Smoky Zeidel interviewed me and my fellow Vanilla Heart Publishing authors for a special event on her blog. Check out the conversation at this link and leave a comment, which automatically registers you to win an ebook from a Vanilla Heart author (Conquering Venus is one of them).
In other book news, I'm halfway done with the book trailer for Remain in Light. Great music courtesy of Brokenkites, a very noir feel with time-lapse photography of Paris, and some of my own photography from last year's time in the City of Light. I will be uploading it to YouTube, Vimeo and other sights on Aug. 1. Can't wait for y'all to see it!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Talking Tumblr
I decided it was time to dive in and see what Tumblr, which was created in 2007, was all about. I didn't want to start another blog, since I already have Modern Confessional and the one I keep for The Venus Trilogy of novels. What the hell would I do with another blog site? Then I started thinking about my London memoir and This City Never Sleeps was born.
Tumblr's main purpose is sharing photos, videos, music, links and short pieces of text or quotes. The majority of users don't publish long pieces of text, but let a photo and caption do the talking. Tumblr is tag driven (i.e. #london, #football, #DavidBowie), so while you can follow Tumblr blogs you like, it's not absolutely necessary to enjoy the experience. But trust me when I say that there are blogs you will want to follow because they are just so cool. If you're posting good photos and such on your Tumblr, people will find you, follow, like and re-blog what you post.
Tumblr is easy to set up. You plug in your email, create a password, choose a url (mine is collinkelley.tumblr.com), pick a template and start posting. Sounds easy, right? Choosing a template and customizing it was the most difficult part for me. There are hundreds to choose from (most are free, but there are premium themes that cost $19 and up) and they are all very, very different. There's no "standard" interface when you're looking at a Tumblr blog – you might have to click on a photo to see the caption or click an icon to like or reblog. That part is a little confusing, but it's also part of the discovery process of using Tumblr and explodes the entire idea of a cookie-cutter experience.
Once you've picked a theme, the dashboard is easy to understand and use. There's a row of clearly marked icons at the top of the dashboard: Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, Video. Click the icon, pop in your text, upload an image or paste a link from YouTube, create your tags and hit Create Post. Done.
There are actually two separate dashboards: one to see what your followers are posting and one specifically to keep up with what you post and who is liking and reblogging. There is an option called "Ask" where followers can send you a question or short email. You can decide whether to enable this or not, or whether you want to add links to Facebook, Twitter or even your Last.fm station so people can find out more beyond your Tumblr blog.
When someone likes or reblogs something you've posted, it shows up as a Note rather than a comment. For instance, I recently posted a photo of comedy duo French and Saunders and it has 22 notes, which means 22 Tumblr users liked it or posted the picture on their own site. To like something on someone's Tumblr blog, find the little heart icon and click it. To reblog something, click the opposite facing arrows. When you reblog, you have the option to add additional text and tags.
At a recent social media workshop, I got the inevitable question about protecting what you post online. Here's the truth: it's almost impossible, so stop worrying about it. Tumblr's track back of who has liked or re-blogged makes it easier to see how people are disseminating what you post, but in the grand scheme, worrying about theft in the digital age is pointless. As with anything you post, make sure to give your own work attribution and then set it free. The Poetic Asides blog maintained by Robert Lee Brewer posted a great essay from Gabriel Gadfly on using Tumblr to share poetry, copyright theft and more. Read it at this link.
What I love about Tumblr the most is that it doesn't feel like yet another social media chore. When I search for London, my dashboard is filled with gorgeous photos, song clips and quotes about the city. It's fun. I usually post one or two things each day – either something of my own or that I've found in a tag search. And, yes, I've posted some of my poetry.
Tumblr is very popular with teens because it appeals to their need for instant gratification. Lately, Tumblr has been overrun with Harry Potter-related stuff, but there are some gorgeous blogs kept by photographers and art-lovers. Magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair, Life and Total Film have Tumblr blogs that are more gorgeous than their websites.
Tumblr is sort of like The Matrix – it has to be seen and explored to be fully comprehended. Set up an account and just play around with it. My BFF Donna – who is not a fan of social media – recently set up a Tumblr blog and she's in love with it. She abandoned Twitter, thinks Facebook is a pain in the ass, but Tumblr is right up her alley.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
First impressions of Google+
I got invited to Google+ last weekend and I've been noodling around with the new social media platform for a few days now. Google+ is still in beta and you have to be invited to use it, but Google confirmed today that 10 million people are already using it. Here's a few early impressions of Google+ so that when your invitation arrives (or when Google opens it up to the masses) you'll be ready.
I'm not gonna lie – Google+ is a lot like Facebook. It has a cleaner, less cluttered design, but it still has a main wall where you post and can see what your followers are posting. There's a place for photos, video and a profile page. Not exactly reinventing the wheel.
The main feed where you read followers' status updates, postings and links is a bit Twitter-ish and the photo albums (which are automatically pulled over from your Picasa album if you use that service or have a Blogger blog) are Tumblr-ish. If you like something a follower posts, hit the +1 button (that's Google's version of "Like"). You can also see your followers' photo albums all in one space. Google is in the process of rebranding Blogger and Picasa and integrating them into the Google+ experience, so I'm interested to see what that will be like since I use Blogger for Modern Confessional. Blogger's dashboard interface has already been Google+ed.
What is different and the big Google+ selling point is how you organize your friends and followers. Google+ calls it Circles. You can have a Circle for your friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, etc. When you post something to your wall, you decide which Circle of followers sees it. That will prevent mom, dad or your boss from seeing things you want to share. Call it targeted sharing, if you will. Facebook is going to have to play catch-up fast, because Circles is very useful. I've set up a Poets & Writers circle so I can target posts related to my work or links I find interesting just to them.
The other feature others are already touting is the Hangout, where you can have a webcam conference with up to 10 people at a time. Sparks is where you create a list of favorite searches on Google. I've already set up Sparks for poetry, fiction, London, Paris, Doctor Who and other interests. Of course there's a mobile app version, too, which is robust for Android smartphones and soon will be for iPhones.
Beyond that, Google+ is still a very Facebook-style experience. I don't see Google+ as a Facebook killer, but there is plenty of Facebook fatigue out there. I know I've been feeling it lately.
Part of the reason I created an author page for myself (www.facebook.com/CollinKelleyWriter) is because I'm now being bombarded daily with friend requests on my personal page from people I don't know. I've got a queue of more than 30 friend requests that I haven't dealt with yet. With more than 2,000 friends on my personal page, I have been subtly encouraging people who have found me because of my poetry and novels to "Like" my author page. I plan to close the Conquering Venus page on Facebook and consolidate my social media presence as I prepare for the publication of Remain in Light.
On top of that, I finally deleted my MySpace account. Once upon a time (five years ago), MySpace was an absolute must. I'd racked up hundreds of friends and thousands of profile views, so it was a little sad to pull the plug, but I don't know anyone (except for a few musician friends and spoken word artists) who still uses MySpace. With Facebook about to roll out a music player for bands to incorporate into their pages, that will most likely be the final nail in the MySpace coffin.
I'm going to keep playing around with Google+ and see what others are doing with it. It's a shiny, new toy and everyone can't wait to play with it.
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Tumblr, Kate Bush, Facebook & other bits
My essay on Kate Bush's album Hounds of Love is now posted at Charlie Jensen's blog. Read it at this link. Charlie asked poets to submit essays about albums that inspire them and must be listened to in their entirety. Hounds of Love is definitely one of those.
I've created a new Facebook page as a clearing house for all things about my novels, poetry and other writings. Feel free to hit the "Like" button.
Nearly 600 people have read the sample chapters of Remain in Light at Scribd. WOW!
Monday, July 04, 2011
Fourth of July bits
Many thanks to fellow poet Rosemary Nissen-Wade for interviewing me about Conquering Venus, Remain in Light and my poetry at her blog, SnakyPoet. You can read the interview at this link. Rosemary lives in Australia, which has moved to the top of my "bucket list" of places to visit before I die.
Saw Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris yesterday with pal Cleo and it was totally charming. That's not a word I typically use to describe a film, but it applies here. It's funny, wistful and Paris is absolutely stunning. Woody's movies have been hit or miss for a long time now, but this one is most definitely a hit.
I have a confession to make: I've been cheating on this blog with Tumblr. I'm not ready to share it with the world yet, but I set up an account specifically for my memoir project. If you Google, you can probably find it. I'll link and talk about the memoir and Tumblr blog soon.
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