Entries Tagged 'News' ↓

In an awkward sort of way I find this funny.

‘… it is guaranteed that someone, somewhere, will not like what you’ve written after you get published. It’s also guaranteed that some of those people feel a burning desire to inform you of those dislikes.’ Jen Talty on Bob Mayer’s Blog

Actually, that’s one of the inter-texts for Duck in Jeni Mawter’s Blog: Think Create Duck!

The DBW Book Marketing Summit will include targeted “workshop” sessions on the following topics:

• Discoverability-SEO/SEM Essentials
• Capturing-and Dominating-Your Market with Content Marketing
• Best Practices in Audience Development
• Social Media Strategies: The Dynamics of Customer Engagement
• Analytics: You Can’t Grow What You Can’t Measure

I really want to get to this conference. These are things that writers, not just publishers, will also need to know if they want to survive as writers in the future.

Every day is an adventure as Kiss Kill gets closer to publication. So many exciting things are happening:

Link with Headspace Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation. www.headspace.org.au

Link with MensLine Australia for relationship help at http://www.mensline.org.au/home.aspx

Twitter @kisskilldigital getting more and more followers.

Kiss Kill FB page getting more and more followers.

Starting to post book futurist comments on FaceBook to see if we can get the Australian book industry to take their heads out of the sand.

St Jospeh’s College have agreed to read Kiss Kill with the possibility of review.

Adam Marks has revised the monologue ‘How Do You Define a Man?’ to fit in with YouTube recording. Filming to start soon with Director Danny Lim.

Phil Bowley has composed music for ‘Thought I Knew You’ lyrics. Recording in progress.

Sarah Bailey, CEO at Really Blue Books (www.reallybluebooks.com ), and I have been working on edits.

Character blog is up and running at http://whyidontgetgirls.wordpress.com

Requested permission to use Kevin Carter’s 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph from New York Times and waiting reply.

Have just read How to Write a Transmedia Production Bible by Gary P Hayes who outlines various multi-platform forms that transmedia can take. I’ve summarised these as follows:

1. Webisodes such as podcasts.

2. Community interest group.

3. Games.

4. Physical Installations such as projection mapping at festivals.

5. Social Film or TV which combines social media and connected linear video elements.

7. Location-based Service to tell stories, such as street theatre.

8. Social Media Storytelling which uses existing social network channels to deliver fictional or factual narrative.

9. Complex Games within 3D Worlds.

10. Social Virtual Worlds where users socialise and create their own stories.

11. Websites: which can be used commercially or as part of a fictional narrative.

As well as my 1) Jeni Mawter Facebook page and 2) @mawter Twitter accounts I have been busy building my social presence for Kiss Kill.

Now you can update on the:
3) Kiss Kill wall on Jeni Mawter’s Facebook page
4) Twitter page @kisskilldigital
5) Mat’s Blog whyidontgetgirls found at http://whyidontgetgirls.wordpress.com

Phew!

I’ve never been so social in my whole life.

This is a copy of an email sent to Sarah Bailey, the CEO of Really Blue Books (www.reallybluebooks.com) with a marketing update for Kiss Kill.

Without you Kiss Kill would not be published. It is something for which I will be eternally grateful.

As you may have noticed, I’m passionate about this story, and I am passionate about it finding its readers. I want them to experience and connect with the story. I want to create a buzz so they’ll share it with others.

To be honest, I’m only cc-ing you on some of the leads I’m following. Didn’t want to swamp your inbox! But here’s a snippet of marketing goings on:

I’m in the process of approaching boy’s schools in the Sydney region and asking for staff to review the book. Word-of-internet is the goal. If the educators get behind this, it should do really well. Fingers crossed.

My List of Potential Reviewers is growing.

Have started looking at organising a Blog tour. Apparently virtual book tours can be done through www.pumpupyourbook.com

A music student at the Australian Institute of Music, Emily Winter, has agreed to write some music for lyrics to ‘Thought I knew You’, which I then hope to put on YouTube.

A Sydney Uni student and actor, Adam Marks, is going to perform and film the monologue ‘How Do You Define a Man?’ also for YouTube. I’m hoping he’ll help promote to student networks.

I’ve joined a Narcissist Survivor’s Chat group and have started tweeting about NPD.

Have approached Sydney Writers’ Festival, Melbourne Writers’ Festival and Byron Bay Writers’ Festivals to speak next year.

I’ve approached Inside-A-Dog a web site for teens on reading.

I’ve informed staff at the Sydney Writer’s Centre, the NSW Writer’s Centre and Macquarie University where I work.

Exhausted yet? I’m not. This is all essential to marketing in today’s world! Will keep you posted…

Went to David Varela session on digital storytelling organised by the Australian Society of Authors last weekend. Amongst many things David has been involved in the transmedia productions of Perplex City, A Global Adventure, and Clockwork Watch.

According to David, writers should consider themselves as auteurs, not authors, with the skills and vision to inform the creative process of storytelling. Given the simple equation:
Story = Story + Audience
… it’s the close relationship with the audience/fans that will carry the story and give it power.

The audience likes to be part of the process and will pay for this privilege. They will buy ‘rewards’, listen to podcasts, run character websites, exchange puzzle cards, write a Letters page, publish their own story(s), compile wikis, write songs, participate in real life street theatre, twitter etc.

The challenge for the writer is to create enough intrigue to entice the reader to stay with your story.

Visuals such as artwork or supporting imagery help to ‘sell’ your story or project.

Ever suffered relationship abuse?

Ever been in a position where no-one believes you and you don’t know what to do?

Kiss Kill is a young adult realistic novel for the digital era. Told in multiple text types it experiments with a story told in multiple ways. It is NOT a linear prose narrative.

Kiss Kill has been contracted by a new publisher who can be found at www.reallybluebooks.com It is about a 16 year old boy’s relationship with a girl with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and how he lives to tell his tale.

My vision is to explore new ways of sharing stories in a way that is convenient and easy to access, entertaining as well as connecting – opening up a dialogue with readers.

Our challenge … “Let’s tell a story together.”

Exciting news!

Fantastic publisher, Ford Street, have started a new initiative called Creative Net that links author speakers and workshop presenters with schools. Check it out at http://www.fordstreetpublishing.com/cnet

If.book BookCamp Melbourne Writer’s Festival 2 Sept 2011

Interesting Things to Follow-Up from Non-Linear Narrative Session

1) Video Game Stories by Harrison Polites

Here are a few interesting video game stories that I have stumbled upon. Hopefully this will prove that video game story telling is much more in-depth than the general public realise. These aren’t quick video’s either. Some may require a little commitment in order to get a sense of the game’s story.

Its pretty self explanatory with each set of videos. Just follow the numbers in the title of the video and you shouldn’t get lost. Email me if there are any problems. Here’s what I found:

Heavy Rain – Playstation 3.
A plot driven murder mystery where the plot develops based on choices made by the player. Tthis was the few games I could remember that does separate story-telling and gameplay. It’s considered by gamers to be one of the most innovate story driven games. Despite not being as ‘action oriented’ as other games it still sold quite well. The games hyper-realism means that there are some mundane opening scenes – but it really picks up about half way through. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B28B28FF84CAD4C5 . They are all in order on this page.

Bioshock – Playstation 3
The story is told through ‘radio’ messages the player receives through out the game. Its about a 1940′s underwater utopia gone wrong. A city that was built with the sole principal of not binding progress with ethics or socialism. A pure capitalist society. Chaos ensues When they discover how to alter DNA and give humans super-natural abilities. It serves as the catalyst for a class struggle that tears the city apart. Since there is no separation between story and gameplay- you will need to watch the entire game to understand the story. http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=673B9D9225D56AA9 . It is quite scary and gruesome at times – you have been warned.

Final Fantasy X – Playstation 2
My favourite video game story. It has it all: A father-son conflict, love interest, conspiracy, religion, interesting characters and full of plot twists that are really well worked into the story. I may be idealising – I first played this game when I was 14 and only realised how entangled and meaningful the story was after a re-played it last year. This one may be the easiest to watch, as people have created story only videos which cut out gameplay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZvHpJj7QwE – this is the most summarised version. Though the quality isn’t great. It will give you a general sense of the story.

2) Visit From the Goon Squad (2010) is a work of fiction by American author Jennifer Egan.
An unusual narrative structure.
3) Inanimate Alice by Kate Pullinger
Transmedia fiction, A digital Novel

4) ‘The Ozymandias project’: a digital anthology of creative writing by Andraya Stapp-Gaunt. Article makes reference to Petrelli and Wright.
Andraya Stapp-Gaunt “‘The Ozymandias project’: a digital anthology of creative writing”. Literacy Learning: The Middle Years. FindArticles.com. 05 Sep, 2011. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6949/is_1_19/ai_n56920523/
5) Petrelli, D. and Wright, H. (2009). ‘On the writing, reading and publishing of digital stories’
PETRELLI, Daniela and WRIGHT, Hazel ‘On the writing, reading and publishing of digital stories’

Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at:

http://shura.shu.ac.uk/2926/

6) Campbell’s Book of Waste
7) How to Make Gravy: A to Z, A Mongrel Memoir Author: Paul Kelly
‘This One Time’ collection
‘This One Time …’ is a collection of surprising true stories, the sort of stories you might share with friends or hear from a stranger at a party. Published by http://www.eastoftheweb.com/

The intereractive section showcases works that allow the reader to interact with the story’s narrative and characters. You can find out more about each of the subgenres by following the links to Interactive Fiction, Art Games, Alternate Reality Games, Hypertexts

9) Publisher
The Electronic Literature Organization (ELO) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1999 to promote and facilitate the writing, publishing, and reading of electronic literature. Since its formation, the Electronic Literature Organization has worked to assist writers and publishers in bringing their literary works to a wider, global readership and to provide them with the infrastructure necessary to reach one another.
10) Max Barry Machine Man

Interesting Things to Follow-Up from Non-Linear Narrative Session

11) Splitting Image is one of Australia’s most technologically advanced digital Pre-Press companies, servicing Publishers, Graphic Designers, Photographers and Printers.

http://www.splittingimage.com.au/

12) Kate Pullinger

http://www.katepullinger.com/

Transliteracy is currently defined as ‘the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.’
See Flight Paths and Inanimate Alice