Disqus - Latest Comments for TomThompson

Re: The Academy For Software Engineering

TomThompson — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:02:17 -0000

As a parent of two kids in NYC schools (one in middle school and one at Stuy), and with family who teach, I'm hugely grateful for your work here. The system has enormous problems that can feel intractable, but I'm heartened by these new efforts.

Re: Facebook Ads Perform Half as Well as Regular Banner Ads [STATS]

TomThompson — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:06:48 -0000

Industry CTR averages are in the .08-.1% range, so the .05% on FB is not nearly as good.

Re: Change is a Good Thing

TomThompson — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:05:29 -0000

Totally agree. And as to the (salaried) career: the need for the writing/reading/thinking is where the real innovation's going to come from anyway, not the back-and-forth over the business model.

Re: Here’s a real vertical: PoetrySpeaks.com

TomThompson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:41:26 -0000

I'm so glad you're highlighting Poetryspeaks! It feels like confirmation of something Richard Nash twittered a few months back: "Porn and Poetry always skate the leading edge." At the time, I thought, "Porn, sure. But poetry?" Yes, poetry. I don't miss the info about iambic pentameter one bit. Poetryfoundation.org and poets.org started w/education in mind and have tons of resources that Poetryspeaks.com can link to while their building up their own. Poetryspeaks.com is starting with a much more dynamic model than even those great sites and is something very new indeed.

Re: Why publishers need to understand brand

TomThompson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:18:05 -0000

I like that this post comes the same day as Seth Godin's latest clarion re: how authors need to own their own platform now, and not rely on publishers. What Godin doesn't mention, however, is that many great authors are not so great at marketing -- it's just not their skill set. But we would lead an impoverished reading life without their work. That's the publisher's role. As you often mention, the publishers' role historically has been to optimize distribution. Now, developing your publishing brand for the consumer is vital to that mission. (And lets those great authors who aren't so great at platform building keep doing what they do best.)

Re: “Vertical” versus “service”: semantics, nuance, or dueling metaphors?

TomThompson — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:12:06 -0000

I think the difference in opinion between you and Andrew has to do with the specific needs of different verticals. O'Reilly's community depends on them for help on specific technical problems. A programmer I know (who's also an acclaimed novelist) loves having O'Reilly books in different formats because he needs the same information in different ways at different times. O'Reilly provides a very useful service (skills, how-to) to the programming community. But the audience for the "Sci-Fi" or "Romance" vertical is looking for something altogether different than "service". They're looking to have an experience. This difference might be at the heart of why Dominique Raccah's very interesting recent moves and comments re: e-books look different from Tim O'Reilly's. They're working (and brilliantly respecting) the different needs of their communities.

Re: To Brand or Not To Brand - mediabistro.com: GalleyCat

TomThompson — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:00:45 -0000

I'm glad to see Slate's article (and your link) about the unique challenges of book marketing, and to see a link to our targeted online ad solutions for book publishers. But I was bemused by the reference to our company as a small “independent advertiser.” Verso Advertising is the #1 advertising agency representing American book publishers. And while our Verso Reader Channels are one of the most cost-efficient ways for publishers to target readers online, our budgets are typically higher than the $2-3,000 budget range specified.
Our clients have found real benefits to Reader Channel campaigns for most categories of nonfiction and genre fiction; so I want to make sure this info is as accurate as possible.