Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Run It Up the Flagpole and See Who Salutes

In a comment a couple of posts ago, Mike said, "We need to have a virtual launch party for the virtual book tour. Or are you planning a 3-dimensional tour?"

As I replied to him, although I'll probably do some signings, very few authors get full-blown book tours these days, and I don't expect to be one of them. But the more I mull over the notion of a virtual launch party, the more I like it. It's probably been done but I haven't heard of it before.

Here's what I'm thinking: A live Webcast, maybe an hour or two long, in which I'd talk about the book, do some drawing, show off some original art and props and stuff, tell some behind-the-scenes stories, answer questions, tour the "studio" (estimated duration: 90 seconds), and basically host a party minus the drinks and snacks. My friend Otis Frampton does these neat broadcasts on UStream.tv in which he lets viewers watch him work while they ask him questions and converse. That is, viewers type comments that appear on-screen for him and everyone else to read; Otis responds verbally while others participate via text. That could work.

I'm not committing to follow it through--for one thing, I'd have to buy a camera and figure out how to set the whole thing up, and there'd be some other logistical challenges--but what do you think of the idea? Is that something anyone would be interested in?

15 comments:

Mike Lynch said...

Yes. This is easy to do and there are about a zillion happy fans of yours who would help with the learning curve!

Mike said...

And Mike and I are in the same time zone (we're even in the same state, for that matter), so, if you let him help you, I'm in!

Sherwood Harrington said...

My name isn't Mike, and I'm generally not in the same state, but I'll be happy not only to participate, but to pop up some virtual popcorn.

ronnie said...

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

That is all.

ronnie said...

PS Here in New Brunswick the equivalent of "Let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes" is "Let's put it on the train and see if it gets to Montreal".

Comic Nurse said...

Absolutely -- It would be great fun. And we can all have drinks & snacks at home!

Sherwood Harrington said...

You might want to keep Amber away from the swimming pool, though. Just prudent, you know, given what happened the last time there was a virtual party at your cyber-place. Of course, if there's an actual camera involved, some of us might be a little less, ah, exuberant. Keep our clothes on, even.

Mark Anderson said...

Sounds like fun! I say run with it!

sligo said...

you betcha, let's virtual party.

since i'm in your actual vs virtual neighborhood, happy to help with video or anything else you might need.

wow, a virtual party. now i can finally discover what a virtual hangover feels like...

Rachel said...

Absolutely. I'd have a hard time traveling to a book signing, but I'd reschedule my day for the virtual one (with a 90 second tour thrown in)!

Wallflower said...

This is a great idea! Maybe you can borrow a camera.

Wallflower said...

Brian, Off-topic, I know, but I just went to Amazon to look at your page. The book is not released yet, but they have 2 copies available used starting at $96. Hmmm. Is time-travel somehow involved?

Brian Fies said...

Well, a virtual launch party sounds like something I need to look into. Thanks for the encouragement. The technological aspect doesn't really intimidate me--I'm pretty good at stringing cables and making them talk to each other--but I'll holler if I need help. Of course, now you're all duty-bound to show up for the party.

Sherwood's second post refers to a time in July 2006, when I went on vacation and he and several other disreputable reprobates took over my blog comments to hold a party of their own. I'm still finding electron crumbs in the virtual couch cushions.

Wallflower, I don't know what's up with those used books. I see they're both from the same seller; I think I'll follow up, if only to ask, "What the hell?" I guarantee the book isn't available anywhere except my hard drive at the moment. In fact, I'm inspecting some final proofs from the printer next week.

Sherwood Harrington said...

Hey, those electron crumbs aren't my fault. You should be looking at people who grep with their mouths open for that. I think ronnie does.

ronnie said...

I beg your pardon? I wasn't grepping with my mouth open.

I'm pretty certain that was Dann.

Yeah, let's blame it on Dann. :)

ronnie