#andrew kessler

[scholarofgloom]

[colltales]

War Lord

War Lord: Women May Lead Our First Mission to Mars

Women May Lead Our First Mission to Mars

For some three billion years, Mars looked all but dead, despite misplaced expectations astrophysics had about it all along. Now, as if acting on cue, it seems to be having a renaissance of sorts. Even a comet has paid a close visit to it last week. Besides the two rovers still soldiering on its inhospitable surface and atmosphere, NASA plans to thoroughly…

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[togatherinc]

This was my first book and I figured I had little to lose besides my dignity and I have very little of that anyway.

Andrew Kessler reflects on his own book launch -- and how it inspired him to start Togather. What I learned from my crazy book stunts -- and how it can help you.

[togatherinc]

I really wanted someone to tell me what I needed to do to give my book a realistic shot -- a frank assessment of the work I’d need to do. And I couldn’t get any sort of consensus. That really shocked me and just made me feel more worried. Shouldn’t there be some kind of lecture that every first-time author gets? I did get a lot of non-specific advice to connect with 'my audience' and build 'my platform.' But as my launch date crept up, I felt less and less sure about how I would reach or find either of those things. (Also, who and what were they?) So I went nuts and just tried a bunch of things. This was my first book and I figured I had little to lose besides my dignity and I have very little of that anyway.

Our founder Andrew Kessler wrote a letter about what he learned about book promotion by doing weird stunts (so you don't have to.) 

[lostwithoutscience]

This Week: NYC Takes A Vacation

It seems as though the entire city is taking a break this final summer week before Labor Day!  I uncovered only one unique science event:

Thursday, August 30th - Speaking at the Observatory, author Andrew Kessler will share stories about his time spent at NASA with scientists who worked on the Phoenix mission that landed near the northern polar cap on Mars.

Have a great week!

[suryaray-blog]

Startup Togather thinks crowdsourcing is key to profitable author book tours

#SuryaRay #Surya It has never been clear whether author book tours are a worthwhile investment. Fewer publishers are shelling out to send their authors across the country these days — what’s the point if you’re going to sit in an empty bookstore for hours and only sell three copies? — and BookTour.com shut down last year, conceding that “fewer author tours and changes in book marketing budgets have made our company financially unviable.” Now Brooklyn-based startup Togather hopes to make author book tours more of a sure thing by adding a group-buying dynamic that requires people to commit and buy a book before an author event takes place. Togather’s founder is 34-year-old Andrew Kessler, author of the book _Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission_, which was published by independent publisher Pegasus Books in 2011. Kessler, then the creative director at Brooklyn-based digital agency Huge — which is funding Togather through Huge Labs, its startup incubator for employee projects — says he got a lot of attention for the book (for example, he opened a West Village pop-up bookstore that sold only his book) but “getting a massive amount of media didn’t translate into sales. There was no one thing that, the more I did it, the more copies the book sold. Social media _felt_ successful, but I wasn’t selling books.” So he had the idea of a Groupon-like model for author tours, where if a certain number of people commit to buying a book or attending an event, the event is on. “This essentially closes the loop on all the social stuff everyone’s doing and turns it into book sales,” Kessler says. “It’s outbound marketing that has a sale at the end of it.” Togather focuses on three types of events: “Book purchase” events where everyone buys a book in advance; free events where an author doesn’t necessarily have to sell books but wants to know how many people will be there; and ticketed events where the host charges a fee for attendance but doesn’t necessarily require a book purchase. Anyone — an individual, community group (like a reading group) or organization like a bookstore — can serve as a “host,” put together an event proposal and send it to an author who is on Togather. The author can negotiate — for, say, a stipend or for travel costs to be covered in addition to books bought — and once the author and host agree on the proposal, the host is responsible for getting it out to the community. When enough people agree to come, buy a book in advance or do whatever else is required, the event is on and the author attends. It’s conceivable that Togather could be used for other types of events, but it is focused on authors for now, in part because a key component of its revenue model is that it acts as a bookstore. Togather has a fulfillment deal with Ingram, where it is buying authors’ books wholesale, selling them at list price and shipping them to buyers. Let’s say an author on Togather agrees to hold a local author event if 25 people buy books in advance. Once 25 people have agreed and put down their credit card numbers, the deal is on and Togather ships the books to customers in advance of the event. It makes revenue from the books, and also takes five percent of sales for ticketed events. “We want authors to be able to make a living and sell more books through an activity that they control or that their publicist can help them with,” Kessler says. “This is our focus for now.” At launch today, Togather is still fairly small and is primarily a tool for authors. “You can sign up as a fan on Monday, but you will only be able to book or attend events with the select group of authors already on board,” Kessler says. He says Togather is adding more authors as it can, but “we need to build up the author base and reach critical mass before it becomes fun and has a lot of variety.” --- http://dlvr.it/1yVQN7 @suryaray

[openroadmedia-blog]

Geek Pride Excerpt Marathon Part 1: Andrew Kessler

MARTIAN SUMMER by Andrew Kessler (Excerpt)

[gabrielherrador-blog]

La librería de un único libro

En un mundo donde la globalización, las largas colas, la saturación de información, Internet o las redes sociales con cientos de contactos que nos bombardean diariamente con miles de estímulos diferentes, resulta curiosa la iniciativa de Andrew Kessler y su local situado en el West Village de Nueva York.

Kessler es el autor de "Verano Marciano": Brazos robóticos, vaqueros robóticos y mis 90 días como la misión Phoenix-Mars (Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days With the Phoenix Mars Mission), un libro en el que narra su experiencia asistiendo a la sala de control de la NASA durante tres meses en los que cubrió una de las misiones más satisfactorias de la agencia americana durante los últimos años. Tras publicarlo con la editorial Pegasus, Kessler tuvo una idea original: abrir una librería dedicada en exclusiva a la venta de su libro.

Kessler viene del mundo de las relaciones públicas y el periodismo, así que no esperemos encontrar un local abarrotado de libros desordenados y llenos de polvo; su librería es una exposición dedicada a la misión de la NASA, con mapas, fotos a gran resolución e incluso obras de arte inspiradas en el libro. De ese modo, aunque el local esté ocupado por tres mil copias del mismo libro, la sensación es la de asistir a unespectáculo único, en el que se puede participar con la compra de Verano Marciano.

Frente a la comodidad virtual y su frialdad, Kessler ofrece un trato personal y cálido a sus clientes, aunque muchos entran en su local movidos únicamente por la curiosidad. Además, muchos se preguntan cómo puede pagar el alquiler y el mantenimiento con su peculiar oferta, ya que no está instalado precisamente en un barrio de las afueras.

Kessler no es el primer caso de librería que pone a la venta sólo un libro, Walter Swan hizo lo mismo durante años con una antología que vendía en Bisbee, un pueblo de Arizona. Kessler se inspiró en este antecedente para su propia, y más cara, versión. Además, estar en Nueva York sirve para tener que aclarar alguna que otra vez que no, no son la librería de la Iglesia de la Cienciología.