ABOUT THIS BLOG:

ABOUT THIS BLOG: Much like myself, this site has worn down with many of its features no longer functioning. If you have questions (or answers), feel free to contact me: @WillTinkhamfictionist (Facebook) or @willtink (Twitter). Thanks!

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From Minnesota's Iron Range to Hollywood's Golden Age, Ike Savich discovers America—one Packard at a time. THE PACKARD SALESMAN

About Me

Will Tinkham has published eleven novels. THE PACKARD SALESMAN follows THE TEDDY & BARA SHOW, IF I LIE IN A COMBAT ZONE, FALLING DOWN UMBRELLA MAN, THE MIRACLES, THE CARY GRANT SANATORIUM AND PLAYHOUSE, THE GREAT AMERICAN SCRAPBOOK, THE ADVENTURES OF HANK FENN, BONUS MAN, NO HAPPIER STATE, and ALICE AND HER GRAND BELL. He lives and writes in Minneapolis, MN. His short fiction has been published on three continents and he long ago attended Bread Loaf on a scholarship. An actor of little renown, his credits do include the Guthrie Theater and Theatre in the Round. @WillTinkhamfictionist on Facebook, @willtink on Twitter, instagram.com/willtink

Monday, August 7, 2017

On Bryan Ferry and Clara Barton

Got home late last evening and snipped off my second wristband in two nights. That alone should be cause for a blog post. The fact that I'd seen Bryan Ferry at the Palace Theater, then saw some genuine theater with Linda Sue Anderson as Clara Barton at the Bryant Lake Bowl was cause for much reflection on my part.

Bryan Ferry brought me back to an early '80s Roxy Music show in Oakland and the years between wishing I was half as cool as him. Yet, for the last half of the Saturday night show, all that cool was stripped away as he positively beamed back at a truly adoring audience. I don't know if I've ever witnessed such a mutual thrill between band and crowd. (“Avalon” begins playing on Pandora as I write this.)


Linda Sue Anderson, on the other hand, sat front and center on the tiny, bleak BLB stage and took the audience on. As Clara Barton, she spoke on the atrocities committed at the most notorious of Civil War prisons and demanded we listen to her story—their story, the story of tens of thousands of unknown Union soldiers buried at Andersonville. Themselves They Made Immaculate (the play's title derives from the way southern whites presented themselves once the post-war finger-pointing began) is Barton's testimony before Congress concerning the horrors of the prison camp and the tireless search for the identities of those buried there. A Fringe Festival must (and ends with two shows next weekend). Info.


Of course these two events are hopelessly incongruous, yet both hit me where I've lived, whether it be a young rock'n'roll fan longing for the cool or an old historical fictionist wishing he could tell a story that well. Fine weekend. Have a nice week.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

On giving up on marketing, outreach strategy, page traffic analysis and trends

I've given up on marketing, outreach strategy, page traffic analysis and trends as of August 6, 2017. As all seven of my blog followers here and my Facebook friends are painfully aware, I'm involved in a “reader-powered publishing” venture called Kindle Scout. Readers are allowed to browse as-yet-unpublished books and—if they stumble on a title that strikes their whimsy (like, say, THE CARY GRANT SANATORIUM AND PLAYHOUSE) or a provocative cover catches your eye (maybe one created by my sister, Susan Tinkham)—they may read samples and possibly nominate books for publication by Kindle Press.

The writer, if lucky enough to be selected for publication, receives $1,500 and whatever advertising Amazon will dish out to recoup that advance. I guess that's where marketing comes in. Every day I get an updated “campaign page views per day” chart. Over the last week mine has been pretty constant: dropping below 100 for the first time to 95, slipping as low as 78, then back to 90 on August 5. Being 1/3 of the way through my campaign, I put out a little blurb on FB to remind my friends, maybe get some “shares” and spread the word. Immediately FB flashed me an opportunity: “Boost your ad for $10 and reach 3,400 views in 2 days!”

You gotta spend money to make money, right? I went for it, dammit!

Woke up this morning to find my FB blurb had indeed surged to 338 views—not quite what they'd promised but a 210% increase over my norm. I immediately went to my Scout chart to see how that would reflect on my campaign page views. With my $10 FB “boost” my 90 of yesterday had somehow plummeted to a mere 6—a decrease of 93%.*

   * my first use ever of the snippet tool!



On the bright side: I saw Bryan Ferry last night. DAMN!!!