More Than Just One Weird Trick Alex Mayor, Publicist

More Than Just One Weird Trick Alex Mayor, Publicist More Than Just 'One Weird Trick' - Alex Mayor, Publicist â€Å"When I raise the issue of marketing a book with a lot of authors, you sort of see the three lemons come up for them - â€Å"Why aren’t I doing that? Why didn’t I think of doing this?† - and for others they look moderately terrified!†Traditional publishers have tried to embrace the new media tech menagerie plenty of times over the last decade, at least. And yet every effort has faded away with time, lost like tears in the rain. Whether it’s book trailers or staid, conservatively hashtagged tweets from a corporate account, it feels a little like watching a toddler trying to walk: graceless, but at least sort of fascinating to watch them fall down as they learn from their mistakes.Or, if we can reach for another simile, traditional publishers trying to innovate are like 20th century passenger liners trying to slalom around icebergs - innovation requires a manoeuvrability that, in 99% of cases, is at odds with the size of the company trying to inn ovate.This is, however, another coup for indie authors. As Ben Galley explained in his interview with us, indies aren’t shackled the way traditionally published authors are. The room for experimentation is there.This is where people like Alex Mayor come in. Alex is the founder / inventor of Papercasting, a Hackney-based agency helping authors find interesting and unheard of ways to bring their books to an audience, whether that’s through audio, video, or even real-world theatrical productions. The best way to explain it is to let Alex himself talk you through it in our interview below, but you can listen to a Papercast for ‘London Bridge in America’ right here!REEDSYHow long have you guys existed for?   How did you get started? How many of you are there?ALEX MAYORAt the moment it’s me and two part-time creative guys that I work with. Because of the friends I have, I’ve ended up knowing quite a few authors. They would come to me saying †Å"The book’s finally done, it’s coming out, but I’m not sure how it’s going to do. I know what the publisher is going to do: they’re going to spring for drinks for a launch party; they might put some promotional postcards together but they probably won’t; and then, after they’ve sent out the review copies, if nothing happens in that first month that’s kind of it.†So what I’ve been doing so far is basically helping out friends. Now I’m trying to move beyond the friendship circles. The idea has been to find authors who are prepared to do something a bit more interesting in terms of how they promote themselves.I’ve also had some support from the Arts Council, who were very interested in the idea. They see that creatives within what we might call ‘the literary world’ writ large suffer to a large degree from being not necessarily the most internet-savvy, the most marketing-savvy - writing by i ts nature is a solipsistic undertaking. Also, traditional publishing, assailed as it is by modernity, is spending less on promo simply because of the sheer number of places they’re trying to reach.Last year we did a few examples of work. Now we’re trying to ramp it up, to find authors with some sort of social footprint, and create pieces of digital work that will help promote them. An author phoned me up last week: â€Å"I’ve suddenly thought this is perfect radio material. This story is quite Carver-esque, it would work really well. Can we make a ten-minute version of this as a radio play?† And I said â€Å"Of course we can, I can find the actors, we can do it all fairly cheaply,† and the author can then use that as a calling card to media organisations, put it online for streaming, and use it to build interest in the books.I’m getting a lot of interest from a certain kind of author - authors who think â€Å"I’ve made something, and I want people to pay interest in it and engage with what I’m doing,† rather than just seeing it as â€Å"A book has been printed with my words in it, my work here is done.† When I raise the issue with a lot of authors, you sort of see the three lemons come up for them - â€Å"Why aren’t I doing that? Why didn’t I think of doing this?† - and for others they look moderately terrified!My background is in media, in publishing; I’ve written music for television, I’ve produced records†¦ I view everything as just ‘stuff.’ It’s stuff that has an audience, somehow, and I’m fairly open-minded about how you reach the audience. In book-publishing, traditionally you have the agent, the publisher who’s kept at one remove†¦ everyone is in their own box. There isn’t a lot of moving around, and publishers don’t tend to want to upset that situation too much. But authors may well know thei r audience *better* than a big corporate publisher. It’s just a fact that if an author is good at writing books about Norwegian circus acts of the 18th century, it may be that they know the most important people who will help sell that book.REEDSYSo what is paper casting? Is it a verb, a noun†¦?ALEX MAYORIt’s both! I wanted a word that would help authors understand the idea that they could be broadcasting. What is being on Twitter but a form of broadcasting? Making a radio play, putting a video together, they’re all kinds of broadcasting. I believe when you’ve got a book you’ve created something that can be expressed in a multitude of ways. You’ve already done the hard bit in finding a way to bring that idea off the page in a way that gets people excited. But because authors are traditionally left out of the equation by publishers, they haven’t been too entrepreneurial in that regard.It’s a business and an experiment. Iâ⠂¬â„¢m trying to find out if there are enough authors who want to do this. I think it’s going to be younger authors probably, or authors who are very good on social media, but within five to ten years there will be an entire generation of writers who have always had a Facebook account, who have always shared their top-of-the-mind thoughts on some network tool or another. This model is waiting to happen, even if it hasn’t yet happened.REEDSYI remember a few years ago this craze for book trailers†¦ALEX MAYORYes! And they were all awful! They were all mind-bogglingly bad. I’ve trawled through loads of these. I noticed that, once YouTube was a fairly embedded prospect in people’s minds, you’d hear people asking â€Å"Do we do video?† This idea that ‘doing some video’ would add value to something, that if you didn’t have an active YouTube account you weren’t really a player.That thinking was evident in pretty much every book trailer I’ve ever seen, particularly ones paid for by publishing companies - where they’ve done a Ken Burns slow-pan over the front cover, they’ve brought a rent-a-quote up, there’s a piece of out-of-copyright classical music playing in the background, it’s two minutes long, and nobody will ever look at it. They’ve not been terribly interesting by and large. That, or - fair enough - a film of the author reading a bit of it, which is at least a step in the right direction.I think it’s been something publishers did badly, and to some degree consider an experiment they don’t really want to repeat. The question is still outstanding because the way we consume literature is changing under our feet all the time. It’s not changing totally, and there’ll be an element of the market, like vinyl, that will always buy the physical book. But how we consume what we call books is changing all the time. Technology compa nies are the ones charging forward and providing those experiences, not publishers.REEDSYIt feels like that even amongst the best of those efforts, there’s rarely much of a tie to the book being promoted. Even my favourite example of a book trailer, while a great little clip, doesn’t connect directly to the book in question.ALEX MAYORI think when you mentioned that 2011/2012 moment, the concomitant line of thinking in marketing departments across the land was â€Å"Can we do something viral?† as if they’d discovered the idea of disease for the first time and were embracing it wholeheartedly. I think the danger of some of those things is that they can be cool, but you see so much cool stuff every day I think there’s a burnout you get to.My feeling is there is, particularly in non-fiction publishing, an enormous number of perfectly good books where it will always be a tricky prospect for a publishing house to find a lot of marketing muscle and budget to push it. Unless your name is Malcolm Gladwell, how many of these are you going to shift? There are all these books that are perfectly interesting, but they’re not as immediate. They’re not things that it would be so easy to make a viral or funny trailer for, but they’ve got something in them that will make you stop in your tracks. And I think the process is find the core of the book - the elevator pitch, the one surprising thing that you’d hear from the author at a cocktail party and repeat to your friends.Say you had an Oliver Sacks neuro-psychological ramble with interesting case-studies. OK, so you get two actors in, find some dialogue that’s interesting, maybe make a two minute radio play out of it, and at the end you’ve got your buy-link - you’ve tee’d up the experience of the book. Where those trailers went wrong is that there were a) uninteresting, and b) they weren’t thinking about the content of the book. Th ey were thinking about the object: â€Å"Here is a book.† Well, yeah, we get it, here’s a book. There are lots of books. Why do we want to read it?I’m still trying to find more authors who have a little bit more of a social footprint who are prepared to be more Gonzo with me. As a premise, I think it’s not expensive to make this kind of media - it’s just about having the willpower to do it.REEDSYIt seems like what you’re doing requires more than just money thrown at it - it also needs creativity, an idea.ALEX MAYORMy ambition for 2015 is to find more of these authors and ramp it up to the point where what we have is a form of entertainment in its own right. If you could image a channel of this stuff, and you were flipping through it, these would be interesting ways of hearing about interesting new books. Maybe some people would listen to them and get whatever they get out of it, but there would be people who click through and buy the book. I t’s a case of taking what’s already a very well considered piece of media, a book manuscript, and creating something slightly smaller in a different format out of the book for not a lot of money. It’s not difficult stuff to do. For me it’s about editorial and production, and finding that killer idea that’s at the heart of the thing. There will be something - you can’t write a book and have no point.REEDSYHow do you produce one of these things? How does your agency work?ALEX MAYORWe have a little studio in Hackney - BBC quality microphones and all of that jazz. Mostly what will happen is I’ll sit down with the author and get them to pitch the book back to me. I’ll obviously go read the manuscript. I’ll come back with suggestions of ways we could bring it off the page. The author has to feel comfortable with what we’re envisioning. It may be that they’re going to be reading, or that they’re not going t o be reading and someone else will be found†¦ It’s very tailored to the person. At its core it’s about understanding the central strengths of the book.People have been asking â€Å"Oh, so we’d be making a video?† I always say â€Å"We might be, but we might not be.† Video is hard to do without a degree of cost because to do justice to the written word in film is notoriously hard. It’s very hard to do without immediately becoming boring, in my opinion. I think audio is a better choice, by and large, because you can maintain the reader’s own interactivity - that way they’re assembling the words in their head and seeing whatever world you’re bringing them into.In terms of capturing what it is that’s interesting you have to be media-neutral at the outset, and also be somewhat sensitive to the person’s own personality and what they’ll feel comfortable with, and also budget - radio’s the cheape st, video is hard to make†¦REEDSYHow do you get the material in front of people?ALEX MAYORAt the moment I’m just using Soundcloud. It’s more about the social footprint of the author, their agent, and any publicity people they have on side. This is simultaneously the massive potential upside and the massive potential downside. Good use of social media is thin on the ground - most people struggle with it. Authors are either total oversharers, or haven’t done much of it before. The model definitely requires that you have a fairly active social media following. It all lives and dies at that point.One author has just engaged me to do this for him. Initially I said â€Å"It will only work if you’re calm about it.† So I’ve been trying to build a voice for him on Twitter. I’ve set writing challenges like â€Å"How about sharing all the titles of things you’ve never written?† Trying to get the author to think of it as a writ ing challenge, not a self-promotion challenge.There was a famous observation by Momus the electronic singer - â€Å"In the internet age everyone is famous for fifteen people.† I’ve always thought that hangs over lots of technology. You could potentially do billions of things and reach zillions of people, but the core of it is still the slogging, and it kind of always was. You’ve just got to keep beavering away at getting a footprint with people and building a personality with people.REEDSYThanks for your time Alex.

Qué es el programa de Comunidades Seguras

Quà © es el programa de Comunidades Seguras Comunidades Seguras es un programa del gobierno federal de colaboracià ³n con autoridades locales y estatales para identificar inmigrantes para proceder a su remocià ³n inmediata de los Estados Unidos o al inicio de un procedimiento de deportacià ³n. Las razones por las que el migrante puede verse en ese problema pueden ser variadas, desde estar en el paà ­s como indocumentado a haber cometido violaciones migratorias o delitos o  faltas penales. En este artà ­culo se explica cà ³mo funciona este programa, por quà © tiene fieros defensores y crà ­ticos, cul es la relacià ³n de Comunidades Seguras con las ciudades santuario y quà © se puede hacer. Cmo funciona el programa Comunidades Seguras El funcionamiento es realmente sencillo. En Estados Unidos cuando una persona es arrestada o detenida se le toman las huellas digitales, conocidas en algunos paà ­ses como dactilares. A continuacià ³n esa informacià ³n se le envà ­a al FBI. El FBI las compara contra varias bases de datos, por ejemplo, IAFIS, donde estn fichadas personas con pasado delictivo. Adems, las compara con bases de datos de otras agencias como IDENT, del Departamento de Seguridad Interna (DHS, por sus siglas en inglà ©s) en la que se guarda toda la informacià ³n disponible sobre inmigrantes, sobre criminales y sobre personas consideradas terroristas o sospechosas de serlo. Asimismo, tambià ©n se comparan esas huellas dactilares con la base de datos  de los oficiales de migracià ³n, como por ejemplo US-VISIT, con las que controlan los  pasos fronterizos terrestres, puertos y aeropuertos. Si el resultado es que la persona es inmigrante y tiene rà ©cord criminal o una orden de deportacià ³n pendiente o se sospecha que est en el paà ­s ilegalmente entonces se considera que se produce un  ¨hit ¨. Aclarar que se puede creer que una persona est como indocumentada tanto porque no aparece rà ©cord de su ingreso legal y se cree que es extranjera o porque es evidente que ingresà ³ legalmente pero no ha salido a tiempo.   Si se produce ese  ¨hit ¨, es decir, una coincidencia de interà ©s para Inmigracià ³n, entonces el FBI lo notifica tanto a la autoridad que tiene a la persona arrestada o detenida como al Centro de Apoyo para el Cumplimiento de la Ley (LESC, por sus siglas en inglà ©s), que es un departamento dentro de ICE. A partir de ahà ­, ICE analiza la situacià ³n y decide, segà ºn lo que considere prioritario, quà © hacer. Puede decidir emitir un detainer, tambià ©n conocido como hold. Esto quiere decir que se solicita que se retenga al detenido por 48 horas ms a partir del dà ­a que deba ser liberado, con el objetivo de darle tiempo al ICE de hacerse cargo. En ese plazo de 48 horas no se incluyen sbados, domingos ni feriados. Adems, en la actualidad los detainer van acompaà ±ados de una orden (warrant, por su nombre en inglà ©s), que pueden ser de dos clases: para remocià ³n/deportacià ³n o para arresto. A partir de ahà ­, si la autoridad que recibe el detainer decide cumplirlo, entregar al detenido a las autoridades migratorias, que segà ºn el caso, procedern a su deportacià ³n inmediata o iniciarn  un procedimiento judicial de deportacià ³n. Argumentos a favor y en contra de Comunidades Seguras Los defensores de este programa consideran que es una gran herramienta para deportar a migrantes, particularmente los que tienen un historial como  criminales violentos.   Sin embargo, un estudio de Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse de la Universidad de Syracuse argumenta que en la actualidad no hay datos pà ºblicos de cuntos detainers se emiten y que no est nada claro cuntos son causa de deportacià ³n. Es ms, aseguran que solamente un porcentaje mà ­nimo de las deportaciones tienen su origen en un detainer emitido dentro del marco de Comunidades Seguras. Entre los argumentos en contra de Comunidades Seguras se citan, entre otros, que rompe la confianza entre la policà ­a y la comunidad y hace que muchos delitos no se reporten. Adems, se afirma que da lugar a la deportacià ³n elevada de inmigrantes con rà ©cord criminal limpio, cuyo à ºnico problema es que estn en el paà ­s como indocumentados. Finalmente, tambià ©n se aduce que Comunidades Seguras es un gasto excesivo para las municipalidades. Lo cierto es que este programa ha tenido un historial conflictivo. Fue creado en el aà ±o 2008 por el presidente George W. Bush en el condado de Harris en Texas y de ahà ­ se extendià ³ progresivamente por todo el paà ­s, incluidos sus territorios como por ejemplo Puerto Rico, bajo el mandato de Obama. Bajo ese presidente se establecieron prioridades en su aplicacià ³n y, finalmente, se suspendià ³ su aplicacià ³n. Sin embargo, la llegada de Donald Trump a la Casa Blanca supuso su activacià ³n mediante orden ejecutiva del 25 de enero de 2017. En la actualidad sigue siendo un programa muy criticado, que causa miedo entre la comunidad migrante y que ha dado lugar a oposicià ³n de municipios e incluso estados en la forma de lo que se conoce como ciudades santuario. Qu son las ciudades santuario y cmo se relacionan con el programa Comunidades Seguras Uno de los temas migratorios ms controvertidos y debatidos en los Estados Unidos es el de las ciudades santuario, a las que sus crà ­ticos acusan de no cumplir con las leyes migratorias.   Para entender este asunto lo primero es saber de quà © realmente se est hablando. Hay que partir de que no hay una definicià ³n legal de lo que es una ciudad santuario, pero puede entenderse como tal a aquella  jurisdiccià ³n -estado, condado o ciudad, que limita su colaboracià ³n con las autoridades federales en materia de inmigracià ³n. Ese là ­mite puede estar declarado pà ºblicamente o puede ser algo que simplemente ocurre, es decir, es un asunto informal. En cuanto a las formas que puede tomar la falta de colaboracià ³n, à ©stas pueden ser muy variadas. Por ejemplo, la prohibicià ³n de que un funcionario pà ºblico municipal pregunte sobre el estatus migratorio de una persona. Otro ejemplo comà ºn es el de no compartir informacià ³n sobre datos en los que conste la situacià ³n de indocumentado de un migrante como es el caso de la Ciudad de Nueva York que no comparte lo que sabe sobre los solicitantes del I.D. de la ciudad. Pero quiz el ejemplo ms conocido y el que levanta ms crà ­ticas y que est directamente relacionado con el programa de Comunidades Seguras  es el de no cumplir con las peticiones de deteiners que emite el ICE solicitando a otra jurisdiccià ³n que retenga, por un plazo de 48 horas, a un migrante que tiene arrestado o detenido por otro asunto no relacionado con temas migratorios. Algunas ciudades santuario incumplen los deteiners siempre mientras que otras los ejecutan cuando el objeto del deteiner es un inmigrante con un delito en su rà ©cord.   En la actualidad, segà ºn el Inmigrant Legal Resource Center, hay ms de 300 jurisdicciones que en algà ºn grado pueden ser consideradas como ciudades santuario y han sido amenazadas con la retirada de fondos federales, en particular de subvenciones del Departamento de Justicia. Sin embargo, no es seguro de que se pueda aplicar este castigo y en la fecha en la que se escribe este artà ­culo est inmerso en una batalla legal de la que se desconoce cà ³mo puede finalizar. Qu se puede hacer Lo cierto es que estamos viviendo una à ©poca que causa gran ansiedad entre la comunidad migrante. Los residentes permanentes deberà ­an considerar convertirse en ciudadanos mediante naturalizacià ³n y evitar cualquier tipo de problemas que pueden dar lugar a su deportacià ³n. Los extranjeros con visa deben conocer los tà ©rminos de la misma y evitar violaciones migratorias. Y en cuanto a los migrantes indocumentados deben informarse sobre si existe alguna posibilidad real para arreglar su situacià ³n, deben conocer sus derechos si son parados por la autoridad y no mostrar ninguna documentacià ³n que pueda dar lugar a revelar que estatus, como por ejemplo la matrà ­cula consular. Finalmente, es siempre aconsejable que tengan a mano el telà ©fono de un abogado migratorio u organizacià ³n de apoyo a inmigrantes de confianza para comunicarse en el caso de problemas. Estar informados es siempre la mejor arma para estar preparados, defender los derechos que se tienen y evitar ser và ­ctimas de fraude por parte de personas inescrupulosas que toman ventaja de la situacià ³n de miedo en la que muchos migrantes viven en la actualidad. Este artà ­culo es informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal para ningà ºn caso en particular.