David Mathison will be speaking at the Publishers Association of Los Angeles on Monday, June 15, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. on Social Media for Authors and Publishers.
Founded in 1983, The Independent Book Publishers Association (formerly PMA) is a trade association of more than 4,000 independent publishers that serves book, audio, and video publishers in the US and abroad through cooperative marketing programs, education, and advocacy.
Publishing University, sponsored by PMA, is the most comprehensive and respected educational program in the publishing industry. Publishing University features three days of programming with four keynote speakers, early bird sessions, the Benjamin Franklin Awards Ceremony, and 85 courses in eight tracks:
● Internet
● Marketing
● Sales
● Basic Publicity
● Advanced Publicity
● Editorial and Production
● General Publishing, Legal and Finance
● Advanced Track (See Advanced Track attendee
pre-requisites, below)
2009 Publishing University: May 26-28 at the Roosevelt Hotel, 45 East 45th Street New York. Register now.
Wednesday, May 27 7:00-8:15am: ASK THE EXPERTS
ASK THE EXPERTS, featuring David Mathison
Back by popular demand! Last year, attendees who
were able to brave the early hours received thousands of dollars of FREE
consulting advice. Don’t miss this special opportunity to meet with speakers and
industry veterans for brief, one-on-one, private consultations on a wide range
of publishing topics. They can review your publishing direction, book jackets,
marketing plans, or anything else on which you’d like feedback. Bring your
materials and bring your questions. You will have the opportunity to meet with
several experts while enjoying coffee and a continental breakfast.
Wednesday, May 27 (10:30-12pm): David Mathison will present a class on Web 2.0 tools for authors and publishers with publicist and journalist Nettie Hartsock of Hartsock Communications:
Web 2.0
and Social-Media Tools and Techniques: What You Need to Know About Facebook,
LinkedIn, Twitter, Social-Media Releases, Blogs, and Microblogging
If you’re ready to boost your social-media savvy
but aren’t sure which tools will work most powerfully, you’ll enjoy this class.
We will focus on blogging and Web 2.0 social-media tips, tools, and traps;
Facebook; and LinkedIn. We’ll also review the advantages of MySpace; why
AmazonConnect may be your book’s best friend; and new free tools for optimizing
your Web site and press releases. We’ll devote time to what social media can and
cannot do for you and take a hard look at the top ten tips for reaching out to
bloggers. Microblogging (e.g., Twitter) is rapidly becoming the next cool tool,
and you’ll want to find out more. Don’t miss this advanced opportunity to learn
how to use and apply the strategies of Web 2.0 communications in your business.
Thursday, May 28 (2-3:30pm): David Mathison will present a class on using advanced social-media tools for authors and publishers with publicist and journalist Nettie Hartsock of Hartsock Communications:
Using
Advanced Social-Media Tools for Book Web 2.0 Exposure
You’ve heard about book authors setting up Facebook pages. You’ve watched how
quickly blogs can spread a powerful viral message. This hands-on class will give
you a step-by-step practical guide to understanding and using various online
social-networking tools, channels, and sites for book-publicity purposes. We’ll
show you how to avoid common pitfalls. Hear about building blogs, microblogs
(Twitter), podcasts, media sharing (Flickr, YouTube), social reference
(Wikipedia), social news (digg), social bookmarking (del.icio.us), and even
virtual worlds (SecondLife). We’ll also address the new Social Media press
release for building online buzz for a book launch. Attendees will leave with a
small e-book titled “Get Your Social Media On”—filled with takeaways, action
items, two case studies, and a how-to template.
Thursday, May 28 7-8:15am: ASK THE EXPERTS
ASK THE EXPERTS, featuring David Mathison
Back by popular demand! Last year, attendees
who were able to brave the early hours received thousands of dollars of FREE
consulting advice. Don’t miss this special opportunity to meet with speakers and
industry veterans for brief, one-on-one, private consultations on a wide range
of publishing topics. They can review your publishing direction, book jackets,
marketing plans, or anything else on which you’d like feedback. Bring your
materials and bring your questions. You will have the opportunity to meet with
several experts while enjoying coffee and a continental breakfast.
Last year, BEA had over 37,000 registered attendees and approximately 1,000 media representatives, including all major national news outlets.
Booth 4447: We are in booth 4447. You can purchase the book online or on-site.
New Title Showcase: BE THE MEDIA galleys will also be available for review in the New Title showcase.
Free autographed copies: David Mathison will autograph a limited number of free BE THE MEDIA copies on Saturday, May 30 from 3:30-4:30pm at Table 24
NOTE: Joining Mathison in this autograph session will be:
● Table 14: Kathie Lee Gifford: Signing Just When I Thought I Dropped My Last Egg
● Table 15: MJ Rose: Autographing The Memorist
● Table 24: David Mathison: Autographing BE THE MEDIA
● Table 29: Tom Wilson: Autographing Ziggy Hot Off The Presses
● Table 30: Lynn Johnson: Just A Simple Wedding: A For Better or For Worse Collection
This 3:30-4:30 pm Saturday autograph time slot is celebrity-packed. Free copies will be autographed on a first come, first served basis - so be sure to get there early.
In today's changing landscape of the traditional media, what opportunities does that present us as business leaders and entrepreneurs if we want to build visibility and our reputation?
Join award-winning branding expert Krishna De and media consultant and author David
Mathison as we share tips and strategies about how to connect to your audience directly.
You
will find David's new new book, BE THE MEDIA, here.
Connect with David on Twitter. and Krishna on Twitter.
Join the conversation today here, or click on the play button below to listen at your leisure:
David Mathison will be making an appearance at the Marin Peace and Justice Coalition's "Fourth Monday Web 2.0 Potluck" on April 27 in San Rafael, CA, to discuss using social media for exposure and advocacy.
The Potluck will focus on how organizations and communities can use social media to spread their message.
Mathison will explain how he successfuly used social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook for networking and promotion. His new book Be The Media focuses on participatory, community-driven media in the Web 2.0 age.
Join Mathison and MPJC Monday night if you want to learn why everyone who has a message now has a platform to share it!
The Potluck will be held at the First United Methodist Church, 9 Ross Valley Drive, San Rafael
Join author David Mathison in a discussion about the
changing face of new media and its effect on our culture and society.
On
Saturday, April 25, San Francisco State University will be hosting the “Re-Inventing
the World & Facing Global Crisis” conference on the complex issues facing
our world and how to solve them.
Everyone is welcome to join and invite others
to this open space event and even to
facilitate the discussion:
"Open Space is a social organizing tool that
catalyzes transformative education and supports a community finding itself,
helping the energy and wisdom of a group emerge. Participants gather around a
topic and create breakout sessions about whatever they personally love, or feel
most urgently about."
In his new book, Be The Media, Mathison explains how
individuals and communities can partake in the digital revolution for a more
open, democratic, and participatory media.
The conference will be in the SF State Student
Center – Jack Adam’s Hall. Check in is at 9:00 – 9:30 am and the event will
take place 9:30 – 4:00.
Listen in today as Sharon Capehart interviews Be The Media author David Mathison about his new book, BE THE MEDIA.
Sharon Capehart, Empress of Empowerment, is an Author, Coach, Speaker and Entrepreneur.
Sharon makes it her mission to “wake up” women everywhere to the incredible potential they have long forgotten they possess.
Sharon is the author of “The Power 2 Be You!,” creator of “A Woman’s Path to Success” as well publisher of the FREE Power Up! ezine.
Sharon’s breakthrough “Path To Success” series helps
women build a solid foundation for success. For more information please visit www.positivelywomen.com
David
Mathison is a media consultant, speaker, entrepreneur, and publisher of
a brand new book: BE THE MEDIA.
This book has something for everyone:
From the 21 million self-employed people to small business owners,
authors to filmmakers, rock bands to bloggers, talk show hosts to
podcasters, you’ll find everything you need to go from concept to
consumer, from inspiration to inbox with your message or products.
Be The Media unveils the latest and greatest ways to market and sell your books,
music, films, information products and services.
Buy Be The Media now, and get access to their Blockbuster Media Success package - over $10,000 worth of free gifts from over 100 media experts.
You can listen to the interview by clicking the play button below:
Puzzled about the return on investment you'll get by participating in social media?
David Mathison, an unknown author, has one success story after another to share about what has happened to him as a result of joining the conversation at sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
While writing his book "Be the Media: How to Create and Accelerate Your Message...Your Way," he spent time on those sites and others.
As a result:
Not bad, and that's just for starters. David will join me for a complimentary teleseminar from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 8, and explain how to use social media to create a huge following and sell more books, products or services.
Only 200 people will be able to participate.
Register here
Do artists really have to sell their royalties, rights, and souls to hit the big time? David Mathison's new book, Be the Media, shows artists, step by step, how to leverage technology to get their art to the masses and promote it widely.
The interview will be broadcast on April 7, 2009 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, or you can listen right here by clicking the play button below.
Listen to Jared James interview David Mathison, author of Be The Media.
In this interview, we talk about how you can take your talents and passions and turn that into a profitable, independent business.
This interview also covers licensing in detail for graphic artists, authors, musicians, and cartoonists.
The interview will be broadcast on April 3, 2009 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time, or you can listen right here by clicking the play button below.
Listen in as Alex Mandossian interviews author David Mathison about his new book, BE THE
MEDIA.
The free replay for this VIRTUAL book tour can be found here.
We discuss everything you need to know about BE THE MEDIA:
The 500+ page book shows the latest and greatest ways to market
and sell your books, music, films, information products and services.
In one
single volume, BE THE MEDIA includes 23 chapters on all conceivable media
fields.
Every aspect of media is covered, with details, resources, and suggestions you simply won’t find anywhere else.
This book has something
for everyone: From the 1.2 million self-employed people to small business
owners, from authors to filmmakers, rock bands to bloggers, talk show hosts to
podcasters.
You’ll find everything you need to go from concept to consumer, from inspiration to inbox with your message or products.
In other words, it’s a terrific handbook for promoting your business, your cause, or your products with the same level of professionalism a publicist might employ.
Buy BE THE MEDIA Below:
Are you on Twitter yet? People in the know say you should be! The possibilities are amazing! Join the throngs of tweeters.
This show is for fellow journalists, authors, thought leaders, business people, busy moms, health counselors, nutrition-conscious M.D.s, etc. - in short, just about anybody!
No matter what your focus, job or mindset, Twitter can be useful for you. To bring you up to speed - especially journalists and authors, moms and business people.
I'm interviewing hot gurus in the know. You'll get help from:
For more info, visit the companion blog. Send us your questions. What would you like to know? And which tweeter with a huge following would you like to hear? Send questions ahead of time by posting comments on www.GabWithTheGurusBlog.com
The interview will be broadcast on March 31, 2009 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, or you can listen right here by clicking the play button below.
| This is an excerpt of the Introduction to Part One of BE THE MEDIA
by David Mathison. Since this is long, we will be posting this in five parts.
If you like you can download a free version of the full introduction at www.bethemedia.com |
BE THE MEDIA: Introduction to Part One: Rebooting the American Dream
by David Mathison
(PART ONE OF FIVE)
“What this is really about is the American dream.” Simon Cowell, American Idol
If you have any message at all,
in any form, that you want to convey to the world, you now have a platform to
do so. If you have something to say, or sing, or film, or write about, you have
direct access to anyone who wants to hear, listen to, watch, or read it.
“You” means not only “you” the writer, musician, filmmaker,
journalist, blogger, podcaster, or talk show host, but you the activist,
publicist, religious leader, cartoonist, businessperson, politician, or virtually
anyone else.
Your fans and supporters are
never more than a click or two away, and they're ready to help you make history—or
change it.
Be the Media tells you—in detail—how to reach these fans. You’ll not
only find everything you need to spread your message, but you’ll be able to do
so without traditional publishers, music labels, broadcast networks, commercial
film studios, and similar behemoths.
Our main message? You can do it. And you can do it by yourself, with a little help from
your friends. Consider this book one of them.
The American Dream, or…Dream
On?
The
American dream—the belief that with talent, hard work, persistence, and perhaps
a bit of luck, anyone can be successful—appears to be increasingly out of
reach.
The gap
between rich and poor Americans is wider than it has been since the Great
Depression. The top 1 percent of Americans earns more income than the bottom 50
percent. The top 1 percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.
Millions
of Americans are working without a living wage or adequate health care. Their
homes, pensions, and savings—all components of a traditional version of the
American dream—are at risk under a trickle-down mentality that favors and
rewards the wealthy few over the hardworking masses.
And
what if the all-American dreamer happens to be an artist of any medium? Fat
chance at quitting your day job, right? Or so it may have seemed lately. But take
courage and read on.
These days, getting a deal from a major music label, book publisher, broadcast network, or movie studio lies far out of reach for more and more people. The major players in the entertainment industry mostly want bands that can move hundreds of thousands of CDs, authors who can sell tens of thousands of books, and filmmakers who can generate a hundred million dollars in ticket sales at the box office on opening night, plus DVDs later at retail and rental.
They want artists who can be promoted
with minimal development costs, a built-in audience hungry to buy whatever is
offered, and an extensive platform—a roster of appearances on the Today Show, Oprah,
and Dr. Phil, not to mention keynote
speaking engagements, a newsletter, a popular web site, and a well-read blog.
In other words, the biggies mostly
want you only after you too have
become a biggie in your own right.
Those “lucky” few who do secure a
contract from a major player typically are not so lucky, after all. They are “rewarded”
by giving up their rights, forking over most of the royalties, and ceding control over the marketing, publicity, and distribution of
their creations, or even their very identity. Nor do they receive much
money for advances, promotion, touring, and support.
So much for luck.
“American Idol”…the Small Print
A
classic example of this expropriated version of the American dream is none
other than the hugely popular show American
Idol. Many consider winning Idol
the ultimate sign of success. The show introduces the
winner to an enormous audience of adoring fans, accompanied by international
press coverage, an extensive distribution network, substantial revenues, and
the freedom to create more products.
But in Slaves of Celebrity, journalist Eric Olsen argues that the Idol version of the American dream is an
illusion:
“At first glance, [Idol winner] Kelly Clarkson would seem
to have it made. But… Clarkson and
the other finalists signed an unusually onerous contract with ‘19 Group,’
headed by British pop entrepreneur Simon Fuller. These young performers are
wrapped up for recording, management and merchandising under the most
restrictive terms imaginable: Their careers are literally not their own.”
[emphasis added]
The one-sided terms in the contract from the first season revealed that Fuller
and his company own the names, likenesses, and voices of Idol finalists, forever, anywhere
in the cosmos:
“…I hereby grant to Producer the unconditional right throughout the
universe in perpetuity to use, simulate or portray…my name, likeness,…voice,
personality, personal identification or personal experiences, my life story,
biographical data, incidents, situations, and events. I may reveal and/or
relate…information about me of a personal, private, intimate, surprising,
defamatory, disparaging, embarrassing or unfavorable nature, that may be
factual and/or fictional.”
American Idol is the fulfillment of a distorted version of the American dream—a dream, that is, for the rich Australian-born Rupert Murdoch, head of Fox and News Corp, the rich Briton Simon Fuller, and the rich Briton Simon Cowell, who recently signed a five-year contract worth $50 million—every year.
Idol is also fulfilling a dream for Fremantle Media, the company that produces the show. In 2007 alone, it earned $1.8 billion in revenues and $200 million in profit.
In an article titled "Idol Winners Aren't Singing All the Way to the Bank," Cox News Service's Rodney Ho wrote, "American Idol is a monstrous moneymaker- for creater Simon Fuller, for the judges, for Fox. Except, perhaps, for the once-unknown singers" [emphasis added]
And, perhaps, except for the show’s
writers and producers. Employees of Fremantle
Media filed more than $250,000 in claims with the California Labor Commission,
which cited the company for wage and hour violations. Employees work 15–20 hour
days with “mandatory 6-day workweeks, no benefits, no health insurance, or
pension contribution.”
The Writers Guild of America noted that writers “do not deserve to be
cheated, abused and exploited…so that a few executives can rake in massive
amounts of profits.”
Such people and companies are not—mostly—playing illegally, just extremely well. If Simon Fuller, Simon Cowell, and Rupert Murdoch were to retire tomorrow, someone else would surely take their place. It’s not the individuals or the corporations that are to blame; rather, it’s the incentive and reward structure of the major label, publisher, and studio system that needs to change.
And it is changing, thanks to the technological
revolution, as well as to artists and transformed consumers, like us.
Meanwhile, the majors who rule
this system and love their money-making stars have an unspoken message for independent
musicians, writers, and filmmakers, not to mention new media creative people.
It is this: “You’re on your own.”
This leads us back to our major message: “Congratulations!” So
you don’t have a publisher wooing you, a record company knocking on your door,
Hollywood begging to option your film. You may be much better off. If you are careful—that is, if you follow our advice—you’ll maintain control over your content and keep most of the proceeds.
You will, however, need to do a
great deal of work.
The good news? You are not alone. Keep reading. We’ll tell you how to work the new (and ever-evolving) innovations, and be your own media.
| This is an excerpt of the Introduction to Part One of BE THE MEDIA
by David Mathison. Since this is long, we will be posting this in five parts.
If you like you can download a free version of the full introduction at www.bethemedia.com |
BE THE MEDIA: Introduction to Part One: Rebooting the American Dream
by David Mathison
(PART TWO OF FIVE)
Let’s face it. The past systems
mostly sucked.
Before 2000, artists, media company executives, and consumers all had limited choices. The functions of recording, publishing, and distribution were controlled by media conglomerates that had vast resources to take the risks involved in creating, marketing, and selling potential blockbusters. They owned the plants that printed the books, pressed the albums, and processed and distributed the films.
There were few other ways that
creative artists could get their songs heard or their books published, and there
were limited opportunities for them to develop a direct relationship with fans.
With everybody competing for the elusive major deal, supplicants had no choice
but to accept egregious contract terms.
High-quality, low-cost digital
tools, along with the power and scope of the Internet, have changed everything.
Now anyone—this means you!—can have a global sales, marketing, distribution, and fulfillment infrastructure that rivals that of the majors. Furthermore, this digital media renaissance has made possible a flowering of creativity.
Smart artists today don’t chase
publishers, labels, studios, and distributors. Like their progenitors in the
punk movement in the 1970s, the cassette-culture boom of the ’80s, and hip-hop
entrepreneurs in the ’90s, these new DIYers take their career into their own hands and forge direct relationships
with their audience. They are not relying on a lucky break, becoming the next American Idol, or garnering an
appearance on Oprah. They are building
their own future themselves.
Before, the options were either
stardom…or anonymity.
Today, there is a middle way,
proposed by media futurists such as Brian Austin Whitney, Kevin Kelly, Jenny
Toomey, Barry Bergman, Gerd Leonhard, Peter Broderick, and Janet Switzer.
In 2004, Brian Austin Whitney wrote, “I think a new definition of success will be the artist who has 5000 passionate fans who spend $20–$30 a year on [the artist’s] creative output.” That adds up to $100,000 per year, or more: enough to quit your day job, have health insurance, and own a car.
In 2008, Kevin Kelly amplified this with his viral
article 1,000 True Fans (see BE THE MEIDA Foreword). True fans, he wrote, are people who will purchase everything you
produce. “You don’t need a million fans to justify producing something new. A
mere one thousand is sufficient. You don’t need a hit to survive. You make a
living instead of a fortune.”
The very technology that enables
this flowering of creativity, however, simultaneously holds the biggest
challenge. How does an artist attract enough fans and create enough products to
earn a respectable living, such as $100,000 a year?
With the help of fans like
us.
In the past, conglomerates were enriched at the expense of consumers—yes, us—who
unwittingly enabled and perpetuated a system rife with short-term greed,
questionable accounting, and unequal rewards. The majority of revenues from our
purchase of that $20 CD or book went to support executives, lawyers,
accountants, distributors, retailers, and promoters—everyone but the artist.
It was not, and still is not, uncommon for even famous, talented artists to go without health care or a pension plan for a secure and dignified retirement, because at a young age they were exploited by abusive, one-sided American Idol–style contracts…and ended up with pennies on the dollar.
Many consumers simply did not, and do not,
realize that buying through a reseller (such as Wal-Mart or Amazon) gives 50 to
60 percent of the revenue to that reseller,
instead of to the creator of the work.
So, what’s different now? Today, you can rescue your favorite artists from the captive economics of the past. You can reward them directly by buying from their websites, blogs, or widgets.
Peter Broderick refers to this as moving from “consumers
of a product to patrons of an artist.” Direct patronage ensures
that your favorite artists have sufficient resources to create more products for
your enjoyment. What could be more satisfying than that?
Today, fans or patrons—that’s us
again—act as publicists, distributors, affiliates, and even salespeople. Fans forward
e-mails and links to friends and family of their favorite blog posts, books,
music, and videos; they share music playlists at iTunes, eMusic, Internet radio
stations, and music blogs; book selections at Amazon; photos on Flickr;
favorite songs and films on social networks like MySpace and Facebook.
Fans—not corporate executives or focus groups backed by multimillion-dollar
promotional campaigns—pick the hits. A fan’s reward is not money, but the
satisfaction of turning friends on to the hot new band, book, blog post, or
film. (See BE THE MEDIA Chapters 4 and 15, music and social networks.)
Of course, today’s technology
also makes it easy to copy a CD or
song and share it, but that’s stealing, after all, and it means none of the
revenue goes to the artist we love.
In other words, when eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.
Rebooting the American Dream
It’s indisputable. Over the past
few decades, the American dream has been hijacked little by little and more and
more by winner-take-all pirates and their intermediaries, who turned it into a
nightmare of a system that benefitted only them and a few chosen “winners.”
The effect of this cultural hijacking,
on most entrepreneurs, artists, and society itself, has been unfair, unequal,
exploitative, and—let’s face it—in the products it presents to audiences, often
boring.
Then, just when it looked like
most creative people might as well let their dream die, rescue arrived in the
form of a technological and populist revolution.
This ongoing revolution—some,
like our contributing author Douglas Rushkoff, consider it a renaissance—is right
now rebooting the American dream. It is giving it new life. It is bringing back
the traditional all-American dream,
one that is fair and just and that provides equality and opportunity to any and
all dreamers, not merely corporate executives.
Together we can wrest the dream back
and not only reboot it, but also upgrade it, so that the rightful owners—the artists
and their fans—can use it democratically and benefit equally from it.
After all, every one of us dreams.
But how does a dream become
reality? As the following chapters in Be
the Media will make clear, in as few or as many details as you want, there
are three basic steps:
1. Cultivate a Core Audience: Create a
direct relationship with your fans, thus cutting out the intermediaries. This enhances
the bond between you and the fans, while also increasing both opportunities and
profits.
2. Own Your Rights: Control your material so that you have the
freedom to create new products and to “repurpose” existing products differently.
Artists should avoid exploitative agreements that take all rights exclusively
and in perpetuity (which are truly a pact with the devil.)
3. Repurpose Your Work: Because you own the rights, you can constantly reconfigure your material and expertise into a range of progressively higher-value products and personalized experiences for your fans or your clientele.
Buy BE THE MEDIA Below:
| This is an excerpt of the Introduction to Part One of BE THE MEDIA
by David Mathison. Since this is long, we will be posting this in five parts.
If you like you can download a free version of the full introduction at www.bethemedia.com |
BE THE MEDIA: Introduction to Part One: Rebooting the American Dream
by David Mathison
(PART THREE OF FIVE)
A Repurpose-Driven Life
Meet a leading light of repurposing, particularly in the field of publishing: Janet Switzer, the marketing guru behind some of the more successful publishing empires on the planet. She created no fewer than 327 new products for Jay Abraham, who had just a few products and a handful of special reports when they met.
With Jack
Canfield, she cowrote The Success
Principles, which hit the best-seller lists of the New York Times and USA Today.
She helped build the megaempire for Mark Victor Hansen’s Chicken Soup for the Soul, which has spawned numerous offshoots.
Switzer has since published the Instant Income series and Publishing
Mavericks: How Experts Build Empires, which teach people to package their
expertise into new products and services at higher prices.
The visualization of this model is the Product Pricing Curve, which can be used by virtually anyone with something to, well, emote.
According to Switzer,
“As the sophistication of
your buyer increases on the left (from book buyers up to corporations), the
products they will buy also get more elaborate along the bottom (from digital ezines
to corporate contracts).”
Product Pricing Curve and Author Publishing
Model © 2006 Janet Switzer.
All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission.
Where Are You on the Product
Pricing Curve?
Most artists are in the lower left corner of the Curve—blithely giving away digital samples and offering a single product: a $20 book, or CD, or DVD. Once the patron makes a purchase, even directly from you, the artist, there is nothing else to buy.
Offering more products
enables you to increase the potential lifetime value of each customer, which is
worth vastly more than, say, a $20 book that will be read once.
Why is this important? As Switzer says,
“Your book may never lead to a viable business model. Books are the lowest profit margined item in an information empire.”
The same can be said for
sales of one-off songs, CDs, and DVDs.
Kevin Kelly agrees. Because multiple copies of anything have little or no value and are no longer the basis of wealth, he argues,
“The key is to offer valuable intangibles that can not be reproduced at zero cost, and will thus be paid for. Such intangibles might include accessibility to the artist; authenticity; immediacy and priority access; patronage; curation; personalized products and experiences; support and guidance.”
Think of the businesspeople, politicians,
and journalists who get big money to consult or give keynote speeches; they
know their way up the Curve.
We all learn and experience
things in different ways. Therefore, offering a variety of audio, video, print
products, and live events will satisfy the unique needs of a larger audience,
expand your opportunities and distribution outlets, and increase the likelihood
of making sales that continue into your rosy future.
Media conglomerates know this well. They create multiple streams of income by selling products in various formats—print, audio, video, and digital products—as well as experiences such as conferences, concerts, and workshops.
Why should conglomerates do all the conglomerating?
By packaging your expertise into various media properties, you too
can create multiple streams of income.
Let’s summarize three scenarios
for three different creative arenas.
Example 1: Authors, Writers, and Internet Entrepreneurs
Experts at all levels—no matter whether they are just beginning their career, or already have a big following—can modify and leverage Switzer’s Product Pricing Curve.
“Ezine Queen” Alexandria Brown went from struggling author “in tons of debt” (her own words) to a successful entrepreneur in just a few years. After having only one product to offer for two years, she packaged her expertise into information products and services, and now earns an average of $100,000—each month!
Robert Kiyosaki, the
ultrawealthy author of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series (see BE THE MEDIA Chapter
2, books) is another person who has climbed the Curve.
Look closely at the chart and see where it starts. On the bottom-left, the focus should be on low-cost ways to get prospects into the marketing “funnel.” In exchange for a prospect’s e-mail address (which is crucial for building your “true patron” database), offer digital downloads that have no costs for shipping and handling, storage, fulfillment, or returns.
For example, by giving away her free digital ezine, Brown grew her list to over thirty thousand subscribers. Other giveaways could include a special report, an MP3 file, a video trailer, or a digital course via autoresponder.
You can also generate leads inexpensively by blogging, podcasting, optimizing search
engines, and linking to affiliate programs. (See BE THE MEDIA Chapters 1, 5, and 9.)
As you move up and to the right on the Curve, you offer higher-value products such as your book, CD, or DVD for $30, or you provide a $40 teleseminar or audio book.
Based on her subscriber’s interests, Ali Brown created new products to satisfy their varying requests—a $19 book called Power and Soul and a six-CD audio series for $297 called Think to Grow Rich.
It’s easy to generate audio products by recording your
concerts, lectures, training sessions, workshops, speaking engagements,
seminars, phone calls, and radio interviews.
In the $497–$997 range, Brown offers a variety of full multimedia systems, which consist of print manuals, audio CDs, and video.
Multimedia products improve the perceived value of a business and increase the likelihood of selling work through catalog companies such as Nightingale Conant.
Kiyosaki augments his sales of print, audio, and
video products with interactive software at $29.95, his $195 board game Cashflow, and annual subscriptions to
his online community at $99.70 per year.
For those who prefer live training, Brown offers a three-day event for $3,995 called the Online Success Blueprint Workshop, as well as a $1,497 Home Study set, a recorded version of the Online Workshop on twenty-one CDs.
At an average royalty of $1 per book sold, an author would need
to sell fifteen hundred books to equal the income from just one sale of this CD
audio series.
The most expensive offerings are personalized programs that provide greater access to the artist.
Brown’s Silver MasterMind has one hundred eighty superpatrons paying $560 per year (over $100,000) for monthly phone calls with her for ongoing advice.
In 2006 she released a Platinum MasterMind inner-circle program, with just fifteen superpatrons
paying $19,000 each ($280,000 per year). Members meet three times a year at luxury
hotels.
It’s easier to manage fifteen superpatrons paying $20,000 a year (or a hundred and eighty paying $560 per year) than three thousand patrons paying only $100.
But these are not mutually exclusive.
There is
no reason you can’t have them all.
And this is exactly how Ali Brown
works the Curve to earn over $100,000—every month.
Why, you ask, would someone pay $20,000 for VIP consulting?
Simple.
It may be a wise investment.
Say that you
as an author use a traditional publisher and sell ten thousand books at $30 a
book with a softcover royalty of 7.5 percent. Even if you earn the full percent
royalty, which is most unlikely, you net only $22,500 of the $300,000 total
revenue pool, some or all of which may be needed to pay back your advance.
By contrast, if you self-publish and sell ten thousand books at $30 per book, the entire $300,000 in revenue is yours, after covering costs.
From this $300,000 in revenues, subtract the $20,000 fee plus the $22,500 you would have earned under the traditional publishing model, and you are still $257,500 ahead of the game!
Engaging the right consultant may be well worth the investment. (See BE THE MEDIA Chapter 2, books.)
After all, as Janet Switzer says, “People buy results, not products.”
Stay tuned for the fourth excerpt, or
Download free PDF of Intro to Part One
Buy BE THE MEDIA Below:
| This is an excerpt of the Introduction to Part One of BE THE MEDIA
by David Mathison. Since this is long, we will be posting this in five parts.
If you like you can download a free version of the full introduction at www.bethemedia.com |
Example 2: Musicians
Like most authors, many musicians are stuck in the lower left corner of the Curve, giving away free digital song samples and selling CDs. But folks who buy CDs should not be their sole source of income.
To paraphrase musician Robert Rich, “An animal that relies solely
upon the fruit of one tree to survive is following a recipe for extinction.”
If you’re a musician trying to build an audience of repeat buyers, in exchange for a prospect’s e-mail address (again, crucial for building a fan database) you can use free MP3 files as social discovery tools, or use digital artwork, posters, ringtones, or behind-the-scenes photos: whatever your imagination dreams up.
As leads enter the funnel, you can start selling direct from your website or blog.
For example, fans downloaded hundreds of
thousands of free songs from musician Jonathan Coulton’s website. He then sold
songs both directly from his site and indirectly through Apples iTunes, earning
a “reasonable middle class living—between $3,000 and $5,000 a month.”
Selling this way lets you keep most of the income, amass the critical customer contact information, and also earn tip jar donations or advertising revenues from Google.
Further on up the Curve, offers could include digital songs for as little as $0.99, albums for $20. Physical goods could include branded merchandise such as T-shirts and other apparel for $30–$40.
Indirect sales can come through widgets, social networks,
iTunes, eMusic, or affiliates. By using them, you’ll give up a percentage of
revenues, true; but you’ll gain access to a wider potential audience, which is your
long-term goal.
As you move to the right on the
Curve, you’ll see the lucrative option to license to other artists or
corporations.
Since you own the rights, you can also set the terms and conditions, and control all uses of your music. License it to TV shows, cell phones, ads, films, trailers, podcasts, retail, interactive applications, video games, ringtones, samples for other artists, and music libraries.
As ex–Talking
Head frontman David Byrne wrote in Wired,
“I make very little from actual record sales. I make probably the most from
licensing stuff; not to commercials, I license to films and television shows.” (See
Chapters 4 and 11 for more.)
Music fans will gladly pay extra
bucks to get as up-close and personal with musicians as they can, at least in
the experience of Maria Schneider, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and the
German rockers Einstuerzende Neubauten. Their fans buy such items as printed
scores, VIP tickets, autographed posters, “Deluxe Limited Edition” CD and DVD sets,
and access to live webcasts of the band rehearsing, recording, and in concert.
Patrons will also gladly pay for that
scarce commodity—the ability to interact live with the artist. Once you're a
semi-big deal, consider offering premium concert tickets, “meet and greet” sessions,
and personal backstage tours.
Many musicians augment earnings
by helping other artists in a variety of ways, both artistic and technical. Singer-songwriter
Bonnie Hayes consults with songwriters; produces other artists; has written hit
songs for Cher, Santana, and Bonnie Raitt; and is a director and instructor at
the Blue Bear School of Music in
Another way to earn recurring
revenue streams is to start a fan club. Nine Inch Nails members get priority entrance
and/or seating at concerts. Aerosmith’s Aero Force One club offers a host of “flights,”
from a free basic membership in exchange for a fan’s (all important) e-mail
address; to a $29.99 Gold membership in exchange for an Aerosmith T-shirt,
membership card, pin, and welcome letter; to a $59.99 Platinum membership that
includes online video clips. Other perks could include decals, backstage
passes, or preferred parking.
Today’s fans are even funding new
albums. Getting a quality recording with top-flight engineers, producers, musicians,
and studio time used to mean securing a decent advance and a label contract (which, as you know by now, meant losing
rights to the songs). Not anymore.
Instead of going to a label, singer
Jill Sobule created JillsNextRecord.com to solicit donations, ranging from $10
to $10,000, from her fans. She wrote, “It would be sort of a patronage thing,
where you guys are the Medici family” (referring to the dynasty of zillionaires
who supported artists during the Renaissance). Her site features free music downloads,
a discussion board, and funny, engaging, and authentic blog posts. Her fans
feel like they are interacting with the “real” Jill, and meanwhile she is
securing their loyalty by keeping them interested.
Here’s Jill’s bill of fare:
Brave Jill. Bravo, patrons!
Her goal was to raise $75,000 in
online contributions; in two months, she raised $85,000. Furthermore, thanks to
fan-financing, this is the first album that Jill fully owns and controls.
Example 3: Filmmakers
Any would-be
filmmaker knows that creating a film of quality can be too expensive even to
contemplate. And, as with music, filmgoers and film renters used to be consumers
only: anonymous people who paid for their ticket with money that, for the most
part, did not go to the filmmaker.
That
reel has changed.
Today, because
filmgoers and film viewers are both identifiable and reachable, filmmakers can go
the extra step by establishing a direct connection with them and thereby solicit
donations.
Director Robert Greenwald sold
twenty-three thousand DVDs of his film Uncovered
through affiliate websites in just two days, and ultimately sold more than
120,000 copies. Armed with e-mail addresses from many of these purchasers, he
now has a large, appreciative audience that can—and sometimes
does—fund new films with donations in exchange for production credits. For his
documentary Iraq for Sale, Greenwald
raised $385,000 in online contributions in only ten days.
Kevin
Smith, who directed Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jersey Girl, also
built a large fan base and has sold lots of merchandise from his website. If he
makes a new film, he could easily generate enough sales on his website alone to
cover a million-dollar budget.
You as
a filmmaker could offer your supporters free video trailers. The e-mail
addresses from that giveaway will help you build a mailing list of buyers who then
might buy the $25 DVD direct from your website. Thus you reap as much as $20 in
profit for each DVD. (According to Peter Broderick, a retail sale of the same
DVD only nets $2.50 via a typical 20 percent royalty video deal.)
If you sell
an educational copy from the website directly to a college for $250 (a typical
price), you can net up to $240.
Higher-value items and “upsells” could include
enhanced versions of the film, related products (books, posters, CDs), branded
merchandise (apparel, and so on), soundtracks, limited editions, and previous
work.
By
owning and controlling your work, you also can create higher-value products by
splitting up and selling various rights. That way, you can make separate or
hybrid deals for theatrical distribution, nontheatrical, retail
(Netflix, Amazon, and stores such as Blockbuster), home video, airlines, television,
cable, advertising, educational, library, nonprofits, video-on-demand, digital
(iTunes and others), and foreign sales. (See Chapters 7 and 8 for more.)
And the Curve Goes On…for Polticians, Activists….
As indicated earlier, the Product Pricing Curve model is not limited to artists, but works for anyone with a message and some marketing savvy. A stunning example is that of the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign.
As in any field, superpatrons are willing to give more to get more—in this case, a personal audience with the hot presidential candidate. Obama’s higher-value offerings included backstage access to his speaking events, phone calls from him or his staff, autographed photos and copies of his book, a trip to the national convention, and VIP fund-raisers.
In September 2008, he
raised more than $9 million from superdonors willing to spend $28,500
each to spend an evening with the candidate at a
In October, twenty-five hundred people paid between $500 and $10,000 to attend a benefit concert in New York City featuring celebrity musicians Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.
Stay tuned for the fifth and final excerpt, or
Download free PDF of Intro to Part One
Buy BE THE MEDIA Below:
| This is an excerpt of the Introduction to Part One of BE THE MEDIA
by David Mathison. Since this is long, we will be posting this in five parts.
If you like you can download a free version of the full introduction at www.bethemedia.com |
The Outsource Option; or, Read This Before Groaning
Obviously, not everyone possesses
the skills, inclination, or patience to find and nurture patrons. Promotion can
be a full-time job, and a wearying one. Most artists, in particular, just want
to create art. Fortunately, an “artist services model” is emerging so artists can
outsource the nonart activities, such as distribution,
advertising, publicity, marketing, and booking. For instance, when
consultant Peter Broderick helps filmmakers sell DVDs directly from their websites,
the filmmakers earn up to nine times the profit per sale as compared to retail.
In other words, as you’ll see in the
outsourcing sections of the chapters on books (Chapter 2), music (Chapter 4), film
(Chapter 8), and the Internet (Chapter 9), you are not alone. We’re
all in this together. Help is at hand and, in fact, in hand since you have this book to
guide you.
Fair and Balanced
The Idol version of the American Dream—the distorted, “winner-takes-all”
model—is the ultimate version of an unfair system that continues to dominate
the entertainment industry, as well as other areas of American life. The system
relies on remote others’ ownership and control of the creative output of some
of our nation’s most talented and beloved artists, as well as an upward
redistribution of capital from hardworking consumers to a handful of already wealthy
executives and corporations, which neither deserve it nor need it.
As Be the Media will point out in the following chapters, however, the
hijacked American Dream, which too often lately has resembled a nightmare, is in
the process of being rescued. The new, emerging model gives many, many artists
and others the resources, freedom, and opportunity to succeed. Thanks to the
participation and direct support of millions of people like you, unprecedented
opportunities enable artists to control their own destiny.
The hope and promise of rebooting
the American dream is to create a sustainable system that is more fair,
balanced, and egalitarian; one that works for the people—from the bottom up—instead
of enabling a few squillionaires to control the media (and the message) from
the top down.
True, there are challenges and
risks, and no guarantees of success. We face uncertain times in both the entertainment
industry and the economy in general, making it even more critical for independents
to repurpose their offerings to create multiple streams of income from
diversified sources. Likewise, patrons should realize who benefits from every
dollar they spend. Instead of supporting corporations and executives, a fan’s
hard-earned money should directly reward their favorite artists, so that those
artists can keep a higher percentage of the revenues to grow, thrive, and
prosper – and create more great products.
Our commitment is to stay on top
of the changes and keep this book and website updated to help you, perhaps sooner
than later, live your version of the classic American Dream—that is, to put in
an honest day’s work on your art or passion, earn a living wage from it, have
adequate health care, provide a decent education for your children, save enough
for a secure and dignified retirement, and leave this world a better place.
Send your feedback to us at info@bethemedia.com.
Tell us how we’re doing, and how you’re
doing.
If nothing else, I hope this book
inspires, motivates, and empowers you to create and accelerate your own message,
in your own way.
"Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number—
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you—
Ye are many—they are few."
"The Call to Freedom," by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1819)
Download free PDF of Intro to Part One
Buy BE THE MEDIA Below:
Warren Whitlock, co-author of Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online.
Warren's TwitCastRadio is a weekly show to help you grow your network, find new friends, lead and customers and market yourself on Twitter and other social media.
On this show David Mathison discuses how he pre-sold 5,004 books through one new Twitter connection in 11 days.
The interview will be broadcast on February 27, 2009 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, or you can listen right here by clicking the play button below.
We'd like to invite you to attend a special Wasabi Club
teleseminar this week with David Mathison of Be The Media. Be The Media is the
ultimate Independent Media handbook.
If you find yourself to be someone who likes to get results by yourself off the beaten path, this Wasabi Club is for you! Join us to learn how David Mathison sold 5000 books in one pop on Twitter.
Check out this new free service that lets you Be the Media by moving the best experts to the front of the line for journalists - PitchRate.com.
Join us for an exciting show. We begin with help on How to be Happy Over the Holidays with:
The interview will be broadcast on December 9, 2008 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, or you can listen right here by clicking the play button below.
Lullalee will be hosting its first annual Art for Literacy Benefit Concert and Silent Auction. According to their website "More than 500 of California’s most influential
educational and cultural leaders as well as fine art connoisseurs will
gather to support and celebrate the strides we are making to promote
literacy for children." 
"Lullalee has entertained, educated, and promoted smiles to over 8,500 children world-wide, including hospital patients and their families, through innovative learning programs and book grants. We provide magical literacy events and free books to children whose road to literacy is challenged financially and/or physically. We are grassroots, we are pure hearts, and we are motivating children to embrace literacy."
The event will take place in the Fairmont Hotel's Grand Ballroom in San Francisco, CA. Robert Strong The Comedy Magician will be the master of ceremonies and the event also will be featuring the Sensational Louis Prima Jr.
BE THE MEDIA is a sponsor of this important event.
Recently, they were featured on CNN’s iReport website celebrating their successes. Take a look for yourself, “One Woman Helps Kids Read”
You will have the opportunity to meet 15 renowned Bay Area Fine Artists and bid on their work.
The event starts at 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm. Champagne and Hors D'Oeuvres Reception.
Click here to find more information and to purchase your tickets.
Please join us in showing your commitment to literacy for all children.
One of the fastest ways to sell more books, information products, and services based on your expertise is to do telephone seminars (aka “teleseminars”).
Join BE THE MEDIA authors ALEX MANDOSSIAN and DAVID MATHISON for a free 90-minute telephone seminar on Wednesday November 12, 2008 (4pm Pacific, 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern).
We will arm you with battle-tested teleseminar secrets that boost your sales and profits - without making you spend a single cent more on advertising costs.
If you are an entrepreneur, author, public speaker, or small business owner, YOU MUST BE ON THIS CALL!
You will learn:
● Eight models for using teleseminars to sell more books, information products, and services
● How Alex sold over 3,023 books in a single teleseminar
● A case history on how Alex used teleseminars to help a first-time author hit the NY Times Best Seller list
● Motivate and persuade more prospects to sign up
● Automatically build more responsive email lists
● Why you’re lucky to get 25 people (if that!) at a traditional bookstore signing, but Alex routinely gets 1,200+ people on teleseminars with his ‘virtual book tour’ strategy
Register for this free call here now: http://www.bethemediateleseminar.com/preview
Still not convinced? Don’t take our word for it. Click on the link to scan through the 21 rave reviews for Alex’s work from some of the world’s most respected, best-selling authors, such as:
● Jack Canfield (The Success Principles)
● Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul)
● David Bach (Finish Rich series)
● Dr Joe Vitale (author of #1 best seller, The Attractor Factor)
● World-renowned speakers and trainers such as Tom Antion and Les Brown.
To read the rave reviews and register for this free call, go here now: http://www.bethemediateleseminar.com/preview
IMPORTANT REMINDER:
BE THE MEDIA features more than over fifty media experts, educators, and activists (such as David Mathison and Alex Mandossian) who teach you the latest and greatest ways to market and sell your books, music, films, information products and services.
The book includes more than 500 pages of material to help you control your rights, have a direct relationship with your audience, and earn more royalties.
Be sure to pick up your copy of BE THE MEDIA by clicking Add to Cart below.
Be The Media's David Mathison will deliver the keynote address at the Alliance for Community Media (West) conference.
The conference will be held at the Cable Center in Denver, Colorado from October 24-25, 2008, and is appropriately titled: “Access Without Borders: New Frontiers in Community Media,”
According to the ACM West website:
“We’re hoping to inspire folks in our movement to more fully embrace the efficiencies, the community media tools, and the participatory aspects of using technology to generate future (and present) self-sufficiency, increased community engagement, and save time and money."
"We will be highlighting the new media technologies that can be incorporated into the workflow of Public Access Television and Community Technology Centers. Denver Open Media is leading the efforts that allow access centers to operate on a streamlined, user-driven model and is integrating the efforts of other National ACM members, like Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) and Cambridge Community Television (CCTV)."
Check out their technology-infused vision at www.denveropenmedia.org.
Or view this video by Denver Open Media and ED Tony Shawcross:
Key conference sessions will be on:
* Click here for the full schedule.
* Go here
to register
for the conference.
* Go here for more about the Alliance for Community Media – Western Region.
BE THE MEDIA is featured in the November/December issue of
Writers Digest, 
the
Brave New World of Publishing. An
excerpt from BE THE MEDIA’s Podcast chapter was included.
We took out an advertisement
in the magazine this month (see image to the right), our first in what we hope
to be a long and fruitful relationship.
The Nov/Dec issue includes an interview with best-selling thriller novelist Brad
Thor, and features Wired editor
and Long Tail author Chris
Anderson.
Writer's Digest has chronicled the culture
of the modern writer since 1920. Their magazine and website include
relevant first-person essays, interviews with bestselling authors and profiles
with emerging talent.
According to their website, "Writer's Digest features practical technique articles, and tips and exercises on fiction, nonfiction, poetry and the business-side of writing and publishing."
Writer's Digest has 110,000 magazine subscribers and their website has 100,000 average unique visitors/month, representing the largest community of published and aspiring fiction, poetry, screenplay and non-fiction writers.
According to Newsday, the New York Civil Liberties Union has asked the Nassau County Police Department to investigate its use of horses to control the crowd during the protest just prior to the third and final US Presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead on October 15, 2008.
The investigation appears to be centered on what happened after the arrests, and whether or not the mounted police put veterans and civilians at risk by using their horses to maintain control, resulting in injuries to at least three people.
A major question appears to be whether or not the injuries took place in the street, or on the sidewalk. Police made it clear to spectators that the sidewalks were "free speech zones," but protesters were not permitted in the street.
Photos and video taken at the scene reveal a partial glimpse of the melee, and its bloody aftermath.
If you are interested in acquiring foreign rights to publish BE THE MEDIA, come visit us at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
We are represented by Columbine Communications and Publications, located in Hall 8.0 Stand N-933. 
For information on acquiring foreign rights to publish Be The Media, contact Columbine President Bob Erdmann. His office can be reached on (209) 586-1566. That's Bob to the right, hard at work securing foreign rights deals for American authors.
The Frankfurt Book Fair was first held in 1480, growing into a major financial and cultural event that was only interrupted by the First and Second World Wars.
The 2007 event had an astounding 283,000 visitors. By contrast, Book Expo America usually gets around 30,000-40,000 visitors. Almost 8,000 exhibitors from 108 countries meet at Frankfurt to buy and sell foreign translation and distribution rights.
It is THE place for writers to have their works exhibited on the world stage. Large numbers of journalists, educators, librarians, government administrators, media celebrities, and news syndicates attend the fair.
David Mathison will cover the third and final US Presidential debate at Hofstra University for the Huffington Post's Off The Bus.
The debate will focus on economic policy and domestic issues.
The debate will be moderated by Bob Schieffer, CBS News Chief Washington correspondent and host of Face The Nation.
The debate will take place at Hofstra’s
David S Mack Sports and Exhibition
Complex. The
adjacent Physical Fitness Center will serve as the media center for thousands of
national and international
journalists.
Leading
up to the debate, Hofstra is hosting
Educate 08, a series of lectures, conferences, artistic performances,
exhibitions, town hall meetings, and interactive forums focused on the issues,
history, and politics of presidential elections.
The series includes presentations by former US Treasury Secretaries Paul O’Neill and Robert Rubin; George Stephanopoulis; Gloria Steinem; former New York Governor Mario Cuomo; and singer Jason Mraz.
<NOTE: This article originally written for Huffington Post's OffTheBus.>
A peaceful protest erupted into pandemonium outside Hofstra University tonight around 8pm, just one hour before the third and final US Presidential debate.
Mounted police pushed back veterans, protesters, and spectators. Fifteen people were arrested, and at least three injured.
The incident occurred as members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) attempted to commit an act of non-violent civil disobedience and enter the debate to ask a question of the presidential candidates.
According to eyewitnesses, the IVAW members were arrested as they attempted to cross Hempstead Turnpike to enter the Hofstra campus.
Afterwards, mounted police pushed the crowd back onto the sidewalk, causing at least three people to be trampled under police horses.
Exclusive video and interviews from Be The Media:
The
TimeWarner companies
are pleased to host a two-day
conference, October 13-14 at the Time Warner
Center in New York City,
"Politics 2008 - The Media Conference on the Election of the President."
For this two-day event, Time Warner
is inviting leading media
organizations and analysts, political insiders and pundits for a series of
keynotes, conversations and panel events on topics ranging from the media’s
roles and responsibilities in covering the campaign and election to how the
digital revolution has changed the race for
the White House.
David Mathison will be covering the Time Warner Politics 2008 Summit for the Huffington Post's Off The Bus.
Confirmed Speakers include:
Jeffrey L. Bewkes,
President and Chief Executive
Officer, Time Warner
Campbell Brown, CNN Anchor
Richard Stengel, Managing Editor,
TIME
Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/U.S
Graydon Carter, Editor-in-Chief,
Vanity Fair
Anderson Cooper, Anchor, CNN
Wolf Blitzer, Anchor, CNN
Frank Rich, Op-Ed columnist, The
New York Times
Christiane Amanpour, Chief
International Correspondent, CNN
Jeffrey Toobin, Analyst, CNN
Worldwide
Fareed Zakaria, GPS, CNN and
editor, Newsweek International
Mark Halperin, Editor-at-Large
and Senior Political Analyst, TIME
Dan Rather, Host and Global
Correspondent, “Dan Rather Reports”
Howell Raines, Media Columnist,
Conde Nast Portfolio, former Executive Editor, New York Times
John King, Chief National Correspondent, CNN
Donna Brazile, Political Activist
and Strategist
Candy Crowley, Senior Political
Correspondent, CNN
Mike McCurry, principal, Public
Strategies Washington, Inc.
Kinsey Wilson, Executive Editor,
USA Today
Mark J. Penn, Worldwide President
& CEO, Burson-Marsteller
Mark McKinnon, Vice Chairman,
Public Strategies, former strategist, George W. Bush and Senator John McCain
Jeffrey Brown, Senior
Correspondent and Senior Producer, NewsHour PBS
Bob Safian, Editor and Managing
Director, Fast Company
Mark Walsh, Board Member, Air
America, Head of Internet Strategy, John Kerry for President
Brian Scanlon, Director of
Election Services, Associated Press
David Sirota, Author, Columnist &
Journalist, “The Uprising”
Danny Schechter, co-founder and
executive producer, Globalvision
And many more…
Click here to to register for the Time Warner - Politics 2008 The Media Conference for the Election of the President
Twitter Talk with the Gurus: Get the scoop on this social networking phenomenon September 23 3:00 EST.
People are abuzz about Twitter, the social networking phenomenon. What is it? How can it help you?
Hosted by Connie Bennett, author of Sugar Shock, with guest gurus:
David Mathison will be participating in this Symposium for Independent Media, and speaking in the 3pm session on Tuesday:
"This symposium brings together dozens of leaders, innovators and experts in independent media for intimate discussions exploring the obstacles and potentials of independent media.
It focuses on the latest means to amplify the success of independent outlets, whether big or small, local or international -- in terms of outreach, revenue streams, technology, new collaborations."
On Monday evening, Director Robert Greenwald will keynote. On Tuesday, the Symposium is divided into three workshop sessions:
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo will be keynoting
the symposium of the Park Center for Independent Media on
Tuesday, September 16, at 7:30pm.
Click here to view the schedule.
Click here to view the list of participants.
BE THE MEDIA author David Mathison will be featured on the Jefferson Exchange program this Friday September 5 at 08:30am PST.
NPR affiliate Jefferson Public Radio broadcasts from southern Oregon to northern California, reaching over 1 million listeners. The station also offers audio streams and podcasts from their web site.
The topic:
Indy Media No Longer Fringe Media
In addition
to the usual suspects -- major newspaper reporters, network anchors,
wire service correspondents -- journalists from another,
harder-to-define brand of news media also flocked to the national
conventions.
The alternative independent media, from alt weeklies to
community radio to podcasters to bloggers, have become an important
news source for many Americans.
Can these outlets, which make their
political point of view no secret, cover stories in a way other media
can't?
We talk with David Mathison of Be the Media about what rules, if any, these journalists are bound to and the role they play in the political news cycle.
Listen to the broadcast and join the discussion here.
Be The Media book reviews are coming in, and things are looking good. Here is the first, from Paul Caruba of Bookviews (September, 2008):
Getting Down to Business Books
"With the advent of Labor Day, everyone settles in to make the most of the remainder of the year in terms of whatever business they’re in. There is no end to books on management and sales theories and, frankly, in a changing competitive environment, they are probably needed.
Since
I have made my living in public relations after abandoning fulltime
journalism decades ago, I will begin with a recommendation of Be the Media: How to Create and Accelerate Your Message…Your Way
($34.95) by
David Mathison with more than sixty contributors.
Why does it have a hefty price? Because it is 435 pages of some of the smartest, best advice that authors, filmmakers, musicians, cartoonists, bloggers, and other creative types will find, but they are not alone.
Policy makers, community organizers, educators and, just about anyone with a horn to blow will discover the power of podcasting, how to create and self-syndicate a radio show, how to promote your video using the Internet
There’s a whole section on how to use the Internet for E-commerce, advice on how to license your ideas, and on and on and on!
Crammed into this book is the kind of know-how it would otherwise take you a very long time to learn.
Excited? Its official release is October.
Meanwhile you can visit www.BeTheMedia.com."
Couldn't resist posting this...H/T C&L LNMC
An Op-Ed written by Tim Wu was published in The New York Times on July 30.
Tim Wu is a professor at Columbia Law School and the co-author of "Who Controls the Internet?" He also coined the term Net Neutrality.
Tim is quoted numerous times in the Policy chapter of BE THE MEDIA.
He has also endorsed the book:
"BE THE MEDIA is uplifting and empowering."- Tim Wu
The article, entitled "OPEC 2.0", discusses the relationship between oil and bandwidth as they pertain to American citizens. Bandwidth is what allows the transfer of information. He claims that the two are similar in that they are both economic inputs controlled by tight groups of producers. These producers turn a profit by creating an illusion of scarcity.
According to Tim, "Many 'owners' of spectrum either hardly use the stuff or use it in highly inefficient ways. At any given moment, more than 90 percent of the nation's airwaves are empty." When companies create this illusion of scarcity, they are able to charge higher prices for their services.
Like oil, Tim says that there are alternative sources of bandwidth that do not require going through this small control group, and he encourages entrepreneurs to help build better wireless systems and fiber optic solutions. Tim cites the example that, "Amsterdam and some cities in Utah have deployed their own fiber to carry bandwidth as a public utility."
It is just as imperative to search for bandwidth alternatives as it is to look for energy alternatives, because "in an information economy, the supply and price of bandwidth matters...for the whole economy".
Learn more about Community Internet and Media Policy.
Buy an advanced copy
of BE THE MEDIA:
"People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again."
Peter Broderick, author of "The Revolution in Digital Movie Production and Distribution" in Chapter 8 of BE THE MEDIA, was featured in the June 2008 issue of BusinessWeek.
Broderick is President of Paradigm Consulting, which provides consulting services to filmmakers and media companies.
He was also the founder and President of New Wave Films, which helped launch the careers of exceptional filmmakers.
Recently,Broderick has given a presentation at the Cannes Film Festival on 'cutting edge distribution" and a keynote in Hungary on the future of distribution.
The article, titled "Indie Filmmakers Hit Their Target," was written by John Tozzi and discusses the growing number of independent filmmakers choosing to distribute to their target audiences rather than taking the traditional route through distributors. In order to do this, many turn to the Internet.
According to Broderick, "Filmmakers need to be as creative about their distribution as they are about their production." This means they have to stray from the norm and come up with innovation tactics. The producers of King Korn, compiled a list of food activists and organic farmers while they were filming. Once the film was complete, they had a roster of people who would genuinely be interested in their film that examines the role of corn in the U.S. The producers, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney are clients of Broderick's. They also booked their film for single-night screenings and sold DVDs on location.
The people who created the film are the ones who best know who would be interested in watching it. For that reason, it makes sense for the filmmaker to distribute his own film. According to Ellis, "I think we felt in some way that we were better able to communicate with our core audience than a distributor who's used to dealing with mass audiences."
Distributing your film on your own has a huge potential for profit. If a film sells in stores for $25 after paying royalties to the distributor, the filmmaker would make about $2.50 per DVD. Selling this same DVD through his Web site, the filmmaker would net around $20 a sale. "There are a number of filmmakers who made more than $1 million selling one DVD from one Web site," Broderick said.
Web sites also offer another benefit. E-mail addresses can be collected from those who purchase the DVDs, giving the filmmaker an entire contact list of people who may be interested in future related films or products. Thus, Broderick asserts that an e-mail address as valuable as a sale itself.
In Chapter 8 of BE THE MEDIA, Broderick teaches YOU how to produce and distribute your ultra-low budget digital film.
Interested in learning more?
Buy an advanced copy
of BE THE MEDIA now:
Keith Knight's art has been featured in several worldwide publications including Salon.com, ESPN the Magazine, L.A. Weekly, MAD Magazine, and the Funny Times.
Keith won the Glyph award for the third year straight for Best Comic Strip.
Keith has been nominated for the 2008 Harvey Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip, an award he won last year. You can help him win this year by downloading and filling out a ballot here.
Keith's new strip, The Knight Life, recently gained national syndication. Use the contact information below in order to help Keith get The Knight Life into the following papers:
To check out Keith Knight's comics go to kchronicles.com 
You can catch up with Keith personally at this years San Diego Comic Con on Thursday July 24 at 4:30 pm. This event includes major comics publisher presentations, autographs, and advanced premiering of network shows. Register now to experience this event!
To learn how you can syndicate and distribute your cartoon read chapter 10 when you
Buy an advanced copy
of BE THE MEDIA:
An article in The New York Times entitled "The Web Time Forgot" quoted Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor and senior maverick of Wired magazine.
Kelly is also author of the very viral piece "One Thousand True Fans," which serves as the Foreword to BE THE MEDIA.
The Times article, written by Alex Wright, discusses Paul Otlet, the Belgian man who sketched plans for his "réseau," or "network," in the 1930s.
Otlet's papers layed out a global network of computers that would enable people to peruse millions of related documents, images, audio and video files.
Users would even be able to send each other messages, share files, and congregate in online social networks. The system anticipated the hyperlinks of today's Web.
According to Kelly:
"This was a Steampunk version of hypertext," and "The hyperlink is one of the most underappreciated inventions of the last century. It will go down with radio in the pantheon of great inventions."
The article delves deeper into the details of Otlet's work and how it foreshadowed many of the features of today's Web.
Check out Kevin Kelly's Foreword
Get your advanced copy of Be The Media now:
The Alliance for Community Media Conference will take place from July 9 through July 12 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC. The Pre-Conference workshops will be held on July 9.
The Alliance for Community Media is a nonprofit national membership organization that is committed to assuring public access to electronic media.
The Conference Track Schedule includes many subjects that are included as chapters in BE THE MEDIA:
To register and learn more about The Alliance for Community Media Conference download their brochure or visit the website.
We will be giving away free galleys of BE THE MEDIA to select attendees of this conference. Chapter 17 teaches you how to create a Public Access TV Show. Chapter 18 teaches you how to create a Community Media Center, and is based on how community media advocates from Media Action Marin (Marin County, California) lobbied Comcast during their cable franchise renewal and won $2.5 million to run their own Public, Education and Government channels.
For more information on this, see the blog entry from August 14, 2006.
Thanks to interim ACM Executive Director Deborah Vinsel for this opportunity. And once again thanks to David Rubinson for underwriting the cost of the books and getting them into the hands of people who can use them. David was the founder of the Automatt Recording Studio in the 1970s and produced an astounding list of musicians, including Herbie Hancock, the Pointer Sisters, Santana, Janis Joplin, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, and Taj Mahal. He was also the music producer for the film Apocalypse Now (1979).
To learn how to create a Community Media Center or a Public Access TV Show, see chapters 17 and 18
in your copy of BE THE MEDIA:
Everyone - regardless of income or status - should enjoy the benefits of a fast, affordable, and open Internet. High speed Internet access should be treated as a public utility, like the provision of gas and electricity.
InternetforEveryone.org, an initiative announced at the Personal democracy Forum, calls on Congress to act in the public interest by enacting a national broadband plan built on the following principles:
Access
Every home, business and civic institution in America must have access to a high-speed, world-class communications infrastructure.
Choice
Every consumer must enjoy real competition in lawful online content as well as among high-speed Internet providers to achieve lower prices and higher speeds.
Openness
Every Internet user should have the right to freedom of speech and commerce online in an open market without gatekeepers or discrimination.
Innovation
The Internet should continue to create good jobs, foster entrepreneurship, spread new ideas and serve as a leading engine of economic growth."
BE THE MEDIA attended the press briefing where the InternetforEveryone initiative was announced. Below are some photos:
Participants in InternetforEveryone, pictured from left to right:
Van Jones: Founder and President, GreenForAll.org
Larry Lessig: Founder, Creative Commons
Vint Cerf: Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
Tim Wu: Professor, Columbia Law School
Michael Winship: President, Writers Guild of America
Jonathan Adelstein: FCC Commissioner
Robin Chase: Meadow Networks; Zipcar
Brad Burnham: Union Square Ventures
Josh Silver: Executive Director, FreePress.net
Below is a video from the press briefing with comments from the supporters.
Note especially Vint Cerf's segment at 14:50, and Larry Lessig's segment following Vint.
There will be a series of local broadband hearings to encourage the public to participate in helping to create a national broadband plan. To find the next local hearing, contact them by email.
Join now to help and take part in InternetforEveryone.org.
More photos from the event:
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| Tim Wu and David Mathison | David Mathison and Vint Cerf |
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| Lawrence Lessig and David Mathison | David Mathison and Jonathan Adelstein |
BE THE MEDIA, Media Action Marin, and Media-Alliance have been advocating Community Internet and Digital Inclusion since 2007. They even created a two-part television program on the topic.
Part One was titled "Internet Access as a Public Utility" (see December 14, 2007).
Moderated by David Mathison, panelists included:
Part Two was taped at Media-Alliance's Digital Inclusion Summit. The session was titled "Creating Platforms for Success," and focused on various Community Internet solutions in use throughout the US and abroad (see February 15, 2008).
Moderated by David Mathison, panelists included:
To learn more about Community Internet
See chapter 19 of BE THE MEDIA:
Keith Goetzman is a senior editor for Utne Reader and is a veteran journalist who has worked for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Rake, the Twin Cities Reader, and many other publications.
Keith blogged a panel at the National Conference on Media Reform featuring author David Sirota (excerpt below). Keith's entire post is at Utne here.
"Sirota, author of The Uprising,
added a fresh twist to the discussion. Many of us, he noted, see the
media as a monolithic force, and we await the news sent down from
"Media Mount Olympus." But that passive role is exactly what has
strengthened
the role of the "paternalistic" media.
We have the chance to be our own media," he says, and we ought to seize it. For another audience, this might have sounded like a simplistic bromide. But for this crowd, made up largely of indie media activists and advocates, it sounded plausible, and when they filed out of the room, you suspected they might just go out and do it."
Do YOU want to Be The Media?
Buy an advanced copy here:
The Author's Guild has been the nation's leading advocate for writer's interests in effective copyright protection, fair contracts and free expression since its founding in 1912. The organization currently has over eight thousand members.
Alison Owings included BE THE MEDIA in the Feature Article on The Author's Guild's website.
Alison Owings has written for The Author's Guild for many years and
she is also the author of Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich and Hey, Waitress!: The USA from the Other Side of the Tray.
In the featured article titled, "Bloggi Blenni Blicci Losing One's Virtual Virginity", Owings tells of her adventure when entering the blogging world. She credited her knowledge of blogging to the book that she is editing, BE THE MEDIA, and its informational content on creating different types of media, blogs included.
The article includes her view on the feedback that she received from her blog, "My Hillary Problem", on The Huffington Post. Owings was amazed to find that creating a blog opened her to a whole new world where she could voice her opinion and receive comments instantly.
Want to learn more about blogging?
See chapter 1 of BE THE MEDIA:
Editor's Note: We liked this article so much that we wanted to share it with you on our BE THE MEDIA site.
This article by Robert C. Koehler of was originally published by Commonwonders.com. Robert is an award-winning, Chicago -based journalist, is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer:
BE THE MEDIA
The nation is fed up with military-industrial patriotism
By Robert C Koehler
Tribune Media Services
June 12, 2008
"Camera, lights, mike-in-the-face. Hey Bill Moyers, what are you doing at a left-wing, partisan media conference?
That was how Fox News producer Porter Barry tried to ambush television’s most venerable voice of sanity this past weekend, after Moyers spoke eloquently — “Journalism can only exist in a vibrant, democratic culture” — at the fourth annual National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis.
But Moyers would have none of it. By standing his ground, reframing the “gotcha” idiocy of the encounter (a bully-boy, “say yes or we’ll crucify you” summons to appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show) and turning it into a dialogue for which Barry was unprepared, he managed to shove the ambush oh so figuratively back down Barry’s throat. What goes around comes around, guys. As the producer retreated, he himself was filmed and peppered with questions by a reporter for the American News Project.
Be the media! This was a real-time demo of the core imperative of the four-day conference: that it’s up to us to turn things around. The flailing and desperate corporate media have prostrated themselves ever more irredeemably before the altar of organized money and, in their compromised allegiance, purvey not actual “news” any longer but a simplistic military-industrial patriotism to a country sick of war and hungry for truth. They’re not going to change; they’re just going to keep staggering, so it seems, toward total irrelevance.
The serendipitous poke in the eye to Fox News notwithstanding, the message of the conference was not part of the zero-sum paradigm of left vs. right and Whose Ideology Is Better? What’s at stake — i.e., human survival — is far bigger than that.
And perhaps no presentation at the conference demonstrated this with more urgency than the screening of “Body of War,” a documentary by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue that, in its unblinking honesty, scrapes the platitudes away from “the most sanitized war ever,” as Donahue put it.
Allard, yea. Allen, yea. Baucus, yea . . .
The film, which portrays the day-to-day struggle of Iraq war vet Thomas Young, who became paralyzed from the chest down after he took a bullet above the collarbone in Sadr City in 2004, begins filling in what I call the hole, or responsibility void, at the center of the Iraq war and every war.
It begins with the slow intonation of the Oct. 11, 2002 vote that authorized the use of military force against Iraq: Bayh, yea. Bennett, yea. Biden, yea. This vote, indeed, serves as the backdrop, the canvas, on which the film unfolds. We cut away from the names and suddenly here’s Thomas Young in his wheelchair, sitting at his computer, typing a letter to a paraplegic Q&A Web site. He’s getting married. He wants to know how to avoid having an accidental bowel movement when he’s in his tux.
Brownback, yea. Bunning, yea. Burns, yea.
“The vet’s choice,” says Young, who has become an anti-war activist, “is to tell the truth and be called a traitor or internalize and self-destruct.”
The thought could have served as a catchphrase for the whole conference, sponsored by the organization Free Press (freepress.net), which 3,500 people attended this year. What I felt not only during but between the breakout sessions was an intense concentration of . . . intelligent passion, you might say — creative determination not to self-destruct and not to let this country self-destruct. This may be what a movement feels like, or what the future feels like.
“Every day that Cheney and Bush do not bomb Iran . . . is because of that greater force — all of us working together,” said Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.
While there was plenty of urgent anger at the failings of the corporate media, and plenty of incisive analysis of the government-friendly propaganda they push and call news, what I felt was not despair but an extraordinary sense of purpose. Upheaval is in the air. Maybe it’s partly because of what has happened this year in the Democratic primaries.
On Saturday, as the conference was in full flower, Hillary Clinton conceded to Barack Obama. “What happened today is that someone paid a price at last for supporting the Iraq war,” said author Naomi Klein.
Carper, yea. Cleland, yea. Clinton, yea. . . . Lott, yea. Lugar, yea. McCain, yea.
The accountability is just beginning. But, as Klein noted, weapons companies have given more money to Democrats than Republicans this year. The old system, even with a President Obama at the helm, is geared to perpetuate inequality and generate conflict. A new media is forming, on the Internet and in our hearts, that will be beholden not to the interests of oil and war but to a just, sustainable future."
Learn how YOU can Be The Media!
Buy an advanced copy here:
On Saturday, June 28
, the New England News Forum
will present a unique, one-day workshop entitled "Sharing the News: Fresh Approaches to Reaching Students and Training Citizens."
The colloquium is aimed at updating teachers, advisors, professors, editors, bloggers, and citizen journalists on cutting edge methods of promulgating the news.
It will take place from 9AM to 4PM in the Alumni Library in the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. A detailed program and information on registration for the event can be found here.
David Mathison, compiler of BE THE MEDIA, will open the session at 9:30AM. His fellow speakers include:
An article from the Daily News Tribune summarizing the workshop can be found here.
Register today and we will see you on Saturday!
Want to learn more about becoming a citizen journalist?
See chapter 14 (We Media) of BE THE MEDIA:
David Mathison, compiler of BE THE MEDIA, will be interviewed live tonight at 8PM Eastern Time on The Ken Hudnall Show.
You can listen to the interview by tuning your radio to 1650 AM or via the internet at Kenhudnall.com.
This is a live interview and David will be taking calls from listeners. Be sure to have him answer your questions.
A replay of the interview will be posted here soon.
Want to learn how you can become a radio show host?
See Podcasting (chapter 5) and Radio (chapter 6)
Buy an advanced copy
of BE THE MEDIA:
The Allied Media Conference will be taking place this weekend, June 20 through 22, on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. The conference will be a parley of alternative media makers and social justice workers from across the country and around the world.
We are delighted to announce that BE THE MEDIA will be distributing 50 free galleys to attendees of this conference. According to Adrienne Maree Brown, executive director of the Ruckus Society, "The upcoming Allied Media Conference is all about bringing tools and skills back into the community: video-blogging, creating web zines, low power radio production,etc."
BE THE MEDIA is an appropriate book for attendees of this conference because it discusses all of that and more. The first half of the book teaches people how to self-publish blogs, music, film, podcasts, zines, etc. and the second half covers community media such as Low Power FM radio, Public Access TV, Community Media Centers, and much more. See the Table of Contents for further information.
BE THE MEDIA would like to thank David Rubinson for volunteering to underwrite the cost of the books and for getting them into the hands of people who can use them. David was the founder of the Automatt Recording Studio in the 1970s and produced an astounding list of musicians, including Herbie Hancock, the Pointer Sisters, Santana, Janis Joplin, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, and Taj Mahal. He was also the music producer for the film Apocalypse Now (1979).
To register for the Allied Media Conference, you can fill out an online conference registration form here, or visit the conference's website at www.alliedmediaconference.org.
If you can't make it to the conference, but you still want to check out BE THE MEDIA, you can visit our website or purchase your own copy of the book by clicking the button below:
Look who has been checking out Be The Media!
Slash: former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses; current lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver
Phil Donahue: former talk show host; producer of Body of War
Larry Lessig: professor at Stanford Law; founder of Creative Commons
Bill Moyers: host of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS; former White House Press Secretary; President of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy
Craig Newmark: founder of Craigslist.org
Garrison Keillor: host of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio
Amy Goodman: journalist and host of Democracy Now!
Marty Kaplan: Associate Dean for Programs and Planning of the USC Annenberg School for Communication; Director of the Norman Lear Center for the Study of Entertainment; member of the faculty advisory council of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy; former host of the radio show So What Else is News?
Arianna Huffington: founder of The Huffington Post
Robert Greenwald: director, producer, and political activist
Catherine Crier: former anchor of Catherine Crier Live on Court TV
Robert Kiyosaki: investor, businessman, and creator of Rich Dad, Poor Dad motivational series
Tracey Van Slyke: director of The Media Consortium
John Nichols: Washington, D.C. correspondent for The Nation magazine; editor of the Capital Times; prolific political blogger
Steven Ekstract: founder and publisher of License! Global Magazine
Michael Copps: Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
Tica Lyons: member, Media Action Marin; Social Justice Center of Marin
Representative Lynn Woolsey [D-CA]: representing California's 6th Congressional district
Peter Franck: Chairman of Media Action Marin; Intellectual Property and Entertainment Attorney
Jane Hamsher: founder of the blog Firedoglake; producer of the film Natural Born Killers
Jeff Cohen: founding Director of the Park Center for Indepedent Media at Ithaca College; former producer of MSNBC's Donahue; founder of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Dan Poynter: founder of Para Publishing; author of The Self Publishing Manual
Vint Cerf: Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google; "person most often called 'the father of the Internet'"
Jonathan Adelstein: Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission
Van Jones: President and founder of Green For All
Tim Wu: Professor at Columbia Law School; chairman of Freepress.net; writer for Slate Magazine; coined the term 'network neutrality'
Code Pink: women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement
Douglas Rushkoff: New York-based writer, columnist and lecturer on technology, media, and popular culture
Amit Schejter: Professor at Penn State's College of Communications; head of the Future of American Communications Policy Working Group
Marcy Wheeler: prolific blogger; contributes to many blogs including Firedoglake, Daily Kos, and The Huffington Post
Shawn Chang: Deputy Policy Director of Freepress.net
Peter Phillips: director of Project Censored; professor at Sonoma State University
Peter B. Collins: radio talk show host of the syndicated "Peter B. Collins Show"; owner of a progressive radio station in Monterrey, California
Lloyd Dangle: creator of the syndicated weekly comic strip Troubletown; writer and visual artist
Josh Wolf: journalist, filmmaker, and activist
Reverend Lennox Yearwood: President of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C.
David Rubinson: founder of the Automatt Recording Studio (1976-1984); producer of Herbie Hancock, the Pointer Sisters, Santana, Janis Joplin, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, and Taj Mahal; music producer for the film Apocalypse Now
Ben Scott: Policy Director of Freepress.net
Bill Densmore: director and editor of the Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Mark Pesce: co-inventor of VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language); writer, researcher and teacher
Dianne Mathison: loving and supportive sister
Want more?
Buy an advanced copy
of BE THE MEDIA:
Last week Alan Canton, the President of Adams-Blake Company, Inc., checked out Be The Media's booth at Book Expo America 2008 in Los Angeles.
Alan's company is the creator of the popular software Jaya123, an application that simplifies many tasks for small businesses.
He has been updating his blog weekly for 10 years on issues related to book publishing, the software industry, and small businesses.
On June 4, Adam posted a 'BEA Diary' on his blog, A Saturday Rant, in which he selected some booths from the show and wrote a short review on what he saw.
It appears as though he found something that he liked at Be The Media. His entry is below:
"If celebrity testimonials can make a book into a bestseller then Be The Media should be huge. This author/publisher has done his homework and I predict this will sell very well. The book was badly designed but they say they are going to re-do it before the final print run. No one in their right mind would print a 300+ page book in a san-serif typeface!"
The galley that Alan saw at BEA was an "uncorrected proof" intended only for reviewers and the press. For those of you reviewing the galleys, the final version of the book will include:
* Index
* Introduction
* Syndication chapter
* High resolution images, graphics, and illustrations
* And of course, a larger, serif font for the interior text
The publication date for the final version of Be The Media will be September 1st, 2008.
If there are any bloggers or members of the press interested in reviewing the galley, please send us an email here.
To learn how to create your own blog
see chapter 1 of BE THE MEDIA:
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