I heard a number of people gripe that none of this year's Superbowl commercials were that good. I especially heard a number of you out there say the Go Daddy Superbowl commercials with Danica Patrick weren't that good.

The concept is tired. Give it a rest... etc, etc... 

Honestly, do you armchair critics even know what the fuck you're talking about?

I understand a number of you measure "how good" a commercial is by some kind of artistic yardstick. 

In truth, the only metric a commercial needs to be measured by is how much revenue did it generate and, secondarily, how much brand awareness did it create?

Both Go Daddy ads in the Superbowl created instant and massive spikes in traffic to GoDaddy.com and were responsible for once again shattering the company's previous year's record setting sales for the event. 

Go Daddy was also the only company to really leverage the power of social media and the internet. Their commercials were once again discussed and written about by major news outlets in print, on the net and on TV. 

And above all generated millions in revenue for the company and many thousands of new customers. 

So really, the results speak for themselves. You may not like the "artistic" content of those ads go but as far as effectiveness goes, those Superbowl ads not only hit it out of the park but were dead, solid perfect. 

Just my two cents... 

And of course if you want to save a few bucks at Go Daddy, use these GoDaddy coupons 

As of right now we know what the book is going to be but I want to get a bit further down the road before I talk about it openly. I'm looking forward to it because Bob is a really great guy with an incredible background and the founder of the most successful company in its' field. I truly believe this book will be something those of you reading this will want to buy. 

So, Bob and I will be spending more time together hanging out and crafting this tome and I will be looking forward to keeping you updated on its progress. 

Really, doesn't anybody take a look at these ads and realize what they've done?
This, and perhaps Apple's less-than-fortunate name for it's new tablet are most likely examples of what could go wrong when you work and create in a vacuum.

You know the drill or you've pictured it in your mind a thousand times. The room, the chair, the exec who you have to impress with your latest masterpiece. 

The same exec who hears a dozen pitches before lunchtime each day. The person whose job it is to say no... something he or she does 99.9 percent of the time. 

And trust me when I say I've blown a pitch before. I won't bore you with details. 

Recently, I did a major studio pitch for a project that has been years in the works... years. (as of now we're still waiting to hear back) but we succeeded in one thing, getting the highest ranking exec in the room, in this case a division president, to tell us he would essentially "take the project upstairs" for further consideration. He complimented me more than once on a pitch I delivered well, telling me they should just videotape me giving the pitch and release that. LOL. 

Trust me when I say how well the pitch went in the room was mostly due to us having a good story but also me following the few simple rules below.

You see, when I was in the Warner Bros. Drama Writer's Fellowship program a few years back I learned a very valuable pitch lesson. 

THEME. 

I look around and see stuff (or hear audiobook podcasts) and I feel that a lot of the time the material suffers because the writer doesn't have a grasp on the importance of theme. 

So I was told, start with theme... and it works. When you pitch the first words out of your mouth should be "The theme of this story is... "

Next, nobody wants to hear all the details of your story no matter how cool they may seem. Your first act better establish who, what and where so quickly establish the world in which it takes place. 

This is the important part... know your act structure and don't be afraid to vocally mark your act breaks. "Act two begins and we..." 

Next, set up the action which bookends your midpoint. Then proceed directly with the one or two key events which take you to the end of act two and then wrap up with how it all ends. 

Yes, it sounds simple and this is obviously a gross oversimplification but hopefully you get the basic idea. Know your theme and act structure well and be able to boil it all down to a couple minutes and most importantly of all, make sure in those couple of minutes you define your character arcs. But yes, be brief and if your story is solid, your pitch will be, too. 

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. 

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

In short, if you're a fan of LOST and love those great sci-fi stories of people who wake up somewhere with no idea how they got there and no idea how to get out like Twilight Zone's "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" or the movie "Cube", you'll love THE MAZE RUNNER. 

And since it's a YA book, even though there is much peril and a few deaths, there is no blood, gore or sex. Sure, if you're a fan of blood, gore and sex in your horror like me such things would have enhanced the story but overall not having blood and gore doesn't detract from the enjoyable experience or reading The Maze Runner. 

I give this book an enthusiastic: RECOMMEND

As this site is primarily about my writing, I will of course still be posting episodes of THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK here under the video category from now on. 

You can see last week's funny news here: http://www.wordsushi.com/video/2010/1/8/tiltw-avatar-deleted-sex-scene-and-charlie-sheens-wife-in-al.html

I'm also planning on putting together an iPhone app for the site soon but I'm gonna hold off until at least the Apple Tablet announcement later this month so I can make sure the app reflects what will be functional for the iphone, touch and tablet all together. 

So pardon the dust while I do some renovations.. 

Oh, and I'm hoping that I will FINALLY be able to tell you more about my new novel soon... in the meantime I'm tinkering with a few ideas for SHADOW FALLS 3 which will essentially be a bridge between that world and this new franchise. 

Stay tuned... 

M

My Favorite Storis of 2009 - The Year End Special (part 1 of 2)

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I'm talking about movies.

Used to be the only place you could enjoy one was on a big screen in your local theatre located somewhere downtown and it used to be those local theatres were opulent palaces with balconies and chandeliers.

Then came the television. Eventually, someone smart realized you could broadcast movies on those as well.

Of course the purists cried, "Movies can't be enjoyed on a tiny screen." The picture was fuzzy. The sound was tinny. "This is not the way movies were meant to be enjoyed."

But television, and watching movies on television, only became more popular over time despite the obvious and quite noticeable drawbacks and limitations in the technology. And then the purists cried, "Watching movies at home will kill the theatrical movie business."

They did. They really did.

But even though the glowing box in the living room may have cannibalized some of the theatrical movie business because of its ease of use, people are still going out to the movies in droves. In fact, the theatrical movie business makes more money (in total dollars, not unadjusted gross) now than ever before.

And those who once fought the proliferation of the easy-to-use, access-friendly television because they feared it would cannibalize their business soon found ways to create even more monetization streams through home video and licensing. In fact, the marriage of movies and this new home technology is so lucrative, many theatrical releases often find their way to profitability through home video.

While this is a gross oversimplification of the facts, there is no doubt that television, the divisive consumer-technology which even decades later is still inferior to the in-theatre movie going experience, is a very successful medium for movie makers.

People don't care that the image is smaller or the sound not as full because even on the small screen, if the story is good people find themselves absorbed into it. Consumers get lost in the experience and the actual medium fades away.

Kinda like what happens when you read an eBook.

Reading on the Kindle is a very similar parallel. On screen, the fonts are the same from book to book, the presentation very similar. All you have are words. And if those words are strung together in an interesting way, getting lost in the story is no different than reading an old fashioned book made from dead trees.

Even though the screen is black and white and the page refreshes are something you have to get used to. But in the end, the result is the same, the medium of presentation soon fades away and a good book is a good book is a good book.

And this is a format that translates even more purely than movies to television because with text only you never lose the aspect of cinematography.

So again, why do people fear the eBook? Why do they fear the eReader?

Because that's what people do. Whenever there is a new technology, it is human nature for those who make their living with the old technology to decry that with it comes the end of civilization as we know it.

Remember what happened with mp3's? With the iPod? While the overall sale of the physical medium may have suffered, in the last 10 years the growth of digital music has exploded. The same can, of course, be said about downloadable movies and television. From these emerging markets have grown full industries.

And still people go to the movies in theatres. People still watch television shows on TV.

People still buy music on vinyl--and while this can be described as a "specialty market". It is also one indentified with the more discerning consumer. One who still likes the sound, and arguably the warmth, of vinyl and the way the format physically feels and looks.

So I propose to you that eBooks will not be the death of the publishing industry--an industry that has changed very little in over a century, which is quite a run I do say. But eBooks and eBook readers are not going away. They will only get better and easier to use and most importantly, cheaper.

Just like television.

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So, it all started with a few simple tweets about my position on ebooks and ebook readers in general and what it all means to the future of publishing. 

You can follow my tweets at Twitter.com/MYN

• How is $9.99 "predatory pricing" when there is no warehousing, transport or print costs involved with ebooks?http://bit.ly/5FmdVt
• @jchutchins But isn't indie anything is always threatened by virtue of its unprotected nature? It's by innovation that indie survives.
• @jchutchins Last tweet was about overall nature of being "indie" anything at retail level, bookstore, record store, boutique...
• @eagleapex Anyone can put a book up for sale on Kindle store for free and become an "indie" ebook publisher (and by extension, marketer)
• @jchutchins 'Zactly. I feel bad for indie bookstores but you can't fight the rising tide. It's all about the consumer and their wants.
• The book industry is now at same place music was in 1999, fearful of digital . 10 yrs later, 1 billion legal songs sold in 2008 alone
• At any time I'd rather make less profit per unit if you can make unit more affordable, easier to get and then make it all up in volume
• Last word on this. All I'm saying is that $9.99 is a psychological price point that will sell more books/yield more profit than $12 or $14
• And how come there aren't more people into "saving the planet" or "going green" enthusiastically supporting ebooks?
• I think this is most exciting time in publishing history b/c not only can digital artists change the game but also rewrite the rules
• @shawnhutchison The coveting of physical medium is a fetish that will vanish as the younger demographic conditioned not to need it grows
• For example: How many of you still get all of your photos printed out? Especially the digital ones. Or do you just keep 'em on a hard drive?
• I'm one of those guys who thinks vinyl sounds superior to CD's but I buy all my music digitally b/c of ease of use and portability.
• And I think, like vinyl, physical books will always have a place and will be rendered more special and cooler than they are now... but...
• but... if you're an author and you don't embrace digital soon you might as well take your eventual place on the scrapheap of history.
• @shawnhutchison The most important consideration a music artist should have in design of CD artwork is how good it looks as a thumbnail
• The difference between an artist and a craftsman is that a craftsman feeds his family
• What do most people do on their computer screens? Not browse... but READ. We are all conditioned to reading on screens all day long.
• When you read on a Kindle, the device fades away quickly. It is just you and those glorious words. That's the relationship which matters
• The iPod changed the game when it became affordable enough for teens and their content became readily accessible. Remember that.
• Kids these days have far less of a relationship with "paper" (or analog) than any generation before and that trend will continue.
• @jakebible You actually don't own the book in physical format. You own the right to keep that book in its present form.
• I, like many of you, own too many "analog" books which fill my shelves and take up too much room though I know I will never read them again.
• @jakebible Not a fan of the "used" book or CD market because the artist never, ever gets paid on sale of "used" merchandise.
• @jakebible I agree. Ebooks have a very long way to go but the dawn of this age should be exciting to all authors, mainstream and indie.
• @elanaroth I'm talking about teens. When teens start to covet e-readers then watch out... and then kids will want them too.
• @elanaroth Agreed. As soon as e-reader is a fashion accessory which their idols will be seen with, teens will flock.
• @zackmann Good question but aren't you just a little bit appalled at all the healthy trees cut down to make those fucking Twiilight books?
• @elanaroth I have to think children's books will be one of the last genres to give up paper. I'd hate to imagine no analog kids books
• Though can you imagine how excited kids could get over an interactive version of Goodnight Moon or Cat in the Hat (on a color device)?
• In future I see kid-centric ebook readers w/ high quality color screens where you can touch a word or sentence and have it read back to you
• @remdotco I'm talking about devices and interactive content specifically created for kids ... the evolutionary extension of the Leap Frog.
• But can you imagine a digital Speak and Spell tablet for kids that also hosts animated/interactive ebooks with an emphasis on learning?
• All I'm saying is Victory belongs to those who find new ways to fight

Miley Cyrus Meets the Queen, Michael Jackson Painting Uncovered and the Tiger Woods Sex Tape

These are the THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

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On twitter, I said the prequel will tie together the universes of Diary of a Madman and this new novel. I'm not saying this is going to be a Diary sequel but instead I figured out a way to shed a little bit more light on a few of the mysteries behind Diary.  How much light? Well that remains to be seen.

What I have decided I'd like to do is make the prequel a much broader epic spanning across many lives, time periods and even worlds. All of the episodes/chapters in the prequel will of course be tied together with a common theme and as I began sketching out the blueprints of how this would all lay out another realization came to me.

I will also be able to tie together the universe of Shadow Falls into the world of this prequel. So for you Shadow Falls fans out there you'll have something pretty cool to look forward to.

As I said, I am in the very early stages of planning out this prequel and my initial thought is to present it in podcast form (where and when TBD) in four seasons of 12 episodes each. I already have close to nine episodes worth of material, or more accurately raw story. But as it stands I haven't yet decided where those nine episodes sit in the overall story arc of the prequel. As I have spoken of before, a number of things have to happen before I unleash the prequel but with a little luck you shall begin to see the prequel sometime in 2010.

TILTW: Tiger Cheats, Suri Almost Crosses the Line and Jon and Britney’s Ex Goes to Jail

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Because I'm too cheap to buy you all real gifts for the holidays, instead I put together a beginning to end feed of the audio book version of my early novel THE ART OF SURFACING.  I would like to think my writing and storytelling chops have gotten better over time but I think this noir-ish thriller will satisfy those of you who I've enjoyed by previous work and have been patiently waiting for something new.

and trust me when I say your patience will be rewarded, in time...

The idea of promoting this book when it first came out was what led me to begin podcasting back in 2005 to begin with. So in a way, this is where it all began.

Below is the official description:

The year is 1986. Ex-KGB agent Figen Dimyarian has come to Boston with British spies on his tail, a hundred million in stolen Russian funds, and enough insider information to turn a fortune on the American stock market. Burnt-out 28 year old lawyer Alex Chase is pushing paper for his firm's largest client, New Gen Pharmaceuticals. Alex has discovered something is very wrong with Marpax, EoGen's next big drug, and the people who stand to profit from it want very much to keep it a secret. But who can he trust? Everyone at the firm seems out to get him, including Hope, a power hungry associate and Alex's former bedmate. When Alex learns that someone is killing off subjects in Marpax's FDA testing, and those people intend to murder Hope as well, he puts his life on the line for her. Alone against all odds, he turns to the only one who can help—Figen, the same "imaginary friend" now on the run for his very own existence.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FEED: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheArtofSurfacing 

Of course, you could always support these efforts by purchasing a trade paperback copy of The Art of Surfacing from Amazon.