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Ideas for the Site
ravelle — Fri, 08/20/2010 - 15:16
Hi folks,
We're looking for new ideas to bring the site to life!
Mainly we want to increase engagement/participation on the site from our core folks. My first throughts are:
a) Group reading at a chapter a week through books 1 and 2
b) Weekly digest of new content on the site
c) Guest bloggers talking about and reviewing other fantasy authors work in a new Camorr Blog
Any other thoughts?
Thanks,
Rob
Well, I imagine that these
RepetitiveNone (not verified) — Sat, 08/21/2010 - 01:58Well, I imagine that these books don't get much advertising, besides word of mouth. No one I know has even heard of the Gentleman Bastard Sequence before I tell them about it so it's really up to us to tell people who can then tell more people. But you can't explain all the interesting events of these books in 5 seconds, so what we need is almost a catchphrase, a way of saying what the Gentleman Bastard Sequence is about in, oh say, 5 seconds. How's that sound.
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Self-Esteem is what you think others think you think about yourself.
5 seconds indeed! Pirates of
CoupeDeGrace — Mon, 08/23/2010 - 08:255 seconds indeed!
Pirates of the Carribean + Ocean's 11, for a start :)
Unfortunately, I agree that the PR for these novels was almost non-existent, which is about par for the course for fantasy novels. Personally, I do my best to sweet talk friends and relatives into reading (and hopefully buying!) Scott's books.
On the positive note, I've seen these books listed in a few "Top 10 fantasy novels of..." lists both in print and online. Scott's fanbase will grow, especially with a third novel close at hand and more on the way.
Also- I fully support a chapter-by-chapter readthrough of the books. I finished re-reading them about a year ago and I'm thinking about diving back in again and would revel in good company! If I might be so bold... How about September 1st for Chapter one?
P.S- I miss the old website design. It fit the content well :)
"I suspect this is all gonna end in screaming and drowning"
It's too true, the lack of
Wilzo — Wed, 08/25/2010 - 12:26It's too true, the lack of PR. And it's wrong, too, because these books certainly deserve a lot more attention than they are getting. I've done my best and talked friends into reading them, and there's been some success - at the moment my bookshelf is lacking both of the Gentleman Bastard books as I've lent them off. (Oh, and every time I see the books and the translations of tLoLL in the library I re-arrange them so that they are more on display. ;D)
I also support chapter-by-chapter reading and discussion, though I won't be able to participate at the moment. It'd be fun to discuss the books more in detail with people who really are interested.
Locke would appreciate it.
I like the ideas! Though if
Sabetha — Wed, 08/25/2010 - 19:19I like the ideas! Though if there aren't many people interested in the chapter by chapter discussion we could start off with a simple 'What are your favourite parts of the LOLL and why'. Everyone'll have more than one favourite part so I imagine the discussion could be quite extensive. I wouldnt mind re-reading both books but closer to the release date of RoT, as a kind of refresher.
Wilzo, I love the idea of you rearranging the display haha! That's one way to advertise them! I think I'll steal your idea the next time I'm in a bookstore/library ;-) I have to say though, it's pretty sad that the promotion of the books seems to have been left up to us die hard fans rather than the professionals.
Hi all, Thanks for the
ravelle — Thu, 08/26/2010 - 12:30Hi all,
Thanks for the feedback!
The first change I've made is add a subscription option to forum threads. If you post a forum thread or comment you will automatically subscribe to it to receive email notifications whenever someone else comments. You can elect to turn this off on a per thread basis under subscription on each thread, or as a whole in your account settings.
I'm hoping this will let people know when to come back and check out the website.
Thanks!
Rob
The weekly digest is a really
Sabetha — Thu, 08/26/2010 - 15:48The weekly digest is a really good idea. Think we should follow through with that, especially because of the growing base of fanwork out there.
I'd love a site layout based around one of RoT's covers too, maybe closer to the release date.
Yeah, We definitely need to
ravelle — Thu, 08/26/2010 - 15:49Yeah,
We definitely need to work on the theme - I moved to this one as it's larger and better from a UI perspective, but it needs Locke'ifying!
Subscriptions work too! Just got an email when you posted.
Should help a LOT!
Rob
I have a pretty complex idea
RepetitiveNone (not verified) — Sun, 08/29/2010 - 18:09I have a pretty complex idea that might never bear fruit, so I have divided it into stages.
If we got past even the first stage I'm sure we would all be impressed with ourselves.
These are basically ideas of works camorr.com could create and distribute throughout the internet to boost an awareness of an extremely worthy series.
Stage 1
Part 1 Audio Book
We could create an Audio Book of someone reading this book, then cut it up for easy distributing
Part 2 Audio Book +
We could have voice actors for each of the characters and a narrator for the non-dialog
Part 3 Audio Book ++
We could have voice actors and voice effects, as well as sound affects (Example: instead of narrator saying Vetris screeched, we could have a bird screeching sound effect that accompanies the narrator)
Now all the sounds would have to be made by us or from local sites anyone can have access to.
Stage 2
Pictures accompanying the Audio Book, the current art in the fandom section are good examples. Basically the book read aloud with illustrations.
Stage 3
A flash series
Newgrounds.com is a well known site, thousands of people go there daily. We could make a flash animation series with voice actors and sound effects, I know a few flash animators that could help us out, but if we did this The Gentleman Bastard flash would be a huge success.
Now, like I said, we may never get past stage 1 but if we do, Scott will have buyers out his ears for his books and we would be directly responsible.
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Out of the abyss peers a demon, behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath
Hi Rep, I've always thought
ravelle — Sun, 08/29/2010 - 18:12Hi Rep,
I've always thought of that, would love to try my hand at narration!
However there are commercially available audiobooks, so it wouldn't be too fair on Scott (not to mention legal!) to produce our own, unlicensed version of his copyright protected work and freely distribute it.
Flash could work, but I personally don't have the time to craft together all of the animations required. Would be ahppy to host such a project though?
Thanks,
Rob
That sounds like fun to me!
Wilzo — Sun, 08/29/2010 - 18:58That sounds like fun to me!
"However there are commercially available audiobooks, so it wouldn't be too fair on Scott (not to mention legal!) to produce our own, unlicensed version of his copyright protected work and freely distribute it." (Rob)
I agree with this, though. But perhaps we could do a bit, a sort of teaser? Something that'd get people hooked?
Or a book trailer video, with fanart and carefully selected parts of the book read aloud?
Locke would appreciate it.
I don't think it would be
Sabetha — Sun, 08/29/2010 - 22:05I don't think it would be legal either tbh. It would be nice to do something with all the fanwork out there, though. Some kind of large project that would advertise his work without breaching copyright laws.
The animation idea would be fun, but it's a helluva lot of work and if you don't know how to animate properly it'll look pretty tacky. Plus, I know a lot of animators/illustrators, but I know none that would take on such a big project for free.
I actually liked the thread about Camorri music. It might be nice to make an audio thing designed for listening to while reading the book.
I also like the idea of a trailer! Maybe with the excerpt Scott gave us read aloud? (It would have to be limited to this site though, unless we get his permission to use it elsewhere.)
Quick, off topic question. is
ravelle — Mon, 08/30/2010 - 00:17Quick, off topic question.
is anyone using the subscription stuff? Can you all see it? I'm finding it really useful for keeping me coming back!
I didn't have to do anything;
Sabetha — Tue, 08/31/2010 - 15:52I didn't have to do anything; it automatically subscribes me. Also, i was getting emails about thread updates anyway, 'cause I always tick the 'notify me when new comments are posted' box. Is there a difference between that box and the subcription?
Sorry, I completely missed
TheSpider — Sun, 09/05/2010 - 19:11Sorry, I completely missed the boat on this one. Mainly because my RSS was down, but I think it's working now.
PR is indeed pretty bad. They'll have to put a lot of money into the campaign for RoT. After the hype around the first book I think it has been difficult to maintain interest, especially after such long breaks between books. Of course we know there are good reasons for this, but it does not help...
I like Ravelle's suggestions, especially the weekly digest. I would also join the group reading.
Rep's ideas are interesting but I don't think the audiobook would be legal. Using Fanart is a great idea. There are some great stuff out there (see DeviantArt).
I think that maybe we should first start by building a small but strong community and then try greater projects...
I would really love to get
TheSpider — Fri, 10/22/2010 - 02:40I would really love to get that reading group going (to change my mind). Anyone else?
We'd need to get the word
Sabetha — Fri, 10/22/2010 - 12:56We'd need to get the word around first, I think - and though people might disagree with me it might be best to leave it until the third book is near release - I'm sure more people will be re-reading the first two around then anyway! But if people want to get started earlier that's no problem with me.
I guess you're right,
TheSpider — Mon, 11/01/2010 - 05:12I guess you're right, especially since no one has answered.
But here was my line of thought: there are over 30 chapters or interludes in LoLL. Even if we decide to do 1 chapter and 1 interlude per week, this will still take us over 15 weeks. Same for RSuRS. Hence a total of over 30 weeks, which should take us pretty close to the release of RoT...
At any rate, this was just a bit selfish... I need something fun like that to take my mind off my academic work.
Sorry about not responding to
CoupeDeGrace — Tue, 11/02/2010 - 19:55Sorry about not responding to your first post Spider
Consider this my vote to start a group read as soon as possible. I am thoroughly excited about the idea, and if tRoT sees a release date sometime next February of June we will be right on track to dive in headfirst.
"I suspect this is all gonna end in screaming and drowning"
The group reading would be
RepetitiveNone — Thu, 11/04/2010 - 02:20The group reading would be great. But how are we gonna do it? Scans? Is someone gonna type it? I hope not. Are we just to read it at home and discuss it here, because I lent my copy out, and might not get it for a while. Just wondering.
You've never been more right about anything in your life, Bug!
I'd love to participate the
Wilzo — Thu, 11/04/2010 - 07:06I'd love to participate the group reading too, but have also lent my Lies to a friend and there's one more person on the waiting list after I get it back. But I can of course join the conversation when I get the book back, or when we start on RSURS.
Locke would appreciate it.