Friday, February 22, 2013

Link roundup

1.  Warren Ellis on using panels and dialog to manipulate a comic book reader:
you’re not locked to one minute per page, like a screenplay. You can make time run so fast that the reader thinks that your comic has been injected into their eyeball, or so slow and heavy that the reader feels like you’ve boiled a doorstop novel into some condensed informational substrate.
2.  Forbes: "Here's How You Buy Your Way Onto The New York Times Bestsellers List":
Yet ResultSource’s methods aren’t exactly secret. The company’s website features an endorsement from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and a breakdown of the campaign it mounted behind his book “Delivering Happiness.” Via a spokeswoman, Hsieh confirmed that he hired the firm and detailed the services it provided. (You can read Hsieh’s full statement at the bottom of this post.)

Still, Amazon disapproves strongly enough of ResultSource’s methods that it told WSJ it will no longer sell to the company. What about the publishers of the various bestsellers lists — particularly the all-important New York Times list?
3. "NBC To Finish Fifth In Sweeps For First Time; Network Falls Behind Univision."