Starbucks’ Mixed Messages, Ethical Truthiness, #smfail
“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” –Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint, The Usual Suspects [UPDATED BELOW; THRICE!] Starbucks profited greatly from years of an aggressive and purposeful over-expansion that successfully wiped out many of their independent competitors and established their brand as a counter-intuitive status symbol (it’s just coffee, people; get over yourselves!), but
Stop Interrupting; Listen, Engage, Earn Attention
You know the stereotype of the guy on the first date who can’t stop talking about himself, only to wonder why he doesn’t get a kiss at the end of the night, never mind a second date? That guy is like advertising. In the latest flare-up of the “print is dead” debate, Michael Josefowicz’ provocative
Spindle: New Content for April
Things were looking dicey for April — I’m still almost a week behind on NaPoWriMo, not to mention the craziness of the real world — but I managed to post some new content before the calendar turned, with great poetry from Erica Miriam Fabri and micro-fiction from James Bezerra and Dominic Preziosi. Check them out
Tone Deaf Publishers Need Savvy Writers
In response to a question about lessons they’d learned from the failure of a book to sell as well as expected — something that was acknowledged several times as being the norm not the exception — one offered an example of an unnamed book that the stars had seemingly all aligned for: it was a great book the editor loved, that their publisher believed was going to be a hit, that got great reviews from all of the major mainstream outlets… and it flopped. In the final bit of unacknowledged irony, one of them briefly noted that examples of successful self-publishing were rare and magical.
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Days 20-22
I’m way behind again, the furthest yet, and am “cheating” a little bit to catch up by going with only one of the PAD prompts I missed (Day 21) and two from the Acentos Writers Workshop I facilitated today. I’m still commited to making 30/30 by the end of the month, but from here on
Bursting the Social Media Bubble
THE_REAL_SHAQ How can u b an expert without legitimate knowledge or legitimate experience Shaq oneal about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry It’s been fascinating watching the odd, mostly one-sided battle going on between so-called social media experts and traditional marketing and PR professionals, as the former continue to pound their virtual drums on a daily
Upcoming Gigs: Panel, Workshop, Evolution
I don’t do many events these days beyond the random open mic appearance at louderARTS or Urbana, so I’m very excited about these two gigs this week, the NY Round Table Writers’ Conference and Acentos Poetry Workshop, as well as the Conversational Marketing Summit I’ll be attending in June. NY Round Table Writers’ Conference Friday,
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Days 16-19
I’m falling behind more frequently as the month progresses, but still trying to stick to the 30/30 goal instead of combining a few prompts into a single poem. Every one of my NaPoWriMo poems has been a first draft, but these four are especially so. Prompt: Pick a color, make that the title of your
Poem-A-Day Challenge: Days 14-15
I was stumped by yesterday’s prompt and had to sit on it for a day, so I’m doubling up to hit the halfway point right on schedule! Prompt: “Two for Tuesday”: Write a love poem or write an anti-love poem. Prompt: Take the title of a poem you especially like (by another poet) and change
Time, Inc.’s “mine” fumbles kickoff
“Oh, I get it. It’s very clever. How’s that working out for you?” –Tyler Durden, Fight Club Well, it seemed like a good idea. Magazine publishing executives are under a lot of pressure these days after the perfect storm of a wretched economy and the deflating of the emedia bubble have wreaked havoc on their