Web site review: Tumblr

I should have known better than to think that after my last post I could put the topic of blogs and blogging behind me.  But no sooner had I posted the entry than I went to check out the site called Tumblr to see what it was all about.

In a word it is a blogging site.  But it's not like any blogging site I've ever seen.  You can post all kinds of content, links, text, images, video, audio, and chat are among them.  They all mix together into the blog, which is kinda nice.

You also get to follow your friends and their blogs merge into your blog, like the Facebook news feed.

But there is little support for integrating the site with other social sites.  If you're like me, then you want this, in fact, you need this so that you can single source posts and send them out into the world.  But Hootsuite, my social media management site, does not let me post to the Tumblr stream which defeats the purpose of using Hootsuite.

Tumblr lets me post to Facebook and Twitter and they provide code so I can add a put into my real blog; see the column on the right for an example.

But the lack of support isn't Tumblr's fault and I find that site kinda nice and easy to use.  It has got me thinking about blog content in new ways.  Perhaps I should include more images or the occasional video here.

Perhaps.  It is something to think about.

I suppose if I wasn't so heavily invested in Blogger, I would use Tumblr for my blog.  But as it is, I'm not sure Tumblr holds any value for me.  If the integration were better I think my opinion would be different.  So I think I'll wait and see if that aspect improves before abandoning Tumblr completely.

And this serves as a reminder that social media is very much a work in progress.  None of us know where it is going but like reality TV it seems to be here to stay.  The question is how do we use it?  And I don't know that even the so-called experts have that answer.  That's one reason I've begun to experiment to see how well it all works together and how far I can push it.

I hope you will welcome these experiments.  I'm sure to blog about them here.

Blogs and Blogging

I've been looking at social media again and my presence in that sphere of sites, trying to assess what changes I might make.  So far, I've been focused on blogs and blogging because I'm not sure I'm using it effectively or blogging correctly.

Supposedly there are no rules for blogging, but I don't think that's true.  You've got to have some to say and it has to be interesting and valuable to the reader.  After all, with a glut of content available why waste your time if the post says nothing.

As far as my blog goes, an analysis of which topics are popular shows that readers want posts on how to do things, and reviews on software and technology.  But that's not all I write about so respond to my posts is uneven at best.

I've also looked at the software I'm using: Blogger by Google.  I can't tell you exactly why I started using Blogger, except that it was free and I didn't do a very big search for free blogging sites.  Since that time, I've learned that WordPress appears to be more popular and perhaps more powerful.  I certainly see more support for WordPress at other sites like GoodReads and HootSuite.  Additionally, you can integrate WordPress into your web site so that it is seamless.  But WordPress also has bugs.  I've seen one that forced me to rollback to older versions of the application to get the desired plug-ins to work.  That's not good at all.

At the same time, Blogger has been overhauled recently by Google and provides some nice features.  I was able integrate the blog into my web site by tapping the blog's RSS feed and using a free RSS reader called Magpie to show that last five posts on the main page of the site.  I did this so that content of the home page was always changing without my doing extra work.

More recently, Blogger integrated usage stats into the data it provides me which I like and it now shows me the number of visits each post gets.  That's a really helpful to me so I can see which posts were popular and which ones weren't.

I also thought about moving my blog, but dismissed it because I don't need to take on that kind of work.  I've got over 200 posts now.  It would take a long time to move that I'm sure and I'd rather work on my novels.  Plus I'm not sure moving the blog is necessary.  Google seems to have decided to pay attention to Blogger so I'm hoping to see some cool new features in the future.  Additionally, Blogger is easily to use and for that reason better in my mind.  I don't worry about new software versions from WordPress or bugs in the code, or plug-ins that don't work.  I just show up and start typing each post as the mood hits.

But all that aside, does blogging work?  Is it necessary?  God knows, there are days I curse when I realize I need another blog post the next day.  And yet I continue to do it.  I ask myself why?

And I can't answer that question.  I have no idea if blogging is necessary for me.  Since I now push the posts out to Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and LinkedIn, more people are seeing that I have something to say.  In that sense it keeps my name on their radar, which I assume will help me when I announce my novel is in print from my publisher.

But am I saying anything important or meaningful?  That depends on who is reading the blog.  I don't expect to change the world by blogging.  But I can pass on a few things that I know to others and capture a part of myself for posterity.  I think that's important.

In similar fashion, I don't expect to influence or change person's opinions by blogging.  I can inform them a little but they will form opinions about Blogger and WordPress, for example, based on more than a few words from me.  I expect anyone interested in either program to try it out first and see what each has to offer before committing to one or the other.

But ultimately, I think blogging has disappointed me.  I expected to attract a larger audience with my blog and I've got less than 100 people directed subscribed to it.  If not for Twitter and the other social sites, I think my blog would be a failure.  But I've got nearly 150 Twitter followers and that's growing faster than I would have believed.

The moral:  Blogging + Twitter appears to be a huge win.  We'll see if it is possible to tap that potential audience when the time comes.

Creating a Storyboard

I've been discussing the book trailer for Aure the Topaz with my publisher.  In order for them to understand what I have in mind, I decided to storyboard the movie in my head.  For those who don't know, a storyboard breaks down a movie into discrete bits letting you see how the movie goes together so you can make changes before you start.  Often it is done with pictures and some narrative.  In my case I use words to describe each scene because I can see exactly what I want.

To begin I created a three column table in Word.  The first column is for the description of the scene.  The middle column give the duration of the scene in seconds, and the third column describes the audio.

And that's it.  All you need to do now is add one row for each scene.  For example, the first row of my storyboard was this:

Fade in The following words scroll up from the bottom of the screen: The Aglaril Cycle by Rich Feitelberg A new fantasy series published by Aziza Publishing Fade out

10 seconds

Music fades in and text fades out

From there, I move the opening sequence of the trailer:

Fade in The following words scroll up from the bottom of the screen: Twenty-five years ago, invaders captured Andropolis, the capital of Thalacia, and ended the rule of King Leonard. In the background, still scenes of an invasion, humans and elves using medieval armor and weapons and some magic clash. Scene 1: The elves arrive sleek flying sailboats over the city. Scene 2:  Elves fighting humans in the city.  Most humans flee or die. Scene 3: The elves swarm around the royal palace. Scene 4: The elves corner Leonard in a final stand.

20 seconds

Music; sounds of battle

I continue this process, describing each scene until I'm done and do the final fade out.

The publisher's response was positive.  I'm sure there'll be some adjustments along the way but once the trailer is made and posted, I'll be sure to post the URL here so you can see how the concept turned into the actual movie.

Keep writing, everyone!

Memorial day

While Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, I prefer to think of it as its name suggests: a day for memorials, when we stop and to reflect on those we have lost. Generally this focus goes to those who have died to serve our nation either in its defense or in our local communities. For me, I think of my father, grandparents, and those dear friends who are no longer here.

All this becomes more poignant when I remember the genealogical research I did some weeks back. That trolling through web sites gave me a better sense of where I came from and how I am not just a city boy from Boston but I am part of a grand story involving my ancestors. I sit here now blogging and writing novels because my great-grandfather came to America in search of a better life than the one he had in Russia. I don't know if he ever found it but he gave his descendants a tremendous gift: the gift of freedom and liberty that America bestows on all her citizens.

Using that freedom I have been able to work hard and focus on my goals and finally achieve them. It is easy to forget this while cramming potato salad and hot dogs into my mouth, as I've done in years past. But I shall not forget again. In fact now that I see the arc of family history and it is clear to me that I have a duty to see how far I can go. How many books can I write and have published? What other opportunities will evolve from that effort?  Podcasts?  Movies?  T-shirts?  Translated editions?  Who knows?

I certainly don't but it is my job to find out; in this way I honor to hard work and sacrifice of my ancestors, which is no less important than that of those who died in defense of our country and our communities.

And this is what Memorial Day is all about for me.  I hope it means something similar to you.

Social Influence

A Facebook friend invited me to join Klout this week.  For those who don't know, Klout is a site that measures one's social influence.  They give you a score from 1 to 100 and then monitor the content you create or items you share and people's reaction to it.  The more you make and the more comments you receive the higher the score.

I'm not sure that's a valid assess of influence, however.  For example, will this post influence anyone?  I doubt it.  In fact, I have a hard time believing I influence anyone to do anything.  On the other hand, if I give an honest assessment of something, a software tool or a web site, for example, you are likely to believe me so long as I am unbiased. That could end up influencing you in some small way perhaps.

But if I make a pithy comment that generates lots of other comments, I don't see how I've influenced anyone at all and yet that is what Klout is targeting if I understand their site correctly.  Seems like a weak method for artificial intelligence.

Regardless, it is interested to watch and see if anything I do affect my score.  But it is like any other measure or score, a best guess.

Still, I was impressed by the number of social sites it takes into account.  Some I've not heard of.  As a result, I opened a foursquare account and have begun playing with that for a bit.  Not sure how important foursquare is exactly for my needs but I can experiment and see.

In the meantime, I'm planning to deliver the first third of Book 2 to the publisher for review next week.  And they apparently liked my storyboard for the book trailer.  "Very detailed," was the main comment.  I laughed.  For those who know me well, that's to be expected.  I am nothing if not thorough.

Keep writing, everyone.