It's getting crazy here, although it's a good kind of crazy.
I had in mind that I wanted to write a book. Just one book.
Ha!
Book #2 is being written this weekend. Along with books 3 and 4. what started with one book (Juicy Red Berries, about layout) has a follow up (Juicy Red Berries for Computer Layout). And now everyone in Australia is requested Australian/British language versions (with Australian payment option in Australian dollars).
And then another couple of book ideas have landed in my head (isn't inspiration great?!). Adding Australian versions, it's now books 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Expect to see me blogging a bit less often. :-)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Confessions of a font junkie
One of my pet obsessions is fonts. Having worked on layout so much, I get a little bit over the top noticing fonts, and I have likes and dislikes. Note: never use Monotype Corsiva in my presence.
And my current favourite is Interstate, in all its highway glory. Yes, I know it was the hot font of 2005, but I still think it's a classic: beautiful, easy to read (hey, if you can read it zooming down the highway at 100mph, it's legible). I just love the way the centre bar in the capital E is slightly retracted, the way the tail on the lower case h is oblique, the fat round curves on the 9 and 6... Yes, I can see your eyes glazing over from here. But seriously, printouts of this font should be a centrefold. If this font was human, I'd *&^% it.
So naturally I was delighted when I found a download of these fonts at
http://www.triskele.com/roadgeek-fonts/
It's nice to know that someone is even more obsessive than I am about it. :-)
And my current favourite is Interstate, in all its highway glory. Yes, I know it was the hot font of 2005, but I still think it's a classic: beautiful, easy to read (hey, if you can read it zooming down the highway at 100mph, it's legible). I just love the way the centre bar in the capital E is slightly retracted, the way the tail on the lower case h is oblique, the fat round curves on the 9 and 6... Yes, I can see your eyes glazing over from here. But seriously, printouts of this font should be a centrefold. If this font was human, I'd *&^% it.
So naturally I was delighted when I found a download of these fonts at
http://www.triskele.com/roadgeek-fonts/
It's nice to know that someone is even more obsessive than I am about it. :-)
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Oz-e, Oz-e, Oz-e...
...oi,oi,oi!
All you Australians would know the chant.
I'm getting a LOT of enthusiasm for the eBook domestically, which is a pleasant surprise. The eBook is being picked up by my fellow Ostrayans at a rate that's outstripping everywhere else!
So I'm doing my countrymen -- and women, of course! -- the honour (yes, Australian spelling!) of doing a version of my eBook in Australian. No, it won't feature Australian slang, although if I can work the phrase "flash as a rat with a gold tooth" in there I'll be thrilled. But it will have Australian / British spelling ("colour" instead of "color") and, most importantly, you can pay in Australian currency.
And of course, I'm calling it the Oz-eBook.
Oz-e, Oz-e, Oz-e... oi, oi, oi!
All you Australians would know the chant.
I'm getting a LOT of enthusiasm for the eBook domestically, which is a pleasant surprise. The eBook is being picked up by my fellow Ostrayans at a rate that's outstripping everywhere else!
So I'm doing my countrymen -- and women, of course! -- the honour (yes, Australian spelling!) of doing a version of my eBook in Australian. No, it won't feature Australian slang, although if I can work the phrase "flash as a rat with a gold tooth" in there I'll be thrilled. But it will have Australian / British spelling ("colour" instead of "color") and, most importantly, you can pay in Australian currency.
And of course, I'm calling it the Oz-eBook.
Oz-e, Oz-e, Oz-e... oi, oi, oi!
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Seven deadly sins: Pride (hubris)
I'm up to the last of the seven deadly sins -- or seven deadly *virtues*, as I've renamed some of them. I'm finished with sin after this. Mind you, this IS the Big Daddy of them all -- pride.
How can pride affect your layout? Easily. Think about your product or services for a minute. You're proud of it -- justifiably so, I hope -- and you want to communicate that pride to your prospects. So you talk about your features. Your company has been operational for 15 years. Yours has the largest market share in a particular area. There are lots of photos of you and your staff with beaming smiles all over your faces, etc...
Let me be blunt here: as the old saying goes, "me, me, me is dull, dull, dull". And it is dull. Your prospects don't care about you or your company; they only care about what you can offer them. I can't say this enough.
There's a utility company in my city that insists on sending me bulletins with every bill. Glossy (and expensive!) page after glossy page of smiling employees working on Very Important Projects and pretty graphs and pie charts. Truth be told, I don't care. If one morning, I wake up and my hot water system is not working, I will care. I will care a lot. I will care a lot more than the utility company would like. But until then, these bulletins are totally irrelevant to me, and go straight to my recycling bin.
Two magic words are useful here: "which means". For example, "we are the largest retailer of [whatever] in [area], which means we have a lot of outlets there, making it more convenient for you." It's really all about the customer. The difference is between talking about features, and talking about benefits. You always want to promote benefits to the customer.
So swallow your pride when you do your layout, scrap the irrelevant material -- which means that you'll have more interested prospects, and more money in your pocket.
See, it's not that hard. :-D
How can pride affect your layout? Easily. Think about your product or services for a minute. You're proud of it -- justifiably so, I hope -- and you want to communicate that pride to your prospects. So you talk about your features. Your company has been operational for 15 years. Yours has the largest market share in a particular area. There are lots of photos of you and your staff with beaming smiles all over your faces, etc...
Let me be blunt here: as the old saying goes, "me, me, me is dull, dull, dull". And it is dull. Your prospects don't care about you or your company; they only care about what you can offer them. I can't say this enough.
There's a utility company in my city that insists on sending me bulletins with every bill. Glossy (and expensive!) page after glossy page of smiling employees working on Very Important Projects and pretty graphs and pie charts. Truth be told, I don't care. If one morning, I wake up and my hot water system is not working, I will care. I will care a lot. I will care a lot more than the utility company would like. But until then, these bulletins are totally irrelevant to me, and go straight to my recycling bin.
Two magic words are useful here: "which means". For example, "we are the largest retailer of [whatever] in [area], which means we have a lot of outlets there, making it more convenient for you." It's really all about the customer. The difference is between talking about features, and talking about benefits. You always want to promote benefits to the customer.
So swallow your pride when you do your layout, scrap the irrelevant material -- which means that you'll have more interested prospects, and more money in your pocket.
See, it's not that hard. :-D
Monday, March 12, 2007
Seven deadly sins: Envy (invidia)
How can you use envy to serve your copy?
Don't envy other people's images and decide you need a few of your own.
Don't envy other people's graphics and decide you need a few of your own.
Don't envy other people's multiple fonts and decide you need a few of your own.
Don't envy other people's fancy features and decide you need a few of your own.
Envy other people's sales and get more of your own. Go buy my book, learn how to use layout to increase sales, and go gettem!
Envy. Another one of the seven deadly virtues. ];-)
PS I saw a lovely t-shirt recently: a picture of Satan and the caption, "God is busy. Can I help you?"
Don't envy other people's images and decide you need a few of your own.
Don't envy other people's graphics and decide you need a few of your own.
Don't envy other people's multiple fonts and decide you need a few of your own.
Don't envy other people's fancy features and decide you need a few of your own.
Envy other people's sales and get more of your own. Go buy my book, learn how to use layout to increase sales, and go gettem!
Envy. Another one of the seven deadly virtues. ];-)
PS I saw a lovely t-shirt recently: a picture of Satan and the caption, "God is busy. Can I help you?"
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Seven deadly sins: Anger (ira)
I'm up to the fifth of the seven deadly sins. The previous four haven't been so bad; in fact, I've even turned them into virtues.
Not this one. No sirree. How would I type when I was angry?
LIKE THIS. I WOULD LEAVE MY *&^%ING CAPS LOCK KEY ON AND TYPE IN UPPERCASE. WHEN I TYPE LIKE THIS, I FEEL LIKE I'M SHOUTING. IT'S HARD TO READ TEXT THAT'S WRITTEN LIKE THIS, AND IT MAKES THE AUTHOR LOOK LIKE A MORON. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU GO TO BOLD FONT, MAKE THE TEXT A BRIGHT RED, AND ADD A SERIES OF COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Which is why I've reverted to lower case, non-bold, sane writing. Honestly, would you buy from someone who really wrote like that? Me neither. So why do so many people do it -- especially the exclamation marks?!
The the very worst example I've seen is someone who wrote out his top ten or eleven values on his business card in upper case. Partly it was the care factor: if you value spending time with your family, that's nice, but irrelevant to me. Just give me your card, if you have something I want, I'll be in touch, thank you. Secondly, it just about gave me eye strain to look at. And of course, you want people to read what you're writing.
All this bad upper case / bold font / exclamation mark writing is making me angry. And that anger, of course, is a virtue. ];-)
Not this one. No sirree. How would I type when I was angry?
LIKE THIS. I WOULD LEAVE MY *&^%ING CAPS LOCK KEY ON AND TYPE IN UPPERCASE. WHEN I TYPE LIKE THIS, I FEEL LIKE I'M SHOUTING. IT'S HARD TO READ TEXT THAT'S WRITTEN LIKE THIS, AND IT MAKES THE AUTHOR LOOK LIKE A MORON. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU GO TO BOLD FONT, MAKE THE TEXT A BRIGHT RED, AND ADD A SERIES OF COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Which is why I've reverted to lower case, non-bold, sane writing. Honestly, would you buy from someone who really wrote like that? Me neither. So why do so many people do it -- especially the exclamation marks?!
The the very worst example I've seen is someone who wrote out his top ten or eleven values on his business card in upper case. Partly it was the care factor: if you value spending time with your family, that's nice, but irrelevant to me. Just give me your card, if you have something I want, I'll be in touch, thank you. Secondly, it just about gave me eye strain to look at. And of course, you want people to read what you're writing.
All this bad upper case / bold font / exclamation mark writing is making me angry. And that anger, of course, is a virtue. ];-)
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Seven deadly sins: Sloth (acedia)
How appropriate. I almost couldn't be bothered to write this blog. ];-)
As it turns out, sloth is very appropriate right now.
Last night I was reviewing a friend's copy for submission to a local paper (it was actually Rod at Tap4Health -- if you haven't checked out his site yet, go to http://www.tap4health.com/ -- I've got glowing reviews of his EFT practice and I'm planning on some more in the next few weeks).
But I digress. I've decided that sloth can be a virtue, if you can get it to work for you, so to speak. I can get sloth to work for me, and I think that's a major achievement. :-)
Most people are lazy. This is not automatically a bad thing if you know this beforehand. And when people are gazing through newspapers (or other print media), they don't want their eyes to do a lot of work.
Simple, really.
So it makes sense to make your copy laziness-friendly. Most of the advertisements I saw in the paper were anything but. They were busy -- lots of colour, hard to read writing, wayyyyyy too much happening. So I trimmed Rod's copy down -- I got rid of the rainbow background, changed a few fonts, and put my secret weapon in place. The graphic designer had worked very hard -- too hard -- and while he was hardworking, most prospects are not.
And if you want to know my secret weapon, buy the book. Because I'm too lazy to tell you any more! ];-)
As it turns out, sloth is very appropriate right now.
Last night I was reviewing a friend's copy for submission to a local paper (it was actually Rod at Tap4Health -- if you haven't checked out his site yet, go to http://www.tap4health.com/ -- I've got glowing reviews of his EFT practice and I'm planning on some more in the next few weeks).
But I digress. I've decided that sloth can be a virtue, if you can get it to work for you, so to speak. I can get sloth to work for me, and I think that's a major achievement. :-)
Most people are lazy. This is not automatically a bad thing if you know this beforehand. And when people are gazing through newspapers (or other print media), they don't want their eyes to do a lot of work.
Simple, really.
So it makes sense to make your copy laziness-friendly. Most of the advertisements I saw in the paper were anything but. They were busy -- lots of colour, hard to read writing, wayyyyyy too much happening. So I trimmed Rod's copy down -- I got rid of the rainbow background, changed a few fonts, and put my secret weapon in place. The graphic designer had worked very hard -- too hard -- and while he was hardworking, most prospects are not.
And if you want to know my secret weapon, buy the book. Because I'm too lazy to tell you any more! ];-)
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Seven deadly sins: Greed (avaritia)
Ever been tempted?
I'm talking about layout, of course. Tempted to put too much on; tempted to add picture after picture, paragraph after paragraph, font after font, and wayyyy too many colors. Ever seen layout that's busier than Grand Central Station?
That's succumbing to greed. Being greedy for extras, instead of being greedy for readers. And the more people read, the more sales you make.
So let me make a counter-temptation: be greedy for readers. Less is more. Cut back the number of colors in your copy to, say, four or less and see how you go. Classic colors (black, white, red) might be the way to go.
Less is more, which is why today's blog is short.
I'm talking about layout, of course. Tempted to put too much on; tempted to add picture after picture, paragraph after paragraph, font after font, and wayyyy too many colors. Ever seen layout that's busier than Grand Central Station?
That's succumbing to greed. Being greedy for extras, instead of being greedy for readers. And the more people read, the more sales you make.
So let me make a counter-temptation: be greedy for readers. Less is more. Cut back the number of colors in your copy to, say, four or less and see how you go. Classic colors (black, white, red) might be the way to go.
Less is more, which is why today's blog is short.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Seven deadly sins of layout: Gluttony (gula)
Now, how does gluttony relate to layout?
Quite simply. Think of some food you would want to eat, does it look different to food you avoid? Obviously, yes. Several years ago, I worked with someone whose daughter was a food stylist (yes, there is such a thing), preparing food to be photographed. Here's a tip: you never want to eat food that can be photographed, it's invariably inedible. To get crisp looking vegetables steaming, they're usually prepared raw, with a microwaved tampon (!) inside under the vegies to provide the steam. That's one of the tricks to photographing food.
And there are similar tricks to preparing appetizing layout. I've used the word "appetizing" very deliberately here. Those secret techniqes that the food stylists use are nothing on the secret techniques I've written in the eBook to maximise sales. Just click on the link and download!
Quite simply. Think of some food you would want to eat, does it look different to food you avoid? Obviously, yes. Several years ago, I worked with someone whose daughter was a food stylist (yes, there is such a thing), preparing food to be photographed. Here's a tip: you never want to eat food that can be photographed, it's invariably inedible. To get crisp looking vegetables steaming, they're usually prepared raw, with a microwaved tampon (!) inside under the vegies to provide the steam. That's one of the tricks to photographing food.
And there are similar tricks to preparing appetizing layout. I've used the word "appetizing" very deliberately here. Those secret techniqes that the food stylists use are nothing on the secret techniques I've written in the eBook to maximise sales. Just click on the link and download!
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