m. c. de marco

I finally got around to putting the Amazon link to Strange New Worlds 8 in the left-hand column, just in time for the July release date.

I added a new Drupal block and stuck in the iframe code from Amazon, wrapped in a centered div. I was pleased to see that Amazon has more formatting options for associate links than the last time I looked, so I was able to take off the black border and the price ($10.17, if you’re dying to know—-$14.95 retail). I also added the name of my story.

If you want to see a legible version the cover, there’s a huge one (2MB) up at SimonSays.com.

Via GeekPress: check your rank in two search engines at once with YaGoohoo!gle. After much site tweaking and waiting, I’ve finally reached the top of Google when searching for “mcdemarco,” and, on the other hand, of Yahoo! when searching for “M.C. DeMarco.”

Via a mailing list: a Wired story, Video Shills for Literary Stars, on online Flash advertising for books. The price seems too high for authors to VidLit their own works, though I suppose a hopeful publisher might be willing to shell out $3,500 per minute.

I signed up as an Amazon Associate, not so much for the kickbacks (which I don't expect to be significant) but for the handy links. Unfortunately, my one forthcoming publication still doesn't have a picture in the Amazon database, so the effect is spoiled:

Word of Mouth Sells Books: Cory Doctorow on the importance of personal recommendations [via sf-f.org].

Tweaking my website is not nearly as important to my writing career as, say, actually writing; nevertheless, tweak happens. I’d been meaning to expand my use of Drupal on the site ever since I installed it in a corner directory to replace the infinitely geeky but not-so-user-friendly Blosxom. What pushed me over the edge today was Google.

When I google myself, I get another M. C. DeMarco, some pages that link to here, and one or two of my old sites. This domain shows up, too, but without a nice description or any indication that I’m the real M. C. DeMarco. I think the problem is my gorgeous but content-free splash page. I could have figured out the Google algorithm of the moment and tweaked my meta tags to suit, but deep in my heart I knew splash pages were the adverbs of the web world: it had to go.

Dennis Loy Johnson told the tale of his quest for a bio at MobyLives. You can see almost a hundred bios on one page at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers author bios page.