PEAPOD Mix

Print - Electronic - Audio Publishing On Demand -- Using a full spectrum of widely available technologies to publish, create buzz, catch people's attention, and build up an audience for your work, whether it's written, spoken, or performed.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

PEAPOD Logistics: Tracking blog visits

So, you've got a blog, and you want to know how to track your visitors and traffic?

How can you tell how often people visit your pages?

Simple - create a tracker css file on a server of your choosing, and then reference it in the code of your blog.

You'll need:

1. An "empty" .css file (one which has only comments like /* */ in it -- don't use an empty file -- some browsers freak out with completely blank .css files) to include in your blog with a stylesheet reference.

2. Stats from the hosting website that tell you how often that css file is served on your blog pages.

Do the following:

1. Create an "empty" css file, a nearly empty text file which has only a comment (like /* */) in it. Important: don't use a completely empty file -- some browsers freak out with completely blank .css files. In my case, I have a .css file that I've named fuel_blog_tracker.css, that I'm going to reference in my Fuel blog. Each month (or each day, if I'm really curious), I'll check to see how many times that .css was served by my server. My website stats will show it.

2. Upload the css file to a server that collects stats. If you don't already have one, you can sign up with Omnis for a scant $6.95/month for 1Gig of storage and 100Gig throughput each month -- they rock! Make sure you upload your css file in ascii format. (You probably already know this, but it can't hurt to say it again.)

3. Include that css file in your blog template code with a stylesheet reference.

For example, since I've got my fuel_blog_tracker.css file in the /tracking/ directory on my site sitebasics.net, I'm putting the following reference in my Blogger template code:
<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="http://www.sitebasics.net/tracking/fuel_blog_tracker.css">

Because it's a css file, I put it in the usual css location -- between the <head> tags at the very top of the code.

Note: Make sure you test the full path to your css file (including the http://) in your browser, so you don't get a "not found" page. If you get a "not found" page, you'll need to fix your url.

From that point on, starting the next day (since stats are often updated overnight), you can go to the stats page of your web host and check the number of times your tracker css file has been served (i.e., the css file will only be referenced if it's been displayed by someone). Granted, this is not an exact science, since search engines can crawl your blog and "pull" the css file, and if you put your css file in the main template, it will be displayed every time a page on your blog is viewed, which doesn't give you "granularity" in identifying how often your particular pages are looked at.

If you need to track individual page views, you can create distinct tracker css files for each of your posts and place them in the text of your individual posts, along with the rest of the content. Then you'll be able to track exactly how many times such-and-such a post was viewed.

In any case, this you method lets you get some idea about how often your blog is being visited. And that can be a very encouraging thing.

posted by Kay Stoner @ 9:08 AM 0 comments

It's not just about podcasting... it's not just about blogging... its not just about getting into print... It's about Publishing.

In all the excitement over new and different modes of publishing, it's really easy to get caught up in the thrill of discovering new technology, exploring new mechanisms and gadgets, and finding out how far you can push a machine to do what you want.

But in the thrill of it all, I think we tend to lose sight of why we're doing all this mechanizing -- to make it easier to do our jobs and to make it quicker, more efficient, and produce a more attractive product.

That's why I use computers -- not for the sake of computing, but for the sake of publishing. Of getting things done.

And as the world around me shifts and moves toward ever-increasingly levels of complexity and complication (much of it unwarranted, I believe), I find myself increasingly drawn back to the act of creating, rather than wrangling with the tools of creation.

Some days, I'd rather pick up a pen and write on paper, than type into a PDA or a humming box. Some days, I'd rather not actively create anything at all, but just BE. Just be.

There's something to be said for that.

But for today, that's not where I am. Today, I'm in creating mode, and I'm in the mood to put stuff out there, in all forms. I've gotten past the idea of having to be DONE with Fuel, in order to create the virtual book tour -- my plan now, is to not rush the print edits, but focus on the virtual book tour and writing the documentation for how others can create their own book tours, and give folks the option of pre-ordering a signed copy of Fuel. This will give me more time to just focus in on the text edits, when the rush-rush aspects of the technical documentation are over. Doing the documentation and creating the podcasts infuses the process with a certain kinetic energy, which is a bit disruptive to my print edit process.

What's more, getting the VBT documentation out there will enable me to flesh out my technical writing resume, and it will give me something recent, something tangible, to take with me out in to the tech writing contract world. I need a current technical book I've written, to demonstrate my abilities. It's all very well and good for me to say, "Oh, I'm wonderful! I do great work! Take my word for it!" But if I were hiring me, I'd want recent proof that it's all true.

Nothing like having a tangible item in your hot little hands, to make your case.

And of course, let's not forget Podtopia.net, the podcasting platform I've created. I need concrete examples of what podcasting is good for, and the VBT is just the thing to demonstrate. Again, it's all very well and good, if I tell folks, "Podcasting is great! It's the wave of the future!" But if I can give them a concrete demonstration of podcasting (and virtual book tours) in action, all the better. A podcast is worth a thousand words.

So, the main priority at this point, is to get the VBT documentation nailed down -- as much for propelling Podtopia.net and my tech writing endeavors forward, as for putting "Fuel" out there. That's the beauty of this PEAPOD Mix -- it's all connected, and each aspect plays off the others.

After all, it's not just about creating and deploying audio. It's not just about creating a printed product. It's not just about creating buzz. It's about publishing. It's about just getting out there -- in as many different ways as possible.

posted by Kay Stoner @ 9:04 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

What I really need is RSS feeds... for everything

One of the drawbacks of using Blogger, is that they've hitched their wagon to Atom for xml feeds, while the rest of the world is loving RSS.

So, submitting my blog updates to RSS-based directories, is a problem. Some of them have Atom->RSS converters, but even so, the Atom feeds on my blogs seem to be non-functional. I may be doing something wrong, but this shouldn't have to be difficult.

So, I need to develop my own RSS feeds. And I will. I just need to do it -- and that takes time. I'm debating whether to go with a plain ole xml text file that I update by hand, or whether to create a modification of Podtopia.net's RSS-generation so I can do it all on the web. I'll likely go with the latter, if I use my own mechanism. I need to create that application, anyway. It's another potential money-maker, as I plan to have it be ad-supported with Google AdSense. Then again, if there are RSS-makers out there on the web already that I can use (like http://www.webreference.com/cgi-bin/perl/rssedit.pl, why reinvent the wheel? Why indeed?

Before I get to that next step, though, I need to focus on Fuel.

But before I get to that, I need a nap. All this exuberance can be taxing.

posted by Kay Stoner @ 11:51 AM 0 comments

When in doubt, do the feng shui thing

Okay, so I've got a whole slew of projects underway, and each has three main media types associated with it: print book, electronic (webpage/blog), and audio (podcast). I've got a lot of content I'm in the process of refining and producing. I've got tens of audio files I recorded here and there as "guerilla podcasts) (with my hand-held iRiver 890), and now need to strip out the excess audio (background noise from passing traffic, pauses when I needed to catch up with myself, sneezes, coughts, etc.) I've also got lots of print content to edit, namely my book Fuel which is ever so close to being complete. And when that's done, I need to format the manuscript, upload it to Lulu.com, and be on my merry published way.

In the meantime, I've got a virtual book tour to produce for Fuel, and I've got to document the process, as well, so that others can see just how easy it is, and consequently sign up for podcasting with Podtopia.net and purchase the Virtual Book Reading Tour "cookbook".

It's all related, you see. And not much of it is entirely sequential. A lot of these tasks can be done in tandem, like recording readings for Fuel and making note of needed edits as I go along. Like producing the podcasts of the virtual book tour and documenting the process as I go. Like nailing down edits in print and formatting the manuscript. Like blogging about the process as I go. All of it can happen together, or in various combinations. The idea of breaking down all these tasks into individual pieces, is starting to look foolish.

I'm coming to realize more and more that coventional planning just doesn't cut it, when it comes to a "multi-threaded creative process". Where creations are non-sequential, or they can be completed at the same time, my habit of keeping track of what all I need to do (ahead of time) becomes overly burdensome and actually prohibitive. I've long been a compulsive planner, writing my lists of things to do, breaking down all the tasks into sub-tasks, mapping steps out, and checking them off as I go. But in this PEAPOD process, the fact that multiple steps can take place in tandem, but I'm never absolutely certain how things will fit together, till I'm in process, trying to map everything out ahead of time and then follow specific steps, just hinders my process.

This is where feng shui (or my understanding of feng shui) comes in. It's my understanding that feng shui is about understanding the energy patterns of a space, and then taking steps to make the most of that energy... by placing fans or flutes or mirrors in certain locations, or arranging furniture a certain way. From what I've read, it's also about using a room for what its purpose is -- not using your kitchen as a library, not using your bathroom as a study, not using your living room to store extra unused items. It's about understanding, respecting, and working with energy, from what I understand -- of course, I could be wrong.

That's the strategy I'm now taking with PEAPOD -- understanding what kind of energy I've got going on, at the time when I sit down to work, respecting that energy, and working with it. I honestly have so much I want to get done, there's no danger of me frittering away my time. I need to trust the energy I have, and believe that it will guide me in the right direction that I need to go in, on my little productivity odyssey.

Trust plays into this a good deal. Planning, to me, seems to be somewhat about a lack of trust -- it's mapping out Things To Be Done ahead of time, in the belief that they Must Be Done in a certain way, at a certain time. Surely, it's important (when you're working in a large group of people on a complex project with lots of interdependencies) to understand where you're going and what you're doing. But when you're on your own, like I am now, and your projects are limited in scope (tho' not in reach), trying to plot everything out ahead of time and lock yourself into a schedule, can be the least productive habit you can practice.

When you're on your own, you've got to follow the energy. Especially if you're a creative person, like I am, on a creative mission, like this is. The creative impulse is an "organic" and unpredictable thing, with myriad interconnected interdependencies that tie in with things like the weather, how much sleep you got the night before, how your physical health is, what's going on with you emotionally, etc. The energy you have isn't something that be carefully mapped and controlled and managed. Creative energy is a flow. And that flow thrives on the unpredictable and uncontrollable. In fact, the more variables there are in your energy flow, the less predictable it is, the more peaks and valleys exist along the creative path, the richer the inspiration and the more productive your muse(s) can be. The creative actually benefits from chaos. Not too much chaos, of course -- it needs to be balanced. But balancing chaos and controlling it are two different things.

While in a larger organization or in a corporate environment, success is largely based on consistency and predictability, on a smaller, creative scale, consistency and predictability can be tremendously numbing and dumbing-down. On a larger corporate scale, planning helps get you where you're going, on a smaller, individual scale, planning can just get in the way. When you're moving with the energy, depending on your energy, guided by the whims of chaos, any attempt to predict or control it, can just get in the way.

So, I'm doing the feng shui thing. I'm following the energy, listening to it, taking cues from it, and getting some stuff done. For real. Not according to plan, but much quicker than I was, when I was planning it all out.

posted by Kay Stoner @ 9:56 AM 0 comments

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Challenge Number One in the PEAPOD Mix: Maintaining one's gusto in the face of it all.

Okay, so be forewarned -- if you're considering embarking on a PEAPOD Mix of your own, to create and promote content in Print, Electronic an Audio formats, best eat your Wheaties and catch up on your sleep. Because there's no end to opportunies to do more and more and more... and the more you do, the more that seems like it needs to be done.

I have my work cut out for me, clearly. With a whole bunch of projects, it's easy to spread yourself very thinly... and given the amount of work it takes to formulate and express cogent ideas, I could burn myself out very easily doing EVERYTHING AT ONCE.

Don't think the temptation hasn't presented itself to me. It has. It's sitting right here on the desk beside me -- my long list of Things To Do, which is actually an abbreviated version of everything that Needs To Be Done. I desperately want to do a whole lot of stuff and have a whole lot of accomplishment under my belt. But I know full well that I really need to pace myself, and if I don't accomplish the basics -- like finishing the text edits of "Fuel" and putting together the audio pieces of my virtual book tour, I'll never have a moment's rest.

It's mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually impossible to do Everything At Once, so I've got to pick and choose. And choose my tools carefully.

Ferinstance:

I know I need to do a lot of writing for my blogs -- catch up with them, and generate fresh ideas for each. I also know that I think best when it's quiet, and the computer isn't humming. So, do I write everything by hand, then dictate it into the computer later with my speech recognition software (SRS)? That's certainly an option. I've done it before with good results. But it's also somewhat labor-intensive, as the SRS can be persnickety. And I need to move quickly, not wade through generating content twice, which is what I'd have to do , if I write in longhand first, and dictated later.

I also don't want to have to hassle with the computer keyboard, the slowness of the machine, and having to deal with software. I need a fast and quiet way to put my words into electronic text.

So, out comes the little Handspring Visor PDA I picked up for a song on eBay a year or so ago. Out comes the collapsible keyboard I got for a very low price as well. Snap them together, turn on the PDA, and create a new memo, then start typing. Not only do I not have to wait for my PC to boot up, but I don't have to deal with the whining of the box, which irritates the bejesus out of me. I can hot-synch my PDA with the computer when I'm done and capture everything I've typed, then move it all to my blogs later. At my leisure. No worries. It's even better than typing right into the blog(s), because it lets me create a quick and easy draft of the content I can look at later.

It's the best of all worlds. And I can see why international journalists use their PDAs and collapsible keyboards to write up their pieces on the plane.

I plan to do the same-- on the train -- when I find my full-time job. I had considered buying a laptop and using it, but it's far more horsepower than I need, just for capturing text. And it takes much longer to boot up.

This PDA and full-sized collapsible keyboard are the best of all worlds. With this configuration, it's actually almost possible to do everything at once.

posted by Kay Stoner @ 8:52 AM 0 comments

I really do need more hours in the day

Wonder of wonders, I'm finally getting organized. Folks who know me, say I'm very organized and together, already, but they only know part of what I manage to do, everyday. And they don't necessarily know what I've got on the horizon.

It's true - undertaking all that I'm doing is a challenge. I've got seven blogs/podcasts in development, right now, and I'm still looking for a full-time job in the meantime. The holidays are right around the corner, and I still haven't really started on my shopping. (No surprises there, it's an annual tradition for me to wait till the last minute.) And on top of the blogs and podcasts, I've got print books out there to promote - and more coming that need to be published. And I've got a handful of websites that need to be tended, updated, and generally fixed. I've got a whole lot going on, a bunch of balls in the air, and only so much time to get it all done.

It's all very exciting. Very exciting, indeed. And if I didn't know better, I'd be a little freaked out, with all the work that needs to be done. But it'll all work itself out, in the end. It always does.

I think that having a lot of things going on, is actually the key to getting all of them done. Because if I spend too much time on any one project, I start thinking too much. I over-think, as they say, and I end up being a basket case about the project. I get ahead of myself, I get up in my brain, I start working out all the possible scenarious, and I end up short-circuiting myself over the few little things I've got going on.

But if I've got a lot of stuff to do, and not a lot of time to do it, I have to focus. I'm forced to focus. I can't afford not to focus. And I have to take things as they come and address the real and pressing issues, rather than getting into a lot of deep analysis and concern over one point or another (which is what I tend to do, when I have plenty of time on my hands).

With a whole lot of stuff to handle, at least I get something done -- the less time I have, the more productive, I actually am. So, all these projects actually feed off each other, and they feed my creativity.

Now, to convince my future employer that all these activities won't take away from my ability to do my 9-5 job.

posted by Kay Stoner @ 8:52 AM 0 comments