REVIEWS NEEDED!!

Dudes,

Your help is needed. I have a big favor I'd like to ask of ANYONE that visits this site and has a little time on their hands: our friend and former co-worker Scott McMahon, son of our former co-worker Kevin "Crazy Legs" McMahon, has written a book. A book on how to make a film and SELL IT ONLINE. And during this very critical "launch window," he needs Amazon reviews. Why exactly? A bunch of reviews early on in a book's life-cycle gets the notice of Amazon's search ranking, and can help get the tome in question to the top of the relevant search requests.

Which is good. Critical, even.

Scott discussed a whole methodology for getting your book noticed on Amazon. It's something he's researched and it is very eye-opening to hear what he has to say. Lots of time spent discussing how to successfully launch a book to be found on his podcasts (available at his website). I think everyone here should listen to this. So much of the e-commerce experience can feel like tossing yr work into an abyss (or, as Blair likes to say, "...like pissin' up a tree...")(that's the southern girl coming out in her)...I've got comics and sketchbooks for sale on my website now, and I've been getting orders (GAWD BLESS ALL Y'ALL WHO'VE STEPPED UP),  but it's all very mysterious and so small bore that the idea of making money from it all seems a very distant mirage....

But I've been learning a lot reading Scott's book and listening to some of his great interviews on his podcast; fer instance, HERE where he talks to a woman who works as a social media marketer for indie filmmakers, or HERE where he talks with the Oren Peli, maker of "Paranormal Activity", or HERE where he talks to a filmmaking couple who developed their own popular & award-winning podcast called "Film Courage" (HINT: they find YouTube gives them MUCH greater exposure than mere podcasting).

So his book and website and podcast offer a lot of useful content. Definitely worth a look.

The book is called "How to Make and Sell Your Film ONLINE--and Survive the Hollywood IMPLOSION While Doing It."
 
Seems I recall a person or two on this site mentioning the desire to make a movie...?

Scott is hoping to hit 25 reviews for his new book by May 25th....he's halfway there as of today. 12 so far. And MORE than 25 would be great, too! 
It's got damn useful info in it--and some of the most interesting stuff isn't the actual movie-making bits. Some of the BEST stuff deals with the meta-task of discovering what sort of movie (or book, or comic, or webseries or podcast) you should be making--and most importantly who you should be making it for. Here's a random excerpt that I think is completely relevant to what most of us are trying to accomplish with our comics/art/stories: 

Remember this ... your film (OR COMIC OR DRAWING) product is part of the larger equation.
Your Film is an Advertisement ...
If our goal is to build a product worth $100 to sell to our 1,000 ideal fans, then how do we make our film product worth a $100?
 
You don’t. Your film is the catalyst, the advertisement for something bigger that is worth more than the $0.99 rental price of a single film product.

What is this “something bigger"?

The whole purpose of carefully analyzing and assessing whom your ideal fan might be ... and learning to listen to their fears and desires ... is to creatively figure out a way to either solve their problem, or spark their imagination.

Either way, the key ingredient is to provide your audience great VALUE. Everyday, you should be asking yourself, “How can I provide greater value to my fans?” It’s about them ... not you. Use your talents to serve them a delicious dish of VALUE.

What Can You Create That Is Worth $100 Every Year?
Let’s take a look at what we know so far ...

• Having a business system creates the structure to collect consistent

   revenue from this $100 product.

• Exploitation of your license diversifies your income streams. This
  provides added value.

• Being a good listener and pulling (extracting) the pain from your
  ideal fan/customer will provide a work order of what you need to
  build.

• If built correctly, you will provide great value to your ideal fan.

• If you listened well, and built your product(s) with quality, you should be able to sell that $100 product to your fans with ease.

This idea of figuring out who your ideal audience is, and what they want to "consume" (and are willing to pay cold hard cash for) is really the primary mission for all of us--at least for all of us wanting to MAKE a dollar or two from our creative exploits....

Click on this link and download the FREE PDF (and/or Kindle or audiobook, as you please). I will mention for those of a particularly supportive and charitable bent that the book is available NOW on Amazon FOR PURCHASE--it's available as either an eBook or audio book, and when you DO write your review, it will show up as a confirmed purchase, which must be to the good (you can see my review on the website HERE).

His website is quite informative with lots of free content (gear lists for the aspiring filmmakers among us *cough* Ellis *cough*). Very interesting to peruse for those of us trying to build out our own sites.

25 reviews by the 25th. We can all help stick it to "The Man" (a.k.a. "Scamazon"). You DON'T need to give the book 5 stars--or any stars. It's the review itself that helps--be honest in your assessment.

And remember--you'll be helping a brother-in-arms!