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Some folk have been asking for a non-embedded version of my sensitive acoustic version of Head Like a Hole. The link to it is hidden somewhere in this very post.
For the record, the short bit you hear on my MySpace page is all there is at the moment. Maybe at some point I'll come up with an arrangement for the rest of the song, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Because then I couldn't sing.
Table of Malcontents has been transformed into a group blog, and it now covers a wider variety of material under the vague but compelling subject matter of "culture." I'll still be contributing as much as I used to, if not more, but you'll also be seeing posts by other people including John Brownlee, who is now the blog lead. I hope you'll visit, we set out cake.
Last week my brain was the venue for an epiphany. I was working on a new shutter design for Bad Gods, and it just wasn't working. I liked the design, but the outside didn't match what I was putting on the inside, and this bothered me. So I did what I usually do in these circumstances, which is to go get breakfast.
On the way to breakfast, a bunch of free-floating ideas and notions suddenly formed themselves into a coherent whole. Concepts that I had been mulling over, but which seemed entirely separate, suddenly showed themselves to be related. Influences and interests from all over floated in and found comfortable spaces in the tableau. Needless to say, I'm excited.
I'm starting pretty much from the bottom up, though, so I'm going to take a brief sabbatical from updating Bad Gods while I pull it together. I'm probably going to develop a small backlog of material, just so that I'm sure that I know what I'm doing. There's a lot I don't know yet -- how long each installment will be, what sort of schedule I can keep up with -- but here are some things I feel comfortable sharing:
Well, comment spam is taking over. You can't see it, because I have moderation on, but I'm having to junk about a page of comment spam for every legitimate comment I get, which is a bummer, because I've been enjoying reading what you folks have been writing.
I'm not sure what to do about it. I've been considering a jump to WordPress, so maybe I'll do that and see where it leads. I could require registration, or impose some sort of captcha system, neither of which thrill me.
Anyhow, comments are being approved somewhat slowly, because I'm finding it hard to work up the enthusiasm to click through pages of spam. But I'm still reading them and I still appreciate them.
Roz Chast is easily my favorite spot cartoonist currently working. She was a big influence on a lot of Brunching material. Not the ones that got linked a lot, mind you, but ones I enjoyed doing nonetheless. When I heard that Steve Martin -- another influence -- would be hosting a talk with her at the New Yorker Festival, I was sorry that I was going to miss it. Well, thanks to the magic of the Internet, I get to see it after all, as the New Yorker is hosting a video of the talk.
Grok Spock on the Auction Block
They used my title this time.
I'm really enjoying the latest story arc on Achewood, and in particular the new character, Lonis Edison.
If you read about character design, you'll hear a lot about silhouettes, the idea that characters should be designed so that they're identifiable even in silhouette. Onstad's characters have the verbal equivalent of silhouettes. Each one has a distinct way of speaking, such that you'd probably be able to identify who's talking even without the artwork. It's not just what they're saying, it's how they say it.
I really like Lonis's speech patterns, his rapid-fire sentences that border on the non-sequitur without actually going there. Many otherwise talented webcomics artists have trouble making even two different characters sound different, so it's even more astonishing that Onstad adds another character to an already wide ensemble and he's able to give him a completely distinct voice.
My last bit of ostensible wisdom seemed to go down smooth, so I'm putting on my pontificatin' boots and churning out some more advice, this time on a subject that's been part of my life since for about fifteen years now: publicity. When I was working on Brunching, my publicity work got me mentioned in outlets like Newsweek and the Washington Post, and now that I'm writing and blogging for Wired News I see the publicity machine from the other side.
This ended up being kind of a huge essay, so I'm breaking it down into three parts. If it's well-received, I may expand it and give it its own section on the site.
Rule Number One of Publicity: You have to ask for it. Yes, people often labor in obscurity, slowly building an audience, until eventually the mainstream media catches on. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you want publicity before you're famous, you're going to have to pull out your own horn, polish it up good, and toot it like you've never tooted it before.
Rule Number Two of Publicity: You don't have to pay for it. Advertising is an extremely inefficient way to get hits, and you should only consider it once you've adequately explored the cheaper and more efficient methods that homegrown publicity can provide. You can't afford an ad in a national magazine or major newspaper, but there is at least a possibility that you can get a blurb for cheap, and you don't even have to resort to bribery.
The hammer and anvil of publicity are the press kit and the press release. I'm not sure which is the hammer and which is the anvil but it doesn't matter. Today I'm going to talk about the press kit.
A press kit is an information-dense write-up of your site. Here's what needs to go into it.
• The facts. What is the site's location and purpose? When did it start? Where is the author located? Who is this person?
• The plugs. Have famous people said nice things about the site? Has it won awards? Has it gotten press before? Put up the best plugs you have, then cycle the lame ones out as you get better ones.
• The fluff. Come up with one or maybe two interesting anecdotes about the site. Did the idea come to you as you were in the hospital recovering from a goose bite? As a child did you sing Oscar Meyer theme song in several ads? Journalists love stuff like that, because it brings the story down to an individual level.
Don't make the press kit too long. Unless you're soaking in awards and press clips, this should fit comfortably on a single physical piece of paper with wide, inviting margins. If you do have a large list of plugs and clips, but it separately.
Provide photos of yourself, and if appropriate, examples of your art. All of this should be printable at magazine-quality, so you'll probably want thumbnails, plus a zip file or folder with the full-sized art. I'd suggest you learn what you're doing -- or find someone who does -- so you don't look like someone snapped a picture of you at a frat party. You don't have to hire a pro, but most people have a friend who knows a bit about photography.
Finally, provide contact information, and don't be coy. None of this "fill out a form to mail me" crap. Give them your phone number, your mailing address, and an e-mail address you check regularly. If you're concerned about privacy, then get a second phone number and a P.O. Box. If you're extra concerned about privacy, then you probably shouldn't be looking for publicity.
This press kit should be on your site. You don't have to make it public. You can even password-protect it. I have to admit I feel a little special when someone gives me the password to their press section. On the other hand, if you're comfortable with having a phone number and mailing address in public, it can't hurt to make it available to everyone visiting the site. You never know where it can lead.
The press kit should probably also take physical form. This can cost loads of money if you go too far, but you don't have to. You'll need large black and white prints of your photos, and I imagine your inkjet printer won't cut it. You'll need a folder: I got mine printed special, but ended up not using most of them. You can probably get away with a plain generic office supply folder, with a well-designed sticker on the front. A business card doesn't hurt, but you can get those cheap. If you absolutely must, use the pre-perforated ones you can stick in your printer. You're not going to fool anyone into thinking you're a massive media corporation, and you don't want to. But you do want to be memorable.
Finally, there's the gimmick. When I sent out press releases for Brunching, I included a parody "coloring mat" like those you get in family restaurants, with mazes and jumbles and jokes based on the site. I also included some cheapie four-color crayon packs with a Brunching sticker on them. Cost me maybe fifty cents the each, totally worth it. If you can figure out something like that, something to amuse the reporter who gets it, do it. Just don't spend too much money, because it's hard enough trying to make a creative endeavor break even. Clever is better than expensive, anyway. This is a memory-jogger, not a bribe.
So once you have this press kit, how do you get it into the hands, literally or metaphorically, of those in the position to write articles or blog entries about you? I'll cover that in my next installment, but here's a hint if you want to start your own research: it's called a press release.