Guest blogger today: Tina Lo Sasso, President of Make It So Marketing Inc....

“Make It So, Number One!”

That familiar command from Captain Picard is why our company is called Make It So Marketing. 

When I started the company I remembered how my former boss would often end our meetings by saying, “Make it so, Number One!” in his best Picard imitation.  (One year we all chipped in and got him a Worf stand-up to guard the entrance to his office. Okay, it was a tech magazine – some of us were a little nerdy!)

Michael takes the dreams and desires of comic book fans and “makes it so” by giving them news, reviews, and interesting stories about comics creators through his popular blog and by helping people find that sought-after collectible comic through our eBay store.

Me? I take the dreams of publishers, authors and experts and “make it so” for them by marketing their books and products.  Today I’m helping an old friend of mine, New York Times bestselling author Harry Paul, launch his latest book – “Instant Turnaround!” which he co-wrote with my new friend Ross Reck.

The book is a business parable (like “The Go-Giver” and “Who Moved My Cheese?” – one of Michael’s favorite books). It explains how to get people excited about coming to work and working hard.  A great message for managers coping in today’s tough times!

I read the book in one night and loved it.  I was delighted when I later got the chance to help Harry and Ross with their online book launch which happens today. 

What’s an online book launch?

Well, here’s what we did. Harry and Ross told all their author friends (and I told a bunch of mine, like the people at Zig Ziglar’s company) about their new book. Then they asked them to give a cool free downloadable gift to people who buy the book today at Amazon.com and to tell all their readers about the book and the chance to get all the cool freebies.

Today all the friends are emailing their newsletter subscribers recommending the book and telling them to check out the gifts here:

http://www.rossreck.com/instantturnaround

The book buyers win – they get a great book and a bunch of other cool stuff that helps them do their jobs better. The friends win because more people hear about them through their free gift.  The authors win because they sell a ton of books.

I’m curious about what you think about this way of marketing.  I’ve seen it done, and done it myself, with several non-fiction books. But what do you think?  If you were a manager, would you be interested?

My bigger question is:

Do you think that an online launch could work for graphic novels or books on the comic book industry?

It's true that I've said before that each day I receive several messages...   From either contestants that are entered in the Small Press Idol 2009 contest, or from the Small Press Idol organizers themselves.

And yeah, I still don't consider them spam messages... because there's only 11 Days left for the contestants to get the votes in for their projects!!! 

There were 27 entries that have made it out of Round 1 and are now into Round 2.  Why does this matter and why am I blogging about it again?   Well, in Round 2 it is not only the 3 initial Judges that are doing the voting... it is also registered persons, like YOU or me could be, that are voting in this round!

I have already blogged about a few entries in the SPI contest so far....

Dead Duck is yet another one of the entries that has caught my eyes.  Why?  Well, because I have a fondness for Westerns both in comic book and graphic novel format! The project was submitted by Richard Case from the Muncie, Indiana area. 

The Small Press Idol 2009 has 4 rounds:

Round 1 is already over. It was to present the Basic Concept / Talent.

Round 2 ends on April 30th. It is more about showcasing the characters with illos and background text.

Round 3 goes from May 18th - June 7th.  It is on the 'sequential primers'.

Round 4 goes from July 15 - ??? It is the Origin or the #0 issue.

Below is the Basic Concept shown in Round 1 from the 'Dead Duck' Comic Book project:

"The last thing that I recollect was my pulling myself out of a river just at nightfall. I had not a rag of clothing and knew nothing of my whereabouts, but all that night I traveled, cold and footsore, toward the north. At daybreak I found myself at Canyon Diablo, my destination. The first man that I met was a outlaw named William Briscoe, whom I knew very well. You can fancy his astonishment at seeing me in that condition, and my own at his asking who the devil I was.”

"'Jake Duck,' I answered; 'who should I be?'”

He stared like an owl.

"'You do look it,' he said, and I observed that he drew a little away from me. 'What's up?' he added.

I told him what had happened. He heard me through, still staring; then he said:

"'My dear fellow, if you are The Duck I ought to inform you that I buried you two months ago. I was out with a small scouting party and found your body, full of bullet-holes and newly scalped. Come to town and I'll show you your clothing and some letters that I took from your person.”

And so the Adventure Begins…

Note: This series concept is based on an excerpt from the book Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories, by Ambrose Bierce, 1913. (Which is now in the public domain.)

Round 2 at their web site shows the characters from 'Dead Duck'.  The above illustration at the top left of this post is in pencilled form only at this time and is just a representation of what other pages are at the web site for viewing and reading.

For more on 'Dead Duck' I invite you to check out this entry on the Small Idol Press web site.   After viewing his progress so far, and liking it, Richard would definitely appreciate your vote!  If you are not yet signed up to vote at the Small Press Idol 2009, feel free to do so!

If you have signed up to vote at Small Press Idol, you can vote for 'Dead Duck' at:  http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/forum-t36009.html

To read more about the 'Dead Duck' comic book project go to:    http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/forum-t36009.html 

If you haven't signed up yet for Small Press Idol, the 'sign up' page to vote for Dead Duck or any other of the SPI entries is at:   http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/signup.php

It's been a while since I blogged about this...   But once again someone has asked me about a comic book they have from this reprint series from 1966, thinking that it is the original issue from 1961!  They look so close to the original issues, (minus certain pages and a price on the front cover), that mainstream folks quite often are 'conned' into thinking that they have the originals!

I am re-posting the following blog from March 5th, 2007 where I went into this subject: