Humanities & Culture
LiteratureBy Blogging Authors
3 weeks ago
 Guest Post by Irene Watson
Recently, Loren Woodson, author of The Passion of Maryam, said to me:
I have been fortunate now to have won or been honorable-mentioned in some 8 or so book festivals (in either wild card or spiritual category). To whom should these email announcements most efficaciously be sent and with the least annoyance factor dusted up? I get presumably heartfelt congrats but there is a point of diminishing returns in keeping the book on people's minds. Or is there? I'd be interested in your and other Reader Viewers thoughts on this. So far I've opted for a strategy of accumulating some wins/mentions before sending out a blast, so it has something of being newslettery.
And are there ways to get this news to the non friends/family community?
Loren is asking the million dollar question that I'm not sure there is an answer for. The one thing that came up for me is something Roy H. Williams, from Wizard Academy |
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Humanities & CultureQuotes and InsightsBy DerekHaines
2 months ago
Like most people, I like to keep myself up to date with current affairs around the world. The internet has made this so easy with online newspapers, magazines, television and portals such as Google News. While the usual Obama, Iran, North Korea and economic meltdown stories dominate, it is the level below these that interest me the most. Why? Because the closer I look, the more stories I see that could be classed as advertorial. Whether it be health, entertainment, sport or tech news, there seems to be an increasing proportion that borders on, or is in fact blatantly advertising dressed as news. The most curious one in fact for me, from my reading, has been that of Apple and Steve Jobs. I was very surprised yesterday, that for the first time that I can recall in ages, I didn’t find an Apple story in the Business or Sci/Tech sections of Google News. I did a search, and still nothing for the day. Well, you can’t expect to make the news everyday, can you? But then, consider this. How much direct advertising do you see for Apple? Maybe an iPhone ad on TV. But rarely. The buzz created around Apple is not advertising driven, it is media and editorial driven. So do Apple get this for free? Do journalists think it makes good copy and attract readers by writing almost daily Apple stories? I read an article yesterday about Apple’s tactic of using ‘controlled leaks’. Nice! |
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Humanities & CultureSpirituality and FaithBy Dabar
2 months ago
A recent fundraising letter from a children's charity I contribute occasionally to, had as it's advertising gambit,
"Every child deserves to live happily ever after"
It is an example of a stupid kind of sentimentality that creates a society prone to discontent and depression.
Children do deserve care. One type of care we can give them is love, in the form of discipline.
The very best gift we can give any person, child or adult, is the ability to develop mental strength when things go wrong. To be happy, or at least not in depression, in adversity. No ones life will be a long life of ease and good. The longer one's life is the more likely one will face immense personal sorrow and loss. A child who has been loved in wealth and comfort excessively until an accident, may be deemed much more blessed than a child who grows up in a war zone and survives seventy years of back breaking toil, poverty and hardship.
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Humanities & CulturePeopleBy Dot Dot Dash
2 months ago
It seems M&S resorted to a good old bit of British sleaze to add the wow-factor to their Christmas ad campaign this year. Philip Glenister's demand to see 'that girl prancing around in her knickers' was designed to appeal to the nostalgic, middle-aged male buyer of inappropriate underwear for 'the mrs', but caused a sexism row that resulted in an investigation by the Advertising Standards Agency. The ad was cleared, but what was the thinking behind this risky strategy for the usually uber-conservative M&S? The casting of Glenister was, of course, an inspired choice. His character from Life on Mars reminding us how different life was in the 70s. Benny Hill...Carry on films...if it was alright back then, why isn't it alright now? Well in my view this ad is a real success - hitting exactly the right note with many of M&S's customers. The sad thing is, it also highlights just how entrenched our gender stereotypes are - particularly when placed in the context of 'Christmas in Britain'. Ok, lets break this down a little and look at some of the iconic figures of the UK's 'Christmas Culture'. #1 The incompetent male |
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World AffairsBusiness & FinanceBy cashadvance
3 months ago
 Facebook is one of the largest social networking sites. People all around the world use it to connect to each other. It was formerly created for high school and college students. It opened up for everybody in 2006 and then later in 2007 it opened up itself to developers. Therefore, it launched enormous opportunity for its users to make money online with Facebook. From the time Facebook has opened up for developers, it has seen new applications overflowing.
Many people are constantly developing new applications on Facebook and many of them are even used by various different users to create pages that appeal to their own interests and needs. More than 1,900,000 users access the Facebook Marketplace application, which has now become a trend that is gaining fame. Following are the few ways, which can help you, generate money online with Facebook: Selling ad space: This is the most attractive part when it comes to making money online on Facebook. This forms majority of the business people do on it. Some Facebook applications let sellers advertise their wares to Facebook friends and other members. This method can help you make a lot of cash online by selling ad space on their page through ad networks like Lookery, Userplane and Google Adsense. Facebook is free |
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