Will video save books?

Every few months, a woman down the street has a used book sale. Her husband, once an avid book collector, is now stricken with MS, unable to manage his massive collection.

This old house is filled with endless shelves, and apparently, there's more. Each sale brings fresh books, and each time, I walk out with a paper bag crammed of classics.

And I think of how many new books are published each year--most estimate an upwards of 175,000+ in the U.S. alone. How can authors and publishers respond to a flooded market?

This article on CNET talks about how publishers are using video, asking the question, "Can video save the book-publishing star?"

Publishing is an industry we love, and continue to bring alive with video.

Social Networking

A recent study found that 70 percent of 18-34 year-olds use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Even more, many of those surveyed said they use social networking to learn more about products and services.

MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe said this, "Smart marketers know how to tap into the passion and energy of individuals who care about their products to vastly multiply the impact of their campaigns."

Video taps into passion. And social networking? Let's be friends.

S&S Paves New Road

Simon & Schuster announced the launch of their video site today. Below is an excerpt from a Publishers Weekly article.

Simon & Schuster has teamed with the Internet video company TurnHere Inc. to launch a "book-centric video channel" that will promote S&S authors and their new books. Bookvideos.tv will begin in early June, and the videos will also be available at SimonSays.com, YouTube and the authors' own Web sites. Though S&S has produced videos to promote its authors in the past, the venture with TurnHere represents a stronger and more formal commitment to using video to market authors. S&S will create videos for at least 40 authors, including Mary Higgins Clark, Kathy Reichs, Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz, Jennifer Weiner and Zane.

Sue Fleming, v-p of online and consumer marketing for S&S's adult publishing group, said the company is drawing more heavily on video to promote authors, based on reader feedback. She noted video's ability to "replicate, for the digital age, the critical and time tested word-of-mouth excitement that comes from talking about a good read."

This is a huge development for those of us working with video in the publishing industry. The digital age is changing the way we communicate, and video will continue to expand into new industries that were once unthinkable.

Is your industry ready for the video revolution?

Better yet, are you ready to lead your industry?

The New Big Three? Or Two? Or...?

News of Microsoft and Yahoo!'s crumbling plot to join forces to steal web-giant Google's lunch money has been the hot topic on today's techy playground.

Google celebrated the failed merger by eating a second helping of Terabytes, further increasing its market share.*

*Not true.

A Whole New Mind: Symphony (and Sufjan)

Pink’s element of ‘symphony’ is “the ability to put together the pieces … to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields … to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair.” (130)

Pink uses the example of real life symphonies to explain this “big picture thinking” skill. An amazing example of ‘symphony’ I experienced this Spring was watching Sufjan Stevens and his nine-person crew perform. If you’re not familiar with Sufjan, he’s an eclectic indie musical genius.

Late at night after the show, I wrote:

Sufjan has discovered how to tell old stories in new ways. The music is unmethodically tight and complex. The storytelling is unusual and entertaining. The video is a welcome additive. The costumes are wildly eccentric. Sufjan is an experience.

He’s captured what Pink is getting at: Sufjan’s made the banjo cool again and rock stars out of band geeks. The irony is overflowing with justice.

This clip of Sufjan leaves much to be desired (in A/V quality and for the rest of the song), but I found it on YouTube from the actual show I saw Sufjan at.



In video, we see ‘symphony’ all around with the development of new media. YouTube, MySpace, blogs, video iPods, cell phone video—the list goes on.

And the type of people Pink and others believe are the best visionaries?

Poets.

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This is the fourth blog based on A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (Riverhead Books).

What's Your Google Relations?

This is an excerpt from the Wired magazine article The See-Through CEO by Clive Thompson:

"Online is where reputations are made now," says Leslie Gaines Ross, chief reputation strategist - yes, that's her actual title - with the PR firm Weber Shandwick. She regularly speaks to companies that realize a single Google search determines more about how they're perceived than a multimillion-dollar ad campaign. "It used to be that you'd look only at your reputation in newspapers and broadcast media, positive and negative. But now the blogosphere is equally powerful, and it has different rules. Public relations used to be about having stuff taken down, and you can't do that with the Internet."

So, here’s how this relates to video: A well-titled online video posted on multiple user-based Internet sites creates a lasting Internet search engine presence.

Author Greg Stielstra, who recently launched his own marketing firm, PyroMarketing, Inc., pointed out the online longevity of this video we created.

Having good ‘Google’ vibe is only a side benefit of the online video revolution—video needs to be presented to its intended audiences for optimal impact.

However, if “a single Google search determines more about how people and companies are perceived than a multimillion-dollar ad campaign,” it’s more icing on the cake.

So, go ahead, Google your name and company—what does Google say about you?

Ode to Final Cut Pro

This Wired article talks about a regular meeting of Final Cut Pro users in L.A., from Hollywood's elite to budding filmmakers. Apple's Final Cut Pro is gaining steam as the editing program of choice, and that's why we use it in post-production.

A Whole New Mind: Story

“In the Conceptual Age, however, we must awaken to the power of narrative,” Pink writes. “Story represents a pathway to understanding that doesn’t run through the left side of the brain.”

Story is the most critical of the six elements to our company.

I recently watched The Invisible Children, a documentary on the tragic war in Uganda. The documentary-makers told the stories of children forced out of their homes to sleep in shelters out of fear of LRA rebels, who kidnap children and force them to be child soldiers—producing emotionless, ruthless killers—before they even hit puberty.

The Invisible Children documentary is a prime example of video-based storytelling that gives birth to significance—the movement has mobilized thousands of people around the globe to take action against this desperate situation.

It wasn’t created to guilt people into action, it was to communicate the harsh reality and motivate people with resources to offer relief—by simply sharing stories.

Videographers, filmmakers, documentary-makers—whatever term you choose—all seek to impact the world with their work. When we’re able to grab a hold of stories and capture them in a compelling way, change will happen.

The question is: How will you tell your story?

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This is the third blog based on A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (Riverhead Books).

A Whole New Mind: Design

“The wealth of nations and the well-being of individuals now depend on having artists in the room,” writes Pink in A Whole New Mind. Pink writes, “Today we must all be designers.”

Pink is right: The aesthetics of commerce have never been more important. Look at today’s primary communication vehicles—websites, brochures, video, billboards, television, magazines, newspapers, blogs—design has become an expected part of our lives. Pink says, “Today we must all be designers.”

Pink exhorts designers to be skilled at both “utility and significance,” and we echo his comments when thinking about how design relates to video.

Video has the potential to serve multiple purposes, first by effectively communicating to audiences about a product or service (utility), but also holds great potential to communicate intangible ideas with tangible effects on people’s actions (significance).

Stay tuned for more on significance in the next blog.
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This is the second blog based on A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (Riverhead Books).

A Whole New Mind: Introduction

I’m reading A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink. The book examines the ‘Conceptual Age,’ due to the rise of three A’s:

1. Abundance: Material abundance in the U.S. has freed people to search for lives of meaning instead of mere physical survival.

2. Asia: The outsourcing of many traditional analytical jobs overseas.

3. Automation: Technology is replacing workers at alarming rates.
The ‘Conceptual Age’ still needs traditional left-brained thinking (logical, analytical), but the increasingly important qualities of right-brained thinking (creative, abstract) are in high demand, creating “a whole new mind.”

My once bright, neon yellow highlighter is quickly running out of goo spent on provocative quotes. My brain is filling with inspiration, while my head continually bobs with subtle nods of agreement. The formula to thriving in this new era, Pink writes, is the ability to grasp and apply six elements:

“Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning.”

I’ve decided to follow my highlighter trail and pull Pink’s insights together to dissect how this impacts video production and its subsequent industries (advertising, film, new media, etc.). I’ll post relevant quotes and thoughts from each chapter.

I highly recommend you join me and give this book a read.