Be The Media

BE THE MEDIA contributor Peter Broderick featured in BusinessWeek

Peter Broderick, author of "The Revolution in Digital Movie Production and Distribution" in Chapter 8 of BE THE MEDIA, was featured in the June 2008 issue of BusinessWeek.

Broderick is President of Paradigm Consulting, which provides consulting services to filmmakers and media companies.

He was also the founder and President of New Wave Films, which helped launch the careers of exceptional filmmakers.

Recently,Broderick has given a presentation at the Cannes Film Festival on 'cutting edge distribution" and a keynote in Hungary on the future of distribution.

The article, titled "Indie Filmmakers Hit Their Target," was written by John Tozzi and discusses the growing number of independent filmmakers choosing to distribute to their target audiences rather than taking the traditional route through distributors. In order to do this, many turn to the Internet.

According to Broderick, "Filmmakers need to be as creative about their distribution as they are about their production." This means they have to stray from the norm and come up with innovation tactics. The producers of King Korn, compiled a list of food activists and organic farmers while they were filming. Once the film was complete, they had a roster of people who would genuinely be interested in their film that examines the role of corn in the U.S. The producers, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney are clients of Broderick's. They also booked their film for single-night screenings and sold DVDs on location.

The people who created the film are the ones who best know who would be interested in watching it. For that reason, it makes sense for the filmmaker to distribute his own film. According to Ellis, "I think we felt in some way that we were better able to communicate with our core audience than a distributor who's used to dealing with mass audiences."

Distributing your film on your own has a huge potential for profit. If a film sells in stores for $25 after paying royalties to the distributor,  the filmmaker would make about $2.50 per DVD. Selling this same DVD through his Web site, the filmmaker would net around $20 a sale. "There are a number of filmmakers who made more than $1 million selling one DVD from one Web site," Broderick said.

Web sites also offer another benefit. E-mail addresses can be collected from those who purchase the DVDs, giving the filmmaker an entire contact list of people who may be interested in future related films or products. Thus, Broderick asserts that an e-mail address as valuable as a sale itself.

In Chapter 8 of BE THE MEDIA, Broderick teaches YOU how to produce and distribute your ultra-low budget digital film.

Interested in learning more?
Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA now:

BE THE MEDIA contributor Keith Knight wins Glyph Award, is nominated for Harvey award, gains national syndication

Keith Knight's art has been featured in several worldwide publications including Salon.com, ESPN the Magazine, L.A. Weekly, MAD Magazine, and the Funny Times.

Keith won the Glyph award for the third year straight for Best Comic Strip.

Keith has been nominated for the 2008 Harvey Award for Best Syndicated Comic Strip, an award he won last year. You can help him win this year by downloading and filling out a ballot here.

Keith's new strip, The Knight Life, recently gained national syndication. Use the contact information below in order to help Keith get The Knight Life into the following papers:

• San Francisco Chronicle 
• Raleigh, News and Observer
• Orange County Register
• Birmingham News
• Baton Rouge Advocate
• The Washington Post - send an email, or call (202) 334-4775

To check out Keith Knight's comics go to kchronicles.com


You can catch up with Keith personally at this years San Diego Comic Con on Thursday July 24 at 4:30 pm.  This event includes major comics publisher presentations, autographs, and advanced premiering of network shows.  Register now to experience this event!

 

To learn how you can syndicate and distribute your cartoon read chapter 10 when you
Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA:

BE THE MEDIA Contributor Kevin Kelly quoted in NY Times

An article in The New York Times entitled "The Web Time Forgot" quoted Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor and senior maverick of Wired magazine.

Kelly is also author of the very viral piece "One Thousand True Fans," which serves as the Foreword to BE THE MEDIA. 

The Times article, written by Alex Wright, discusses Paul Otlet, the Belgian man who sketched plans for his "réseau," or "network," in the 1930s.

Otlet's papers layed out a global network of computers that would enable people to peruse millions of related documents, images, audio and video files.

Users would even be able to send each other messages, share files, and congregate in online social networks. The system anticipated the hyperlinks of today's Web.

According to Kelly:

"This was a Steampunk version of hypertext," and "The hyperlink is one of the most underappreciated inventions of the last century. It will go down with radio in the pantheon of great inventions."

The article delves deeper into the details of Otlet's work and how it foreshadowed many of the features of today's Web.

Check out Kevin Kelly's Foreword
Get your advanced copy of Be The Media now:

Free BE THE MEDIA galleys for select attendees of the 2008 Alliance for Community Media Conference in Washington DC

The Alliance for Community Media Conference will take place from July 9 through July 12 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC.  The Pre-Conference workshops will be held on July 9. 

The Alliance for Community Media is a nonprofit national membership organization that is committed to assuring public access to electronic media.

The Conference Track Schedule includes many subjects that are included as chapters in BE THE MEDIA:

• New Media Issues
• Media & Telecom Public Policy
• Collaborations, Outreach and Fundraising
• Technical Issues and Equipment
• Community Media Center Management
• Programming/Training/Content Development
• Media, Civic Involvement & Community Development

To register and learn more about The Alliance for Community Media Conference download their brochure or visit the website.

We will be giving away free galleys of BE THE MEDIA to select attendees of this conference.  Chapter 17 teaches you how to create a Public Access TV Show.  Chapter 18 teaches you how to create a Community Media Center, and is based on how community media advocates from Media Action Marin (Marin County, California) lobbied Comcast during their cable franchise renewal and won $2.5 million to run their own Public, Education and Government channels. 

For more information on this, see the blog entry from August 14, 2006.

Thanks to interim ACM Executive Director Deborah Vinsel for this opportunity. And once again thanks to David Rubinson for underwriting the cost of the books and getting them into the hands of people who can use them. David was the founder of the Automatt Recording Studio in the 1970s and produced an astounding list of musicians, including Herbie Hancock, the Pointer Sisters, Santana, Janis Joplin, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, and Taj Mahal. He was also the music producer for the film Apocalypse Now (1979).

To learn how to create a Community Media Center or a Public Access TV Show, see chapters 17 and 18
in your copy of BE THE MEDIA:

FreePress.net announces InternetforEveryone initiative at the Personal democracy Forum (NYC)

Everyone - regardless of income or status - should enjoy the benefits of a fast, affordable, and open Internet. High speed Internet access should be treated as a public utility, like the provision of gas and electricity.

InternetforEveryone.org, an initiative announced at the Personal democracy Forum, calls on Congress to act in the public interest by enacting a national broadband plan built on the following principles:

Access		Every home, business and civic institution in America must have access to a high-speed, world-class communications infrastructure.
Choice		Every consumer must enjoy real competition in lawful online content as well as among high-speed Internet providers to achieve lower prices and higher speeds.
Openness		Every Internet user should have the right to freedom of speech and commerce online in an open market without gatekeepers or discrimination.
Innovation		The Internet should continue to create good jobs, foster entrepreneurship, spread new ideas and serve as a leading engine of economic growth."

BE THE MEDIA attended the press briefing where the InternetforEveryone initiative was announced. Below are some photos:

Participants in InternetforEveryone, pictured from left to right:

Van Jones: Founder and President, GreenForAll.org
Larry Lessig: Founder, Creative Commons
Vint Cerf: Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
Tim Wu: Professor, Columbia Law School
Michael Winship: President, Writers Guild of America
Jonathan Adelstein: FCC Commissioner
Robin Chase: Meadow Networks; Zipcar
Brad Burnham: Union Square Ventures
Josh Silver: Executive Director, FreePress.net

Below is a video from the press briefing with comments from the supporters.

Note especially Vint Cerf's segment at 14:50, and Larry Lessig's segment following Vint.

There will be a series of local broadband hearings to encourage the public to participate in helping to create a national broadband plan. To find the next local hearing, contact them by email.

Join now to help and take part in InternetforEveryone.org.

More photos from the event:

Tim Wu and David Mathison		David Mathison and Vint Cerf

Lawrence Lessig and David Mathison		David Mathison and Jonathan Adelstein

BE THE MEDIA, Media Action Marin, and Media-Alliance have been advocating Community Internet and Digital Inclusion since 2007. They even created a two-part television program on the topic.

Part One was titled "Internet Access as a Public Utility" (see December 14, 2007). 

Moderated by David Mathison, panelists included:

• Tim Redmond: Executive Editor, San Francisco Bay Guardian
• Eloise Lee: Project Director, Broadband Access, Media-Alliance.org
• Andrew Berman: Chairman, Marin Telecommunications Agency
• Peter Franck: Chairman, Media Action Marin

Part Two was taped at Media-Alliance's Digital Inclusion Summit. The session was titled "Creating Platforms for Success," and focused on various Community Internet solutions in use throughout the US and abroad (see February 15, 2008).

Moderated by David Mathison, panelists included:

• Esme Vos: Founder, Muniwireless.com
• Eloise Lee: Project Director, Broadband Access, Media-Alliance.org
• Sascha Meinrath: Executive director, CUWiN
• Dr Faye McNair-Knox: Executive Director, One East Palo Alto
• Greg Epler Wood: Vermont Triple Play Ownership Project

To learn more about Community Internet
See chapter 19 of BE THE MEDIA:

"To Defeat Big Media, BE THE MEDIA" by Keith Goetzman

Keith Goetzman is a senior editor for Utne Reader and is a veteran journalist who has worked for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Rake, the Twin Cities Reader, and many other publications.

Keith blogged a panel at the National Conference on Media Reform featuring author David Sirota (excerpt below). Keith's entire post is at Utne here.

"Sirota, author of The Uprising, added a fresh twist to the discussion. Many of us, he noted, see the media as a monolithic force, and we await the news sent down from "Media Mount Olympus." But that passive role is exactly what has strengthened the role of the "paternalistic" media.

We have the chance to be our own media," he says, and we ought to seize it. For another audience, this might have sounded like a simplistic bromide. But for this crowd, made up largely of indie media activists and advocates, it sounded plausible, and when they filed out of the room, you suspected they might just go out and do it."

Do YOU want to Be The Media?
Buy an advanced copy here:

Author and editor Alison Owings mentions BE THE MEDIA on The Authors Guild's website

The Author's Guild has been the nation's leading advocate for writer's interests in effective copyright protection, fair contracts and free expression since its founding in 1912. The organization currently has over eight thousand members.

Alison Owings included BE THE MEDIA in the Feature Article on The Author's Guild's website.

Alison Owings has written for The Author's Guild for many years and she is also the author of Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich and Hey, Waitress!: The USA from the Other Side of the Tray. 

In the featured article titled, "Bloggi Blenni Blicci Losing One's Virtual Virginity", Owings tells of her adventure when entering the blogging world.  She credited her knowledge of blogging to the book that she is editing, BE THE MEDIA, and its informational content on creating different types of media, blogs included. 

The article includes her view on the feedback that she received from her blog, "My Hillary Problem", on The Huffington Post.  Owings was amazed to find that creating a blog opened her to a whole new world where she could voice her opinion and receive comments instantly.

Want to learn more about blogging?
See chapter 1 of BE THE MEDIA:

"BE THE MEDIA" by Robert C. Koehler

Editor's Note: We liked this article so much that we wanted to share it with you on our BE THE MEDIA site.

This article by Robert C. Koehler of was originally published by Commonwonders.com.  Robert is an award-winning, Chicago -based journalist, is an editor at Tribune Media Services and nationally syndicated writer:

BE THE MEDIA
The nation is fed up with military-industrial patriotism
By Robert C Koehler
Tribune Media Services
June 12, 2008

"Camera, lights, mike-in-the-face. Hey Bill Moyers, what are you doing at a left-wing, partisan media conference?

That was how Fox News producer Porter Barry tried to ambush television’s most venerable voice of sanity this past weekend, after Moyers spoke eloquently — “Journalism can only exist in a vibrant, democratic culture” — at the fourth annual National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis.

But Moyers would have none of it. By standing his ground, reframing the “gotcha” idiocy of the encounter (a bully-boy, “say yes or we’ll crucify you” summons to appear on Bill O’Reilly’s show) and turning it into a dialogue for which Barry was unprepared, he managed to shove the ambush oh so figuratively back down Barry’s throat. What goes around comes around, guys. As the producer retreated, he himself was filmed and peppered with questions by a reporter for the American News Project.

Be the media! This was a real-time demo of the core imperative of the four-day conference: that it’s up to us to turn things around. The flailing and desperate corporate media have prostrated themselves ever more irredeemably before the altar of organized money and, in their compromised allegiance, purvey not actual “news” any longer but a simplistic military-industrial patriotism to a country sick of war and hungry for truth. They’re not going to change; they’re just going to keep staggering, so it seems, toward total irrelevance.

The serendipitous poke in the eye to Fox News notwithstanding, the message of the conference was not part of the zero-sum paradigm of left vs. right and Whose Ideology Is Better? What’s at stake — i.e., human survival — is far bigger than that.

And perhaps no presentation at the conference demonstrated this with more urgency than the screening of “Body of War,” a documentary by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue that, in its unblinking honesty, scrapes the platitudes away from “the most sanitized war ever,” as Donahue put it.

Allard, yea. Allen, yea. Baucus, yea . . .

The film, which portrays the day-to-day struggle of Iraq war vet Thomas Young, who became paralyzed from the chest down after he took a bullet above the collarbone in Sadr City in 2004, begins filling in what I call the hole, or responsibility void, at the center of the Iraq war and every war.

It begins with the slow intonation of the Oct. 11, 2002 vote that authorized the use of military force against Iraq: Bayh, yea. Bennett, yea. Biden, yea. This vote, indeed, serves as the backdrop, the canvas, on which the film unfolds. We cut away from the names and suddenly here’s Thomas Young in his wheelchair, sitting at his computer, typing a letter to a paraplegic Q&A Web site. He’s getting married. He wants to know how to avoid having an accidental bowel movement when he’s in his tux.

Brownback, yea. Bunning, yea. Burns, yea.

“The vet’s choice,” says Young, who has become an anti-war activist, “is to tell the truth and be called a traitor or internalize and self-destruct.”

The thought could have served as a catchphrase for the whole conference, sponsored by the organization Free Press (freepress.net), which 3,500 people attended this year. What I felt not only during but between the breakout sessions was an intense concentration of . . . intelligent passion, you might say — creative determination not to self-destruct and not to let this country self-destruct. This may be what a movement feels like, or what the future feels like.

“Every day that Cheney and Bush do not bomb Iran . . . is because of that greater force — all of us working together,” said Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

While there was plenty of urgent anger at the failings of the corporate media, and plenty of incisive analysis of the government-friendly propaganda they push and call news, what I felt was not despair but an extraordinary sense of purpose. Upheaval is in the air. Maybe it’s partly because of what has happened this year in the Democratic primaries.

On Saturday, as the conference was in full flower, Hillary Clinton conceded to Barack Obama. “What happened today is that someone paid a price at last for supporting the Iraq war,” said author Naomi Klein.

Carper, yea. Cleland, yea. Clinton, yea. . . . Lott, yea. Lugar, yea. McCain, yea.

The accountability is just beginning. But, as Klein noted, weapons companies have given more money to Democrats than Republicans this year. The old system, even with a President Obama at the helm, is geared to perpetuate inequality and generate conflict. A new media is forming, on the Internet and in our hearts, that will be beholden not to the interests of oil and war but to a just, sustainable future."

Learn how YOU can Be The Media!
Buy an advanced copy here:

BE THE MEDIA's David Mathison presenting at "Sharing the News: Reaching Students, Training Citizens" (6/28/2008)

On Saturday, June 28 , the New England News Forum will present a unique, one-day workshop entitled "Sharing the News: Fresh Approaches to Reaching Students and Training Citizens."

The colloquium is aimed at updating teachers, advisors, professors, editors, bloggers, and citizen journalists on cutting edge methods of promulgating the news.

It will take place from 9AM to 4PM in the Alumni Library in the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. A detailed program and information on registration for the event can be found here.

David Mathison, compiler of BE THE MEDIA, will open the session at 9:30AM. His fellow speakers include:

• Doug McGill, former foreign correspondent and business writer for The New York Times and current teacher at Carleton College
• Wayne Sutton, community content manager for MyNC.com, a hyper-local news website produced by WNCN, Channel 17, the NBC television affiliate serving Raleigh-Durham, NC
• Leonard Witt, professor at Kennesaw State University; head of the Representative Journalism Project
• Howard Schneider, former editor of Newsday, the Long Island daily; founding dean of the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University, Long Island
• Helen Smith, executive director of the New England Scholastic Press Association

An article from the Daily News Tribune summarizing the workshop can be found here.

Register today and we will see you on Saturday!

Want to learn more about becoming a citizen journalist?
See chapter 14 (We Media) of BE THE MEDIA:

David Mathison of BE THE MEDIA on The Ken Hudnall Show tonight (6/24/08)

David Mathison, compiler of BE THE MEDIA, will be interviewed live tonight at 8PM Eastern Time on The Ken Hudnall Show.

You can listen to the interview by tuning your radio to 1650 AM or via the internet at Kenhudnall.com.

This is a live interview and David will be taking calls from listeners. Be sure to have him answer your questions.

A replay of the interview will be posted here soon.

Want to learn how you can become a radio show host?
See Podcasting (chapter 5) and Radio (chapter 6)
Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA:

Free BE THE MEDIA galleys given to attendees of the Allied Media Conference (June 20-22, Detroit, MI)

The Allied Media Conference will be taking place this weekend, June 20 through 22, on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. The conference will be a parley of alternative media makers and social justice workers from across the country and around the world.

We are delighted to announce that BE THE MEDIA will be distributing 50 free galleys to attendees of this conference. According to Adrienne Maree Brown, executive director of the Ruckus Society, "The upcoming Allied Media Conference is all about bringing tools and skills back into the community: video-blogging, creating web zines, low power radio production,etc."

BE THE MEDIA is an appropriate book for attendees of this conference because it discusses all of that and more. The first half of the book teaches people how to self-publish blogs, music, film, podcasts, zines, etc. and the second half covers community media such as Low Power FM radio, Public Access TV, Community Media Centers, and much more.  See the Table of Contents for further information.

BE THE MEDIA would like to thank David Rubinson for volunteering to underwrite the cost of the books and for getting them into the hands of people who can use them. David was the founder of the Automatt Recording Studio in the 1970s and produced an astounding list of musicians, including Herbie Hancock, the Pointer Sisters, Santana, Janis Joplin, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, and Taj Mahal. He was also the music producer for the film Apocalypse Now (1979).

To register for the Allied Media Conference, you can fill out an online conference registration form here, or visit the conference's website at www.alliedmediaconference.org. 

If you can't make it to the conference, but you still want to check out BE THE MEDIA, you can visit our website or purchase your own copy of the book by clicking the button below:

                                          

Who's checking out BE THE MEDIA: Slash, Phil Donahue, Larry Lessig, Bill Moyers, Amy Goodman, Arianna Huffington...

Look who has been checking out Be The Media!

Slash: former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses; current lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver

Phil Donahue: former talk show host; producer of Body of War

Larry Lessig: professor at Stanford Law; founder of Creative Commons

Bill Moyers: host of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS; former White House Press Secretary; President of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy

Craig Newmark: founder of Craigslist.org

Garrison Keillor: host of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio

Amy Goodman: journalist and host of Democracy Now!

Marty Kaplan: Associate Dean for Programs and Planning of the USC Annenberg School for Communication; Director of the Norman Lear Center for the Study of Entertainment; member of the faculty advisory council of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy; former host of the radio show So What Else is News?

Arianna Huffington: founder of The Huffington Post

Robert Greenwald: director, producer, and political activist

Catherine Crier: former anchor of Catherine Crier Live on Court TV

Robert Kiyosaki: investor, businessman, and creator of Rich Dad, Poor Dad motivational series

Tracey Van Slyke: director of The Media Consortium

John Nichols: Washington, D.C. correspondent for The Nation magazine; editor of the Capital Times; prolific political blogger

Steven Ekstract: founder and publisher of License! Global Magazine

Michael Copps: Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

Tica Lyons: member, Media Action Marin; Social Justice Center of Marin

Representative Lynn Woolsey [D-CA]: representing California's 6th Congressional district

Peter Franck: Chairman of Media Action Marin; Intellectual Property and Entertainment Attorney

Jane Hamsher: founder of the blog Firedoglake; producer of  the film Natural Born Killers

Jeff Cohen: founding Director of the Park Center for Indepedent Media at Ithaca College; former producer of MSNBC's Donahue; founder of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting

Dan Poynter: founder of Para Publishing; author of The Self Publishing Manual

Vint Cerf: Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google; "person most often called 'the father of the Internet'"

Jonathan Adelstein: Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

Van Jones: President and founder of Green For All

Tim Wu: Professor at Columbia Law School; chairman of Freepress.net; writer for Slate Magazine; coined the term 'network neutrality'

Code Pink: women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement

Douglas Rushkoff: New York-based writer, columnist and lecturer on technology, media, and popular culture

Amit Schejter: Professor at Penn State's College of Communications; head of the Future of American Communications Policy Working Group

Marcy Wheeler: prolific blogger; contributes to many blogs including Firedoglake, Daily Kos, and The Huffington Post

Shawn Chang: Deputy Policy Director of Freepress.net

Peter Phillips: director of Project Censored; professor at Sonoma State University

Peter B. Collins:  radio talk show host of the syndicated "Peter B. Collins Show"; owner of a progressive radio station in Monterrey, California

Lloyd Dangle: creator of the syndicated weekly comic strip Troubletown; writer and visual artist

Josh Wolf: journalist, filmmaker, and activist

Reverend Lennox Yearwood: President of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, D.C.

David Rubinson: founder of the Automatt Recording Studio (1976-1984); producer of Herbie Hancock, the Pointer Sisters, Santana, Janis Joplin, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, and Taj Mahal; music producer for the film Apocalypse Now

Ben Scott: Policy Director of Freepress.net

Bill Densmore: director and editor of the Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Mark Pesce: co-inventor of VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language); writer, researcher and teacher

Dianne Mathison: loving and supportive sister

Want more?
Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA:

Be The Media Reviewed at Book Expo America 2008

Last week Alan Canton, the President of Adams-Blake Company, Inc., checked out Be The Media's booth at Book Expo America 2008 in Los Angeles.

Alan's company is the creator of the popular software Jaya123, an application that simplifies many tasks for small businesses.

He has been updating his blog weekly for 10 years on issues related to book publishing, the software industry, and small businesses.

On June 4, Adam posted a 'BEA Diary' on his blog, A Saturday Rant, in which he selected some booths from the show and wrote a short review on what he saw.

It appears as though he found something that he liked at Be The Media. His entry is below:

"If celebrity testimonials can make a book into a bestseller then Be The Media should be huge. This author/publisher has done his homework and I predict this will sell very well. The book was badly designed but they say they are going to re-do it before the final print run. No one in their right mind would print a 300+ page book in a san-serif typeface!"

The galley that Alan saw at BEA was an "uncorrected proof" intended only for reviewers and the press. For those of you reviewing the galleys, the final version of the book will include:

    * Index
    * Introduction
    * Syndication chapter
    * High resolution images, graphics, and illustrations
    * And of course, a larger, serif font for the interior text

The publication date for the final version of Be The Media will be September 1st, 2008.

If there are any bloggers or members of the press interested in reviewing the galley, please send us an email here.

To learn how to create your own blog
see chapter 1 of BE THE MEDIA:

Animators & Musicians Wanted: Be The Media Book Trailer

This short video was designed to give animators and musicians at the Licensing International Expo in New York some ideas for our upcoming book trailer.

It is just the storyboard for what is very much a work in progress.

If there are any animators, cartoonists, filmmakers, musicians, or songwriters who would like to work with us in the creation of our book trailer, please contact us here.

"'Cause I always think I know how to be.
But I always thought I would end up with you eventually."
- The Kooks: Always where I need to be

Want to learn how to create your own media?
Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA:

BE THE MEDIA at at the National Conference on Media Reform (June 6-8, Minneapolis, MN)

The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR) is the largest and highest-profile gathering of media reform advocates in the nation.

The NCMR brings together thousands of activists, media makers, educators, journalists, scholars, policymakers and engaged citizens to meet, tell their stories, share tactics, listen to great speakers and build the movement for better media in America.

NCMR 2008 will be in Minneapolis on June 6-8, 2008. Register now!

In 2007, David Mathison spoke at this conference on "Organizing for Cable Access in a Changing Regulatory Environment."

This year,  BE THE MEDIA will exhibit in Booth 125. Books are available from onsite book vendor Birch Bark Books.

2008 conference speakers include:

• Bill Moyers, PBS
• Dan Rather, former anchor of CBS News
• Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
• Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, Federal Communications Commissioners
• Arianna Huffington, HuffingtonPost.com
• Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, co-hosts of Democracy Now!
• Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine
• Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University; founder, Creative Commons.
• Tim Wu, Columbia University
• Van Jones, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
• Katrina van den Heuvel, editor, The Nation

  Want more?
  Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA:
  
  

Free BE THE MEDIA galleys for attendees of "Academic Research for Media Reform" symposium (Minneapolis, MN)

REGISTER NOW! Free galleys of BE THE MEDIA will be given to attendees of the Academic Research for Media Reform symposium for scholars. The symposium will be held on June 5 at the Hyatt Regency, 1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN.

Through a double-blind peer review process under the auspices of the Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University, the Program Committee generated eight sessions of papers submitted by leading academics from the nation's top schools.

Symposium attendees will discuss the most pressing issues in the media reform community. The eight sessions will focus on:

• Media ownership
• Sustaining independent media
• Access to dominant media platforms
• Network Neutrality
• International media reform efforts
• The media reform movement
• Copyright and free speech, featuring Neil Netanel's new book, Copyright's Paradox
• Roundtable discussion with members of the "Future of American Telecommunications." This group is designing a media and telecommunications policy framework for the 2009 administration.

The full program and schedule is now online. Join us in this unique opportunity to engage in a dialogue between academics and media reform advocates - and get a free galley of BE THE MEDIA!

Learn how to create your own media!
Buy an advanced copy of BE THE MEDIA:

Be The Media at Book Expo America (May 29-June 1, LA, CA)

Last year, BEA had over 37,000 registered attendees and approximately 1,000 media representatives, including all major national news outlets.

How to "BEA" The Media:

Booth 5601: We are in booth 5601, next to the entrance of the West Hall in the Independent Publishers section. Galleys of the book are available for review at the booth.

New Title Showcase: Galleys are also available for review in the New Title showcase, located in the lobby of the West Hall.

Free autographed galleys: David Mathison will autograph a limited number of free BE THE MEDIA galleys on Saturday, May 31 from 2:30-3:00pm at Table 26 (in the Autograph Area at the rear of the West Hall).

Joining Mathison in this autograph time slot will be:

• Table 26: David Mathison (BE THE MEDIA)
• Table 24: Professor Robert Thurman (Why The Dalai Lama Matters)
• Table 22: Ray Bradbury (Farewell Summer)
• Table 20: Jamie Lee Curtis (Big Words for Little People)
• Table 15: Ernest Borgnine (Ernie)
• Table 06: Dr Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth's Guide to Teens and Sex)

This 2-3pm Saturday autograph time slot is celebrity-packed. Free galleys will be autographed on a first come, first served basis - so be sure to get there early.

Learn how to self publish your own book
See chapter 2 in BE THE MEDIA:

David Mathison presenting Advanced Track class on Web 2.0; featured in 'Ask The Experts' (May 28-9, Los Angeles)

Founded in 1983, PMA (the Independent Book Publisher's Association) is a trade association of more than 4,000 independent publishers that serves book, audio, and video publishers in the US and abroad through cooperative marketing programs, education, and advocacy.

Publishing University, sponsored by PMA, is the most comprehensive and respected educational program in the publishing industry. Publishing University features three days of programming with four keynote speakers, early bird sessions, the Benjamin Franklin Awards Ceremony, and 85 courses in eight tracks:

Internet;  Marketing;  Sales;  Basic Publicity;  Advanced Publicity;  Editorial and Production; General Publishing, Legal and Finance; Advanced Track (See Advanced Track attendee pre-requisites, below)

2008 Publishing University: May 27-29 at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, 930 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles. Register now.

Wednesday, May 28 7-8:30am (Pacific Ballroom): ASK THE EXPERTS

ASK THE EXPERTS, featuring David Mathison
Ask The Experts is a special opportunity for attendees to meet with speakers and industry veterans for brief, one-on-one, private consulting sessions on a wide range of publishing topics, or anything on which you’d like feedback. Sessions are designed to provide free help to PMA members. Bring your materials and questions.

Mathison will provide attendees with free, personalized consultations on "Internet, Blogs, and Social Media."

Wednesday, May 28 (2-3pm): David Mathison will present a class on Web 2.0 tools for authors and publishers with publicist and journalist Nettie Hartsock of Hartsock Communications:

A Taste of the Web/Advanced Web 2.0 Tools:
DIGG, del.icio.us, wikis - Oh My!
"Learn which Web 2.0 communication strategies can make the biggest impact on the marketing of your book. Discover tips and techniques about many advanced Web 2.0 tools, such as DIGG, del.icio.us, wikis, podcasts, videoblogs and social media. Empower your usage of 2.0 tools and learn how you can drive critical awareness, get media coverage and enable long-term viral power on the Internet to increase your book’s success. Discover the keys to integrating online PR Web 2.0 efforts and blogging with traditional marketing and advertising. Are you ready to shine virtually?"

NOTE: This class is part of PMA's Advanced Track, designed to facilitate networking, group interaction, and answers to specific publishing questions. These classes are custom designed for experienced publishers. To attend the Advanced Track you must meet at least three of the following five prerequisites:

1. Attendance of least one previous Publishing University
2. Three years in publishing
3. Publishing as your primary business
4. $250,000 in annual sales
5. Five titles published
   

Thursday, May 29 7-8:30am (Pacific Ballroom): ASK THE EXPERTS

ASK THE EXPERTS, featuring David Mathison
Ask The Experts is a special opportunity for attendees to meet with speakers and industry veterans for brief, one-on-one, private consulting sessions on a wide range of publishing topics, or anything on which you’d like feedback. Sessions are designed to provide free help to PMA members. Bring your materials and questions.

Mathison will provide attendees with free, personalized consultations on: "Internet, Blogs, and Social Media"

Learn how to self publish your own book
See chapter 2 of BE THE MEDIA:

The Wizard of Oz at the Mountain Play: May 18, 25; June 1, 7, 8, and 15

In 2007, I volunteered to help with the Mountain Play's performance of the musical HAIR by valet parking bicycles.

I loved this gig!

Being car-free, I use my bike to travel all over Marin - even up the 2,571'  Mount Tamalpais.

I advised bikers on the best trails back to San Francisco, Mill Valley, Fairfax, and Stinson Beach.

If you want to cycle to the Play, here are some tips and a trail map (look for the MOUNTAIN THEATER). Please stay off the Panoramic Highway.

Valet parking was sponsored by the Marin County Bicycle Coalition.

Since this is bike to work week, why not head to the Play on 2 wheels? Here is what you can look forward to:

Pictures from the event (click for larger images):

Me, manning the valet bike area

 

Nice view from the valet parking area

View from the bike ride down the mountain

 

During the song Aquarius

 

Finale: Let the Sunshine In

 

All photos were taken with my Nikon Coolpix S1, which provides great quality for a camera the size of a credit card. It is critical to balance quality with si