Disqus - Latest Comments for KatFrench

Re: The Enneagram and Work: Productivity Advice for Each Personality Type

KatFrench — Fri, 22 May 2020 11:20:54 -0000

Great article! I've been using the enneagram as a personal development tool for years. It's ideal for people who most strongly relate to the phrase "I'm my own worst enemy." I do have to say, as a Type 4, recommending Ira Glass & Julia Cameron to us is like recommending water to fish. 😂

Re: How Lifestyle Mags Are Killing it on Social

KatFrench — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 11:28:50 -0000

I do think it's helped them, particularly in accelerating virality for their content. Ultimately, they offer the kind of content that keeps people surfing their feeds. Facebook needs those eyeballs.

Re: This is Why You’ll Never Pay for a ‘Like’ Again

KatFrench — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 08:55:35 -0000

I don't know that it's true that most advertisers bid for impressions. Maybe SMBs or nonprofits with smaller budgets who bid CPM, even when they want clicks, just to ensure their ad doesn't stop running. Or bigger companies who are specifically making an awareness play. But having worked for an eCommerce company who did *heavy* CPC bidding on Facebook, I can say this is a change direct marketers have been wanting for a long time.

Re: A Few Personal Rules On Side Projects

KatFrench — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 12:33:36 -0000

I write fiction as a side project, as well as taking on the odd copywriting gig. The work I'm doing with CafePress leans heavily into short, pithy social content which are mainly just "verbal frames" around our designs and products.

So even writing projects are a good chance to sort of "stretch my legs" in longer form writing. It's like a muscle; it atrophies if you don't use it.

Plus, writing speculative fiction is fun.

Re: Lessons Learned with Amazon, iBooks and Lulu

KatFrench — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 21:06:01 -0000

It can be a nightmare. I've had good luck getting my books into iBooks and the other non-Amazon eBook marketplaces (Kobo and Nook, mainly) using Smashwords. It's also useful for getting a nice, clean download in different versions for testing purposes.

However, if you need those 3rd party marketplaces to unpublish your book, you may have to contact them directly. If you plan to do KDP Select (which allows you to do a short free promotion on Amazon) it has to be available only on Amazon. I got dinged when Kobo didn't take down one of my steampunk eBooks, months after I'd unpublished it to do a KDP Select promotion.

When I finally did a full length paperback release, I went straight to Createspace. I'm in a couple of writers' groups, and had already heard some Lulu horror stories. Speaking of which, if you're not in a writers group, I highly recommend it.

If I had it to do over again, I would not have Createspace automatically generate my Amazon eBook. You lose some of the useful formatting options, like linked Table of Contents, that you'd have if you uploaded a separate Word document to KDP. And since you have to ask them to link the eBook and paperback anyway (as you described), and it's not like it saves you a lot of effort.

Re: Breathe, then Think

KatFrench — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:39:19 -0000

I've made dozens of dollars so far! LOL... Really, my 2013 plan was about finishing stories and putting them out there. Building resolve and thicker skin. ;) But I've slowly started building up sales and reviews, and I've had about 1000 downloads of the full novel. Looking forward to that catch up. Maybe another thing to add to the 2014 plan?

Re: Breathe, then Think

KatFrench — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 13:02:05 -0000

Perspective is a beautiful thing. :) Definitely agree that staying out of the backchannel, where drama festers, is the path to sanity. Congrats on the Kirkus Review! I get excited even when I get a nice user review for my stuff. Sounds like you're in a good, focused place, wrapping up the loose ends and listening to the lessons of 2013. Making a plan for 2014. A nice spot to be in at this point in the year.

Re: Social Media is a Terrible Ecommerce Tactic – or is it?

KatFrench — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 15:15:37 -0000

Interesting stuff, Jay, and fairly consistent with what we see at CafePress.

Re: Salvaging Your Sanity as a Community Manager

KatFrench — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:35:00 -0000

That's actually exactly what my OB said when I was expecting my son. "There's a reason they call it labor." Of course, she was from Trinidad and said it in an awesome accent, and then attempted to convince me to join a salsa dancing contest at the military base's Cinco De Mayo festival to induce labor (I was two weeks past due).

But I digress... Yes. There's a sort of "emotional weight" associated with the job that I don't think people spend much time considering, especially before they get into the field. They assume it's all being witty and winsome on social media--and that's definitely an important part of it. But the other part is FREAKING. HARD.

Thanks for chiming in.

Re: The Internet Is NOT High School

KatFrench — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:56:10 -0000

Instead of Alice Cooper, I'm going with Bowling For Soup: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

High school never ends for a lot of folks, internet or real world. It's good to remind yourself you don't have to play that game, because almost everyone will try to pull you back into it. And it's weirdly addictive and attractive, even though it's like a casino: you never win in the long run.

;-) Have a good one, C.C.! Stay grown up! Whatever good thing you decide that means.

Re: When Less is More in Your Content Strategy

KatFrench — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:53:47 -0000

Hallelujah!

Re: When Less is More in Your Content Strategy

KatFrench — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:53:29 -0000

It's a serial, Barry. We're doing a throwback to the Glory Days of Radio.

Re: How Goodreads Saved (and Ruined) My Reading Habits

KatFrench — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:33:27 -0000

Aw, hon. How have I not found your blog before now? Aside from the double-edged sword that is "turning an essentially solitary activity practiced mainly by introverts into a social activity," I did NOT need another social network demanding my time and attention. And yet... it hath sucked me in.

Also, one of the guys in my real world writing group is the author of a couple of Dragonlance novels from back in the 80s. He'll be DELIGHTED that he may be responsible for that much angst. ;-)

Re: Uncovering My Medical Mysteries

KatFrench — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:16:54 -0000

"We cannot, however, account for my lack of incessant chattiness." BITING MY TONGUE.

Re: Google Reader Causes Pivot (and Purge)

KatFrench — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:45:25 -0000

I agree that growth means change. And as creatures of habit, we all need to revisit those habits every so often. Particularly media consumption habits.

I'll be honest; I can't remember the last time I actually visited my Google Reader account...which is as close to an endorsement as I can get for Google's decision to sunset the product. I find that I am more likely to visit a curated solution like Zite. Ultimately, I'm not sure most people *want* to be their own editors of their personal web.

Still, I probably need to follow your lead on this, and use it as an impetus for creating my own must-read aggregation of feeds. Since it's unlikely someone out there is going to create a feed that combines Content Strategy, Steampunk Fiction, Digital Publishing and Social eCommerce news for me.

Also, good sort-of seeing you in Austin. Hope you had a good trip.

Re: “You’re Creeping Me Out!” The Dark Side of Social Networking

KatFrench — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:04:11 -0000

It's not about the clothes, IMO. It's about the aggressive person's poor boundaries.

At SXSW, I was working at a party for my employer, checking people in at the door. Because it was SXSW, because it was a "Wild West" themed bar, and frankly, because I liked it, I wore a steampunk corset. It would be totally fair to say it was a provocative outfit. Indecent? No. But definitely not "blend in with the woodwork black and grey."

And it still wouldn't have been appropriate for someone to hit on me while I was obviously working. Maybe I'm lucky, because nobody did (that I noticed). Maybe it was just that I was SO busy nobody could get a moment of my attention. Or maybe someone did hit on me and I was too distracted to notice (I'm notoriously bad at social cues IRL).

I guess my point is, it makes me sad that you feel like you have to overthink and second guess so much. Because disrespectful behavior is on the person who is acting disrespectfully. Whatever your attire (or online, whatever your avatar)--you have the right to feel safe and respected.

Re: Are you sure your social listening data doesn’t suck?

KatFrench — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:14:33 -0000

Excellent stuff, Malcolm. I've seen all these issues over the years. An additional layer I didn't see you mention is that often the most relevant, non-spammy, non-duplicate stuff is inaccessible because it's locked in a legitimate, active forum that's locked all its content behind a registration, or it's behind a Facebook user's privacy settings. While I appreciate the reasons people hide their content, there's no denying that a lot of really insight-rich conversation can't be processed by social analytics tools.

And don't get me started on automated sentiment analysis. I refuse to even report automated sentiment. No offense, but the data quality isn't good enough to make anything resembling a business decision based on it. Not even close.

Re: The Pursuit of Writing

KatFrench — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:09:25 -0000

I'm totally telling you that you have to read the Twilight books, now. #drunkwithpower

Re: DEBATE: Facebook is Not Blackmailing Brands

KatFrench — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:11:02 -0000

You do make a good point, and it's one that I think Mark Cuban pointed out, that passively reading content is a desirable user action that doesn't create a measurable signal. Should I have to like every post or picture I read to make sure that person's stuff continues to be in my feed? I don't think so.

Re: DEBATE: Facebook is Not Blackmailing Brands

KatFrench — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:08:37 -0000

I just today discovered the shocking fact that @JasonFalls also does not want to eat BBQ three meals a day.

Re: DEBATE: Facebook is Not Blackmailing Brands

KatFrench — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:07:29 -0000

You could use lists to "boost the signal" of friends (put them on the native "Close Friends" list, and the Pages tab for brands, whose content you wanted to be sure to not miss, similar to how some people use lists to manage their unwieldy number of Twitter follows.

Re: DEBATE: Facebook is Not Blackmailing Brands

KatFrench — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:13:13 -0000

Thanks. And maybe "fair" would be a better term than "democratic." ;-)

Re: DEBATE: Facebook is Not Blackmailing Brands

KatFrench — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:12:27 -0000

I'd point you to Jon Loomer's point upthread, Craig. If it were an email campaign, an "open rate" of 16% would be... about average. Should you be able to reach more of your fans? I dunno. Should more than 10-20% of the people who signed up for your email campaigns actually open them?

Re: DEBATE: Facebook is Not Blackmailing Brands

KatFrench — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:38:58 -0000

Totally agree. The content most likely to get dropped by EdgeRank isn't really "content"--it's blatant advertisement. Which you pay to get seen.

Re: DEBATE: Facebook is Not Blackmailing Brands

KatFrench — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:36:08 -0000

Thanks for the thorough response, and especially thanks for pointing out another parallel I missed with email: the typical open rate. I've worked with clients who would have been delighted with a 16% open rate on an email campaign. Great point.