Amazon's 14-Pilot Experiment Blazes a New Path in VOD Marketing

How many Hollywood movies and big studio TV shows have you seen and been tempted to yawn at? You recognized the plot within the first five minutes, you could tell what would happen before it did, or worse, you could dictate an entire plot based solely on the trailer.

Hollywood and big studios' risk-averse culture, though once justified, has now become irreverently obvious, and while people still eat what they feed them, they're starting to look elsewhere for their entertainment thanks to video-on-demand (VOD) services like Hulu and Netflix offering original series content.

On Friday, April 20, 2013, Amazon Instant Streaming locked arms with Hulu and Netflix to shift moviegoers from big theaters to home theaters and mobile devices with original content of its own.

The Pitfalls of a Poorly Planned Book Launch (and 6 Tips to Avoid Them)

It doesn't have to be this way.

So in a jolt of inspiration like never before, you decide you want to express your thoughts or expertise with the world – not just by blogging, but by producing a small book. (High five. Doing well so far.)

Over three to six months, you outline the content, start laying it out in your word processor, then dive into the writing, fueled by the excitement and motivation that you’re really going through with this.

Or, on the other hand, if writing isn’t your strong suit, you slog through it, hating the process (you may even hire a ghostwriter to pass off that task), but still motivated by the idea that the world will greatly benefit from your work.

You kid glove the content, proofread and edit it multiple times, making sure to bring in an outside editor or proofreader to catch the mistakes you don’t. (Still doing well.)

Then you design your own cover, and even pick a launch date. But you don’t stop there – you plan out a whole book tour. (Woo-hoo!)

Then reality sets in. Your launch date’s coming up really soon and you still have yet to print the thing. What’s worse, you don’t have the money to cover the printing costs.

This doesn’t look too promising, does it?

Well, here are six tips to avoid being that guy.

Do You Know Your Online Fundraising Options? [Chart]

By now, you've probably seen many crowdfunding (or online fundraising) campaigns via sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo being shared by your friends on Facebook or Twitter. 

It's a pretty simple process: you set up a campaign page on a site, and pump your social networks and email contacts to get donations. Sounds easy enough, right?

However, the devil is in the details, and more of these crowdfunding sites are popping up every year. 

So where does a newbie even start? 

Good news. The Geek's done most of your work for you.