Christmas Wish: Better discipline toward marketing December 22, 2010
Posted by William Spear in >> Out Basket.add a comment
Dear Santa,
As you prepare to dole out gifts in the coming days, may I submit one tiny wish: Make me a better marketer. Temporarily setting aside the whole naughty-or-nice criteria, which would be a dealbreaker for me, there is a legitimate argument to support my plea.
Intellectually, I get it with marketing. Connecting readers to my work is essential for success of all kinds. But it is much easier to start a new piece or rewrite a current piece than executing page 14, table 9 of the Two Plus Plus international marketing infrastructure.
But if you make me a better marketer, I’ll promise these three things:
- I won’t grumble (as much) about the 11th rewrite of a seven-page short;
- I’ll actually get out of bed at 5:00A to have an hour of quiet time for writing; and
- I’ll work towards finding solutions for global warming and international peace. (Those last two are stretches but I’m desperate.)
Thanks, Santa. Now about the whole naughty thing . . .
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From the Editor: Comedy is Special June 16, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> News, >> Out Basket, >> Two Plus Plus Productions LLC.Tags: comedy, humor, lit between the ears, two plus plus productions
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Unemployment is approaching ten percent. Under employment adds upwards of another ten percent.
The economy is in decline around the world and in the United States. People are afraid, really afraid, of losing jobs and homes.
The moment is bleak and comedy is never more important.
Those who stare disaster square in its corporate eyes and laugh are the embodiment of spine.
Those who refuse to knuckle under to the grimness of the 65th hour of a two job and seven supervisor work week are our heros.
Those who elevate the workscape from greyness to grinning are great.
Those who sing along with The Temptations in the midst of our second jobs at the local department store are the best.
To the men and women who make us shake off the dreary routines anywhere and everywhere with comic outbursts, Two Plus Plus Productions LLC and Lit Between the Ears salute you. Long may you incite riotous laughter.
By the way, did you hear the one about . . . ?
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From the publisher: June 2009 – We are on Scribd June 1, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> News, >> Out Basket.Tags: mayonnaise in my cake and other holiday delights, Mink Magazine, Mink Potential, Monica Kade, scribd, Sydney Australia
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Recent media coverage for Scribd (www.Scribd.com/) caught our attention. Billing itself as “YouTube for books” with “streaming document” technology, we’ve set up an account and will experiment with selling through the site. More details to come.
We’ve also had the pleasure of learning about Mink Magazine (www.minkmagazine.com/; published by Mink Potential) and Monica Kade, Director. Quoting their website, “Mink is mecca for emerging artists.” Spend a few minutes with their Sydney, Australia-based publication and you’ll agree.
Lastly, our October 1, 2009 launch for is growing near and we’ve renamed our next book MAYONNAISE IN MY CAKE AND OTHER HOLIDAY DELIGHTS.
Here come the holidays.
Believe, Simply Believe
Regards,
William E. Spear
William E. Spear
Publisher and Producer
Lit Between the Ears
President
Two Plus Plus Productions LLC
Two.Plus.Plus.Productions at gmail dot com
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Sounds of Greatness: “You bow to no one” May 30, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> Out Basket.Tags: Aragorn, Frodo, Gondor, hobbit, JRR Tolkien, Merry, Peter Jackson, Pippin, Samwise, Sauron, the return of the king, Viggo Mortensen
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Towards the end of Peter Jackson’s marvelous adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s THE RETURN OF THE KING, the third film of the trilogy based upon Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn (as played by Viggo Mortensen) assumes the position of king of Gondor. Aragorn’s ascension to the throne is an epic crusade in which he must overcome external enemies and internal demons.
Central to Aragorn’s storyline are four Hobbits – Frodo, Samwise, Pippin, and Merry. They play pivotal roles in defeating the Dark Lord Sauron. Frodo, with Sam’s great assistance, destroys the One Ring which Sauron seeks. As Aragorn works his way through the adoring crowd celebrating his newly starting reign and Sauron’s defeat, he comes upon the Hobbits. They are appropriately bowing to the new king as is the rest of Gondor’s inhabitants.
Aragorn stops, beckons to the comrades who fought to their near-deaths and beyond everyone’s expectations, and offers this line of respect and self-humility:
ARAGORN: My friends. You bow to no one.”
He and all the inhabitants of his kingdom first bow, then kneel, to the Hobbits.
That line, and many others through the three films, have spine. Great sounding dialogue – irrespective of the media in which they are delivered – are magic.
Radio, of the available media and in particular, works, and it bows to no one.
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NY Times: Does mobile life in South Korea include listening to and buying audio theatre? May 26, 2009
Posted by William Spear in >> News, >> Out Basket.Tags: >> Radio Drama, audio theatre, lit between the ears, south korea, two plus plus productions
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Choe Sang-Hun’s insighftul article on mobile life in South Korea (In South Korea, All of Life Is Mobile; May 25, 2009; New York Tines), tells of the convergence between banking and mobile technology and how cel phones have evolved into more than placing wireless calls. From the article:
Kim Hee-young, a statistics major at Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul . . . wakes up in the morning when her mobile phone detonates an alarm, a loud Korean pop song. She checks weather forecasts on its screen before selecting what to wear. In the subway, Ms. Kim breezes through the turnstile after tapping the phone on a box that deducts the fare from a chip that contains a cash balance. While riding to school, she uses her mobile to check if a book has arrived at the library, slays aliens in a role-playing game, updates her Internet blog or watches TV.”
Two Plus Plus Productions and Lit Between the Ears better start getting broadcast time and sales in South Korea.
Some may be thinking that this is only South Korea. What kind of market numbers might be involved? Back to the article:
Each month last year, four million South Koreans bought music, videos, ring tones, online game subscriptions and articles from newspaper archives and other online items and charged them to their mobile phone bills, without going through any bank or credit card. The amount totaled 1.7 trillion won, or $1.4 billion at current exchange rates, last year. South Koreans have done this since 2000.”
Cue up our afilliates in Seoul, Daegu, and Jeollabuk-do. We’re on our way.
Radio works. Maybe in ways I’m not yet fully understanding, but radio works. And technology is taking it around the world.
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