2 July, 2007 | No comments
Remember, Keep Your Promises
A masterclass in how not to deal with your unofficial content providers.
Commission You
Tragedy, Water Under The Bridge
We won’t use your images again
Unfortunately, after this conversation, Ben’s magazine, Zoo, did publish two more of the free-content-giver’s images.
We should all avoid this type of faux pas as the ‘giver’ then had to block EMAP’s IP address. He questioned what use was allowing them access to a point of reference to prevent use of his images when it was, in fact, becoming a library for them to use when they saw fit.
9 May, 2007 | No comments
New to the blog ?
This is written from a plundering publisher perspective.
If you want to get to the bottom of things, I suggest starting at the first post and working up.
Edit - And by the way, since the last post, Nuts magazine have still not confirmed that they have made the charity payment they promised the individual.
14 March, 2007 | No comments
Dreadful News
The complainant in the Zoo (EMAP owned) magazine incident had an image appear last week in Zoo’s main competitor, IPC’s Nuts Magazine.
Unfortunately for all champions of free and low-cost editorial, the staff at Nuts were courteous and helpful, quickly confirmed that Beau Bo D’Or (stupid name!) created the image and agreed to a generous donation to charity.
Not only were they helpful but they give to a bloody CHARITY !
13 March, 2007 | No comments
Sponsorship
Now we come to a great method to cover any costs we incur - and get a home cinema kit for ourselves (HAHA! - Just joking.)
Now I mentioned previously about getting sponsors to throw a few prizes our way so we can reward the little scouts who forage for suitable free content on our behalf - if they really do - Remember, the 3EMAP program will (for an incredibly low price) provide a list of sites where you can download all the free content you want for yourselves.
But who to approach - who most wants to communicate with our publications’ audiences?
Well, each of you will have different audience priorities but let’s look at the Lad’s Mag market for the time being.
They want to reach a ‘youthful’ audience and lads mags can provide this.
Generally 16-30 years old although the age bleeds below and above this range.
Ignoring the lower end of the age profile, we can still chase beer advertisers, sexlines etc. but we probably wouldn’t be too successful with these.
What we need are sponsors who have a range of products which are frequently manufactured specifically for the young male.
And they need to have a good sense of irony - more on this later !
So who are our ideal sponsors ?
FILM COMPANIES AND DISTRIBUTORS - HURRAH !
They’ll throw product our way to be associated with the edgy culture of the internet viral.
Why? Well, they produce DVDs they need to shift quickly and want to get bums on seats in the cinema en masse to push their movies up the box-office charts.
Now, why the ‘good sense of irony’ you enquire.
Obvious innit.
These film companies are at the forefront of the fight against copyright abuse and like to prosecute kids and their pink-tracksuit wearing mums for downloading movies onto their computers.
Well, the fact that some lads mags are taking advantage of free content without knowing who created it and with no intention of paying for it means that the film companies are offering inducements to individuals to take part in copyright abuse !
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
…breathes…You’ve got to laugh, haven’t you.
Nuts2Zoo has provided links to companies who have proved they’re up for a laugh by donating films, DVD players (the cheap stuff, mind you) and other goodies as inducements for people to send us other peoples’ work.
The co-conspirators are on the right of the page in the links section and WE’RE PROVIDING THEM TO YOU, OUR LOYAL AUDIENCE - FREE OF CHARGE !!
Nuts 2 Zoo talked to one such company some time ago to clarify whether we need to clearly verify the ages of prizewinners before we send out an 18 certificate movie as a prize.
“Damn right you do,” was their response.
OOPS ! WE HADN’T BEEN DOING THAT
NEVER MIND..THE COMPANY WASN’T GOING TO KICK UP A STINK WERE THEY? BAD PUBLICITY - HAHA!
MORE TOMORROW….TTFN !
12 March, 2007 | No comments
Evasion
Just to ensure costs are minimised when we use an image, it’s important that any identifiers are removed from the images.
Some of the little viral monkeys use silly little noms de mouse to tell the world how clever they are and they, inconveniently, put them on their images.
These can usually be easily removed by cropping the image or cloning out the tag.
“Cloning?” - Ask your graphics people, they will do it for you. You may have to do this more often than cropping as the pesky little buggers put their tags on key parts of the image but it can be done.
Now, some magazines are starting to leave the credits as complaints mount but we don’t want to do that, do we?
Why? - Because it practically assigns ownership and that means we have to pay out. So NO TO TAGS !
However, as we all have clever lawyers, we can still muddy the waters if tags do become an issue. So do not concern yourself too much about this. We can always send them a £20 DVD player (that our sponsors provide) to buy the little monkeys’ silence.
What you must not do is acknowledge that the creator is the creator before your editor or legal dept. decide to deny the creators rights.
This is what seems to have been happening with Zoo magazine recently.
They have been holding out for months and have been having fun with one of those persistent viral jockeys.
Incredibly, before they decided to take him on the swings and roundabouts, they told him they loved his work and then asked him to come and do some of the same for zoo magazine!
The assistant editor was recorded when he had his conversation with Beau Bo D’or !
He apologised and made the offer in this file :
and Zoo magazine gave him an ego massage in this file :
So, while Ben Wilson had acknowledged Beau Bo D’Or had created his images in August 2006, his editor, Anthony Noguera still denies it.
This kind of cock-up can become very expensive in man-hours for your staff and lawyer fees as they put up a valiant defence.
We must support Zoo in their case as it could cause problems for the free and low-cost content movement from which we all profit.
12 March, 2007 | No comments
Piracy = Profit - Images
The internet is groaning with images that we can exploit to enliven our publications for minimal outlay.
Of course we have to be careful in our choice.
We all want free or low-cost content but, if we make a wrong selection, we can end up having to pay out owners, their lawyers AND our own lawyers - and we don’t want that do we?
“No way!” I hear you chant. Good.
Then let’s look at a common but effective strategy.
The Viral Two Step
If there is a cost involved in this particular format, then it is picked up by the sponsor you rope in using your own seductive marketing techniques.
The sponsor provides prizes (or inducements) which ensure you receive a steady flow of quality material from your gullible readership.
Now, whether you actually give out the prizes or not is up to you.
We recommend you do. It would be embarrassing and counter-productive to say the least if your readership AND your advertisers were to discover they were being hoodwinked.
Remember to name the winner after every promotion.
You can, as some have done, just use christian names or nicknames.
Remember, if you are going to be a bit ‘clever’ the data protection act can protect you, just as much as your ‘contributors’.
So, what to exploit?
VIRALS.
“Virals?” I hear you ask.
Yes, images created from many other images. The greyest of grey areas when proving ownership.
Of course some clever little computer jockey may have had an amusing idea and spent an age producing something using programs like photoshop, but why reward them just for that !
They’re not business people, just attention seekers.
In fact, we’re doing them a favour publishing their work.THEY SHOULD BE PAYING US !
The creators can then run around telling their mates and, do you know what? , the mates all buy your magazine to see their friends’ work and WE MAKE MORE MONEY!
EVERYONE’S A WINNER !
So, where do we find these virals?
Well, you can have your readers send them to you - Get them to do the legwork!
Offer them a prize (from your sucker sponsor so no outlay on your part) and the emails will come flooding in.
Or, you can trawl around the internet yourself, a time consuming process; well it was until we discovered a few useful sites where these little viral monkeys congregate.
When you sign up to the 3EMAP LEARNING COURSE we will provide you with a list of these viral ‘hunting grounds’.
In the meantime, take a trip round the net and see if you can find any decent content. It’s not easy and that’s why the 3EMAP LEARNING COURSE is such great value.
“But how can we mask where these images were sourced when we print them.” you collectively groan.
Chins up chaps, where’s your ENTHUSIASM!. There are several answers and I’ll let you in on how we can do this in a future post.
In the next post, I’ll also point out a few common pitfalls - ‘Do’s and Don’ts for us pirates of the web - “Arrrrr Jim Lad!” HA! HA!.
STAY TUNED!
11 March, 2007 | No comments
Welcome
Welcome to a new blog, designed specifically for the growing free-and low-cost editorial market !
My name’s Tony. Hello Tony! I hear you answer in unison.
Good for you - a great start - That’s what we at Nuts 2 Zoo want to experience - ENTHUSIASM !!
My colleagues and I will be leading you through the sparsely populated minefield that protects (HA HA !) a treasure trove of editorial content that we can all make use of to benefit our businesses, shareholders and ultimately ourselves !
What do we want? Money!
When do we want it? Yesterday !
How do we earn it? WE DON’T !
IT LANDS IN OUR LAP !
Who throws it our way - OUR READERS !
The same people who BUY OUR PRODUCTS to read what they have sent us !
“But,” I hear you say (in unison - great teamwork fellas!), “money doesn’t grow on trees.”
IT DOES ! Believe me !
I’ll show you where the trees are, what fruit to pick and how to remove those pesky ‘produce of wherever’ labels before you take your (YES YOUR!) goods to market.
(And don’t worry, there are no Fair Trade evangelists in this market, waiting to exploit our exploitation.)
I’ll show you how to display your wares best to a youthful audience and keep it well within their reach in a special section called ‘How To Avoid Top Shelf Designation and Compulsory Supermarket Poly Bagging !”
Stick with us and the world wide web’s your oyster !
I’ll soon be telling you all about our new 3EMAP system - Exploit, Economise, Evade, Maximise Advertising Profit program.
Those showing the greatest understanding of the program will be invited to study for our highly valued 3EMAP Doctorate. (3 hour distance learning course.)
(Hands down Gillian McKeith ! - Not now - But ten out of ten for ENTHUSIASM!)
WELCOME ONE AND ALL!
You’re about to jump on the biggest ride of your lives and learn to take thousands on the biggest ride of theirs.