Once again, we're calling on freelancer Valerie K Clark to edit a manuscript for one of our clients. If you need someone to proof or edit copy, long or short, I recommend Valerie with no reservations.
Marketing – general
JPEG Mini – Put Your Pix On a Diet
When I shoot stills either for my clients of for myself, I shoot in RAW format. That way, I can manipulate the base image and have it look any way I want it.
But once I finalize the picture(s), I usually output them in JPG format. Most of the printers I deal with require that format, and if the pics are for web display, the best format is either JPG or PNG. And though JPGs are a lot smaller than RAW images, if you shoot and store enough of them, they can take up a significant amount of space.
Which is where JPEG Mini comes in. It basically strips away all non-essential information from the file, and just leaves the image behind. How good is it? How about routinely reducing your pictures to one quarter of their size? Or maybe even smaller!
I'm not getting anything out of this. I just think the program is an excellent product, and if you shoot a lot of pix, you'll probably wind up seeing the benefits of using it.
There are two (really, 3) versions of the software. There's the personal version, which handles smaller files as a stand-alone program. A free version of this software does up to 20 pix in one day. If you pay for it, it's only $20. The professional version of the software crunches pix up to 8 times faster (which can be a help if you've got hundreds – maybe even thousands – of pix to squash), and works in stand-alone mode and also works as a plug-in for Adobe Lightroom 5 and above. That version is just under $150. JPEG Mini is available in both Windows and Mac flavors.
Give Them Free Rum
My wife and I just returned from St Martin in the Caribbean. We were staying on the French side (there's also a Dutch side to the island) in the town of Grand Case. Yes, it was a vacation, but I'm always on the lookout for new and unique marketing ideas. Sometimes, like on this trip, I get whacked over the head with how effective "the basics" are, and how time-tested techniques can – and should – be used.
Grand Case is the culinary capitol of the Caribbean. I don't know who first bestowed that sobriquet, but I'd say it fits. The Boulevard is narrow, with cars parked haphazardly on either side of the street, tourists walking along it and other cars and motorbikes zipping between them. The Boulevard, at less than a mile long, is also home to 20 or more restaurants. While some of these are barbecue joints, serving things like pork ribs, chicken and other "home cooked" specialties, most of the restaurants serve fancy French cuisine, mostly in open-air establishments. Half of these. the ones on the north side of the Boulevard, are right on the beach, and offer spectacular views.
Discrimination is a Good Thing
When it comes to marketing and sales, discrimination can be a good thing. Of course, I'm not talking about discriminating against someone based on their ethnicity, their religion, or any other negative reason.
What I'm talking about is taking a pool of "all potential clients" and making (sometimes difficult) marketing decisions based on demographics or other factors that will aid you in your promotional efforts.
Celebratory Pic
The very last pic from the very end of the evening. This was taken at CNY Karate’s 50th Anniversary banquet on October 6th, 2013. This is one of the musicians, Nikoro-san (his nickname) and I. We became good friends over the previous week. Bonded over a shared (over)use of technology!
Amateur Portrait
What happens when you turn your new camera over to a curious high school student? Sometimes, you get some really good photos. And sometimes the subject of the photo could be better.
I recently accompanied a client to Niagara Falls to shoot stills and video for them. His 15 year old son was curious about my camera, so I turned it over to him for a while. As you might think, some of his photos turned out poorly. And some turned out okay. A couple (out of maybe 50 or so shots) turned out pretty good – surprising for someone who’d never used a DSLR before.
One of the “okay” ones was yours truly, taken near the building on the American side that leads down to the Maid of the Mist boat tour.
Speaking of the tour. . . I had a number of people look at me like I was crazy for taking my DSLR on the boat and into the heavy spray from the falls. The didn’t believe me when I said my Pentax K30 was weather sealed. I’ve been using Pentax cameras for 30 years, and I’m happier with them now than ever before. I highly recommend their DSLRs.
Advice For Authors
You’ve written your book. It’s published – print, ebook, audio, maybe all three. You wrote a first draft, then a second, third and forth. Then there was the editing. Sometimes you changed a line, or a paragraph. Sometimes it was a word, or just a punctuation mark. But you’re tired of the damned thing, and it doesn’t matter anymore because it’s published. You can forget about it.
Well. . . no. You can’t. Novel or non-fiction, in order for people to stumble on it by chance, loving every word and telling all their friends to buy a copy, the book must be promoted.
Here’s a sad (perhaps) fact for you: all that effort to write your book is just the tip of the iceberg. In order for you to become the next shining literary beacon, the bottom 90% of your iceberg needs to be completed. You need to be interviewed, to be quoted, to do readings for rooms small and even smaller. You need to remain completely upbeat when getting up early and staying up late for phone interviews, saying the same things over and over again. Blogs and magazines won’t go out and find your book on a store shelf, rushing home to read it and gush over it to their myriad readers. It needs to be put into their hands.
Badges? Badges?
Maybe we need some stinkin’ badges.
Man, what I didn’t know about badges! Games offer them & maybe FB too. Guess I’ll have to create some for my on-line learning area. http://bit.ly/161y4A4
Learn & Practice The Basics
I’ll be 50 years old in a few months. Next week, the karate school where I train – CNY Karate – is hosting masters from our home dojo in Okinawa City, Okinawa, Japan. Some of these people have been training in karate longer than I’ve been alive. As I was talking with one of the classes a couple nights ago, they asked me what the Okinawan karate-ka would be going over with us. Advanced techniques? Spinning jump kicks? Breaking boards while flying through the air?
No. They’ll be drilling us on the basics. In karate, that’s a small handful of blocks, punches and kicks. These basic building blocks can be put together in nearly endless combinations to achieve a martial artist’s goals. These can range from simple protection, repelling an opponent, causing limited physical damage, serious damage, or even death. Overall, the practice of the physical aspects of karate are really about learning to control your own body, mind and spirit.
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