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  • I am a creative.

    I am a creative.

    I am a innovative. What I do is alchemy. It is a secret. I do not so little do it, when let it be done through me.

    I am a artistic. Not all creative individuals like this brand. No all see themselves this method. Some creative individuals see knowledge in what they do. That is their reality, and I regard it. Sometimes I even envy them, a minor. But my approach is different—my becoming is unique.

    Apologizing and qualifying in advance is a diversion. That’s what my mind does to destroy me. I set it aside for today. I may come back later to forgive and count. After I’ve said what I came to say. Which is challenging enough.

    Except when it is simple and flows like a valley of wine.

    Sometimes it does come that method. Maybe what I need to build comes in an instant. I have learned not to say it at that time, because if you admit that sometimes the thought just comes and it is the best idea and you know it is the best idea, they think you don’t work hard enough.

    Maybe I work and work and work until the plan comes. Often it comes suddenly and I don’t tell people for three weeks. Maybe I’m so excited by the idea that came quickly that I blurt it out, can’t help myself. Like a child who found a medal in his Cracker Jacks. Maybe I get away with this. Maybe another persons agree: yes, that is the best idea. Most times they don’t and I regret having given way to joy.

    Joy is best saved for the conference where it will make a difference. Certainly the casual get-together that accompanies that gathering by two different meetings. Anyone knows why we have all these sessions. We keep saying we’re doing away with them, but then only finding other ways to include them. Sometimes they are also great. But other times they are a diversion from the actual job. The percentages between when conferences are important, and when they are a sad distraction, vary, depending on what you do and where you do it. And who you are and how you do it. Suddenly I digress. I am a innovative. That is the style.

    Often many hours of hard and individual work produce something that is rarely serviceable. Maybe I have to take that and move on to the next task.

    Don’t question about approach. I am a innovative.

    I am a artistic. I don’t handle my desires. And I don’t handle my best tips.

    I can nail aside, surround myself with information or photos, and maybe that works. I can go for a walk, and occasionally that works. I may be making breakfast and there’s a Eureka having nothing to do with sizzling oil and flowing pots. Generally I know what to do the moment I wake up. And then, nearly as often, as I become aware and part of the world once, the idea that may have saved me turns to vanishing sand in a senseless storm of nothingness. For imagination, I believe, comes from that other world. The one we enter in aspirations, and possibly, before conception and after death. But that’s for authors to know, and I am not a writer. I am a innovative. And it’s for theologians to large forces about in their artistic world that they insist is true. But that is another diversion. And a sad one. Even on a much more important issue than whether I am a inventive or not. But nevertheless a diversion from what I came here to say.

    Often the process is mitigation. And hardship. You know the cliché about the tortured designer? It’s true, even when the artist ( and let’s put that noun in quotes ) is trying to write a soft drink jingle, a callback in a tired sitcom, a budget request.

    Some people who hate being called artistic may be closeted artists, but that’s between them and their angels. No offence meant. Your wisdom is correct, too. But mine is for me.

    Creatives understand creatives.

    Creatives identify creatives like faggots recognize queers, like true rappers recognize true performers, like cons know cons. Creatives feel large regard for creatives. We love, respect, emulate, and almost deify the excellent ones. To revere any man is, of course, a horrible mistake. We have been warned. We know much. We know people are really people. They dispute, they are depressed, they regret their most critical decisions, they are weak and thirsty, they can be cruel, they can be just as terrible as we can, if, like us, they are clay. But. But. But they make this wonderful issue. They beginning something that did not exist before them, and could not occur without them. They are the mother of suggestions. And I suppose, since it’s only lying it, I have to put that they are the mother of technology. Ba ho backside! Okay, that’s done. Continue.

    Creatives disparage our personal small successes, because we compare them to those of the wonderful people. Wonderful video! Also, I‘m no Miyazaki. Now THAT is brilliance. That is brilliance directly from the mind of God. This half-starved small item that I made? It more or less fell off the back of the pumpkin trailer. And the carrots weren’t even new.

    Creatives knows that, at best, they are Salieri. Yet the creatives who are He think that.

    I am a artistic. I haven’t worked in advertising in 30 times, but in my hallucinations, it’s my former artistic managers who judge me. And they are appropriate to do so. I am very lazy, overly simplistic, and when it actually counts, my mind goes blank. There is no supplement for artistic function.

    I am a artistic. Every date I make is an experience that makes Indiana Jones look like a retiree snoring in a balcony seat. The longer I remain a artistic, the faster I am when I do my job and the longer I brood and walk in lines and gaze blankly before I do that job.

    I am also 10 times faster than people who are not artistic, or people who have just been imaginative a short while, or people who have just been properly imaginative a short while. It’s just that, before I work 10 times as fast as they do, I spend twice as long as they do putting the work out. I am that confident in my ability to do a great task when I put my mind to it. I am that attached to the excitement scramble of delay. I am also that scared of the climb.

    I am not an actor.

    I am a innovative. No an actor. Though I dreamed, as a child, of eventually being that. Some of us disparage our products and like ourselves because we are not Michelangelos and Warhols. That is narcissism—but at least we aren’t in elections.

    I am a artistic. Though I believe in reason and science, I decide by intelligence and urge. And sit with what follows—the calamities as well as the successes.

    I am a artistic. Every term I’ve said these may offend another artists, who see things differently. Ask two artists a problem, get three ideas. Our debate, our enthusiasm about it, and our responsibility to our own reality are, at least to me, the facts that we are artists, no matter how we may think about it.

    I am a artistic. I lament my lack of taste in the places about which I know very little, which is to suggest virtually all areas of human knowledge. And I trust my preference above all other items in the regions closest to my soul, or perhaps, more precisely, to my passions. Without my passions, I would probably have to spend my time looking career in the eye, and virtually none of us can do that for longer. No actually. No truly. Because many in existence, if you really look at it, is intolerable.

    I am a artistic. I believe, as a family believes, that when I am gone, some little good part of me will take on in the head of at least one other people.

    Working saves me from worrying about job.

    I am a artistic. I live in despair of my little present immediately going ahead.

    I am a innovative. I am very active making the next thing to spend too much time seriously considering that almost nothing I make does come anywhere near the glory I awkwardly aspire to.

    I am a artistic. I believe in the greatest mystery of operation. I believe in it so much, I am actually foolish enough to submit an article I dictated into a small machine and didn’t take time to evaluate or update. I won’t do this often, I promise. But I did it just now, because, as afraid as I might be of your seeing through my pitiful gestures toward the beautiful, I was even more afraid of forgetting what I came to say.

    There. I think I’ve said it.

  • Humility: An Essential Value

    Humility: An Essential Value

    Humility, a writer’s necessary value—that has a good ring to it. What about sincerity, an business manager’s important value? Or a surgeon’s? Or a student’s? They all good wonderful. When humility is our guiding light, the course is usually available for fulfillment, development, relation, and commitment. In this section, we’re going to discuss about why.

    That said, this is a guide for developers, and to that conclusion, I’d like to begin with a story—well, a voyage, actually. It’s a personal one, and I’m going to make myself a little prone along the way. I call it:

    The Tale of Justin’s Preposterous Pate

    When I was coming out of arts school, a long-haired, goateed novice, write was a known quantity to me, design on the web, however, was riddled with complexities to understand and learn, a problem to be solved. Though I had been fully trained in graphic design, font, and design, what fascinated me was how these classic skills may be applied to a budding online landscape. This style would eventually form the rest of my profession.

    So rather than student and go into write like many of my friends, I devoured HTML and JavaScript books into the wee hours of the morning and taught myself how to code during my freshman year. I wanted—nay, needed—to better understand the underlying relevance of what my design decisions may think when rendered in a website.

    The later ‘ 90s and early 2000s were the so-called” Wild West” of website design. Manufacturers at the time were all figuring out how to use layout and visual connection to the online environment. What were the laws? How may we break them and also engage, entertain, and present information? At a more micro level, how was my values, inclusive of modesty, admiration, and link, coincide in tandem with that? I was hungry to find out.

    Though I’m talking about a different era, those are timeless considerations between non-career interactions and the world of design. What are your core passions, or values, that transcend medium? It’s essentially the same concept we discussed earlier on the direct parallels between what fulfills you, agnostic of the tangible or digital realms, the core themes are all the same.

    First within tables, animated GIFs, Flash, then with Web Standards, divs, and CSS, there was personality, raw unbridled creativity, and unique means of presentment that often defied any semblance of a visible grid. Splash screens and “browser requirement” pages aplenty. Usability and accessibility were typically victims of such a creation, but such paramount facets of any digital design were largely (and, in hindsight, unfairly) disregarded at the expense of experimentation.

    For example, this iteration of my personal portfolio site (” the pseudoroom” ) from that era was experimental, if not a bit heavy- handed, in the visual communication of the concept of a living sketchbook. Very skeuomorphic. I collaborated with fellow designer and dear friend Marc Clancy ( now a co-founder of the creative project organizing app Milanote ) on this one, where we’d first sketch and then pass a Photoshop file back and forth to trick things out and play with varied user interactions. Then, I’d break it down and code it into a digital layout.

    Along with design folio pieces, the site also offered free downloads for Mac OS customizations: desktop wallpapers that were effectively design experimentation, custom-designed typefaces, and desktop icons.

    From around the same time, GUI Galaxy was a design, pixel art, and Mac-centric news portal some graphic designer friends and I conceived, designed, developed, and deployed.

    Design news portals were incredibly popular during this period, featuring ( what would now be considered ) Tweet-size, small-format snippets of pertinent news from the categories I previously mentioned. If you took Twitter, curated it to a few categories, and wrapped it in a custom-branded experience, you’d have a design news portal from the late 90s / early 2000s.

    We as designers had evolved and created a bandwidth-sensitive, web standards award-winning, much more accessibility-conscious website. Still ripe with experimentation, yet more mindful of equitable engagement. You can see a couple of content panes here, noting general news (tech, design ) and Mac-centric news below. We also offered many of the custom downloads I cited before as present on my folio site but branded and themed to GUI Galaxy.

    The site’s backbone was a homegrown CMS, with the presentation layer consisting of global design + illustration + news author collaboration. And the collaboration effort here, in addition to experimentation on a’ brand’ and content delivery, was hitting my core. We were designing something bigger than any single one of us and connecting with a global audience.

    Collaboration and connection transcend medium in their impact, immensely fulfilling me as a designer.

    Now, why am I taking you down this trip of design memory lane? Two reasons.

    First, there’s a reason for the nostalgia for that design era ( the” Wild West” era, as I called it earlier ): the inherent exploration, personality, and creativity that saturated many design portals and personal portfolio sites. Ultra-finely detailed pixel art UI, custom illustration, bespoke vector graphics, all underpinned by a strong design community.

    Today’s web design has been in a period of stagnation. I suspect there’s a strong chance you’ve seen a site whose structure looks something like this: a hero image / banner with text overlaid, perhaps with a lovely rotating carousel of images ( laying the snark on heavy there ), a call to action, and three columns of sub-content directly beneath. Maybe an icon library is employed with selections that vaguely relate to their respective content.

    Design, as it’s applied to the digital landscape, is in dire need of thoughtful layout, typography, and visual engagement that goes hand-in-hand with all the modern considerations we now know are paramount: usability. Accessibility. Load times and bandwidth- sensitive content delivery. A responsive presentation that meets human beings wherever they’re engaging from. We must be mindful of, and respectful toward, those concerns—but not at the expense of creativity of visual communication or via replicating cookie-cutter layouts.

    Pixel Problems

    Websites during this period were often designed and built on Macs whose OS and desktops looked something like this. This is Mac OS 7.5, but 8 and 9 weren’t that different.

    Desktop icons fascinated me: how could any single one, at any given point, stand out to get my attention? In this example, the user’s desktop is tidy, but think of a more realistic example with icon pandemonium. Or, say an icon was part of a larger system grouping ( fonts, extensions, control panels ) —how did it also maintain cohesion amongst a group?

    These were 32 x 32 pixel creations, utilizing a 256-color palette, designed pixel-by-pixel as mini mosaics. To me, this was the embodiment of digital visual communication under such ridiculous constraints. And often, ridiculous restrictions can yield the purification of concept and theme.

    So I began to research and do my homework. I was a student of this new medium, hungry to dissect, process, discover, and make it my own.

    Expanding upon the notion of exploration, I wanted to see how I could push the limits of a 32×32 pixel grid with that 256-color palette. Those ridiculous constraints forced a clarity of concept and presentation that I found incredibly appealing. The digital gauntlet had been tossed, and that challenge fueled me. And so, in my dorm room into the wee hours of the morning, I toiled away, bringing conceptual sketches into mini mosaic fruition.

    These are some of my creations, utilizing the only tool available at the time to create icons called ResEdit. ResEdit was a clunky, built-in Mac OS utility not really made for exactly what we were using it for. At the core of all of this work: Research. Challenge. Problem- solving. Again, these core connection-based values are agnostic of medium.

    There’s one more design portal I want to talk about, which also serves as the second reason for my story to bring this all together.

    This is K10k, short for Kaliber 1000. K10k was founded in 1998 by Michael Schmidt and Toke Nygaard, and was the design news portal on the web during this period. With its pixel art-fueled presentation, ultra-focused care given to every facet and detail, and with many of the more influential designers of the time who were invited to be news authors on the site, well… it was the place to be, my friend. With respect where respect is due, GUI Galaxy’s concept was inspired by what these folks were doing.

    For my part, the combination of my web design work and pixel art exploration began to get me some notoriety in the design scene. Eventually, K10k noticed and added me as one of their very select group of news authors to contribute content to the site.

    Amongst my personal work and side projects —and now with this inclusion—in the design community, this put me on the map. My design work also began to be published in various printed collections, in magazines domestically and overseas, and featured on other design news portals. With that degree of success while in my early twenties, something else happened:

    I evolved—devolved, really—into a colossal asshole ( and in just about a year out of art school, no less ). The press and the praise became what fulfilled me, and they went straight to my head. They inflated my ego. I actually felt somewhat superior to my fellow designers.

    The casualties? My design stagnated. Its evolution—my evolution — stagnated.

    I felt so supremely confident in my abilities that I effectively stopped researching and discovering. When previously sketching concepts or iterating ideas in lead was my automatic step one, I instead leaped right into Photoshop. I drew my inspiration from the smallest of sources ( and with blinders on ). Any critique of my work from my peers was often vehemently dismissed. The most tragic loss: I had lost touch with my values.

    My ego almost cost me some of my friendships and burgeoning professional relationships. I was toxic in talking about design and in collaboration. But thankfully, those same friends gave me a priceless gift: candor. They called me out on my unhealthy behavior.

    Admittedly, it was a gift I initially did not accept but ultimately was able to deeply reflect upon. I was soon able to accept, and process, and course correct. The realization laid me low, but the re-awakening was essential. I let go of the “reward” of adulation and re-centered upon what stoked the fire for me in art school. Most importantly: I got back to my core values.

    Always Students

    Following that short-term regression, I was able to push forward in my personal design and career. And I could self-reflect as I got older to facilitate further growth and course correction as needed.

    As an example, let’s talk about the Large Hadron Collider. The LHC was designed” to help answer some of the fundamental open questions in physics, which concern the basic laws governing the interactions and forces among the elementary objects, the deep structure of space and time, and in particular the interrelation between quantum mechanics and general relativity”. Thanks, Wikipedia.

    Around fifteen years ago, in one of my earlier professional roles, I designed the interface for the application that generated the LHC’s particle collision diagrams. These diagrams are the rendering of what’s actually happening inside the Collider during any given particle collision event and are often considered works of art unto themselves.

    Designing the interface for this application was a fascinating process for me, in that I worked with Fermilab physicists to understand what the application was trying to achieve, but also how the physicists themselves would be using it. To that end, in this role,

    I cut my teeth on usability testing, working with the Fermilab team to iterate and improve the interface. How they spoke and what they spoke about was like an alien language to me. And by making myself humble and working under the mindset that I was but a student, I made myself available to be a part of their world to generate that vital connection.

    I also had my first ethnographic observation experience: going to the Fermilab location and observing how the physicists used the tool in their actual environment, on their actual terminals. For example, one takeaway was that due to the level of ambient light-driven contrast within the facility, the data columns ended up using white text on a dark gray background instead of black text-on-white. This enabled them to pore over reams of data during the day and ease their eye strain. And Fermilab and CERN are government entities with rigorous accessibility standards, so my knowledge in that realm also grew. The barrier-free design was another essential form of connection.

    So to those core drivers of my visual problem-solving soul and ultimate fulfillment: discovery, exposure to new media, observation, human connection, and evolution. What opened the door for those values was me checking my ego before I walked through it.

    An evergreen willingness to listen, learn, understand, grow, evolve, and connect yields our best work. In particular, I want to focus on the words’ grow’ and ‘ evolve’ in that statement. If we are always students of our craft, we are also continually making ourselves available to evolve. Yes, we have years of applicable design study under our belt. Or the focused lab sessions from a UX bootcamp. Or the monogrammed portfolio of our work. Or, ultimately, decades of a career behind us.

    But all that said: experience does not equal “expert”.

    As soon as we close our minds via an inner monologue of’ knowing it all’ or branding ourselves a” #thoughtleader” on social media, the designer we are is our final form. The designer we can be will never exist.

  • Personalization Pyramid: A Framework for Designing with User Data

    Personalization Pyramid: A Framework for Designing with User Data

    As a UX skilled in today’s data-driven landscape, it’s extremely likely that you’ve been asked to design a personal digital experience, whether it’s a common website, user portal, or local application. However while there continues to be no lack of marketing buzz around personalization systems, we also have very few defined approaches for implementing personalized UX.

    That’s where we come in. After completing tens of personalisation projects over the past few years, we gave ourselves a purpose: could you make a systematic personalization platform especially for UX practitioners? The Personalization Pyramid is a designer-centric model for standing up human-centered personalisation programs, spanning information, classification, content delivery, and general goals. By using this strategy, you will be able to understand the core elements of a modern, UX-driven personalization system ( or at the very least understand enough to get started ).

    Getting Started

    For the sake of this article, we’ll suppose you’re already familiar with the basics of online personalization. A nice guide can be found these: Website Personalization Planning. While Graphic jobs in this area can take on several different forms, they usually stem from identical starting positions.

    Common scenarios for starting a customisation task:

    • Your organization or client purchased a content management system ( CMS ) or marketing automation platform ( MAP ) or related technology that supports personalization
    • The CMO, CDO, or CIO has identified personalisation as a target
    • User data is disjointed or confusing
    • You are running some secluded targeting strategies or A/B tests
    • Partners disagree on personalization technique
    • Mandate of customer privacy rules ( e. g. GDPR ) requires revisiting existing user targeting practices

    Regardless of where you begin, a powerful personalization system will require the same key building stones. We’ve captured these as the “levels” on the tower. Whether you are a UX artist, scholar, or planner, understanding the core components may help make your contribution effective.

    From top to bottom, the rates include:

      North Star: What larger geopolitical target is driving the personalization system?
    1. Objectives: What are the specific, tangible benefits of the system?
    2. Touchpoints: Where will the personalized experience become served?
    3. Contexts and Campaigns: What personalization information does the person view?
    4. User Segments: What constitutes a special, suitable market?
    5. Actionable Data: What dependable and credible information is captured by our professional platform to generate personalization?
    6. Natural Data: What wider set of data is potentially available ( now in our environment ) allowing you to optimize?

    We’ll go through each of these levels in turn. To help make this actionable, we created an accompanying deck of cards to illustrate specific examples from each level. We’ve found them helpful in personalization brainstorming sessions, and will include examples for you here.

    Starting at the Top

    The components of the pyramid are as follows:

    North Star

    A north star is what you are aiming for overall with your personalization program ( big or small ). The North Star defines the (one ) overall mission of the personalization program. What do you wish to accomplish? North Stars cast a shadow. The bigger the star, the bigger the shadow. Example of North Starts might include:

      Function: Personalize based on basic user inputs. Examples:” Raw” notifications, basic search results, system user settings and configuration options, general customization, basic optimizations
    1. Feature: Self-contained personalization componentry. Examples:” Cooked” notifications, advanced optimizations ( geolocation ), basic dynamic messaging, customized modules, automations, recommenders
    2. Experience: Personalized user experiences across multiple interactions and user flows. Examples: Email campaigns, landing pages, advanced messaging ( i. e. C2C chat ) or conversational interfaces, larger user flows and content-intensive optimizations ( localization ).
    3. Product: Highly differentiating personalized product experiences. Examples: Standalone, branded experiences with personalization at their core, like the “algotorial” playlists by Spotify such as Discover Weekly.

    Goals

    As in any good UX design, personalization can help accelerate designing with customer intentions. Goals are the tactical and measurable metrics that will prove the overall program is successful. A good place to start is with your current analytics and measurement program and metrics you can benchmark against. In some cases, new goals may be appropriate. The key thing to remember is that personalization itself is not a goal, rather it is a means to an end. Common goals include:

    • Conversion
    • Time on task
    • Net promoter score ( NPS)
    • Customer satisfaction

    Touchpoints

    Touchpoints are where the personalization happens. As a UX designer, this will be one of your largest areas of responsibility. The touchpoints available to you will depend on how your personalization and associated technology capabilities are instrumented, and should be rooted in improving a user’s experience at a particular point in the journey. Touchpoints can be multi-device ( mobile, in-store, website ) but also more granular ( web banner, web pop-up etc. ). Here are some examples:

    Channel-level Touchpoints

    • Email: Role
    • Email: Time of open
    • In-store display ( JSON endpoint )
    • Native app
    • Search

    Wireframe-level Touchpoints

    • Web overlay
    • Web alert bar
    • Web banner
    • Web content block
    • Web menu

    If you’re designing for web interfaces, for example, you will likely need to include personalized “zones” in your wireframes. The content for these can be presented programmatically in touchpoints based on our next step, contexts and campaigns.

    Contexts and Campaigns

    Once you’ve outlined some touchpoints, you can consider the actual personalized content a user will receive. Many personalization tools will refer to these as” campaigns” ( so, for example, a campaign on a web banner for new visitors to the website ). These will programmatically be shown at certain touchpoints to certain user segments, as defined by user data. At this stage, we find it helpful to consider two separate models: a context model and a content model. The context helps you consider the level of engagement of the user at the personalization moment, for example a user casually browsing information vs. doing a deep-dive. Think of it in terms of information retrieval behaviors. The content model can then help you determine what type of personalization to serve based on the context ( for example, an” Enrich” campaign that shows related articles may be a suitable supplement to extant content ).

    Personalization Context Model:

    1. Browse
    2. Skim
    3. Nudge
    4. Feast

    Personalization Content Model:

    1. Alert
    2. Make Easier
    3. Cross-Sell
    4. Enrich

    We’ve written extensively about each of these models elsewhere, so if you’d like to read more you can check out Colin’s Personalization Content Model and Jeff’s Personalization Context Model.

    User Segments

    User segments can be created prescriptively or adaptively, based on user research ( e. g. via rules and logic tied to set user behaviors or via A/B testing ). At a minimum you will likely need to consider how to treat the unknown or first-time visitor, the guest or returning visitor for whom you may have a stateful cookie ( or equivalent post-cookie identifier ), or the authenticated visitor who is logged in. Here are some examples from the personalization pyramid:

    • Unknown
    • Guest
    • Authenticated
    • Default
    • Referred
    • Role
    • Cohort
    • Unique ID

    Actionable Data

    Every organization with any digital presence has data. It’s a matter of asking what data you can ethically collect on users, its inherent reliability and value, as to how can you use it ( sometimes known as “data activation”. ) Fortunately, the tide is turning to first-party data: a recent study by Twilio estimates some 80 % of businesses are using at least some type of first-party data to personalize the customer experience.

    First-party data represents multiple advantages on the UX front, including being relatively simple to collect, more likely to be accurate, and less susceptible to the” creep factor” of third-party data. So a key part of your UX strategy should be to determine what the best form of data collection is on your audiences. Here are some examples:

    There is a progression of profiling when it comes to recognizing and making decisioning about different audiences and their signals. It tends to move towards more granular constructs about smaller and smaller cohorts of users as time and confidence and data volume grow.

    While some combination of implicit / explicit data is generally a prerequisite for any implementation ( more commonly referred to as first party and third-party data ) ML efforts are typically not cost-effective directly out of the box. This is because a strong data backbone and content repository is a prerequisite for optimization. But these approaches should be considered as part of the larger roadmap and may indeed help accelerate the organization’s overall progress. Typically at this point you will partner with key stakeholders and product owners to design a profiling model. The profiling model includes defining approach to configuring profiles, profile keys, profile cards and pattern cards. A multi-faceted approach to profiling which makes it scalable.

    Pulling it Together

    While the cards comprise the starting point to an inventory of sorts ( we provide blanks for you to tailor your own ), a set of potential levers and motivations for the style of personalization activities you aspire to deliver, they are more valuable when thought of in a grouping.

    In assembling a card “hand”, one can begin to trace the entire trajectory from leadership focus down through a strategic and tactical execution. It is also at the heart of the way both co-authors have conducted workshops in assembling a program backlog—which is a fine subject for another article.

    In the meantime, what is important to note is that each colored class of card is helpful to survey in understanding the range of choices potentially at your disposal, it is threading through and making concrete decisions about for whom this decisioning will be made: where, when, and how.

    Lay Down Your Cards

    Any sustainable personalization strategy must consider near, mid and long-term goals. Even with the leading CMS platforms like Sitecore and Adobe or the most exciting composable CMS DXP out there, there is simply no “easy button” wherein a personalization program can be stood up and immediately view meaningful results. That said, there is a common grammar to all personalization activities, just like every sentence has nouns and verbs. These cards attempt to map that territory.

  • User Research Is Storytelling

    User Research Is Storytelling

    Always since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated with videos. I loved the figures and the excitement—but most of all the reports. I wanted to be an actor. And I believed that I’d get to do the things that Indiana Jones did and go on interesting activities. I also dreamed up suggestions for videos that my friends and I could create and sun in. But they never went any farther. I did, however, end up working in user experience ( UX). Today, I realize that there’s an element of drama to UX— I hadn’t actually considered it before, but consumer research is story. And to get the most out of consumer research, you need to show a good account where you bring stakeholders—the solution team and choice makers—along and getting them interested in learning more.

    Think of your favorite film. More than likely it follows a three-act construction that’s frequently seen in story: the layout, the fight, and the quality. The second act shows what exists now, and it helps you get to know the characters and the challenges and problems that they face. Act two introduces the turmoil, where the action is. Here, difficulties grow or get worse. And the third and final work is the solution. This is where the issues are resolved and the figures learn and change. I believe that this architecture is also a great way to think about customer study, and I think that it can be particularly helpful in explaining person exploration to others.

    Use story as a framework to complete research

    It’s sad to say, but many have come to see studies as being dispensable. If finances or timelines are strong, analysis tends to be one of the first points to go. Instead of investing in study, some goods professionals rely on manufacturers or—worse—their personal judgment to make the “right” options for users based on their experience or accepted best practices. That may get clubs some of the way, but that strategy is so easily miss out on solving people ‘ real problems. To remain user-centered, this is something we should avoid. User research elevates design. It keeps it on track, pointing to problems and opportunities. Being aware of the issues with your product and reacting to them can help you stay ahead of your competitors.

    In the three-act structure, each act corresponds to a part of the process, and each part is critical to telling the whole story. Let’s look at the different acts and how they align with user research.

    Act one: setup

    The setup is all about understanding the background, and that’s where foundational research comes in. Foundational research ( also called generative, discovery, or initial research ) helps you understand users and identify their problems. You’re learning about what exists today, the challenges users have, and how the challenges affect them—just like in the movies. To do foundational research, you can conduct contextual inquiries or diary studies ( or both! ), which can help you start to identify problems as well as opportunities. It doesn’t need to be a huge investment in time or money.

    Erika Hall writes about minimum viable ethnography, which can be as simple as spending 15 minutes with a user and asking them one thing:”‘ Walk me through your day yesterday.’ That’s it. Present that one request. Shut up and listen to them for 15 minutes. Do your damndest to keep yourself and your interests out of it. Bam, you’re doing ethnography”. According to Hall, “]This ] will probably prove quite illuminating. In the highly unlikely case that you didn’t learn anything new or useful, carry on with enhanced confidence in your direction”.

    This makes total sense to me. And I love that this makes user research so accessible. You don’t need to prepare a lot of documentation, you can just recruit participants and do it! This can yield a wealth of information about your users, and it’ll help you better understand them and what’s going on in their lives. That’s really what act one is all about: understanding where users are coming from.

    Jared Spool talks about the importance of foundational research and how it should form the bulk of your research. If you can draw from any additional user data that you can get your hands on, such as surveys or analytics, that can supplement what you’ve heard in the foundational studies or even point to areas that need further investigation. Together, all this data paints a clearer picture of the state of things and all its shortcomings. And that’s the beginning of a compelling story. It’s the point in the plot where you realize that the main characters—or the users in this case—are facing challenges that they need to overcome. Like in the movies, this is where you start to build empathy for the characters and root for them to succeed. And hopefully stakeholders are now doing the same. Their sympathy may be with their business, which could be losing money because users can’t complete certain tasks. Or maybe they do empathize with users ‘ struggles. Either way, act one is your initial hook to get the stakeholders interested and invested.

    Once stakeholders begin to understand the value of foundational research, that can open doors to more opportunities that involve users in the decision-making process. And that can guide product teams toward being more user-centered. This benefits everyone—users, the product, and stakeholders. It’s like winning an Oscar in movie terms—it often leads to your product being well received and successful. And this can be an incentive for stakeholders to repeat this process with other products. Storytelling is the key to this process, and knowing how to tell a good story is the only way to get stakeholders to really care about doing more research.

    This brings us to act two, where you iteratively evaluate a design or concept to see whether it addresses the issues.

    Act two: conflict

    Act two is all about digging deeper into the problems that you identified in act one. This usually involves directional research, such as usability tests, where you assess a potential solution ( such as a design ) to see whether it addresses the issues that you found. The issues could include unmet needs or problems with a flow or process that’s tripping users up. Like act two in a movie, more issues will crop up along the way. It’s here that you learn more about the characters as they grow and develop through this act.

    Usability tests should typically include around five participants according to Jakob Nielsen, who found that that number of users can usually identify most of the problems:” As you add more and more users, you learn less and less because you will keep seeing the same things again and again… After the fifth user, you are wasting your time by observing the same findings repeatedly but not learning much new”.

    There are parallels with storytelling here too, if you try to tell a story with too many characters, the plot may get lost. Having fewer participants means that each user’s struggles will be more memorable and easier to relay to other stakeholders when talking about the research. This can help convey the issues that need to be addressed while also highlighting the value of doing the research in the first place.

    Researchers have run usability tests in person for decades, but you can also conduct usability tests remotely using tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other teleconferencing software. This approach has become increasingly popular since the beginning of the pandemic, and it works well. You can think of in-person usability tests like going to a play and remote sessions as more like watching a movie. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. In-person usability research is a much richer experience. Stakeholders can experience the sessions with other stakeholders. You also get real-time reactions—including surprise, agreement, disagreement, and discussions about what they’re seeing. Much like going to a play, where audiences get to take in the stage, the costumes, the lighting, and the actors ‘ interactions, in-person research lets you see users up close, including their body language, how they interact with the moderator, and how the scene is set up.

    If in-person usability testing is like watching a play—staged and controlled—then conducting usability testing in the field is like immersive theater where any two sessions might be very different from one another. You can take usability testing into the field by creating a replica of the space where users interact with the product and then conduct your research there. Or you can go out to meet users at their location to do your research. With either option, you get to see how things work in context, things come up that wouldn’t have in a lab environment—and conversion can shift in entirely different directions. As researchers, you have less control over how these sessions go, but this can sometimes help you understand users even better. Meeting users where they are can provide clues to the external forces that could be affecting how they use your product. In-person usability tests provide another level of detail that’s often missing from remote usability tests.

    That’s not to say that the “movies” —remote sessions—aren’t a good option. Remote sessions can reach a wider audience. They allow a lot more stakeholders to be involved in the research and to see what’s going on. And they open the doors to a much wider geographical pool of users. But with any remote session there is the potential of time wasted if participants can’t log in or get their microphone working.

    The benefit of usability testing, whether remote or in person, is that you get to see real users interact with the designs in real time, and you can ask them questions to understand their thought processes and grasp of the solution. This can help you not only identify problems but also glean why they’re problems in the first place. Furthermore, you can test hypotheses and gauge whether your thinking is correct. By the end of the sessions, you’ll have a much clearer picture of how usable the designs are and whether they work for their intended purposes. Act two is the heart of the story—where the excitement is—but there can be surprises too. This is equally true of usability tests. Often, participants will say unexpected things, which change the way that you look at things —and these twists in the story can move things in new directions.

    Unfortunately, user research is sometimes seen as expendable. And too often usability testing is the only research process that some stakeholders think that they ever need. In fact, if the designs that you’re evaluating in the usability test aren’t grounded in a solid understanding of your users ( foundational research ), there’s not much to be gained by doing usability testing in the first place. That’s because you’re narrowing the focus of what you’re getting feedback on, without understanding the users ‘ needs. As a result, there’s no way of knowing whether the designs might solve a problem that users have. It’s only feedback on a particular design in the context of a usability test.

    On the other hand, if you only do foundational research, while you might have set out to solve the right problem, you won’t know whether the thing that you’re building will actually solve that. This illustrates the importance of doing both foundational and directional research.

    In act two, stakeholders will—hopefully—get to watch the story unfold in the user sessions, which creates the conflict and tension in the current design by surfacing their highs and lows. And in turn, this can help motivate stakeholders to address the issues that come up.

    Act three: resolution

    While the first two acts are about understanding the background and the tensions that can propel stakeholders into action, the third part is about resolving the problems from the first two acts. While it’s important to have an audience for the first two acts, it’s crucial that they stick around for the final act. That means the whole product team, including developers, UX practitioners, business analysts, delivery managers, product managers, and any other stakeholders that have a say in the next steps. It allows the whole team to hear users ‘ feedback together, ask questions, and discuss what’s possible within the project’s constraints. And it lets the UX research and design teams clarify, suggest alternatives, or give more context behind their decisions. So you can get everyone on the same page and get agreement on the way forward.

    This act is mostly told in voiceover with some audience participation. The researcher is the narrator, who paints a picture of the issues and what the future of the product could look like given the things that the team has learned. They give the stakeholders their recommendations and their guidance on creating this vision.

    Nancy Duarte in the Harvard Business Review offers an approach to structuring presentations that follow a persuasive story. ” The most effective presenters use the same techniques as great storytellers: By reminding people of the status quo and then revealing the path to a better way, they set up a conflict that needs to be resolved”, writes Duarte. ” That tension helps them persuade the audience to adopt a new mindset or behave differently”.

    This type of structure aligns well with research results, and particularly results from usability tests. It provides evidence for “what is “—the problems that you’ve identified. And “what could be “—your recommendations on how to address them. And so on and so forth.

    You can reinforce your recommendations with examples of things that competitors are doing that could address these issues or with examples where competitors are gaining an edge. Or they can be visual, like quick mockups of how a new design could look that solves a problem. These can help generate conversation and momentum. And this continues until the end of the session when you’ve wrapped everything up in the conclusion by summarizing the main issues and suggesting a way forward. This is the part where you reiterate the main themes or problems and what they mean for the product—the denouement of the story. This stage gives stakeholders the next steps and hopefully the momentum to take those steps!

    While we are nearly at the end of this story, let’s reflect on the idea that user research is storytelling. All the elements of a good story are there in the three-act structure of user research:

      Act one: You meet the protagonists ( the users ) and the antagonists ( the problems affecting users ). This is the beginning of the plot. In act one, researchers might use methods including contextual inquiry, ethnography, diary studies, surveys, and analytics. The output of these methods can include personas, empathy maps, user journeys, and analytics dashboards.
      Act two: Next, there’s character development. There’s conflict and tension as the protagonists encounter problems and challenges, which they must overcome. In act two, researchers might use methods including usability testing, competitive benchmarking, and heuristics evaluation. The output of these can include usability findings reports, UX strategy documents, usability guidelines, and best practices.
      Act three: The protagonists triumph and you see what a better future looks like. In act three, researchers may use methods including presentation decks, storytelling, and digital media. The output of these can be: presentation decks, video clips, audio clips, and pictures.

    The researcher has multiple roles: they’re the storyteller, the director, and the producer. The participants have a small role, but they are significant characters ( in the research ). And the stakeholders are the audience. But the most important thing is to get the story right and to use storytelling to tell users ‘ stories through research. By the end, the stakeholders should walk away with a purpose and an eagerness to resolve the product’s ills.

    So the next time that you’re planning research with clients or you’re speaking to stakeholders about research that you’ve done, think about how you can weave in some storytelling. Ultimately, user research is a win-win for everyone, and you just need to get stakeholders interested in how the story ends.

  • The Future of Marketing Is More Human Than Ever

    The Future of Marketing Is More Human Than Ever

    The Future of Marketing Is More People Than Ever written by Jarret Redding read more at Duct Tape Selling

    The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Carlos Gil In this instance of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Carlos Gil, international marketing head, bestselling author of The Conclusion of Promotion, and Brand Evangelist at GetResponse. Carlos is known for his striking approach to online marketing, especially in how businesses can rise above the sounds ]… ]

    Your Book Launch Requirements a Marketing Plan written by Jarret Redding read more at Duct Tape Marketing

    The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Alex Strathdee

    In this instance of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Alex Strathdee, CEO of Shelf Life and publisher of Before the Bestseller. Alex is an expert in reserve promotion, having helped over 1, 000 writers across 50+ categories get genuine benefits. His perspectives challenge the standard belief that publishers will market your book and uncover the necessary strategies every author must use to generate their own achievement.

    During our chat, Alex shared effective and useful tips on how to sell books, build a compelling book release plan, and avoid the most common reserve marketing mistakes. From free user sowing to building an writer email list, Alex outlines a consistent book sales strategy that helps artists to address their book like a business asset—whether you &#8217, d self publishing or working with a traditional publisher.

    Alex’s strategy to fiction book marketing is data-driven, innovative, and greatly useful. Whether you’re a seasoned business owner or just starting out, the insight from this season can help you avoid wasted effort—and find true ROI from your guide.

    Key Takeaways:

      Publishers won’t market your book. Authors must take ownership of their book promotion strategy.

    • Think of your book like a product. If it’s good ( and light, as Alex says ), it needs only wind—your marketing—to take off.
    • Pick a sales goal. Whether it &#8217, s 1, 000 or 20, 000 copies, defining a target helps guide every marketing tactic.
    • Use free reader seeding. Get your book into the hands of people who can talk about it and create buzz.
    • Break down your sales goal into channels. Consider email, podcasts, Amazon ads, or lumpy mail to move copies strategically.
    • Your email list is gold. Start small with 100 engaged readers and build from there—this is traffic you own.
    • Use VA support for outreach. Outsourcing book promotion tasks helps you scale more efficiently.
    • Don&#8217, t overlook physical presence. Alex shares how one book sold millions after being spotted in a car wash!
    • Design a book funnel. Use your book as a lead magnet for higher-ticket services like courses or coaching.
    • Presentation matters. From soft t-shirts to custom editions, packaging your book with care can spark word-of-mouth and long-term publishing success.

    Chapters:

    • ]00: 09 ] Introduction to Alex Strathdee
    • ]01: 03] Do Publishers Promote Books?
    • ]02: 45] Mistakes in Book Marketing
    • ]06: 54] How is AI Affecting Book Marketing?
    • ]08: 30 ] What is the Goal of your Book?
    • ]09: 39] Seeding Readers with no Audience
    • ]13: 34] Team and Tools to Help You with Your Book
    • ]16: 03] Positioning Yourself to get Lucky

    More About Alex Strathdee:

      Check out Alex Strathdee&#8217, s Website

    • Connect with Alex Strathdee on LinkedIn
    • Read Before The Bestseller: Your Proven Path to Book Sales Without Wasting Time &amp, Money by Alex Strathdee

     

    John Jantsch ( 00: 00.951 )

    Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Alex Strathdee. He is the CEO of Shelf Life, where he helps authors market books. After working with over 1, 000 books and 50 plus niches, he wanted to know what advice to give authors whose books weren’t selling. Clients include Mike McCallewitz, Alan Dibbs, Michael Bungastanier, Tony Fidel, Reid Hoffman. He hosts.

    his own podcast, Before the Best Seller with authors who have sold over 10, 000 copies, which include Dan Pink, Kim Scott, and others. But we’re going talk about his book today, Before the Best Seller, your proven path to book sales without wasting time and money. So Alex, welcome to the show.

    Alex Strathdee ( 00: 47.864 )

    John, it’s a dream come true being here growing up with you as one of the marketing greats to get to have a chat with you is pretty cool.

    John Jantsch ( 00: 55.227 )

    I appreciate that. So I know the answer to this, but I’m just going to let you let you hit it out of the park. When I write a book, doesn’t the publisher promote my book?

    Alex Strathdee ( 01: 09.422 )

    You would think that is why we exist is because Seth Godin, I know, has a good statistic that, you know, authors spend 90 % on or they make revenue from 90 % of the 90 % of the revenue is from their backlist and they only spend 2 % of their their budget on actually launching new books, which is a statistic that every author should be listening to and thinking, oh, so I can’t expect my publisher to actually market.

    John Jantsch ( 01: 10.627 )

    Yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 01: 24.835 )

    Huh.

    John Jantsch ( 01: 36.725 )

    Yeah, I’ve actually published, let’s say I self-published one book, six books have been with major publishers. And I can say that not only do they not promote your book, they don’t know how, quite frankly. I mean, they’re pretty rooted in some ancient approaches.

    Alex Strathdee ( 01: 56.43 )

    And that’s how I came into this industry was actually getting like pretty much scammed by someone who was like, oh, here’s what book marketing really is. And I was like, oh, wait, I’m going to be our famous rich, you know, author tomorrow. Wow, that’s fantastic. All I have to do is become an Amazon bestseller. Cool. And then you quickly find out that’s that’s not how you become an author.

    John Jantsch ( 02: 11.458 )

    Yeah

    John Jantsch ( 02: 16.035 )

    Well, and the other thing of course, and I’m sure you’re experiencing this, my first book came out in 2007. There weren’t a lot of nonfiction books, quite frankly, particularly from marketers. Now there’s probably been five titles that have come out since we started this show. I mean, it’s crazy.

    Alex Strathdee ( 02: 32.942 )

    There’s a marketing book for every niche now. There was one book that I was marketing that is, Kroll Space Repair. It’s insane, the niches that you find these days. But I love niches. I think niches are some of the best places to market.

    John Jantsch ( 02: 47.285 )

    So where do you find, we’ll start with the mistakes. Where do you find people making a mistake? I know the biggest one is they write a book and go, okay, now what? Probably, but what are some of the other common mistakes?

    Alex Strathdee ( 02: 56.77 )

    Yeah, the first. I’ll first start with a piece of education and it’s how to think about your book, and it’s a analogy that I actually stole from Ricardo Fayette of Reidsy, and it’s it’s the book is a ship analogy where essentially your book is a ship and how good your book is is how and how, you know, the word of mouth will spread for that book is how light the material of that ship is made of. So if you have a really, really good book, you have a really young.

    think I was reading your Wikipedia before this as well. You like your woodworking, so we’ll use a nice wood reference here. You know, if you have a really good book, then it’s a light piece of wood, right? So, you know, then your book, all that that ship needs is some wind in the sails and it starts to cruise along. If your book is made of lead, meaning it’s a terrible book and people don’t want to share it, then yeah, you can strap rockets to the side. But the second you turn off those rockets, it’s going to sink to the bottom of ocean. So the first thing is to think about your book as a ship.

    John Jantsch ( 03: 46.563 )

    You

    Alex Strathdee ( 03: 54.72 )

    And so the next question you get is, well, how do I know what my book is made of? And the answer to that is by product testing it. So it’s by committing to. this is, your question was, where do people actually start with their marketing? The starting point is picking a number. So that is the Bill Gladstone, who’s the late former literary agent to people like Eckhart Tolle, Marie Kondo, Jack Canfield. His whole thing is that in order for a book to be commercially successful, you need to see 20, 000 copies into the wild.

    Now, if your book is about crawl space repair, the odds of you seeding 20, 000 copies is pretty low, right? So you get to realize that there’s some nuance in here, depending on the industry that you’re a part of. Rob Fitzpatrick says that number only needs to be 1000. He’s a author of right. You saw books. He focuses more on like writing really, really good nonfiction books. And the truth is the numbers somewhere between 1000 and 20, 000. And it’s up to the author to figure out what that number is.

    John Jantsch ( 04: 29.559 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 04: 43.478 )

    It’s a book.

    John Jantsch ( 04: 51.053 )

    So.

    I mean, again, I’m trying to process that comment. if I’ve published a book or self-published a book or I’m thinking about putting a book out, am I now then one of my first tasks is I need to get a thousand people who I think would be interested in this and send them a copy?

    Alex Strathdee ( 04: 58.094 )

    Yes. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 05: 12.46 )

    That is one of the ways. we call that free reader seating and the the but yeah, essentially once you have your number, what that is, is that’s empowering because where most authors start in their book marketing is just talking to, you know, like marketing salespeople of, you need this program, you need this program, you don’t really know what you’re trying to achieve. You just kind of think that like, well, if I make the New York Times bestseller list, then my book did what it’s supposed to do, right?

    John Jantsch ( 05: 13.709 )

    Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 05: 36.814 )

    And so just having an understanding of what you’re actually trying to achieve with your book is that will solve half of your marketing issues. Because once you have your number, you break that down into, OK, I’m going to move 200 copies through podcasting. I’m to 100 copies through my email list. I’m going to move 200 copies through Amazon ads. Right. And then you actually break that seeding number down into many goals. And those are the different tools of book marketing that I talk about with him.

    John Jantsch ( 06: 02.263 )

    So we’ve probably all encountered a book that you’re like, this is really bad. Why is it selling so many copies?

    Alex Strathdee ( 06: 11.852 )

    Yeah, yeah. The one of my one of my shocking things, it’s kind of like, you know, Febreeze didn’t sell until a marketer figured out how to make it sell right. Like until someone was like, it shouldn’t have no smell. It should have a smell because that indicates to people that the room is clean. Right. So, you know, at the end of the day, I think you can have a pretty mediocre book. And if you have a really good marketing strategy behind it, it’s going to do a whole lot better than a book that has no marketing and is, you know, the best book in the world. And

    You know, so that’s one of the things I tell authors is like, you know, I know we have a fellow friend, Mike McCallewitz, you he and get different, you know, are you like, you have a responsibility to market if your thing is the best thing on the market. You know, you’re being selfish by actually not having a marketing plan behind that book. And there’s a lot of authors would be bestselling authors that get stopped because they’re, think that marketing their book is beneath them.

    John Jantsch ( 07: 05.763 )

    Yeah. So we’re, always make a joke of this. We’re seven minutes in the show. I’m going to mention AI for the first time. so how is, how is AI affecting in your view, both the written word as well as the, marketing component of, of marketing.

    Alex Strathdee ( 07: 14.542 )

    Let’s do it.

    Alex Strathdee ( 07: 28.844 )

    I think what it comes down to is brand at the end of the day, you know, there’s, that’s one of the big issues on Amazon right now is there’s a lot of people selling courses for like make a million dollars writing AI created books or whatever have you. Yeah. And it’s like, you can put those books up there, but you’re still going to have the same issue that the regular author has, which is to market those books. Like, so I think that

    John Jantsch ( 07: 40.023 )

    Right, 10 books a day, right, yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 07: 52.518 )

    I’m not afraid of, you know, I think it comes back to your marketing, right? Like if you have a really good marketer who’s empowered by AI, then maybe they’ll start moving some AI books, but we’re starting to look into using tools like make.com to automate like social media creation and posting based on like best practices in the industry. So think make.com is a great low code platform for some people who are a little more tech savvy to start looking at. But I mean, there’s, lots of ways, you know, like we use chat GPT to write our job descriptions.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 14.765 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 08: 20.44 )

    You know, like you have someone on your team that takes half a day to write a job description, just ask ChatGPT to ask you for a meta ads expert and hire them in the Philippines, right? So I think there’s a lot of things that like from on the surface level, ChatGPT can start to really help authors with, you know, where they don’t have to know how to write a full on job description. They can have ChatGPT do that for them. And then on a deeper level, you can start using platforms like make.com to create workflows and go a little bit deeper with the tools.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 20.76 )

    Yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 26.573 )

    Yeah. Yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 48.675 )

    important do you think it is, particularly I’m talking about non-fiction books, so business authors, how important do you believe that it is that most authors should also have a course and maybe a certification or a coaching program or something like that that actually comes from the book?

    Alex Strathdee ( 09: 06.102 )

    Yeah, and that’s an interesting, you know, because even fiction and nonfiction have entirely different business models that you’re working with. Right. And so like one of our first steps with authors is always to figure out what is it you’re actually trying to achieve with this book? Because, know, someone who has a this is also like something you have to realize when you’re bidding against people on a lot of the ad platforms like, you know, Amazon.

    is oftentimes, especially in the nonfiction niche, you’re bidding against people who aren’t trying to make money on book royalties. They’re trying to sell a twenty thousand hundred thousand dollar course on the back end. So the days of making money through Amazon ads, one of the questions we get a lot. The days of making passive income with Amazon ads is over. They like very few books do that nowadays and very few traditional or self published authors. And I’m talking about self published to get full royalties are actually at that point in their, you know, in their book journey.

    John Jantsch ( 09: 34.967 )

    Yeah, right, Right, right, right, right.

    John Jantsch ( 09: 59.181 )

    So how does somebody who, like in my particular case, by the time I put my first book out, I had a huge email list. I had actually been publishing other stuff online, a blog and all podcasts and all that kind of stuff. So I had a decent live audience. How does somebody who, and let’s jump to fiction maybe, has no audience and is actually not known for writing Western literature, romance novels, all of sudden writes one. mean, how does that person

    Seed some readers.

    Alex Strathdee ( 10: 30.466 )

    Yeah, that’s that’s a really great question and to to which does mean that it’s it’s more challenging. So let me let me try to make this as concise as possible because I could ramble for the next how much time you got, John. So when it comes to starting, I mean, you mentioned the number one thing and the most important thing is always to have a newsletter list. That’s the one traffic you control. You’ve had plenty of episodes talking about the importance of that. Right. So.

    John Jantsch ( 10: 34.039 )

    Which means it’s a hard question.

    Alex Strathdee ( 10: 56.654 )

    When it comes to your email list, one of the best ways and I stand on the shoulders of great marketers, know, so like Tim Grahl, who wrote your first 1000 copies, you know, he has a great way to start your Facebook, you know, your email list through Facebook, just reaching out to your friends and family one by one and saying, hey, I’m going to start, you know, writing about this topic.

    you would you like to come along for the journey? And like, you know, if you’re running ads, do you know, to your webpage, you might get a conversion rate of like, well, like 3 % on your web on your website. As if you’re messaging people one by one on Facebook, like start with finding a hundred people to put on your email list, start sending out like a new valuable newsletter each week and happy to dive into that if you want. But you know, I just start with like who the people, you know, and ask them, Hey, here’s what I’m going to do. It’s kind of an experiment. Would you like to join and make that your first 100?

    So that’s the first step. Any questions about like the email list side? I’m sure you probably were already already on top of that one. And the other way is I’ll actually use an example of a fictional author, John Strelecki. He’s the author of a cafe on the edge of the world. He’s now sold over 8 million books and he, kid you not, just went to chamber of commerce meetings and it hits a, his book is somewhat of a fable.

    John Jantsch ( 11: 50.007 )

    No, no, no, I think, yeah, yeah, we have definitely.

    Alex Strathdee ( 12: 11.48 )

    capable if you haven’t heard of it’s kind of like the go giver sort of that situation that has like a deeper meaning to it that’s easy to pick up on short read. And he went to Chamber of Commerce meetings having one on one conversations with people until he had personally handed out 10, 000 copies of his book. He has now sold over 8 million copies of his book. Clearly that worked. And so a genuine conversation you like finding a local group that you can go to and know, hand copies out one by one with a genuine conversation. Now.

    John Jantsch ( 12: 14.018 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 12: 38.286 )

    There’s a way you can do this the wrong way and there’s a way you can do this the right way. And I’ll use an example, you know, I’m out here in San Diego, if you couldn’t tell by the mustache and the long hair. we have namaste yoga, cliff side here on the ocean. You know, can picture it, beautiful blue sky, you know, right? You hear the waves breaking and, you know, a nice way to relax on a Saturday and Sunday morning. And this woman was walking by.

    handing out post-it notes that just had nice messages on them. Like, you you’re pretty or like, you know, you’re smart or whatever. And on the back of those post-it notes was, you know, a Lincoln invite to grab her book. But like she was starting with value. was like, would you like a positive note? And of course, like, you know, it’s also her, her audience, right? Like an audience of yogis on a cliffside on a, on a Saturday morning at 10 a. m. is, is her demographic. And you compare that against, I was hosting a barbecue for a friend, you know, here at my, my apartment complex.

    John Jantsch ( 13: 20.472 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    Right. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 13: 33.534 )

    And this man, I guess, saw a gathering of us down by the grill and walked down and began telling people about his AI book that we should all go by and read. like most of the people were like service workers, like baristas, no interest in learning about AI. And he’s like forcing AI on everyone. It was the most uncomfortable situation. So like when you’re having these conversations, be the first, not the second.

    John Jantsch ( 13: 48.653 )

    Yeah

    John Jantsch ( 13: 57.995 )

    Yeah, that’s awesome. What would, so if somebody’s, I know there’s wide ranges and variances on all kinds of, depends, but if somebody’s getting started with a nonfiction book, they’ve got a business as well. They’re doing a couple of things. What’s the team, the system, you know, the approach that kind of like they need to be doing this, this, this, this kind of thing.

    Alex Strathdee ( 14: 21.646 )

    Yeah, yeah. And I’m all for systems like one of my favorite marketers, Alan Dibb, know, random acts of marketing don’t work. That’s like I will sing that from, you know, the mountaintops until the day I die. And so, you know, having VA’s is great. You know, I have a whole section. I talk a lot about VA’s and I know you’ve covered a lot about VA’s as well. But the system is start with your high number, break down into the littler numbers, pick out the tools that you’re you’re you know, whether it’s and I’ve got, you know, a few of the tools that

    John Jantsch ( 14: 37.933 )

    Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 14: 50.114 )

    you know, we’ve seen great success with is like free reader seatings, like finding people on Linked In. And so having a team member who is actually finding your ideal person on Linked In, on Instagram and messaging them one-on-one saying, Hey, we’ve got this free book. Would you like, you know, a copy of it for free? And most of it’s like a free gift. Like, yeah, people are all for, you know, I know you’re a fan of lumpy mail. Like I love lumpy mail. And so, you know, that’s, that’s something that works really well. We’re doing that with like Dan Heath right now that he just launched reset.

    John Jantsch ( 15: 09.795 )

    Yeah. Right.

    Alex Strathdee ( 15: 18.586 )

    And so for him, like that’s already led to two additional, like one lady wrote back and was like, wow, I’m going to make this my book for the book, my book club of like 80 people. Right. It’s like putting yourself a lot of the seating number that you, you pick is putting yourself in a position to get lucky. But like, I find that when it comes down to systems, a lot of the research is, can be outsourced. So like finding those people on Linked In, messaging those people on Linked In, like you don’t have the time to be there messaging these people one-on-one. and the great thing is, you know, like you mentioned, these people have businesses.

    John Jantsch ( 15: 26.381 )

    Yeah. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 15: 48.48 )

    If they have, know, like you’re essentially sending them like your business card at the same time, like your, your guess, you know, you, it’s a, yeah, you got to pay for shipping and handling or whatever. even traditionally published authors will oftentimes be able to get a deal with their publisher for like six bucks. Always look at your, author, author copy price if you’re a traditionally published author, but, yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 15: 53.272 )

    Yes.

    John Jantsch ( 16: 06.307 )

    Well, would also tell you those books cost them nothing. I always negotiated a thousand bucks that they gave me.

    Alex Strathdee ( 16: 12.053 )

    Yeah. Good. That’s great. Yeah. That’s I’m going to start using that. That’s really smart. I didn’t know you could, you could get away with that. But, yeah, having people who are doing the researching and the messaging, I think like anytime you’re doing cold researching or cold messaging, like that’s a great opportunity to start bringing in an assistant for that stuff.

    John Jantsch ( 16: 31.245 )

    Yeah, and that kind of thing can be had, you know, fairly inexpensively. I want to go back something you just touched on a little bit, putting yourself in a position to get lucky. I know you spent a lot of time in the book on that. You’ve even got a couple examples in the book. You want to share any Oprah moments?

    Alex Strathdee ( 16: 48.21 )

    One of my favorite stories and a lot of people don’t know this is Robert Kiyosaki. Everyone’s heard of Rich Dad Poor Dad, right? So what a lot of people don’t know is that is how that book became the best selling personal finance book of all time. And the way it was done was Robert called up his buddy who owned a car wash and he said, hey, do you mind if I sell some copies of Rich Dad Poor Dad in your car wash? And his buddy was like, sure, whatever.

    John Jantsch ( 16: 54.147 )

    Sure. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 17: 14.026 )

    There’s he is a bookstore of one at that point. There is no you know, like customers are looking over at you know, at air fresheners to buy while they’re waiting for their car to get washed or they’re using the unusable bathrooms that you know at car washes and Then they walk, know to the over the cashier and wow, it’s this personal finance book. Let me pick that up I have a little time. Let me read it and So one of the people who happened to walk through that car wash was one of the founders of Amway

    John Jantsch ( 17: 17.315 )

    You

    John Jantsch ( 17: 34.477 )

    Right.

    Alex Strathdee ( 17: 40.534 )

    Now not talking about, whether Amway is a good company or what you think about, you know, rich divorce or anything, but the person picked this book up and loved it so much that he then took it to the other executives. And he’s like, this is a powerful tool for us to educate and empower our people. so Amway started to fly Robert Kiyosaki all around the country to speak at events. And that book quickly became their Bible. And he found his micro community, a lot of

    Authors will find their micro community early on. Like Mike McAuliffe did this with Profit First. He was speaking on college campuses and kids were taking home those books on spring break and moms were picking up those books and reading and fixing their company’s finances or the company business or the family business. And that was his following. And he never meant for the book to find its way to those people. yeah, mean, putting yourself in a position to get lucky is what a lot of that picking your number to begin with is doing.

    John Jantsch ( 18: 33.911 )

    Yeah. And really the seating probably, I mean, you have no idea who it’s going to, I mean, maybe you targeted somebody, but you have no idea who, what their circle of influence is. And I think that’s, just becomes a numbers game at that point as you’re, as you’re kind of stressing, isn’t it?

    Alex Strathdee ( 18: 49.41 )

    And that’s why people will be like, give away my book for free. it’s like, well, first of all, a lot of people will put their book up for expensive on launch. And it’s like, yeah, their mom buys it, their cousin buys it, their son buys it. But at end of the day, are you actually solving for any of those people? that’s a big part. Are you actually solving the problem of any of those people? And so that’s a big part of it is your number has to consist of people whose problem you’re actually solving for. Because if you’re not, then no one’s going to get excited about your book.

    John Jantsch ( 18: 53.111 )

    Yeah

    John Jantsch ( 19: 18.979 )

    It was a book that I actually had the author on here. He has since passed away, but called Giftology by John Ruhlman. And he did what I thought was a really interesting thing. His book was published by a publisher, but he talked to publisher into letting him create a special edition of the book. It was hard bound, like kind of leather, you know, had, you know, gold lettering on it. And, you know, he sent out like 4, 000 of those.

    And it was in this really incredible package and it just, people couldn’t not talk about it. And it just really launched his book because he just got so much word of mouth before anybody had really read it just by the presentation.

    Alex Strathdee ( 19: 59.598 )

    Packages can be a really fun way to do it. Brian Johnson, who recently really released art and actually sent giftology funny enough, like two weeks ago, I had a partnership and I was like this, like do this. So it’s funny that you bring that up. the yeah, and he sent if you’re going to send this is a little like, you know, people love these small little things. If if you’re going to do T-shirts, John, make them the softest, most comfortable T-shirt you’ve you’ve ever worn so that people actually wear it. I have so.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 03.094 )

    Eh.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 08.738 )

    Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 21.091 )

    Right.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 26.049 )

    Yep.

    Alex Strathdee ( 20: 27.096 )

    Bryan Johnson sent me two of the literally softest shirts I own and they’ve become my travel shirts. So I have walked through about like 30 airports wearing these shirts and been a walking billboard for this guy. So that’s like, if you’re going to do like shirts for your book, make sure the title is on there and make them the softest that you could possibly make them.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 32.523 )

    You

    John Jantsch ( 20: 46.403 )

    Love it. Love it. Well, Alex, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Where would you invite people to connect with you and find out more about before the bestseller?

    Alex Strathdee ( 20: 56.204 )

    Yeah, I’m always up for a conversation. know, we pride ourselves in like just having very honest conversations with authors and kind of like where they’re at. We prefer to work with authors for years. So if we don’t think like an engagement is going to work out for more than like a small period of time, then like we’ll tell you that. Yeah, reach out to us. Our website is get shelf life dot com. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have a question about book marketing. Alex at get shelf life dot com.

    And yeah, check out our book before the best seller on Amazon now.

    John Jantsch ( 21: 27.267 )

    Well, again, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by. Hopefully we’ll run into you one of these days out there on the road.

    Alex Strathdee ( 21: 32.952 )

    This is a bucket list item, John. Thanks for having me on.

    John Jantsch ( 21: 35.395 )

    You

    powered by
  • Your Book Launch Needs a Marketing Plan

    Your Book Launch Needs a Marketing Plan

    Your Book Launch Requires a Marketing Plan written by Jarret Redding read more at Duct Tape Marketing

    The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Alex Strathdee In this instance of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Alex Strathdee, CEO of Shelf Life and creator of Before the Bestseller. Alex is an expert in reserve promotion, having helped over 1, 000 writers across 50+ areas get genuine benefits. His insights challenge the traditional belief ]… ]

    Your Book Launch Requires a Marketing Plan written by Jarret Redding read more at Duct Tape Marketing

    The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast with Alex Strathdee

    In this instance of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interviewed Alex Strathdee, CEO of Shelf Life and creator of Before the Bestseller. Alex is an expert in reserve promotion, having helped over 1, 000 writers across 50+ areas get genuine benefits. His perspectives challenge the standard belief that publishers will market your book and uncover the necessary strategies every author must use to generate their own achievement.

    During our chat, Alex shared effective and useful tips on how to sell books, build a compelling book release plan, and avoid the most common reserve marketing mistakes. From free user sowing to building an writer email list, Alex outlines a consistent book sales strategy that helps artists to address their book like a business asset—whether you &#8217, d self publishing or working with a traditional publisher.

    Alex’s strategy to fiction book marketing is data-driven, innovative, and greatly useful. Whether you’re a seasoned business owner or just starting out, the insight from this season can help you avoid wasted effort—and find true ROI from your guide.

    Key Takeaways:

      Publishers won’t market your book. Authors must take ownership of their book promotion strategy.

    • Think of your book like a product. If it’s good ( and light, as Alex says ), it needs only wind—your marketing—to take off.
    • Pick a sales goal. Whether it &#8217, s 1, 000 or 20, 000 copies, defining a target helps guide every marketing tactic.
    • Use free reader seeding. Get your book into the hands of people who can talk about it and create buzz.
    • Break down your sales goal into channels. Consider email, podcasts, Amazon ads, or lumpy mail to move copies strategically.
    • Your email list is gold. Start small with 100 engaged readers and build from there—this is traffic you own.
    • Use VA support for outreach. Outsourcing book promotion tasks helps you scale more efficiently.
    • Don&#8217, t overlook physical presence. Alex shares how one book sold millions after being spotted in a car wash!
    • Design a book funnel. Use your book as a lead magnet for higher-ticket services like courses or coaching.
    • Presentation matters. From soft t-shirts to custom editions, packaging your book with care can spark word-of-mouth and long-term publishing success.

    Chapters:

    • ]00: 09 ] Introduction to Alex Strathdee
    • ]01: 03] Do Publishers Promote Books?
    • ]02: 45] Mistakes in Book Marketing
    • ]06: 54] How is AI Affecting Book Marketing?
    • ]08: 30 ] What is the Goal of your Book?
    • ]09: 39] Seeding Readers with no Audience
    • ]13: 34] Team and Tools to Help You with Your Book
    • ]16: 03] Positioning Yourself to get Lucky

    More About Alex Strathdee:

      Check out Alex Strathdee&#8217, s Website

    • Connect with Alex Strathdee on LinkedIn
    • Read Before The Bestseller: Your Proven Path to Book Sales Without Wasting Time &amp, Money by Alex Strathdee

     

    John Jantsch ( 00: 00.951 )

    Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Alex Strathdee. He is the CEO of Shelf Life, where he helps authors market books. After working with over 1, 000 books and 50 plus niches, he wanted to know what advice to give authors whose books weren’t selling. Clients include Mike McCallewitz, Alan Dibbs, Michael Bungastanier, Tony Fidel, Reid Hoffman. He hosts.

    his own podcast, Before the Best Seller with authors who have sold over 10, 000 copies, which include Dan Pink, Kim Scott, and others. But we’re going talk about his book today, Before the Best Seller, your proven path to book sales without wasting time and money. So Alex, welcome to the show.

    Alex Strathdee ( 00: 47.864 )

    John, it’s a dream come true being here growing up with you as one of the marketing greats to get to have a chat with you is pretty cool.

    John Jantsch ( 00: 55.227 )

    I appreciate that. So I know the answer to this, but I’m just going to let you let you hit it out of the park. When I write a book, doesn’t the publisher promote my book?

    Alex Strathdee ( 01: 09.422 )

    You would think that is why we exist is because Seth Godin, I know, has a good statistic that, you know, authors spend 90 % on or they make revenue from 90 % of the 90 % of the revenue is from their backlist and they only spend 2 % of their their budget on actually launching new books, which is a statistic that every author should be listening to and thinking, oh, so I can’t expect my publisher to actually market.

    John Jantsch ( 01: 10.627 )

    Yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 01: 24.835 )

    Huh.

    John Jantsch ( 01: 36.725 )

    Yeah, I’ve actually published, let’s say I self-published one book, six books have been with major publishers. And I can say that not only do they not promote your book, they don’t know how, quite frankly. I mean, they’re pretty rooted in some ancient approaches.

    Alex Strathdee ( 01: 56.43 )

    And that’s how I came into this industry was actually getting like pretty much scammed by someone who was like, oh, here’s what book marketing really is. And I was like, oh, wait, I’m going to be our famous rich, you know, author tomorrow. Wow, that’s fantastic. All I have to do is become an Amazon bestseller. Cool. And then you quickly find out that’s that’s not how you become an author.

    John Jantsch ( 02: 11.458 )

    Yeah

    John Jantsch ( 02: 16.035 )

    Well, and the other thing of course, and I’m sure you’re experiencing this, my first book came out in 2007. There weren’t a lot of nonfiction books, quite frankly, particularly from marketers. Now there’s probably been five titles that have come out since we started this show. I mean, it’s crazy.

    Alex Strathdee ( 02: 32.942 )

    There’s a marketing book for every niche now. There was one book that I was marketing that is, Kroll Space Repair. It’s insane, the niches that you find these days. But I love niches. I think niches are some of the best places to market.

    John Jantsch ( 02: 47.285 )

    So where do you find, we’ll start with the mistakes. Where do you find people making a mistake? I know the biggest one is they write a book and go, okay, now what? Probably, but what are some of the other common mistakes?

    Alex Strathdee ( 02: 56.77 )

    Yeah, the first. I’ll first start with a piece of education and it’s how to think about your book, and it’s a analogy that I actually stole from Ricardo Fayette of Reidsy, and it’s it’s the book is a ship analogy where essentially your book is a ship and how good your book is is how and how, you know, the word of mouth will spread for that book is how light the material of that ship is made of. So if you have a really, really good book, you have a really young.

    think I was reading your Wikipedia before this as well. You like your woodworking, so we’ll use a nice wood reference here. You know, if you have a really good book, then it’s a light piece of wood, right? So, you know, then your book, all that that ship needs is some wind in the sails and it starts to cruise along. If your book is made of lead, meaning it’s a terrible book and people don’t want to share it, then yeah, you can strap rockets to the side. But the second you turn off those rockets, it’s going to sink to the bottom of ocean. So the first thing is to think about your book as a ship.

    John Jantsch ( 03: 46.563 )

    You

    Alex Strathdee ( 03: 54.72 )

    And so the next question you get is, well, how do I know what my book is made of? And the answer to that is by product testing it. So it’s by committing to. this is, your question was, where do people actually start with their marketing? The starting point is picking a number. So that is the Bill Gladstone, who’s the late former literary agent to people like Eckhart Tolle, Marie Kondo, Jack Canfield. His whole thing is that in order for a book to be commercially successful, you need to see 20, 000 copies into the wild.

    Now, if your book is about crawl space repair, the odds of you seeding 20, 000 copies is pretty low, right? So you get to realize that there’s some nuance in here, depending on the industry that you’re a part of. Rob Fitzpatrick says that number only needs to be 1000. He’s a author of right. You saw books. He focuses more on like writing really, really good nonfiction books. And the truth is the numbers somewhere between 1000 and 20, 000. And it’s up to the author to figure out what that number is.

    John Jantsch ( 04: 29.559 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 04: 43.478 )

    It’s a book.

    John Jantsch ( 04: 51.053 )

    So.

    I mean, again, I’m trying to process that comment. if I’ve published a book or self-published a book or I’m thinking about putting a book out, am I now then one of my first tasks is I need to get a thousand people who I think would be interested in this and send them a copy?

    Alex Strathdee ( 04: 58.094 )

    Yes. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 05: 12.46 )

    That is one of the ways. we call that free reader seating and the the but yeah, essentially once you have your number, what that is, is that’s empowering because where most authors start in their book marketing is just talking to, you know, like marketing salespeople of, you need this program, you need this program, you don’t really know what you’re trying to achieve. You just kind of think that like, well, if I make the New York Times bestseller list, then my book did what it’s supposed to do, right?

    John Jantsch ( 05: 13.709 )

    Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 05: 36.814 )

    And so just having an understanding of what you’re actually trying to achieve with your book is that will solve half of your marketing issues. Because once you have your number, you break that down into, OK, I’m going to move 200 copies through podcasting. I’m to 100 copies through my email list. I’m going to move 200 copies through Amazon ads. Right. And then you actually break that seeding number down into many goals. And those are the different tools of book marketing that I talk about with him.

    John Jantsch ( 06: 02.263 )

    So we’ve probably all encountered a book that you’re like, this is really bad. Why is it selling so many copies?

    Alex Strathdee ( 06: 11.852 )

    Yeah, yeah. The one of my one of my shocking things, it’s kind of like, you know, Febreeze didn’t sell until a marketer figured out how to make it sell right. Like until someone was like, it shouldn’t have no smell. It should have a smell because that indicates to people that the room is clean. Right. So, you know, at the end of the day, I think you can have a pretty mediocre book. And if you have a really good marketing strategy behind it, it’s going to do a whole lot better than a book that has no marketing and is, you know, the best book in the world. And

    You know, so that’s one of the things I tell authors is like, you know, I know we have a fellow friend, Mike McCallewitz, you he and get different, you know, are you like, you have a responsibility to market if your thing is the best thing on the market. You know, you’re being selfish by actually not having a marketing plan behind that book. And there’s a lot of authors would be bestselling authors that get stopped because they’re, think that marketing their book is beneath them.

    John Jantsch ( 07: 05.763 )

    Yeah. So we’re, always make a joke of this. We’re seven minutes in the show. I’m going to mention AI for the first time. so how is, how is AI affecting in your view, both the written word as well as the, marketing component of, of marketing.

    Alex Strathdee ( 07: 14.542 )

    Let’s do it.

    Alex Strathdee ( 07: 28.844 )

    I think what it comes down to is brand at the end of the day, you know, there’s, that’s one of the big issues on Amazon right now is there’s a lot of people selling courses for like make a million dollars writing AI created books or whatever have you. Yeah. And it’s like, you can put those books up there, but you’re still going to have the same issue that the regular author has, which is to market those books. Like, so I think that

    John Jantsch ( 07: 40.023 )

    Right, 10 books a day, right, yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 07: 52.518 )

    I’m not afraid of, you know, I think it comes back to your marketing, right? Like if you have a really good marketer who’s empowered by AI, then maybe they’ll start moving some AI books, but we’re starting to look into using tools like make.com to automate like social media creation and posting based on like best practices in the industry. So think make.com is a great low code platform for some people who are a little more tech savvy to start looking at. But I mean, there’s, lots of ways, you know, like we use chat GPT to write our job descriptions.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 14.765 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 08: 20.44 )

    You know, like you have someone on your team that takes half a day to write a job description, just ask ChatGPT to ask you for a meta ads expert and hire them in the Philippines, right? So I think there’s a lot of things that like from on the surface level, ChatGPT can start to really help authors with, you know, where they don’t have to know how to write a full on job description. They can have ChatGPT do that for them. And then on a deeper level, you can start using platforms like make.com to create workflows and go a little bit deeper with the tools.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 20.76 )

    Yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 26.573 )

    Yeah. Yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 08: 48.675 )

    important do you think it is, particularly I’m talking about non-fiction books, so business authors, how important do you believe that it is that most authors should also have a course and maybe a certification or a coaching program or something like that that actually comes from the book?

    Alex Strathdee ( 09: 06.102 )

    Yeah, and that’s an interesting, you know, because even fiction and nonfiction have entirely different business models that you’re working with. Right. And so like one of our first steps with authors is always to figure out what is it you’re actually trying to achieve with this book? Because, know, someone who has a this is also like something you have to realize when you’re bidding against people on a lot of the ad platforms like, you know, Amazon.

    is oftentimes, especially in the nonfiction niche, you’re bidding against people who aren’t trying to make money on book royalties. They’re trying to sell a twenty thousand hundred thousand dollar course on the back end. So the days of making money through Amazon ads, one of the questions we get a lot. The days of making passive income with Amazon ads is over. They like very few books do that nowadays and very few traditional or self published authors. And I’m talking about self published to get full royalties are actually at that point in their, you know, in their book journey.

    John Jantsch ( 09: 34.967 )

    Yeah, right, Right, right, right, right.

    John Jantsch ( 09: 59.181 )

    So how does somebody who, like in my particular case, by the time I put my first book out, I had a huge email list. I had actually been publishing other stuff online, a blog and all podcasts and all that kind of stuff. So I had a decent live audience. How does somebody who, and let’s jump to fiction maybe, has no audience and is actually not known for writing Western literature, romance novels, all of sudden writes one. mean, how does that person

    Seed some readers.

    Alex Strathdee ( 10: 30.466 )

    Yeah, that’s that’s a really great question and to to which does mean that it’s it’s more challenging. So let me let me try to make this as concise as possible because I could ramble for the next how much time you got, John. So when it comes to starting, I mean, you mentioned the number one thing and the most important thing is always to have a newsletter list. That’s the one traffic you control. You’ve had plenty of episodes talking about the importance of that. Right. So.

    John Jantsch ( 10: 34.039 )

    Which means it’s a hard question.

    Alex Strathdee ( 10: 56.654 )

    When it comes to your email list, one of the best ways and I stand on the shoulders of great marketers, know, so like Tim Grahl, who wrote your first 1000 copies, you know, he has a great way to start your Facebook, you know, your email list through Facebook, just reaching out to your friends and family one by one and saying, hey, I’m going to start, you know, writing about this topic.

    you would you like to come along for the journey? And like, you know, if you’re running ads, do you know, to your webpage, you might get a conversion rate of like, well, like 3 % on your web on your website. As if you’re messaging people one by one on Facebook, like start with finding a hundred people to put on your email list, start sending out like a new valuable newsletter each week and happy to dive into that if you want. But you know, I just start with like who the people, you know, and ask them, Hey, here’s what I’m going to do. It’s kind of an experiment. Would you like to join and make that your first 100?

    So that’s the first step. Any questions about like the email list side? I’m sure you probably were already already on top of that one. And the other way is I’ll actually use an example of a fictional author, John Strelecki. He’s the author of a cafe on the edge of the world. He’s now sold over 8 million books and he, kid you not, just went to chamber of commerce meetings and it hits a, his book is somewhat of a fable.

    John Jantsch ( 11: 50.007 )

    No, no, no, I think, yeah, yeah, we have definitely.

    Alex Strathdee ( 12: 11.48 )

    capable if you haven’t heard of it’s kind of like the go giver sort of that situation that has like a deeper meaning to it that’s easy to pick up on short read. And he went to Chamber of Commerce meetings having one on one conversations with people until he had personally handed out 10, 000 copies of his book. He has now sold over 8 million copies of his book. Clearly that worked. And so a genuine conversation you like finding a local group that you can go to and know, hand copies out one by one with a genuine conversation. Now.

    John Jantsch ( 12: 14.018 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 12: 38.286 )

    There’s a way you can do this the wrong way and there’s a way you can do this the right way. And I’ll use an example, you know, I’m out here in San Diego, if you couldn’t tell by the mustache and the long hair. we have namaste yoga, cliff side here on the ocean. You know, can picture it, beautiful blue sky, you know, right? You hear the waves breaking and, you know, a nice way to relax on a Saturday and Sunday morning. And this woman was walking by.

    handing out post-it notes that just had nice messages on them. Like, you you’re pretty or like, you know, you’re smart or whatever. And on the back of those post-it notes was, you know, a Lincoln invite to grab her book. But like she was starting with value. was like, would you like a positive note? And of course, like, you know, it’s also her, her audience, right? Like an audience of yogis on a cliffside on a, on a Saturday morning at 10 a. m. is, is her demographic. And you compare that against, I was hosting a barbecue for a friend, you know, here at my, my apartment complex.

    John Jantsch ( 13: 20.472 )

    Yeah, yeah.

    Right. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 13: 33.534 )

    And this man, I guess, saw a gathering of us down by the grill and walked down and began telling people about his AI book that we should all go by and read. like most of the people were like service workers, like baristas, no interest in learning about AI. And he’s like forcing AI on everyone. It was the most uncomfortable situation. So like when you’re having these conversations, be the first, not the second.

    John Jantsch ( 13: 48.653 )

    Yeah

    John Jantsch ( 13: 57.995 )

    Yeah, that’s awesome. What would, so if somebody’s, I know there’s wide ranges and variances on all kinds of, depends, but if somebody’s getting started with a nonfiction book, they’ve got a business as well. They’re doing a couple of things. What’s the team, the system, you know, the approach that kind of like they need to be doing this, this, this, this kind of thing.

    Alex Strathdee ( 14: 21.646 )

    Yeah, yeah. And I’m all for systems like one of my favorite marketers, Alan Dibb, know, random acts of marketing don’t work. That’s like I will sing that from, you know, the mountaintops until the day I die. And so, you know, having VA’s is great. You know, I have a whole section. I talk a lot about VA’s and I know you’ve covered a lot about VA’s as well. But the system is start with your high number, break down into the littler numbers, pick out the tools that you’re you’re you know, whether it’s and I’ve got, you know, a few of the tools that

    John Jantsch ( 14: 37.933 )

    Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 14: 50.114 )

    you know, we’ve seen great success with is like free reader seatings, like finding people on Linked In. And so having a team member who is actually finding your ideal person on Linked In, on Instagram and messaging them one-on-one saying, Hey, we’ve got this free book. Would you like, you know, a copy of it for free? And most of it’s like a free gift. Like, yeah, people are all for, you know, I know you’re a fan of lumpy mail. Like I love lumpy mail. And so, you know, that’s, that’s something that works really well. We’re doing that with like Dan Heath right now that he just launched reset.

    John Jantsch ( 15: 09.795 )

    Yeah. Right.

    Alex Strathdee ( 15: 18.586 )

    And so for him, like that’s already led to two additional, like one lady wrote back and was like, wow, I’m going to make this my book for the book, my book club of like 80 people. Right. It’s like putting yourself a lot of the seating number that you, you pick is putting yourself in a position to get lucky. But like, I find that when it comes down to systems, a lot of the research is, can be outsourced. So like finding those people on Linked In, messaging those people on Linked In, like you don’t have the time to be there messaging these people one-on-one. and the great thing is, you know, like you mentioned, these people have businesses.

    John Jantsch ( 15: 26.381 )

    Yeah. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 15: 48.48 )

    If they have, know, like you’re essentially sending them like your business card at the same time, like your, your guess, you know, you, it’s a, yeah, you got to pay for shipping and handling or whatever. even traditionally published authors will oftentimes be able to get a deal with their publisher for like six bucks. Always look at your, author, author copy price if you’re a traditionally published author, but, yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 15: 53.272 )

    Yes.

    John Jantsch ( 16: 06.307 )

    Well, would also tell you those books cost them nothing. I always negotiated a thousand bucks that they gave me.

    Alex Strathdee ( 16: 12.053 )

    Yeah. Good. That’s great. Yeah. That’s I’m going to start using that. That’s really smart. I didn’t know you could, you could get away with that. But, yeah, having people who are doing the researching and the messaging, I think like anytime you’re doing cold researching or cold messaging, like that’s a great opportunity to start bringing in an assistant for that stuff.

    John Jantsch ( 16: 31.245 )

    Yeah, and that kind of thing can be had, you know, fairly inexpensively. I want to go back something you just touched on a little bit, putting yourself in a position to get lucky. I know you spent a lot of time in the book on that. You’ve even got a couple examples in the book. You want to share any Oprah moments?

    Alex Strathdee ( 16: 48.21 )

    One of my favorite stories and a lot of people don’t know this is Robert Kiyosaki. Everyone’s heard of Rich Dad Poor Dad, right? So what a lot of people don’t know is that is how that book became the best selling personal finance book of all time. And the way it was done was Robert called up his buddy who owned a car wash and he said, hey, do you mind if I sell some copies of Rich Dad Poor Dad in your car wash? And his buddy was like, sure, whatever.

    John Jantsch ( 16: 54.147 )

    Sure. Yeah.

    Alex Strathdee ( 17: 14.026 )

    There’s he is a bookstore of one at that point. There is no you know, like customers are looking over at you know, at air fresheners to buy while they’re waiting for their car to get washed or they’re using the unusable bathrooms that you know at car washes and Then they walk, know to the over the cashier and wow, it’s this personal finance book. Let me pick that up I have a little time. Let me read it and So one of the people who happened to walk through that car wash was one of the founders of Amway

    John Jantsch ( 17: 17.315 )

    You

    John Jantsch ( 17: 34.477 )

    Right.

    Alex Strathdee ( 17: 40.534 )

    Now not talking about, whether Amway is a good company or what you think about, you know, rich divorce or anything, but the person picked this book up and loved it so much that he then took it to the other executives. And he’s like, this is a powerful tool for us to educate and empower our people. so Amway started to fly Robert Kiyosaki all around the country to speak at events. And that book quickly became their Bible. And he found his micro community, a lot of

    Authors will find their micro community early on. Like Mike McAuliffe did this with Profit First. He was speaking on college campuses and kids were taking home those books on spring break and moms were picking up those books and reading and fixing their company’s finances or the company business or the family business. And that was his following. And he never meant for the book to find its way to those people. yeah, mean, putting yourself in a position to get lucky is what a lot of that picking your number to begin with is doing.

    John Jantsch ( 18: 33.911 )

    Yeah. And really the seating probably, I mean, you have no idea who it’s going to, I mean, maybe you targeted somebody, but you have no idea who, what their circle of influence is. And I think that’s, just becomes a numbers game at that point as you’re, as you’re kind of stressing, isn’t it?

    Alex Strathdee ( 18: 49.41 )

    And that’s why people will be like, give away my book for free. it’s like, well, first of all, a lot of people will put their book up for expensive on launch. And it’s like, yeah, their mom buys it, their cousin buys it, their son buys it. But at end of the day, are you actually solving for any of those people? that’s a big part. Are you actually solving the problem of any of those people? And so that’s a big part of it is your number has to consist of people whose problem you’re actually solving for. Because if you’re not, then no one’s going to get excited about your book.

    John Jantsch ( 18: 53.111 )

    Yeah

    John Jantsch ( 19: 18.979 )

    It was a book that I actually had the author on here. He has since passed away, but called Giftology by John Ruhlman. And he did what I thought was a really interesting thing. His book was published by a publisher, but he talked to publisher into letting him create a special edition of the book. It was hard bound, like kind of leather, you know, had, you know, gold lettering on it. And, you know, he sent out like 4, 000 of those.

    And it was in this really incredible package and it just, people couldn’t not talk about it. And it just really launched his book because he just got so much word of mouth before anybody had really read it just by the presentation.

    Alex Strathdee ( 19: 59.598 )

    Packages can be a really fun way to do it. Brian Johnson, who recently really released art and actually sent giftology funny enough, like two weeks ago, I had a partnership and I was like this, like do this. So it’s funny that you bring that up. the yeah, and he sent if you’re going to send this is a little like, you know, people love these small little things. If if you’re going to do T-shirts, John, make them the softest, most comfortable T-shirt you’ve you’ve ever worn so that people actually wear it. I have so.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 03.094 )

    Eh.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 08.738 )

    Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 21.091 )

    Right.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 26.049 )

    Yep.

    Alex Strathdee ( 20: 27.096 )

    Bryan Johnson sent me two of the literally softest shirts I own and they’ve become my travel shirts. So I have walked through about like 30 airports wearing these shirts and been a walking billboard for this guy. So that’s like, if you’re going to do like shirts for your book, make sure the title is on there and make them the softest that you could possibly make them.

    John Jantsch ( 20: 32.523 )

    You

    John Jantsch ( 20: 46.403 )

    Love it. Love it. Well, Alex, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. Where would you invite people to connect with you and find out more about before the bestseller?

    Alex Strathdee ( 20: 56.204 )

    Yeah, I’m always up for a conversation. know, we pride ourselves in like just having very honest conversations with authors and kind of like where they’re at. We prefer to work with authors for years. So if we don’t think like an engagement is going to work out for more than like a small period of time, then like we’ll tell you that. Yeah, reach out to us. Our website is get shelf life dot com. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have a question about book marketing. Alex at get shelf life dot com.

    And yeah, check out our book before the best seller on Amazon now.

    John Jantsch ( 21: 27.267 )

    Well, again, I appreciate you taking a moment to stop by. Hopefully we’ll run into you one of these days out there on the road.

    Alex Strathdee ( 21: 32.952 )

    This is a bucket list item, John. Thanks for having me on.

    John Jantsch ( 21: 35.395 )

    You

    powered by
  • Pulse Cast: Meet the Doctors and Nurses from Netflix’s Miami Medical Drama

    Pulse Cast: Meet the Doctors and Nurses from Netflix’s Miami Medical Drama

    Looking for more medical drama after Max’s The Pitt? Netflix medical crisis Signal follows the doctors and nurses of Miami’s Maguire Medical Center as they deal with an oncoming storms and the violent interpersonal drama that push the limits of what this staff is control. But no matter what may hit the hospital from within]… ]

    The article Pulse Cast: Join the Doctors and Nurses from Netflix’s Miami Medical Drama appeared first on Den of Geek.

    A Minecraft Movie has arrived bringing the Overworld to the cinema people. The family friendly romp follows siblings Henry ( Sebastian Hansen ) and Natalie ( Emma Myers ) and their animal-loving realtor Dawn ( Danielle Brooks ). and the video-game-obsessive Garrett &#8220, The Garbage Man&#8221, Garrison ( Jason Momoa ) as they &#8217, re sucked into the magical mines of the Overworld and into an adventure that they &#8217, ll never forget. For here they will meet the legend they call&#8230, Steve ( Jack Black ).

    We chatted to the solid and creators of the picture at an amazing event in Los Angeles that threw us immediately into the mines, the fruit gardens, and the dreadful zombies that inhabit the cubic world of the game and movie. Adapting that world to the camera was no mean achievement, particularly as what has made the game so powerful is the never ending options it presents, everything that chairman Jared Hess is keenly aware of. &nbsp,

    cnx. cmd. push ( function ( ) {cnx ( {playerId:” 106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530″, }). render ( “0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796” ), }),

    &#8220, The cool thing about the game is that it is an open world, and there&#8217, s no story to it, so everybody that plays it brings their own imagination, their own story to what they &#8217, re doing, Hess shares. &#8220, So we wanted to have that same approach as we developed the film and really everybody involved, from the writers to the producers and the design team, we just wanted to bring what we love about the game to the film and really celebrate it. &#8221, &nbsp,

    Torfi Frans Ólafsson, the senior director of original Minecraft content, agreed: &#8220, It&#8217, s been there for people in moments of joy and grief and even bringing people together like families and connecting friends across continents. &#8221, he says. &#8220, It is definitely challenging, because to some people, it &#8217, s just a very serious zombie survival game, and it should be approached as such. And to others, it &#8217, s like a colorful free-for-all where you just throw a bunch of blocks. &#8221, &nbsp,

    He continues. &#8220, That&#8217, s why it &#8217, s called A Minecraft Movie. This is the Jared Hess vision-version of it. Even Steve is almost like faceless, a blank slate when you play Steve or Alex or any other characters, because they embody kind of what you do as a player. So people are saying, &#8216, Hey, that &#8217, s just Jack Black wearing a blue shirt. &#8217, But this is Jack Black &#8217, s Steve taken to 11. &#8221,

    While the film is just one of many stories that could take place inside of Minecraft, the crew was still aware that you had to bring the easter eggs, nods, and creatures that fans love so much to the big screen. This includes the terrifying Enderman who star Jack Black was particularly excited to tease. &#8220, He&#8217, s legit the scariest creature in Minecraft, and I think we did a really good job of capturing that thing. You can&#8217, t look him in the eye, &#8221, Jack Black says. &#8220, In our movie you do see what happens when you look an Enderman in the eye&#8230, &#8221,

    Those terrifying moments make A Minecraft Movie stand out, playing with the fears we have as children, and the ways that films can help us learn our boundaries. For Jason Momoa, the film that scarred him as a kid is still shaping his capacity for horror today.

    &#8220, I&#8217, m terrified, &#8221, Momoa laughs. &#8220, I still f*#*ing hate clowns. I should have listened to my mother. Mama was like,’ Do not watch It.’ Went and watched it at her friend&#8217, s house. I looked at shower drains]afterward], and I still kind of look at shower drains a little bit weird. At the gutters, my skateboard went down that shit. I was like,’ it’s gone. ‘ &#8221, &nbsp,

    Luckily A Minecraft Movie is n&#8217, t that kind of scary, but Momoa is already contemplating how this film will change his life and the way that he interacts with fans just like It changed his life as a little kid. &#8220, It&#8217, s gonna be crazy too. Like obviously kids come up to you and your movies and things that you &#8217, ve done, like Kung Fu Panda,” Momoa says to Black. &#8220, But it &#8217, s the first time I&#8217, m experiencing it. I did Aquaman where people were like,’ Oh my gosh&nbsp, you &#8217, re a superhero! ‘ But this, I don&#8217, t even know what &#8217, s gonna happen, because there are going to be three year olds. Everyone&#8217, s gonna see this movie. It&#8217, s just fun for them to watch, obviously, I&#8217, m getting my butt kicked. He&#8217, s kicking butt. So it &#8217, s great to watch. &#8221, &nbsp,
    Black agrees, having a revelation of his own. &#8220, It&#8217, s already generational, because kids who started playing it when they were teenagers, like 14 or 15, they could very well have kids of their own now, because it’s 15 years later. They &#8217, re 29 or 30 years old. There will be Minecraft parents and their kids coming to this movie. It&#8217, s kind of cool. &#8221,

    The post Jason Momoa and Jack Black Are Stoked for Your Kids to Watch Minecraft appeared first on Den of Geek.

  • Pulse Ending Explained: Who Is the New Chief Resident?

    Pulse Ending Explained: Who Is the New Chief Resident?

    This article contains spoilers for the season finale of Pulse Pulse’s season finale might not be quite as shocking as the season opener – it’s hard to beat the devastation of a hurricane – but the conclusion of this Netflix medical drama does a great job of wrapping up a lot of plot threads while ]… ]

    The article Pulse Ending Explained: Who Is the New Chief Resident? appeared primary on Den of Geek.

    A Minecraft Movie has arrived bringing the Overworld to the cinema public. The family friendly romp follows siblings Henry ( Sebastian Hansen ) and Natalie ( Emma Myers ) and their animal-loving realtor Dawn ( Danielle Brooks ). and the video-game-obsessive Garrett &#8220, The Garbage Man&#8221, Garrison ( Jason Momoa ) as they &#8217, re sucked into the magical mines of the Overworld and into an adventure that they &#8217, ll never forget. For here they will meet the legend they call&#8230, Steve ( Jack Black ).

    We chatted to the solid and creators of the picture at an amazing event in Los Angeles that threw us immediately into the mines, the fruit gardens, and the dreadful zombies that inhabit the cubic world of the game and movie. Adapting that world to the camera was no mean achievement, particularly as what has made the game so powerful is the never ending options it presents, everything that chairman Jared Hess is keenly aware of. &nbsp,

    cnx. command. push ( function ( ) {cnx ( {playerId:” 106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530″, }). render ( “0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796” ), }),

    &#8220, The great thing about the game is that it is an empty universe, and there&#8217, s no account to it, but somebody that plays it brings their own thoughts, their own story to what they &#8217, re doing, Hess shares. &#8220, So we wanted to have that same approach as we developed the film and really everybody involved, from the writers to the producers and the design team, we just wanted to bring what we love about the game to the film and really celebrate it. &#8221, &nbsp,

    Torfi Frans Ólafsson, the senior director of original Minecraft content, agreed: &#8220, It&#8217, s been there for people in moments of joy and grief and even bringing people together like families and connecting friends across continents. &#8221, he says. &#8220, It is definitely challenging, because to some people, it &#8217, s just a very serious zombie survival game, and it should be approached as such. And to others, it &#8217, s like a colorful free-for-all where you just throw a bunch of blocks. &#8221, &nbsp,

    He continues. &#8220, That&#8217, s why it &#8217, s called A Minecraft Movie. This is the Jared Hess vision-version of it. Even Steve is almost like faceless, a blank slate when you play Steve or Alex or any other characters, because they embody kind of what you do as a player. So people are saying, &#8216, Hey, that &#8217, s just Jack Black wearing a blue shirt. &#8217, But this is Jack Black &#8217, s Steve taken to 11. &#8221,

    While the film is just one of many stories that could take place inside of Minecraft, the crew was still aware that you had to bring the easter eggs, nods, and creatures that fans love so much to the big screen. This includes the terrifying Enderman who star Jack Black was particularly excited to tease. &#8220, He&#8217, s legit the scariest creature in Minecraft, and I think we did a really good job of capturing that thing. You can&#8217, t look him in the eye, &#8221, Jack Black says. &#8220, In our movie you do see what happens when you look an Enderman in the eye&#8230, &#8221,

    Those terrifying moments make A Minecraft Movie stand out, playing with the fears we have as children, and the ways that films can help us learn our boundaries. For Jason Momoa, the film that scarred him as a kid is still shaping his capacity for horror today.

    &#8220, I&#8217, m terrified, &#8221, Momoa laughs. &#8220, I still f*#*ing hate clowns. I should have listened to my mother. Mama was like,’ Do not watch It.’ Went and watched it at her friend&#8217, s house. I looked at shower drains]afterward], and I still kind of look at shower drains a little bit weird. At the gutters, my skateboard went down that shit. I was like,’ it’s gone. ‘ &#8221, &nbsp,

    Luckily A Minecraft Movie is n&#8217, t that kind of scary, but Momoa is already contemplating how this film will change his life and the way that he interacts with fans just like It changed his life as a little kid. &#8220, It&#8217, s gonna be crazy too. Like obviously kids come up to you and your movies and things that you &#8217, ve done, like Kung Fu Panda,” Momoa says to Black. &#8220, But it &#8217, s the first time I&#8217, m experiencing it. I did Aquaman where people were like,’ Oh my gosh&nbsp, you &#8217, re a superhero! ‘ But this, I don&#8217, t even know what &#8217, s gonna happen, because there are going to be three year olds. Everyone&#8217, s gonna see this movie. It&#8217, s just fun for them to watch, obviously, I&#8217, m getting my butt kicked. He&#8217, s kicking butt. So it &#8217, s great to watch. &#8221, &nbsp,
    Black agrees, having a revelation of his own. &#8220, It&#8217, s already generational, because kids who started playing it when they were teenagers, like 14 or 15, they could very well have kids of their own now, because it’s 15 years later. They &#8217, re 29 or 30 years old. There will be Minecraft parents and their kids coming to this movie. It&#8217, s kind of cool. &#8221,

    The post Jason Momoa and Jack Black Are Stoked for Your Kids to Watch Minecraft appeared first on Den of Geek.

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    The article Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shows Need More Times Like Sam Rockwell’s Foot Clan Intro appeared initially on Den of Geek.

    A Minecraft Movie has arrived bringing the Overworld to the cinema people. The family friendly romp follows siblings Henry ( Sebastian Hansen ) and Natalie ( Emma Myers ) and their animal-loving realtor Dawn ( Danielle Brooks ). and the video-game-obsessive Garrett &#8220, The Garbage Man&#8221, Garrison ( Jason Momoa ) as they &#8217, re sucked into the magical mines of the Overworld and into an adventure that they &#8217, ll never forget. For here they will meet the legend they call&#8230, Steve ( Jack Black ).

    We chatted to the solid and creators of the picture at an amazing event in Los Angeles that threw us immediately into the mines, the fruit gardens, and the dreadful zombies that inhabit the cubic world of the game and movie. Adapting that world to the camera was no mean achievement, particularly as what has made the game so powerful is the never ending options it presents, everything that chairman Jared Hess is keenly aware of. &nbsp,

    cnx. command. push ( function ( ) {cnx ( {playerId:” 106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530″, }). render ( “0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796” ), }),

    &#8220, The great thing about the game is that it is an empty universe, and there&#8217, s no account to it, but somebody that plays it brings their own thoughts, their own story to what they &#8217, re doing, Hess shares. &#8220, So we wanted to have that same approach as we developed the film and really everybody involved, from the writers to the producers and the design team, we just wanted to bring what we love about the game to the film and really celebrate it. &#8221, &nbsp,

    Torfi Frans Ólafsson, the senior director of original Minecraft content, agreed: &#8220, It&#8217, s been there for people in moments of joy and grief and even bringing people together like families and connecting friends across continents. &#8221, he says. &#8220, It is definitely challenging, because to some people, it &#8217, s just a very serious zombie survival game, and it should be approached as such. And to others, it &#8217, s like a colorful free-for-all where you just throw a bunch of blocks. &#8221, &nbsp,

    He continues. &#8220, That&#8217, s why it &#8217, s called A Minecraft Movie. This is the Jared Hess vision-version of it. Even Steve is almost like faceless, a blank slate when you play Steve or Alex or any other characters, because they embody kind of what you do as a player. So people are saying, &#8216, Hey, that &#8217, s just Jack Black wearing a blue shirt. &#8217, But this is Jack Black &#8217, s Steve taken to 11. &#8221,

    While the film is just one of many stories that could take place inside of Minecraft, the crew was still aware that you had to bring the easter eggs, nods, and creatures that fans love so much to the big screen. This includes the terrifying Enderman who star Jack Black was particularly excited to tease. &#8220, He&#8217, s legit the scariest creature in Minecraft, and I think we did a really good job of capturing that thing. You can&#8217, t look him in the eye, &#8221, Jack Black says. &#8220, In our movie you do see what happens when you look an Enderman in the eye&#8230, &#8221,

    Those terrifying moments make A Minecraft Movie stand out, playing with the fears we have as children, and the ways that films can help us learn our boundaries. For Jason Momoa, the film that scarred him as a kid is still shaping his capacity for horror today.

    &#8220, I&#8217, m terrified, &#8221, Momoa laughs. &#8220, I still f*#*ing hate clowns. I should have listened to my mother. Mama was like,’ Do not watch It.’ Went and watched it at her friend&#8217, s house. I looked at shower drains]afterward], and I still kind of look at shower drains a little bit weird. At the gutters, my skateboard went down that shit. I was like,’ it’s gone. ‘ &#8221, &nbsp,

    Luckily A Minecraft Movie is n&#8217, t that kind of scary, but Momoa is already contemplating how this film will change his life and the way that he interacts with fans just like It changed his life as a little kid. &#8220, It&#8217, s gonna be crazy too. Like obviously kids come up to you and your movies and things that you &#8217, ve done, like Kung Fu Panda,” Momoa says to Black. &#8220, But it &#8217, s the first time I&#8217, m experiencing it. I did Aquaman where people were like,’ Oh my gosh&nbsp, you &#8217, re a superhero! ‘ But this, I don&#8217, t even know what &#8217, s gonna happen, because there are going to be three year olds. Everyone&#8217, s gonna see this movie. It&#8217, s just fun for them to watch, obviously, I&#8217, m getting my butt kicked. He&#8217, s kicking butt. So it &#8217, s great to watch. &#8221, &nbsp,
    Black agrees, having a revelation of his own. &#8220, It&#8217, s already generational, because kids who started playing it when they were teenagers, like 14 or 15, they could very well have kids of their own now, because it’s 15 years later. They &#8217, re 29 or 30 years old. There will be Minecraft parents and their kids coming to this movie. It&#8217, s kind of cool. &#8221,

    The post Jason Momoa and Jack Black Are Stoked for Your Kids to Watch Minecraft appeared first on Den of Geek.

  • Russell T Davies Interview: “Doctor Who is the Most Exhilarating Show in the World”

    Russell T Davies Interview: “Doctor Who is the Most Exhilarating Show in the World”

    This post previews Doctor Who winter 2 but is spoiler-free. Last year on Doctor Who, the Doctor and Ruby traveled to Regency England, 1963 London, and a space station run by infants, as well as facing the lord of song, a strange disturbing, white supremacist airheads, and the transfer of Classic Era army Sutekh. As]… ]

    The article Russell T Davies Interview:” Doctor Who is the Most Amazing Show in the World” appeared primary on Den of Geek.

    A Minecraft Movie has arrived bringing the Overworld to the cinema public. The family friendly romp follows siblings Henry ( Sebastian Hansen ) and Natalie ( Emma Myers ) and their animal-loving realtor Dawn ( Danielle Brooks ). and the video-game-obsessive Garrett &#8220, The Garbage Man&#8221, Garrison ( Jason Momoa ) as they &#8217, re sucked into the magical mines of the Overworld and into an adventure that they &#8217, ll never forget. For here they will meet the legend they call&#8230, Steve ( Jack Black ).

    We chatted to the solid and creators of the picture at an amazing event in Los Angeles that threw us immediately into the mines, the fruit gardens, and the dreadful zombies that inhabit the cubic world of the game and movie. Adapting that universe to the screen was no mean feat, especially as what has made the game so successful is the never ending possibilities it presents, something that director Jared Hess is keenly aware of. &nbsp,

    cnx. cmd. push ( function ( ) {cnx ( {playerId:” 106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530″, }). render ( “0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796” ), }),

    &#8220, The cool thing about the game is that it is an open world, and there&#8217, s no story to it, so everybody that plays it brings their own imagination, their own story to what they &#8217, re doing, Hess shares. &#8220, So we wanted to have that same approach as we developed the film and really everybody involved, from the writers to the producers and the design team, we just wanted to bring what we love about the game to the film and really celebrate it. &#8221, &nbsp,

    Torfi Frans Ólafsson, the senior director of original Minecraft content, agreed: &#8220, It&#8217, s been there for people in moments of joy and grief and even bringing people together like families and connecting friends across continents. &#8221, he says. &#8220, It is definitely challenging, because to some people, it &#8217, s just a very serious zombie survival game, and it should be approached as such. And to others, it &#8217, s like a colorful free-for-all where you just throw a bunch of blocks. &#8221, &nbsp,

    He continues. &#8220, That&#8217, s why it &#8217, s called A Minecraft Movie. This is the Jared Hess vision-version of it. Even Steve is almost like faceless, a blank slate when you play Steve or Alex or any other characters, because they embody kind of what you do as a player. So people are saying, &#8216, Hey, that &#8217, s just Jack Black wearing a blue shirt. &#8217, But this is Jack Black &#8217, s Steve taken to 11. &#8221,

    While the film is just one of many stories that could take place inside of Minecraft, the crew was still aware that you had to bring the easter eggs, nods, and creatures that fans love so much to the big screen. This includes the terrifying Enderman who star Jack Black was particularly excited to tease. &#8220, He&#8217, s legit the scariest creature in Minecraft, and I think we did a really good job of capturing that thing. You can&#8217, t look him in the eye, &#8221, Jack Black says. &#8220, In our movie you do see what happens when you look an Enderman in the eye&#8230, &#8221,

    Those terrifying moments make A Minecraft Movie stand out, playing with the fears we have as children, and the ways that films can help us learn our boundaries. For Jason Momoa, the film that scarred him as a kid is still shaping his capacity for horror today.

    &#8220, I&#8217, m terrified, &#8221, Momoa laughs. &#8220, I still f*#*ing hate clowns. I should have listened to my mother. Mama was like,’ Do not watch It.’ Went and watched it at her friend&#8217, s house. I looked at shower drains]afterward], and I still kind of look at shower drains a little bit weird. At the gutters, my skateboard went down that shit. I was like,’ it’s gone. ‘ &#8221, &nbsp,

    Luckily A Minecraft Movie is n&#8217, t that kind of scary, but Momoa is already contemplating how this film will change his life and the way that he interacts with fans just like It changed his life as a little kid. &#8220, It&#8217, s gonna be crazy too. Like obviously kids come up to you and your movies and things that you &#8217, ve done, like Kung Fu Panda,” Momoa says to Black. &#8220, But it &#8217, s the first time I&#8217, m experiencing it. I did Aquaman where people were like,’ Oh my gosh&nbsp, you &#8217, re a superhero! ‘ But this, I don&#8217, t even know what &#8217, s gonna happen, because there are going to be three year olds. Everyone&#8217, s gonna see this movie. It&#8217, s just fun for them to watch, obviously, I&#8217, m getting my butt kicked. He&#8217, s kicking butt. So it &#8217, s great to watch. &#8221, &nbsp,
    Black agrees, having a revelation of his own. &#8220, It&#8217, s already generational, because kids who started playing it when they were teenagers, like 14 or 15, they could very well have kids of their own now, because it’s 15 years later. They &#8217, re 29 or 30 years old. There will be Minecraft parents and their kids coming to this movie. It&#8217, s kind of cool. &#8221,

    The post Jason Momoa and Jack Black Are Stoked for Your Kids to Watch Minecraft appeared first on Den of Geek.