Mission Statement
Hi, Fanvertisers, Content Creators, Corporate Partners, and everyone else who wants to know a little bit more about how Fanvertise.com got started and why we're here. Fanvertise.com is a company dedicated to promoting the creators of content.
My name is Tarah, I'm the founder of Fanvertise.com, and we here at Fanvertise have a statement of intent for you.
We think that in the age of the internet, there must be a more efficient way for content creators (authors, artists, musicians, auteurs, etc) to get their product to audiences without the noisy presence of advertising. We are perpetually irritated by banner ads, popups, clickthrough advertising, flashing signs, unintended attachments, rootkits, adware, splash screens, and every other crazy-making trick that Madison Avenue has been using to try to get a piece of the internet.
Think about the way that a book gets to you. An author spends months or years writing the next book in your favorite series. Once they have done so, their contract with their publisher specifies that the publisher has the rights to distribute, promote, and in all other ways deal with the marketing of that book. So, the publisher sets up ads with their publicity department who probably works with an external adcorp of some kind. Major newspapers run the ads paid for by the external adcorp. Based on the projected popularity of the book, distributors make orders. Distributors sell to wholesalers and retailers in bulk. They'll hold the books and ship them to retailers like your local giant bookseller-cum-coffee shop. Finally, those local giant book retailers pay for local promotional events, where you hear about the book's publication and come down to buy it along with some brand-name cappuccino--and if you're Tarah, you throw a chocolate croissant in there too. That's about eight steps between your favorite author and you, and I'm not even talking about the shipping on boats, planes, and semis between the publisher, distributor or wholesaler, and retailer, all of which is added cost.
So why do these adcorps exist? They are around to create desire that does not yet exist for a given product. Wait a minute, though--it's not like you're NOT going to buy the book you want already; it's more likely that you use advertising to tell you when the next book has arrived, not whether or not you'll want to purchase it. Here's a better question: what if you don't know which of the new books or media coming out will fit your tastes and requirements? How do we find new stuff to read, watch, and listen to? I don't know about you, but I and my friends pretty much tell each other what books, music, movies, TV shows, and every other form of entertainment we've enjoyed, and based on their recommendations, I go and pick up a new series. In addition, I've found people online whose opinion I respect and who write excellent reviews of books, movies, TV, and everything else I'm going to consume as far as entertainment is concerned. I typically read Orson Scott Card's Hatrack River site, since I've found that he and I almost NEVER disagree on movies or books (except once: I liked Lost in Translation and he didn't. Also--caveat: he apparently likes chick flicks, and I don't, but I haven't watched any of those he's recommended in order to be able to disagree with him). Reading Hatrack River caused me to find one of my top ten fantasy books of all time, Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind. With all the books and movies out there, the problem isn't that I can't find something to read, it's that I don't know which of the two hundred thousand books in a given giant and impersonal bookstore I'll like. So, I trust the opinion of others whose tastes tend to match mine. After having discovered Rothfuss's work, I started reading his blog too, and found one of HIS favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson and the Mistborn series...you get the idea. Anyway, the basic idea is this:
I think that the actual content creators should be the ones most directly benefiting from our purchase of their creations.
There's a need for publishers, as authors do need the help of content and copy editors, agents, and the physical mechanism of printing books. What's the real need for advertisers when what I actually need to know is whether people who share my taste are enjoying a given book or movie? Commercials and print ads don't give me the information I need. I don't care whether famous people like the product. I don't care if an attractive spokesperson tells me I'll enjoy the product. I certainly don't care if adorable animated animals sing a happy tune about how I'll enjoy the product. I don't trust that the four out of five dentists who recommend a brand of toothpaste didn't take Hawaiian vacations on the advertising company's dime. I care whether or not someone whose opinion I trust likes it or not. So why are we paying advertisers more than half the cover price of a book? In the best tradition of open source communities, forums, mailing lists, and every other virtual community on the web, I believe that the best way to figure out whether or not you'll like a book, movie, comic, TV show, album, or anything else that comes out of the mind of an artist is to trust that your community will put their money where their mouth is.
Fanvertise widgets are the way to tell others you love a piece of entertainment so much that you want to sell it for the creator so that he, she, or they will make MORE of what you love!
There are authors, auteurs, musicians, and other artists who have quit doing what they do because they couldn't make the money they needed to live. There are also artists who have ceased creating because they lacked the power to get the contracts they needed from their publisher or record company. There are publishers and companies who have canceled series of books or television shows because they don't believe there's enough interest in the product to make money on it. Remember that the publisher, producer, or whoever is in charge of getting a product from the creator to the consumer has to take a great number of costs into account in determining whether or not something will be profitable--and the biggest single cost is advertising. I don't believe piracy is the way to go when it comes to getting entertainment; it sort of kills the notion of supporting the artists. I DO understand it, however. I'm a big audiobook fan. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to tell whether or not I'll like a given audiobook based on a publisher's review, most of which are totally worthless. I don't want to pirate audiobooks, so how do I tell whether or not I'll purchase one? The last audiobook I bought was the Chiwetel Ejiofor/Ewan MacGregor production of Othello. I admire Ejiofor's work (he was SPECTACULAR as The Operative in Serenity), and he was the reason I spent my hard-earned money on a three-hour recording of Othello. It was worth every single penny, but if I hadn't already known that I deeply enjoyed Ejiofor's work, I wouldn't have bought it to begin with. I like it so much that you'll find me Fanvertising it sooner or later in one of my weekly reviews. Reading this letter from me to you, you've learned a bit about my tastes in entertainment. Do you, too, enjoy Rothfuss' book, Ejiofor's acting, Lost in Translation, and Shakespeare? If so, the next time I Fanvertise a book or movie I loved so much that I want the creator to get more money for what they made, I bet you'll take a long hard look at purchasing it yourself--and in such a way that you direct the most money possible to the person who created it.
So, why should you trust me and Fanvertise widgets when it comes to spending your entertainment dollars?
1. Fanvertise.com will never EVER use third-party advertising. You will never see a banner ad or a sidebar of ads "targeted" to you on our site. I don't want you to ever think that we'd change our site or our opinions to maintain advertising revenue, so it's best if we just avoid ad revenue altogether.
2. When I write my weekly reviews, you'll find that I am my own best customer. When I review a book, movie, graphic novel, album, or anything else, it is because I bought the item and am giving you my honest opinion. I will NEVER take gifts, money, free product, or any other incentive from any company making a product I am reviewing. If you see a Fanvertise widget in my column, it's because I am recommending it in the exact same way that people all over the web will be recommending it.
3. We have built and will continue to build our site on completely free and open source software [FOSS]. We will never use proprietary software to bring you our services. [Teeny tiny little caveat: if I think that user data is ever in any way in jeopardy of being exposed, I'll use whatever software I think is necessary to protect it, though I'm inclined to think the FOSS version of security software will be updated more often than a proprietary version anyway] When we make improvements to our FOSS stack, we'll be releasing our improvements back to the community that gave us the tools we use to bring you Fanvertise.com, and we'll be doing it for free [as in speech AND beer].
4. Our financial data is freely available for anyone to review. We maintain impeccable records, and we WANT you to know that Fanvertise is doing well. We'll protect the data necessary for the privacy of our members and employees, but you'll be able to see our tax returns as well. This company is designed to be profitable, but only HONESTLY so. I believe strongly in being not only a profitable company, but a fiscally and socially responsible one as well. Normally, the financial records of a company are only available to other companies. Hey, if you want to wade through them, you are welcome to do so.
5. We will NEVER sell any personally identifying information about you to ANYONE. When you click on a banner ad for Horrifyingly Abusive Advertising Company, they collect every piece of information they possibly can, sell your personal data to anyone who'll buy it, and put you on endless spam lists. I HATE that, and we want you to know that we respect your privacy just as much as our own.
I thank you for coming to Fanvertise.com, and I hope you'll enjoy our community, our company, our philosophy, and our love of all things AWESOME in the world of entertainment!
Tarah M. Wheeler
April 19th, 2010