Monthly Archives: January 2009

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NEOs: Near Earth Objects, or Nasty Existential Obliteration

meteorite impact sculptureHere’s something else that, alongside finding we have living neighbours on the planet next door, might give the space programs of the world a much needed kick in the backside. President-Elect, take note of the large number of Near Earth Objects, and our current inability to track them all effectively, let alone deal effectively with one on a collision course:

The numbers here are stark. NASA’s Near Earth Object Program reports that we’ve found 5,955 NEOs, some 763 of which are at least one kilometer in diameter. 1008 NEOs larger than 140 meters across come within 4.5 million miles of Earth’s orbit, dangerous to us because perturbing influences could change their trajectories in the future. Centauri Dreams believes that the discovery of an object on a collision course with Earth would galvanize the space program as researchers looked for the best ways to deflect its path. The problem is time.

As existential risks go, a meteor strike is rather different to the others – statistically less likely to happen (or so we hope), but fast and utterly devastating of it does. Keep watching the skies, people… [image by larkspurlazuli]

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How to Communicate More Effectively, Part 7 – Bringing it All Together

[How to Communicate More Effectively is a series of guest posts from Gareth L Powell. In case you missed ’em, here’s part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6.]

As writers, bloggers, editors and publishers, we’re in the business of communication. Over the last week, I’ve outlined one strategy you might use to get your message across to your audience. There are other methods, and I suggest you check out as many as possible, which is why I’ve included a list of reference books at the end of this post.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide. Personally, I’ve found the discipline necessary to write good marketing copy has helped me in my creative writing endeavours.

In summary, some final advice for you:

  • Know your audience and write for them.
  • Start with a killer title that they can’t resist
  • Hook them in with the first sentence and don’t let them go.
  • Get them emotionally involved as soon as possible. Make it personal. Give them a reason to care.
  • Use as many short sentences as possible to create pace.
  • Use evocative words that conjure impressions in all five senses – smell, taste, touch, sound, and sight.
  • Avoid clichés.
  • Use positive, action-packed phrases to make your prose come alive.

In these times of dwindling magazine subscriptions and slumping book sales, we need to use every tool we can in order to attract and retain our readership. If we put a fraction of the care and attention we invest in our creative endeavours into marketing them, I’m sure it’ll do us all the power of good.

Further Reading:

  • Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Free download: http://pge.rastko.net/etext/100010)
  • Write To Sell by Andy Maslen
  • The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert W. Bly
  • How to Write Sales Letters That Sell by Drayton Bird
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The battle to build the definitive virtual London

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composite virtual LondonHere comes the latest iteration of the land-grab. Given that the metaverse offers theoretically infinite space in all four dimensions, no one need fight over lebensraum… but Victor Keegan points out the business value of having the definitive virtual version of a city like London:

Build a 3D London and you can rent out apartments and shops, get advertising, boost heritage sites and familiarise tourists with the capital before they arrive. And, of course, go out clubbing and meeting people.

During a recession, won’t people want to stay at home using broadband, already paid for, rather than going out? Won’t they want to shop without the hassle and parking problems of Oxford Street?

Keegan’s not the first to realise this – five different organisations are building or have already built a 3D version of the UK capital. The Second Life iteration of London is already up, running and renting out properties, but the proprietary versions (which will doubtless be bigger money-makers in the long run, and hopefully less frustratingly bug-ridden) are hot on its heels, including a yet-to-be-unveiled Microsoft offering that is apparently described by a rival as “phenomenal”. [image by *spud*]

What isn’t mentioned is what the City of London itself thinks about all this (although the Ordnance Survey people have already delayed one project by a few years by claiming exclusive rights on their maps, despite their bill being footed by the taxpayer). If there’s money to be made from a virtual London, I’m certain that the real London will feel it deserves a cut of the action; it’s no less ridiculous than a lot of current intellectual property lawsuits.

So, will the famous (and not-so-famous) cities of the world start selling exclusive licenses to metaverse developers? Will developers with less scruples build unlicensed replicas anyway? Will there be a panoply of Londons, Amsterdams, New Yorks or Belgrades – the X-rated versions, the Christianised or Islamicised versions, the simplified versions for school trips?

And once the bandwidth and bit-rates get high enough, will we ever want to trudge around the originals?

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Does Not Equal merchandise store at Cafepress!

Does Not Equal button badgeGood news for fans of Futurismic‘s weekly webcomic, Does Not Equal: comic creator Sarah Ennals has set herself up with a Cafepress store selling Does Not Equal merchandise, which so far includes button badges and the ubiquitous T-shirts.

So click on over there to grab yourself an exclusive design, and show your support for hungry Canadian webcomic writers!