel. While the plot of this novel is a complex tale woven from several threads, it is a thoroughly amusing and enjoyable romp. The brisk pace and intelligent writing about the adventurous and heroic psychologist will leave the reader wanting more.
Reviewed by Fran Byram
Mystery, Crime & Thrillers
By Dennis Palumbo
Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95, 350 pages
When psychologist Daniel Rinaldi is called from his practice to the scene of a bank robbery, he has no idea just how much trouble is coming his way. As a consultant to the Pittsburgh Police, he aids with traumatized victims at crime scenes and the police need to question the lone survivor of a gory scene where hostages were killed at the bank. Soon Rinaldi is caught in a swirling morass of suspicion, kidnapping, murder, and politics. Death threats against the District Attorney, who is running for governor, further complicate the investigation. Then a reporter asks Rinaldi to accompany him on a journey to question a man who claims to have evidence of corruption by the DA. The reporter wants a psychologist’s take on the honesty of the man. The journey takes Rinaldi into a harrowing situation where he barely escapes with his life, and any evidence may have been lost or destroyed.Author Dennis Palumbo is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice. Formerly a Hollywood screenwriter, he is the author of the mystery collection From Crime to Crime. His short fiction has appeared in magazines. Fever Dream is his second novel. While the plot of this novel is a complex tale woven from several threads, it is a thoroughly amusing and enjoyable romp. The brisk pace and intelligent writing about the adventurous and heroic psychologist will leave the reader wanting more.
Reviewed by Fran Byram
July 25, 2012
Guest Post: Penny C. Sansevieri
How to Optimize Your Message With Blogging, an Interview with Rich Brooks
Penny C. Sansevieri
Author and CEO, Marketing Experts, Inc.
I spent some time, pre-BlogWorld, with Rich Brooks; he is the president of Flyte New Media.
Let's just dig right into it. First off, I know that you are running around, managing Flyte and all the Internet changes all the time. But, I saw a blog that you wrote, or that you guest-blogged about blogging. We talk about all kinds of stuff to do in social media, blogging is still important though, right?
I feel as though it is important. It is actually my favorite tool in social media. I love Twitter and Facebook and all those different social media outposts, but what I like the most about blogging is the fact it works as social media because it is very social. You write something and the comments are open and people can respond to it. But it also works really well with search engine optimization, something you don't always get out of Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn. They have very limited search engine value. For me I always ask people, "What is it, when you have a question and you go to the Internet; what is it that you do to get the answers?" And it is either "go and Google it" or you ask your friends on Facebook. Of course, you can substitute your favorite search engine or social media outpost, but the bottom line is that is how we work today. It is either search or social. So when you create a blog post, it becomes search engine fodder. If you do it right it answers your ideal customers biggest problem. So when they go to Google or whatever, and they put in that search query, suddenly, Google refers them to your website or to your blog and then you have a new opportunity to connect with an ideal customer. That is why I think it is going to continue to be important, because it is yet another opportunity for somebody to find you. Plus it is great fodder for the rest of your social media conversations.
Very true, and it goes into what everybody is talking about -- content, content, content, got to create content. Blogging is one of the biggest content generators. Right?
Absolutely. I have been guilty of saying, "Create as much content as possible." I have kind of reined it in so I am like, "Create as much valuable content that you can create and still run your business." You have got to find that balance. One of the things that I like about a blog is that when I post something, it stays around for years. If I post something to Facebook, it is usually gone by the end of the day.
I wrote a blog years ago and it still drives about 200 unique visitors to our website every single month. Those are leads; those are people who have come to our site. Many of those fill out contact forms or sign up for our email newsletter. That content continues to generate business for us. If I had posted something like that to Facebook or Twitter, it will be gone.
How many times do you need to blog each week?
I try to avoid a "magic" number. I do think it is more about creating content consistently. So I could say two to three blog posts per week, that is great, that is a lot of opportunity. By the end of the year you will have a couple of hundred articles out there for people to find -- true. But you just can't create content like that. I know a lot of small businesses can't create enough content. What I say suggest is to try to create an editorial calendar; try to post once per week. There are a lot of different types of content that you can create, and a lot of places to get ideas.
One thing that I always tell people is that you get emails almost every day, with customers and prospects asking questions. "How do I do this?" or "What do you think about that?" Don't just hit the reply button. Take that email and put it into your blog (change the names) and then answer it. Now you have got a "Dear Abby"-style post that directly answers this person's question. Now you can go back to that person and say, "Hey, your question was so great I turned it into a blog post. And here is that blog post." That does a couple of things: One, it tells that person that you thought their question was important enough that you wanted to share it with others. Also, if one person is asking you a question, how many hundreds or thousands of others in the next six months are going to ask the exact same question to Google? If you give the answer to that question in your blog, it will help all of those people and in turn help you by driving them to your website or blog.
Yes, absolutely, because a lot of people say, "Well, how do I create content?" And sometimes the best content comes from your end user.
Absolutely, so that can be one place, and this is something that we talk about in our blog, I created a list of 50 different ways that you can create content. Email is an easy-to-use tool. Another thing is find competitor websites, find the frequently asked questions page, you know that page that nobody pays attention to, chances are at some point they gave some thought to that, improve your frequently asked questions page and answer them with your own approach. Make sure that you are not just stealing their ideas, come up with your own better answer and turn it into a blog post and all of sudden you are breathing new life into that question.
That is a really good idea, because we get so close to our own stuff that it is like, "Oh right, people are confused about that stuff." I talk about publishing; people are confused about distribution, or whatever. We live and breathe it every day so we don't give it a lot of thought. That is a great idea for generating content.
When I am trying to generate keywords one of the things I often do is start with my own list, then go to Google Adwords keyword tool and what I do is plug in. I often do this for me and for clients, anytime I am going to write a blog I will often go in and see if I can find a better phrase. For example, I was writing a blog post about Content Management System (CMS) and I just quickly ran a Google Adwords keyword tool, which is a free tool, I put in some of the phrases that I was thinking of using, and I uncovered a phrase that I would not have thought of using. It was, "What is the best CMS for small business?" I never would have thought of phrasing it like that. But once I made that the title of my post that became, for the month, the No. 1 driving keyword to my blog.
Wow!
That was CMS for small business. There were other variations for "CMS" and "small business"; there is a lot of traffic around those phrases. So that is a very valuable keyword tool to generate ideas. How many other keywords could you use?
Keywords are important -- right?
Absolutely. When it comes to the Web and you are talking about search. You absolutely want to do your keyword research, because those are the words that your ideal customer will be using when they go to Google. But even if you are just focusing on social media and you are less concerned about the search I still think you want to do some keyword research, it is a very inexpensive market research. So you may be thinking about writing blog posts about "rhinoplasty" and it turns out that most people are searching on "nose jobs" so they are going to miss the content and you are going to miss the customer. You need to make sure that you are using the language that the customer uses. Doing research in this way is very important.
Penny C. Sansevieri
Author and CEO, Marketing Experts, Inc.
I spent some time, pre-BlogWorld, with Rich Brooks; he is the president of Flyte New Media.
Let's just dig right into it. First off, I know that you are running around, managing Flyte and all the Internet changes all the time. But, I saw a blog that you wrote, or that you guest-blogged about blogging. We talk about all kinds of stuff to do in social media, blogging is still important though, right?
I feel as though it is important. It is actually my favorite tool in social media. I love Twitter and Facebook and all those different social media outposts, but what I like the most about blogging is the fact it works as social media because it is very social. You write something and the comments are open and people can respond to it. But it also works really well with search engine optimization, something you don't always get out of Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn. They have very limited search engine value. For me I always ask people, "What is it, when you have a question and you go to the Internet; what is it that you do to get the answers?" And it is either "go and Google it" or you ask your friends on Facebook. Of course, you can substitute your favorite search engine or social media outpost, but the bottom line is that is how we work today. It is either search or social. So when you create a blog post, it becomes search engine fodder. If you do it right it answers your ideal customers biggest problem. So when they go to Google or whatever, and they put in that search query, suddenly, Google refers them to your website or to your blog and then you have a new opportunity to connect with an ideal customer. That is why I think it is going to continue to be important, because it is yet another opportunity for somebody to find you. Plus it is great fodder for the rest of your social media conversations.
Very true, and it goes into what everybody is talking about -- content, content, content, got to create content. Blogging is one of the biggest content generators. Right?
Absolutely. I have been guilty of saying, "Create as much content as possible." I have kind of reined it in so I am like, "Create as much valuable content that you can create and still run your business." You have got to find that balance. One of the things that I like about a blog is that when I post something, it stays around for years. If I post something to Facebook, it is usually gone by the end of the day.
I wrote a blog years ago and it still drives about 200 unique visitors to our website every single month. Those are leads; those are people who have come to our site. Many of those fill out contact forms or sign up for our email newsletter. That content continues to generate business for us. If I had posted something like that to Facebook or Twitter, it will be gone.
How many times do you need to blog each week?
I try to avoid a "magic" number. I do think it is more about creating content consistently. So I could say two to three blog posts per week, that is great, that is a lot of opportunity. By the end of the year you will have a couple of hundred articles out there for people to find -- true. But you just can't create content like that. I know a lot of small businesses can't create enough content. What I say suggest is to try to create an editorial calendar; try to post once per week. There are a lot of different types of content that you can create, and a lot of places to get ideas.
One thing that I always tell people is that you get emails almost every day, with customers and prospects asking questions. "How do I do this?" or "What do you think about that?" Don't just hit the reply button. Take that email and put it into your blog (change the names) and then answer it. Now you have got a "Dear Abby"-style post that directly answers this person's question. Now you can go back to that person and say, "Hey, your question was so great I turned it into a blog post. And here is that blog post." That does a couple of things: One, it tells that person that you thought their question was important enough that you wanted to share it with others. Also, if one person is asking you a question, how many hundreds or thousands of others in the next six months are going to ask the exact same question to Google? If you give the answer to that question in your blog, it will help all of those people and in turn help you by driving them to your website or blog.
Yes, absolutely, because a lot of people say, "Well, how do I create content?" And sometimes the best content comes from your end user.
Absolutely, so that can be one place, and this is something that we talk about in our blog, I created a list of 50 different ways that you can create content. Email is an easy-to-use tool. Another thing is find competitor websites, find the frequently asked questions page, you know that page that nobody pays attention to, chances are at some point they gave some thought to that, improve your frequently asked questions page and answer them with your own approach. Make sure that you are not just stealing their ideas, come up with your own better answer and turn it into a blog post and all of sudden you are breathing new life into that question.
That is a really good idea, because we get so close to our own stuff that it is like, "Oh right, people are confused about that stuff." I talk about publishing; people are confused about distribution, or whatever. We live and breathe it every day so we don't give it a lot of thought. That is a great idea for generating content.
When I am trying to generate keywords one of the things I often do is start with my own list, then go to Google Adwords keyword tool and what I do is plug in. I often do this for me and for clients, anytime I am going to write a blog I will often go in and see if I can find a better phrase. For example, I was writing a blog post about Content Management System (CMS) and I just quickly ran a Google Adwords keyword tool, which is a free tool, I put in some of the phrases that I was thinking of using, and I uncovered a phrase that I would not have thought of using. It was, "What is the best CMS for small business?" I never would have thought of phrasing it like that. But once I made that the title of my post that became, for the month, the No. 1 driving keyword to my blog.
Wow!
That was CMS for small business. There were other variations for "CMS" and "small business"; there is a lot of traffic around those phrases. So that is a very valuable keyword tool to generate ideas. How many other keywords could you use?
Keywords are important -- right?
Absolutely. When it comes to the Web and you are talking about search. You absolutely want to do your keyword research, because those are the words that your ideal customer will be using when they go to Google. But even if you are just focusing on social media and you are less concerned about the search I still think you want to do some keyword research, it is a very inexpensive market research. So you may be thinking about writing blog posts about "rhinoplasty" and it turns out that most people are searching on "nose jobs" so they are going to miss the content and you are going to miss the customer. You need to make sure that you are using the language that the customer uses. Doing research in this way is very important.
July 24, 2012
Guest Post: The Art of the Pitch by Dennis Palumbo
Hollywood on the Couch
The inside scoop on Tinseltown, USA.
by Dennis Palumbo
How to Survive Pitching Your Ideas
Pitching your ideas to producers, TV networks and film studios is one of the realities of the creative life. Whether you’re a director hawking a supernatural thriller franchise to Paramount, an actor hoping to produce and star in a prestige historical film for HBO, or a comedy writer trying to sell a sitcom idea to NBC, you’re part of a time-honored tradition of artists offering the promise of their talent to someone with the money to pay for it.
I know this aspect of the creative life quite well. Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, I was a screenwriter. Before that, a staff writer on sitcoms. I’ve free-lanced episodes, too, and done my share of pilots.
In other words, I took meetings. Lots of them. Something like a thousand, over eighteen years. Most were pitch meetings, selling my ideas, my craft, myself to others.
But before I talk about the issues involved in pitching one’s work, from my own experience and that of my creative patients, let me get my favorite “Pitch from Hell” story out of the way:
A producer and I were pitching a film at a big studio. We met with two executives, a male and a female, late on a Friday afternoon (already we were in trouble). About half-way through the meeting, the man left to take an urgent call. Moments later, the woman excused herself to go to the rest room.
They never came back.
After waiting about twenty minutes, the producer and I sort of wandered the halls, peeking into empty cubicles. We figured each exec thought the other would cover the rest of the meeting. In any case, the place was deserted.
As we drove off the lot, I said to the producer, “Gee, they missed the best part of my pitch.” Only I said it somewhat more colorfully.
Pitching is something that comes up constantly in my therapy practice. At the very least, for most artists, it’s a difficult and often dispiriting experience. For some, it’s literally terrifying.
To deal with this, most creative types I know develop little tricks or techniques to get them through the process. Some memorize the entire pitch (and pray nobody interrupts them). Some have arcane theories as to how long to talk about each character, plot point or act break. Others believe in researching the professional (and sometimes personal) successes of the people they’re pitching to, hoping to flatter their egos. Toward the further end of the spectrum we find hypnosis, relaxation tapes, and “lucky socks.”
My problem with these strategies, even the ones that appear to work, is that they’re all an attempt to hide the artist. He or she “hides” behind the pitching technique, using it as a shield against what might emerge in the meeting. By that, I don’t mean its professional outcome; I’m referring to the feelings that might be set off within the artist.
Samuel Johnson said, “Adversity introduces a man to himself.” Likewise, I think pitch meetings introduce a creative person to him or herself. That’s what makes them so frightening for so many people.
Years ago, I had a screenwriter patient who suffered terrible anxiety before every pitch. No matter how strongly he felt about the idea he was proposing, how solidly constructed the story, the pitch rarely went well. Then, during a session about some difficult aspects of his personal life, he blurted out, “It’s as though every event defines who I am.”
A potent realization for him, and one that we saw applied as well to his fears about pitching. He experienced a pitch meeting as an event that ultimately defined how okay he was, how acceptable. Perhaps even how entitled he was to be there.
As a result, his defense against the powerful feelings of shame that might emerge if he failed to sell his idea was to work harder on the story, prepare more diligently, practice the pitch with friends, etc.
What he needed to do instead---which became the focus of our work together---was to challenge the underlying assumption; namely, that if the pitch didn’t result in a sale, this defined him as unacceptable or inadequate.
Every pitch meeting, like every human encounter, is a relational event. We bring all our “stuff” into that room---our performance anxiety, the meanings we give to failure and success, the requirement we may have felt in our families to be the “best and the brightest.”
(Or the reverse. I recall a sitcom director patient who often “sabotaged” her performance in meetings, re-playing her parents’ injunction when she was a child not to “show off,” or draw undue attention to herself, because it might make others “feel badly about themselves.”)
I think it’s important for creative people of all stripes to explore what’s underlying their fears and expectations about pitching, so that they can develop better tools for alleviating the more painful aspects of the experience.
But it’s also important to remember that pitching is a difficult task for just about everyone. To convey to others what’s in your mind and heart is hard enough, let alone convincing them to pay for it. Let’s face it, that’s practically a recipe for anxiety.
However, as the late Rollo May reminded us, anxiety is a necessary component of any creative act. Which even pitching can be, in the right circumstances, when our fears are accepted with humor and compassion, and our convictions and enthusiasms can be engaged.
And the other guy hangs around long enough to see it.
But I’m not bitter.
The inside scoop on Tinseltown, USA. by Dennis Palumbo
How to Survive Pitching Your Ideas
Pitching your ideas to producers, TV networks and film studios is one of the realities of the creative life. Whether you’re a director hawking a supernatural thriller franchise to Paramount, an actor hoping to produce and star in a prestige historical film for HBO, or a comedy writer trying to sell a sitcom idea to NBC, you’re part of a time-honored tradition of artists offering the promise of their talent to someone with the money to pay for it.
I know this aspect of the creative life quite well. Prior to becoming a psychotherapist, I was a screenwriter. Before that, a staff writer on sitcoms. I’ve free-lanced episodes, too, and done my share of pilots.
In other words, I took meetings. Lots of them. Something like a thousand, over eighteen years. Most were pitch meetings, selling my ideas, my craft, myself to others.
But before I talk about the issues involved in pitching one’s work, from my own experience and that of my creative patients, let me get my favorite “Pitch from Hell” story out of the way:
A producer and I were pitching a film at a big studio. We met with two executives, a male and a female, late on a Friday afternoon (already we were in trouble). About half-way through the meeting, the man left to take an urgent call. Moments later, the woman excused herself to go to the rest room.
They never came back.
After waiting about twenty minutes, the producer and I sort of wandered the halls, peeking into empty cubicles. We figured each exec thought the other would cover the rest of the meeting. In any case, the place was deserted.
As we drove off the lot, I said to the producer, “Gee, they missed the best part of my pitch.” Only I said it somewhat more colorfully.
Pitching is something that comes up constantly in my therapy practice. At the very least, for most artists, it’s a difficult and often dispiriting experience. For some, it’s literally terrifying.
To deal with this, most creative types I know develop little tricks or techniques to get them through the process. Some memorize the entire pitch (and pray nobody interrupts them). Some have arcane theories as to how long to talk about each character, plot point or act break. Others believe in researching the professional (and sometimes personal) successes of the people they’re pitching to, hoping to flatter their egos. Toward the further end of the spectrum we find hypnosis, relaxation tapes, and “lucky socks.”
My problem with these strategies, even the ones that appear to work, is that they’re all an attempt to hide the artist. He or she “hides” behind the pitching technique, using it as a shield against what might emerge in the meeting. By that, I don’t mean its professional outcome; I’m referring to the feelings that might be set off within the artist.
Samuel Johnson said, “Adversity introduces a man to himself.” Likewise, I think pitch meetings introduce a creative person to him or herself. That’s what makes them so frightening for so many people.
Years ago, I had a screenwriter patient who suffered terrible anxiety before every pitch. No matter how strongly he felt about the idea he was proposing, how solidly constructed the story, the pitch rarely went well. Then, during a session about some difficult aspects of his personal life, he blurted out, “It’s as though every event defines who I am.”
A potent realization for him, and one that we saw applied as well to his fears about pitching. He experienced a pitch meeting as an event that ultimately defined how okay he was, how acceptable. Perhaps even how entitled he was to be there.
As a result, his defense against the powerful feelings of shame that might emerge if he failed to sell his idea was to work harder on the story, prepare more diligently, practice the pitch with friends, etc.
What he needed to do instead---which became the focus of our work together---was to challenge the underlying assumption; namely, that if the pitch didn’t result in a sale, this defined him as unacceptable or inadequate.
Every pitch meeting, like every human encounter, is a relational event. We bring all our “stuff” into that room---our performance anxiety, the meanings we give to failure and success, the requirement we may have felt in our families to be the “best and the brightest.”
(Or the reverse. I recall a sitcom director patient who often “sabotaged” her performance in meetings, re-playing her parents’ injunction when she was a child not to “show off,” or draw undue attention to herself, because it might make others “feel badly about themselves.”)
I think it’s important for creative people of all stripes to explore what’s underlying their fears and expectations about pitching, so that they can develop better tools for alleviating the more painful aspects of the experience.
But it’s also important to remember that pitching is a difficult task for just about everyone. To convey to others what’s in your mind and heart is hard enough, let alone convincing them to pay for it. Let’s face it, that’s practically a recipe for anxiety.
However, as the late Rollo May reminded us, anxiety is a necessary component of any creative act. Which even pitching can be, in the right circumstances, when our fears are accepted with humor and compassion, and our convictions and enthusiasms can be engaged.
And the other guy hangs around long enough to see it.
But I’m not bitter.
July 23, 2012
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