Video Games are Real

Tag: newsletter

  • Day 4 and 5 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    Day 4 and 5 of Does a Free Kindle Promotion Work?

    (Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday. No excuses. I just forgot)

    Some of you may have caught wind of the I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin free Kindle giveaway that is currently going on now through August 28th. What you may not know is that I am also planning to post details about the giveaway—details such as the giveaway totals and the tactics I used to make people aware of the giveaway—every evening here on my blog as part of my Book Marketing Tests and Studies category. This post serves as the fourth and fifth in the 5(ish) part series.

    For full details about the test, see the first post here.

     Day 4 tactics

    Day 5 tactics

    Day 4/5 results

    As of 8:52 pm, 8/28/12, the metrics are:

    • Total copies downloaded: 1,004
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the free Kindle store: #1,168
    • Daily highest rank (that I happen to screen-capture) in the book’s category/genre (which is Fiction > Literary Fiction): #25 (though I actually saw it at #18 at one point, but failed to get a screenshot)

    How am I feeling after this fifth day?

    Great! I passed the 1,000 downloads goal. However, I’m pretty far away from the other three goals I had for myself (outlined here). All in all, I’m quite happy. Now, I hope that those who downloaded the book actually read it.

  • I read my story Petty Injuries at The Next Best Book Blog.

    I read my story Petty Injuries at The Next Best Book Blog.

    Ever wanted to hear my very first published short story, Petty Injuries, read out loud by me? No? Well then don’t head over to TNBBC’s The Next Best Book Blog today.

    I have to admit, without sounding full of myself I hope, that this story still works damn well, even though I wrote it in 2006. I’m still very, very proud of it. That’s something that I’ve always had as a goal for myself, that if I have my name attached to something, I would forever be proud of it.

    Click to listen to me read Petty Injuries. Let it work on you. Use it as ambiance to your daily minutea.

  • Getting the Signed Book – How the Hula Girl Sings by Joe Meno (Video Blog ep 025)

    Getting the Signed Book – How the Hula Girl Sings by Joe Meno (Video Blog ep 025)

    Click the image above to watch the video.

    Hear the amazing, mostly made up story of how I got my copy of Joe Meno’s How the Hula Girl Sings signed by the author during the 2004 Association of Writers and Writing Projects conference in Chicago, IL. You’ll hear the first-hand account of how I knew Meno as a musician first and an author second, why I should be more sensitive to Hula throat issues, and why Joe Meno owes me a royalty check.

  • Review of Windeye by Brian Evenson (Video Blog ep 024)

    Review of Windeye by Brian Evenson (Video Blog ep 024)

    I’ve never hidden my love for the work of Brian Evenson. In fact, overly enthusiastic may be a good way to describe my infatuation. His stories are like none other, both in concept and execution. So, know that this review of Windeye, Evenson’s latest story collection, comes to you with a deep history of appreciation. You aren’t getting a first-time reader here. You are getting a fan’s true perspective. With that being said, WHAT A DAMN FINE BOOK!

    Click the image above. Opens in YouTube.
  • Watch book-related videos, win something cool.

    Watch book-related videos, win something cool.

    As I get more and more into this YouTube channel thing, I’m starting to understand more about the YouTube community. One thing I’ve noticed is that when channels hit subscriber milestones (100 subscribers, 500 subscribers, etc.) they do something special as a way to say thank you. So, I’m going to do just that.

    I currently have 75 subscribers. Once I hit 100 subscribers I am going to give something away to one randomly chosen subscriber. What will that giveaway be? Not sure yet, but I promise it will be good and it will be made by my very own hands. I generally err on the side of handmade slipcases and a copy of one of my books, but who knows, maybe I’ll do more.

    Here’s how it will work:

    1. You MUST be a subscriber to my YouTube channel.
    2. Once I hit 100 subscribers I’ll make a video outlining the giveaway details.
    3. Win a prize (or lose).

    I anticipate item #2 above will go something like this: If you are a subscriber AND you comment on the giveaway video, I’ll assign a number to your comment and use a random number generator to do the ugly work for me. Then I’ll reach out to you with the good news.

    Considering I’ll have only about 100 subscribers during the contest, your chances are damn good that you will win. Many channels with 500+ subscribers do giveaways, too.

    Also, don’t think of this as charity for me. You’ll be subscribing to get amazing weekly(ish) videos containing book reviews, book skits, and other bookish buffoonery.

    Subscribe here: http://www.youtube.com/user/calebjross

    And PLEASE, share on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and all the rest if you feel so compelled.

  • Getting the Signed Book – Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Video Blog ep 023)

    Getting the Signed Book – Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Video Blog ep 023)

    Click the image above to watch the video at YouTube

    Hear the amazing, 100% true(ish) story of how I got my copy of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom signed by the author during an author reading in Kansas City on September 22, 2010. You’ll hear the first-hand account of my bravery in the face of an elderly security guard, the strength of punches needed to take babies down, and why I’m glad Franzen is an author rather than a professional investment broker.

  • Video Book Review of Um: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean by Michael Erard (Video Blog ep 022)

    Video Book Review of Um: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean by Michael Erard (Video Blog ep 022)

    Click the image to play the video review (opens in YouTube)

    I’ve realized during my few months of video-making, along with my previous couple of years making podcasts, that I tend to break apart my speech with ums, uhs, ers, ahhs, and every other sort of cerebral flatus out there. A desire to break away from so many speech errors is one of the reasons I picked up Michael Erard’s book Um: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean. My thinking was that if I could understand why I flub my words, then I could eventually eradicate those flubs.

    I’m likely beyond help, but at least this book did teach me that speech blunders are perhaps less something that needs to be cleaned away, and more something that we all need to approach differently. Speech errors aren’t, by themselves, errors at all. Instead, what’s important is measuring speech disfluency from a baseline. Think of reading ums and uhs as similar to reading a lie-detector test; we’re all our own level of nervous even without being hooked up to a spooky machine. The trick is to measure how much more nervous we get when asked potentially compromising questions.

    Among the questions addressed in Um: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean are

    1. Why is um-lessness thought of so highly?
    2. Why do we praise pristine speech?
    3. Has it always been this way?

    Many theories have been created to explain the meaning of a speech error including ones from Viennese professor Rudolph Meringer who supposed that language is like a living organism whose evolution is responsible for our collective blunders; Yale psychologist George Mahl who chalks speech errors up to anxiety; and the famous Sigmund Freud who felt that speech errors were windows into the speaker’s subconscious.

    Click here to watch the video review of Um: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean (or click the image above). DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL!