Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Get A Clue(train) — Sustainable Digital Strategy for Author Platforms

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:October 2, 2018
Post category:Media
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In reality, markets consist of human beings and the conversations they have with each other, and those conversations can be messy and involve multiple points of influence. For authors trying to develop an effective and sustainable digital strategy, that means you’re not just competing with similar authors and books for readers’ attention—hello, myopic comp titles!—you’re competing with readers themselves and the various channels they use to connect with each other. With the right strategy, though, you're not competing with anyone—you're authentically engaging with and contributing to a dynamic community.

Photo by mehul dave on Unsplash

Leadership in Crisis | What I Learned From My FBF

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:September 19, 2018
Post category:Personal
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While there are different ways to lead and different styles of leadership, without the ability to develop realistic budgets, communicate consistently and transparently with staff, and define a compelling mission and vision for all to rally around, they're just meaningless personality traits. If it's raining outside, don't sing me "the sun’ll come out tomorrow," give me a damn umbrella.

Data-Informed Content Strategy for Enthusiast Media

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:March 20, 2018
Post category:Media
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Enthusiast media, aka niche consumer, is my favorite sector because it prioritizes depth over scale, and its KPIs are different from general consumer media's chasing eyeballs for advertisers. Instead of being dumb pipes driven by vanity metrics and anecdata, they can build self-sustaining communities with deep engagement that offers diversified revenue streams, including valuable intersections for marketing partners seeking strategic, long-term relationships. In its ideal form, enthusiast media (and some B2B verticals) combines community engagement, editorial integrity, and paid content into a diversified suite of relevant products and services which simultaneously minimizes its reliance on advertising while optimizing its effectiveness for savvier marketing partners.

Sustaining Literary Publishing | Reflections on #AWP18

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:March 12, 2018
Post category:Media
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One could reasonably argue there were TOO MANY publishers at the Bookfair when you think about the relatively small markets they cater to for literary fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, as well as the often myopic focus on a single magazine, ignoring or discounting other ways they could serve their community while ensuring a sustainable future. The relatively low barrier for entry into (and expectations of) literary publishing “let’s people wade in a little over their heads,” as Creative Nonfiction‘s Hattie Fletcher noted during the Literary Innovation session, and many publishers often find themselves living on the brink of insolvency, one time-consuming fundraising pitch away from failure.

Facebook Isn’t The Problem, YOU Are

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:February 7, 2018
Post category:Media
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Facebook doesn't view publishers as valued partners and never has, despite so many helping it grow and engage a worldwide audience, handing over tons of invaluable data along the way, not just from engagement on Facebook itself, but from their own websites too. All for free! Facebook has transformed that invaluable data into billions of dollars of advertising revenue every year while steadily throttling publishers' ability to reach their own audiences without becoming paid advertisers themselves. It's an objectively and diabolically brilliant model that I simultaneously admire and despise.

YouTube, Algorithms, and Sponsored Content

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 26, 2018
Post category:Media
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As broadcast and cable TV fragmented into hundreds of channels serving various overlapping demographics in search of the occasional mainstream hit, and streaming competitors leveraged nostalgia and cheap licenses to fund their own original mix of niche and mainstream content, YouTube was quietly "democratizing" video content the same way Blogger and WordPress did years ago, to similar effect.

INTERVIEW: Charlie Huston & Moon Knight | PCS Flashback

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:September 13, 2017
Post category:Pop Culture
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Back in 2005, I spent two hours over cold beers talking with Charlie Huston about Moon Knight and the pressure of living up to the hype surrounding his relaunch; what “decompression” and “9-out-of-10 of those single issues sucked!” have in common; and what Doug Moench and Steve Gerber don’t have in common. The resulting interview, originally published at Buzzscope, is my favorite ever.