my novel goes on sale today

I'll admit, when I started writing a book (um, ten years ago?!) I had no idea how difficult it would be, nor how many people would need to become involved in the making of it. I guess I'd thought a novel would be sort of like writing a veeerrrrry looooonnnnng commercial or print ad. And indeed, my first draft probably read like that. The agent I sent my first draft to mailed it back with a few kind words and also (kind) harsh ones, "A novel needs to tell a story. Yours doesn't." Back to the drawing board--er, keyboard--after some crying and gnashing of teeth. The next draft came a few years later (I was also, you know, writing for actual pay) until I had piles and piles of scenes and plotlines and my husband (tired of carrying the piles out to the car when we went upstate on weekends) suggested I devote a summer to finishing the novel, just to get it out of my system. And now, thanks to the interventions of him and a few others (which I'll save for more posts) I have a novel coming out today from Simon & Schuster. It's called Making It: A Novel of Madison Avenue. A story set in (where else?) Adland from the POVof an older, wiser, married Peggy Olson. (The book is not affiliated with AMC's Mad Men, need I say?) Feeling morose on a Monday? Cheer up by doing an adbroad a solid. Buy the book here. Each sale improves my ranking on Amazon by at least a thousand. Thanks!

how hitchcock scared up audiences for psycho

Hitchcock wasn’t only a master of moviemaking, he was pioneer of movie marketing. Psycho was a low budget film ($800K) that could have easily tanked because Paramount didn’t want him to make it. The movie was based on a pulp novel that many thought was beneath Hitchcock's sensibility. (In today’s terms, it would be like Woody Allen filming a James Patterson thriller.) When Hitchcock finished the movie, the studio refused to premiere it. Which forced him to come up with his own marketing strategy. He filmed this message to moviehouse managers across the country to show them how to “sell” Psycho, which (brilliantly) advised them to forbid anyone entrance after the movie started. This resulted in long lines of ticket-holders outside theaters and drive-ins, jittery with anticipation, which translated into great WOM, much harder to achieve when social media required social contact. Psycho became one of the hit movies of 1960 and was nominated for an Oscar.

RIP Etch a Sketchman

Trust AdFreak for the best obits. André Cassagnes, inventor of the Etch A Sketch died Jan. 16 at the age of 86. The brand's ad agency, Team Detroit, crafted this cunning tribute.

How many peaceful hours his invention brought to my parents during car trips in a station wagon unequipped with electronic kid-silencing gadgets.

vintage ad via The Invisible Agent

some stories are best told without any words

This silent black and white film tells more of a story in six minutes than many two hour movies manage. Paperman was created by Disney's John Kahrs (The Incredibles) who was inspired by the time he spent in NY, commuting to Grand Central. To create soft black and white animation (the only color is lipstick) Kahrs and his team used new software called Meander which merged hand drawings with computer-generation to create the look of Disney animations of yore. It's up for an Oscar and made its debut on youtube Tuesday where it's already gotten 3 million votes.

twitter goes to bed with tv

Inquiring minds at Brandwatch and My Clever Agency did an interesting study on how "dual screening" is transforming TV watching. Finds:

1. Dual screeners are most likely to tweet from bed. (Surely soon to be a New Yorker cartoon.)

2. Viewers are 12 times more likely to tweet about a show during days it's on air vs. days it isn't.

3. Tweeters are more negative about shows as they're being aired than they are about them after they've aired. (The past is always better, even in TVland)

4. Less than half of TV shows in the US include official hashtag in their broadcast. (When will showrunners get with the program their audience is watching?)

5. Most TV shows do use official hashtags on Twitter, however. (At least there's that.)

6. Almost half of the official TV show Twitter accounts seldom engage fans, not responding to mentions or queries.

More goodness here, with pretty infographic.

writing a book vs. writing a Facebook

I'm mystified as to why so many authors, presumably good at writing, leave it up to others to come up with their social media profiles. Here's how David Sedaris, one of the most gifted, funniest writers on the planet, greets visitors to his Facebook page:

This page is updated by David's management and publisher to keep fans informed about new events, articles, and to allow fans to share feedback and connect with other David Sedaris readers. David knows and hears about this page but does not create posts.

I know better, I think, merrily setting up my first-ever Facebook author page, hoping it's warm and inviting and a fun place to hang out. But do I really know best? Sedaris has 575,000 "Likes" to my measly 20. Hoping you'll help narrow the gap after the jump.

tracking my book sales before there's a book

My (soon to be published) novel doesn't have a cover or even final contents yet, but I'm thrilled to see that it already has a listing on Amazon. You can't buy it yet, but you can pre-order. At least a few kind readers (and my mother) must have one-clicked already because my sales rank went from #172,987 yesterday to #151,748 today. (The smaller the number, the better the sales.) I know the ranking is meaningless, but I find the uptick (or downtick) irrationally gratifying. All those years scoffing at data geeks in meetings--now I'm the sucker for numbers.