Here is an iPod-friendly version of the vlurb featuring Mike Monello. Sorry for the inconvenience, folks!
–J.C.
REPOST: "Personal Effects: Dark Art" Video Trailer #9 - Mike Monello [ 1:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Archive - June, 2009
REPOST: "Personal Effects: Dark Art" Video Trailer #9 - Mike Monello [ 1:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
"Personal Effects: Dark Art" Video Trailer #9 - Mike Monello [ 1:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
REPOST: Vlurb #9 – Mike Monello
REPOST: "Personal Effects: Dark Art" Video Trailer #9 - Mike Monello [ 1:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadGet therapeutic with the “Personal Effects” coloring book!
Click to download the PDF
Personal Effects: Dark Art is about an art therapist … so it only makes sense to celebrate its June 9 release with art! Download this very tongue-in-cheek Personal Effects coloring book, featuring artwork from the novel. Print it out, make copies, and have a Personal Effects release party — with coloring! — in your home on Tuesday! It’s bloody fun for the whole family!
Feel free to send J.C. a photo or scan of your coloring pages. He just might post them here on the site.
Personal Effects: Dark Art. It’s more than a (coloring) book. It’s an experience. If you haven’t already, order it here and support J.C.’s print novel debut.
“Personal Effects: Dark Art” Video Trailer #9 – Mike Monello
I’ve had the great fortune of meeting Mike Monello, a person I consider one of the most brilliant marketers on the planet. Why? Because he understands the most critical component of all evangelism: storytelling. He was a co-producer on The Blair Witch Project – and equally significant, produced and edited the legendary quasi-documentary Curse of the Blair Witch, which was released on the Sci-Fi Channel 10 years ago. That short film — and the (mostly) online-fueled word of mouth campaign that followed — helped make Blair Witch a bona-fide cultural phenomenon.
It was the unconventional, immersive, fiction-meets-reality narrative of Blair Witch and Curse of the Blair Witch that moved viewers, and compelled them to share that story with friends and family. Mike played a critical role in that. With the company he co-founded, Campfire, he’s gone on to create and/or supervise transmedia campaigns for True Blood, F.E.A.R. 2, Terminator: Salvation, and other brands.
And now he’s here, to tell you what he thought about Personal Effects: Dark Art. We are days away from the book’s release in bookstores everywhere. Pre-order the novel, or visit your favorite bookstore on June 9 to purchase a copy.
As always, co-producer/editor Michael Bekemeyer gets a big salute for his editing skills. Find the first eight trailers here.
Word of mouth is the key to Personal Effects: Dark Art’s success. Spread the word about this awesome video promotion by embedding the video on your blog. Email this page to friends. Tweet it. Facebook it. If you think this video is worthy of sharing, please do what you can to spread the word.
More videos are coming. Personal Effects: Dark Art. In bookstores everywhere this June. Pre-order now.
–J.C.
"Personal Effects: Dark Art" Video Trailer #9 - Mike Monello [ 1:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadPersonal Effects: Sword of Blood episode 4
The countdown has begun! Less than a week remains before the bookstore release of Personal Effects: Dark Art. J.C. chat about this critical moment in the episode, offers advice on how and when (and where!) to order the novel … and then we’re off to the races with another installment of Sword of Blood.
SYNOPSIS:
Zach and Rachael have a heart to heart … and then Zach takes an unexpected road trip.
NEW TO J.C.’s FICTION, OR PODCASTING?
I’ve been releasing free audiobooks since 2006, and am gearing up for the June 9 release of Personal Effects: Dark Art, a novel that combines the traditional novel experience with a multimedia-fueled “out of book” narrative that unfolds via phone, email and websites. Pre-order a copy of Personal Effects: Dark Art today.
Listen to the episode by clicking the “play” button below. Catch up with the story by visiting the Sword of Blood synopsis page. Learn how to subscribe this podcast here.
HEY, EVERYBODY #010
The “Hey, Everybody!” train keeps on a-chuggin’ with a second episode this week. Hutch serves up reports of Personal Effects: Dark Art being spotted in the wild (before street date! how simultaneously cool and scandalous!), teases on the killer content that’s rolling down the feed this week … and then fillmmaker Michael Bekemeyer takes center stage in an interview.
Bekemeyer is the mad genius behind the “vlurb” (video blurb) trailers. Check ‘em out here!
Cool things/links mentioned in this episode:
- Pre-order Personal Effects: Dark Art
- Vlurbs from Mur Lafferty and Mike Monello will soon assault your senses
- The ultra-hot cross-promotion in the works between J.C. and SuicideGirls.com
- Suicide Girls Lumi, Annika and photo editor Zoetica Ebb (you may see nekkid pictures at these links)
- Michael Bekemeyer’s website, 2BPictures.com
- Promo: Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood
- Promo: The Great Evil Laugh Contest, sponsored by FEDITUS
- Promo: Serving Worlds
The anthem for Hey, Everybody! is “Chip Away” by Jane’s Addition, distributed freely via BitTorrent and the Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction tour site, Ninja2009.com.
Like what you hear? Please leave a comment, and tell a friend about the show, and about Personal Effects: Dark Art!
Personal Effects Avatars
Spread the word via your favorite social media service (such as Twitter, Facebook and more) by proudly displaying these Personal Effects: Dark Art-themed avatars in your profile! And remember: If anyone asks what’s up with your avvie, send them to DarkArtNovel.com — it’ll send them to this website.
Do YOU have a fan-created avatar you’d like to share? Send it to me., saved as a 200×200 JPG, and I’ll get it on the site!
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“Barcode” avatar by Gabe Reed; “Killer Art” avatars by jannypie
HEY, EVERYBODY #009
Hot damn, it’s another “Hey, Everybody!”-packed week — this is the first of two episodes to drop this week. It’s a big-big debrief on J.C.’s recent adventures at Balticon 43, which was held Memorial Day weekend.
There are muchly ruminations, including recaps on J.C.’s first public reading, the Stranger Things SINGULARITY event, the Personal Effects: Dark Art launch party, his impressions about the PE:DA novel itself, and some philosophical ramblings here and there. Someone get this guy a frickin’ script!
Be sure to answer J.C.’s call to action regarding the Personal Effects “Swag Bag.” Send him an email with your thoughts! And do please consider pre-ordering a copy of Personal Effects: Dark Art.
Links/awesome folk mentioned in this epsiode:
- Balticon-Balticon-Balticon 43
- Stranger Things’ “Disconnect” episode
- Matt Wallace
- Dee Wallace’s vlurb
- Jared Axelrod
- Sponsor: Scott’s Sigler’s The Rookie is available for pre-order. Use the discount code “hutch” to save $3!
- Sponsor: Scott Sigler and Seth Harwood’s Author Boot Camp will soon be underway. Learn more at AuthorBootCamp.com, use the code “hutch1″ and save $100 on registration! What a deal!
- Promo: Mur Lafferty’s WAR
- Promo: Movie Mantras
- Promo: The Leviathan Chronicles
The anthem for Hey, Everybody! is “Chip Away” by Jane’s Addition, distributed freely via BitTorrent and the Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction tour site, Ninja2009.com.
Like what you hear? Please leave a comment, and tell a friend about the show, and about Personal Effects: Dark Art!
“The Big Thrill” features Personal Effects: Dark Art
I’m particularly tickled about this announcement: my debut thriller, Personal Effects: Dark Art, was recently covered as a feature story in the June issue of “The Big Thrill,” the official newsletter of the International Thriller Writers association. Despite the fact that I’m not hob-knobbing with superauthors such as Jeffrey Deaver (one of my favorite writers in the multiverse), I kinda feel like I am, which is a hoot.
A snippet from the Q&A feature:
What kind of research did you do for Personal Effects? Any adventures in research?
The greatest challenge I faced during the pre-writing process was wrapping my head around the potential and nuances of transmedia storytelling. … I was a newcomer to this trailblazing way to tell stories, but was keen to learn everything I could.
One of the most important things (co-author Jordan Weisman) expressed to me in those early weeks of the project was that the portals to our “out of book” experiences could never feel forced, cheesy or gimmicky. The edict: each item that came with the novel must have a narrative or resonantly emotional effect on the story and reader. Putting narratively-hollow “bling” in that envelope was verboten; instead, we wanted to craft a lean-and-mean tale that moved people. I admired that creative commitment, as it served the reader above all. It’s ethical storytelling, if that makes sense. No sizzle. All steak. Once I understood that, the story practically wrote itself.
Read the rest of the feature here. I’ll soon post an unedited version of the Q&A feature here on the site.
If you’re a first-time visitor to my site thanks to the story, welcome! Personal Effects: Dark Art has been praised as “a stellar first” by Publisher’s Weekly (starred review), and called “cutting-edge experimental fiction … that may herald the future of modern fiction” by Library Journal. Permit me to give you a tour of the Personal Effects-related content here at JCHutchins.net:
- More info on Personal Effects: Dark Art, and reviews from novelists and filmmakers such as Gore Verbinski, director of Pirates of the Caribbean and The Ring
- Personal Effects: Sword of Blood, the free groundbreaking podcast-exclusive audionovella prequel to Dark Art
- Commit Yourself To The Brink, a community-fueled art experiment where fans can become patients in the asylum seen in Personal Effects: Dark Art
- The groundbreaking “vlurb” video blurb trailers, feauring video endorsements from celeb storytellers such as the creators of Friday the 13th, Final Destination and The Blair Witch Project
Even more killer content is coming as we near Personal Effects: Dark Art’s June 9 release date, so please keep returning to the site, or subscribe to the blog. Thanks so much for your interest … and if you’d like to support this trailblazing new breed of storytelling, consider pre-ordering a copy of the book.
Welcome to The Brink,
–J.C.
Personal Effects reviewed at the “A Life In The Day” blog
Make no mistake: As an author, I’m tremendously grateful for the positive reviews that industry publications such as Publishers Weekly and The Library Journal have recently given my debut thriller, Personal Effects: Dark Art. Those publications’ comments represent invaluable validation of my skills, and bring credibility to the story I’ve told.
But nothing beats the comments of a “real” reader (like this one) — someone like you and me, an in-the-trenches lover of books who’s far removed from the publishing biz. That’s why I was delighted to read Greg’s comments over at his A Life In The Day blog, in which he reviewed Dark Art. A snippet:
(P)eppered throughout the book and the included papers are websites to visit with background on the characters and on The Brink, phone numbers and voicemail codes …. All these enhance the total experience, and I found myself more invested in how the novel played out. …
As for the story itself, J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman have crafted a fine horror/thriller that can stand on its own, without the “out of book” experience. Incredibly well-drawn characters … and an involving story made this a novel that I didn’t want to put down. I had to know what happened next to the characters, and some nights begrudgingly set aside the book so I could get some sleep.
You can’t beat that review with a stick, peeps. Many thanks to Greg for the killer review. Check it out here — and if you’d like to support this trailblazing new breed of storytelling, consider pre-ordering a copy of the book.
Welcome to The Brink,
–J.C.
