Letter to Belton and the unappreciated war for online traffic - By N.L. Belardes
When Matt Munoz of Más Magazine and Mento Buru recently told me to 'Be the Media', I wasn't really sure of my stature as a local Bakersfield writer digging into the art scene trenches. I've since learned what 'Be the Media' means. It means not being heard; it means the various Bakersfield art scenes not being represented in the traditional media and so needing grassroots help. It all started with an online war for traffic:
I learned the hard way of course. I allowed nlbelardes.com to be party to the local Bakersfield Californian online war for traffic as a hub to a good-sized percentage of online traffic in the Bakersfield area, as well as a conduit to the Californian for traffic filtering in from around the globe. Does nlbelardes.com get 10% or more of all Bakersfield Web traffic?
I don't know how much traffic leaks over from what I do get (for reference: I had 1100 unique visits yesterday). Could just be 10 hits a day, but the spillover is there. I freely consulted with the Californian on their blog community and met with Jennifer Baldwin who was in charge of their Web Division at the time. She is now in charge of podcasts.
The Californian recognized my traffic and so in a gesture of goodwill (just as the goodwill I show the music scene) I consulted and advised them to do a high-traffic religion blog, among others, indicating such a blog would be high-traffic for the conservative online landscapes of Bakersfield, and for the Californian who felt it could be faltering along with other newspapers in the country who were falling to the superpowers of online classifieds, such as Craigslist.com. Admitting a new era in newspaper strategies, I was courteous to offer suggestions in how they could reach higher traffic. Baldwin asked who should write such a blog. I told her to consult the academics as well as leading churches. I even offered. As another gesture of goodwill I allowed my blog onto Bakersfield.com/blogs, a blog community that doesn't include many non-journalists like myself. I believe that breaking local news stories early in the year like the Wing Wahs fire, the death of Daniel Sepeda, the Jerry's Pizza Controversy, as well as a few other news stories garnered attention from the local paper, and thus some grassroots journalism credibility, at least in the Californian noticing I was winning online readers. Who knows what meetings were held in that downtown brick building of a 100-year-old newspaper empire, perhaps they got a bit mad over a local blogger/novelist breaking stories...
After launching the Buck City Podcast, it wasn't long before I gained much traffic and credability as the first podcast out of Bakersfield. The Californian months later followed suit. I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages and equipment are spent on blogs and podcasts by the local newspaper, but I do know with some diligence, the Buck City Podcast leads Google and Yahoo when typing in "Bakersfield podcast." The local online traffic war has for the most part been friendly, yet sneaky, with the local media giant positioning itself to win local and global traffic toward the Bakersfield region. I try to gain traffic too, but only as a means to gain a potential fanbase to sell books. I'm open with bands about that who I cover. The newspaper, they're a business, and they want to sell their product as well as gain new ground. But are they straightforward with their online intentions? Heck, Más and Bakotopia in part were created by the Californian to capture online traffic from the hip and Latino culture segments. Not bad marketing at all, though not necessarily straightforward either.
With all of that said, you might wonder: has the Californian written an article about the grassroots journalist/novelist who blogged and podcasted so much that the Californian sought his help? No.
Has the Californian offered to write about that very same person's book, Lords: Part One, just released on the Lords of Bakersfield, the urban myth perpetuated by the Californian in 2003? No. But perhaps that is because they cannot control the content of a book like they did the 2003 articles by Robert Price; that being the content of Lords: Part One which describes a Simone Sundale as a dastardly and devious and murderous newspaper publisher in Bakersfield, California who took a catastrophic event and twisted it to sell papers... despicable to the core.
But the Californian is interested in online traffic. Where I provided free help to the Californian just as I offer a free service to the local art scene; where I even posted a notice from Danielle Belton on my site to the music scene. Oh yes, she sent a letter to the music scene, not to her own site, but to nlbelardes.com for the music scene to read. Yes, I posted it without even thinking twice. But does the Californian reciprocate? I can't just send a review on over to Belton and expect the same in return. Sure, a little plug here and there in what she labels as a 'mention', but any more than that... and yet I would freely publish all she might sent my way...
Who really knows the reason why the Californian won't write about me... I could come up with all kind of wild-eyed conspiracy theories.
I called in today to KGEO AM 1230's The Puck Show around 5:30 PM today. I had been tipped off that Puck and Preston were talking about the N.L.-Belton controversy. I politely thanked them for taking a stand and then read them part of an email, rubbing off the serial numbers of course, from someone not blaming Belton, but who indicated she was merely taking orders as any good Nazi would. That may be the case. But unless she indicates an editor, or the publisher herself as the culprit, then as a soldier in the trenches myself, I can only fire back at the soldier currently staring at me, and who so unpolitely declined not just me, but all local literary arts...
In another note regarding books, one has to wonder if the Bakersfield Californian is an A.P. newspaper when it comes to reviews and books... maybe not if you look back a few years...
I can argue the Californian with its coffee table historical work Bakersfield: A Centennial Portrait, that the Cherbo Publishing Group did just what Noveltown has done with Lords: Part One... published a book about Bakersfield. And, Bakersfield: A Centennial Portrait, from my understanding, was paid for by the Bakersfield Californian seeking 'corporate write-ups' placed within that book... That's not straight-up history! If it were, Maynard, USC Dr. of history would have had free reign over content. I have taught California history and used a work titled The Elusive Eden. Pick it up and read chapter one, "Californians and their History: Myths and Realities," and you will get an understanding of such candy-coated history as Maynard was forced to write because he wanted to get paid and needed the credibility. He's one of the best writers I have ever known. That book never did him justice the way his book Venice West has; though there was one ungrateful review...
He got paid a flat rate for the Bakersfield book, got no royalties from the deal. Coffeetable books are a rip-off to write. You get a flat rate, no royalties, and they are often done in a money-trading partnership between local papers and a publisher.
And there were plenty of write-ups in the local Californian to sell copies of that book, which was the highest selling local book of all-time according to Maynard, and still may be. And they won't touch my historical fiction of Bakersfield's uncandy-coated past...
Bakersfield: A Centennial Portrait is along the same lines of self-publishing that I am being accused of, and yet one of Belton's excuses was: no self-published authors. I will repeat, Noveltown is a legit business and caters to Southern San Joaquin Valley writers, and a few others, and has already spoken with 5 writers who aren't me...
You can find that self-published book celebrating, and written for Bakersfield's Centennial history, though candy-coated, by no fault of Maynard's, in the Bakersfield Californian lobby. I saw it there the day I brought Belton a copy of my book. And yes, I'm still wondering what she did with it. Maybe it's sitting on the publisher's shelf, right next to an open copy of the Centennial book, open to page viii, you know, where there is the heading "The Bakersfield Californian: More Than 130 Years of Service to the Community."
I cannot post the Danielle Belton letters without seeking approval. But I can post my final letter to her, declining an interview over hockey songs...
Danielle,
Bob Price indicated I should talk to you, that he
didn't do book reviews. That's what he told me at
Dagny's. You're the Entertainment writer, correct? And
I write entertaining literature. That's where that was
coming from, as well as feeling you out a bit
regarding your views of my book and Noveltown.
Here's the reason why:
As for the hockey songs, I'm not really interested in
doing an interview with you at this point. See, I was
feeling you out a bit because everything I do
overlaps. The hockey songs lead back to books and book
promotions. That's where the revenue is going from the
CD: books, Danielle, because I have a vision to create
a company that illuminates literature from the
Southern Valley. If the Californian is snubbing
Noveltown Books in articles/reviews/features, then
they might as well snub Noveltown's hockey songs...
because the hockey CD idea was created out of the idea
to create a literary scene...
The book, Danielle, is more important than the hockey
CD. All of the bands involved, their 'regular' music
is more important than the hockey CD. The hockey CD is
a window to the Bakersfield music scene and a
financial avenue to helping Noveltown... But the
Hockey CD is important also to the culture of hockey
that I helped grow because I was there at Jastro Park
during the early days of roller hockey... and I was
part of the Standard League, and part of the East
Niles League, and those people make up a lot of the
hockey fans in town. I'm proud of that culture as I am
proud of helping create a window to the music scene,
and ESPECIALLY, in helping to further literary arts
here in the Southern Valley, that, I'm sorry isn't
part of the New York Times Bestseller list.
Peace out,
Nick
I learned the hard way of course. I allowed nlbelardes.com to be party to the local Bakersfield Californian online war for traffic as a hub to a good-sized percentage of online traffic in the Bakersfield area, as well as a conduit to the Californian for traffic filtering in from around the globe. Does nlbelardes.com get 10% or more of all Bakersfield Web traffic?
I don't know how much traffic leaks over from what I do get (for reference: I had 1100 unique visits yesterday). Could just be 10 hits a day, but the spillover is there. I freely consulted with the Californian on their blog community and met with Jennifer Baldwin who was in charge of their Web Division at the time. She is now in charge of podcasts.
The Californian recognized my traffic and so in a gesture of goodwill (just as the goodwill I show the music scene) I consulted and advised them to do a high-traffic religion blog, among others, indicating such a blog would be high-traffic for the conservative online landscapes of Bakersfield, and for the Californian who felt it could be faltering along with other newspapers in the country who were falling to the superpowers of online classifieds, such as Craigslist.com. Admitting a new era in newspaper strategies, I was courteous to offer suggestions in how they could reach higher traffic. Baldwin asked who should write such a blog. I told her to consult the academics as well as leading churches. I even offered. As another gesture of goodwill I allowed my blog onto Bakersfield.com/blogs, a blog community that doesn't include many non-journalists like myself. I believe that breaking local news stories early in the year like the Wing Wahs fire, the death of Daniel Sepeda, the Jerry's Pizza Controversy, as well as a few other news stories garnered attention from the local paper, and thus some grassroots journalism credibility, at least in the Californian noticing I was winning online readers. Who knows what meetings were held in that downtown brick building of a 100-year-old newspaper empire, perhaps they got a bit mad over a local blogger/novelist breaking stories...
After launching the Buck City Podcast, it wasn't long before I gained much traffic and credability as the first podcast out of Bakersfield. The Californian months later followed suit. I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages and equipment are spent on blogs and podcasts by the local newspaper, but I do know with some diligence, the Buck City Podcast leads Google and Yahoo when typing in "Bakersfield podcast." The local online traffic war has for the most part been friendly, yet sneaky, with the local media giant positioning itself to win local and global traffic toward the Bakersfield region. I try to gain traffic too, but only as a means to gain a potential fanbase to sell books. I'm open with bands about that who I cover. The newspaper, they're a business, and they want to sell their product as well as gain new ground. But are they straightforward with their online intentions? Heck, Más and Bakotopia in part were created by the Californian to capture online traffic from the hip and Latino culture segments. Not bad marketing at all, though not necessarily straightforward either.
With all of that said, you might wonder: has the Californian written an article about the grassroots journalist/novelist who blogged and podcasted so much that the Californian sought his help? No.
Has the Californian offered to write about that very same person's book, Lords: Part One, just released on the Lords of Bakersfield, the urban myth perpetuated by the Californian in 2003? No. But perhaps that is because they cannot control the content of a book like they did the 2003 articles by Robert Price; that being the content of Lords: Part One which describes a Simone Sundale as a dastardly and devious and murderous newspaper publisher in Bakersfield, California who took a catastrophic event and twisted it to sell papers... despicable to the core.
But the Californian is interested in online traffic. Where I provided free help to the Californian just as I offer a free service to the local art scene; where I even posted a notice from Danielle Belton on my site to the music scene. Oh yes, she sent a letter to the music scene, not to her own site, but to nlbelardes.com for the music scene to read. Yes, I posted it without even thinking twice. But does the Californian reciprocate? I can't just send a review on over to Belton and expect the same in return. Sure, a little plug here and there in what she labels as a 'mention', but any more than that... and yet I would freely publish all she might sent my way...
Who really knows the reason why the Californian won't write about me... I could come up with all kind of wild-eyed conspiracy theories.
I called in today to KGEO AM 1230's The Puck Show around 5:30 PM today. I had been tipped off that Puck and Preston were talking about the N.L.-Belton controversy. I politely thanked them for taking a stand and then read them part of an email, rubbing off the serial numbers of course, from someone not blaming Belton, but who indicated she was merely taking orders as any good Nazi would. That may be the case. But unless she indicates an editor, or the publisher herself as the culprit, then as a soldier in the trenches myself, I can only fire back at the soldier currently staring at me, and who so unpolitely declined not just me, but all local literary arts...
In another note regarding books, one has to wonder if the Bakersfield Californian is an A.P. newspaper when it comes to reviews and books... maybe not if you look back a few years...
I can argue the Californian with its coffee table historical work Bakersfield: A Centennial Portrait, that the Cherbo Publishing Group did just what Noveltown has done with Lords: Part One... published a book about Bakersfield. And, Bakersfield: A Centennial Portrait, from my understanding, was paid for by the Bakersfield Californian seeking 'corporate write-ups' placed within that book... That's not straight-up history! If it were, Maynard, USC Dr. of history would have had free reign over content. I have taught California history and used a work titled The Elusive Eden. Pick it up and read chapter one, "Californians and their History: Myths and Realities," and you will get an understanding of such candy-coated history as Maynard was forced to write because he wanted to get paid and needed the credibility. He's one of the best writers I have ever known. That book never did him justice the way his book Venice West has; though there was one ungrateful review...
He got paid a flat rate for the Bakersfield book, got no royalties from the deal. Coffeetable books are a rip-off to write. You get a flat rate, no royalties, and they are often done in a money-trading partnership between local papers and a publisher.
And there were plenty of write-ups in the local Californian to sell copies of that book, which was the highest selling local book of all-time according to Maynard, and still may be. And they won't touch my historical fiction of Bakersfield's uncandy-coated past...
Bakersfield: A Centennial Portrait is along the same lines of self-publishing that I am being accused of, and yet one of Belton's excuses was: no self-published authors. I will repeat, Noveltown is a legit business and caters to Southern San Joaquin Valley writers, and a few others, and has already spoken with 5 writers who aren't me...
You can find that self-published book celebrating, and written for Bakersfield's Centennial history, though candy-coated, by no fault of Maynard's, in the Bakersfield Californian lobby. I saw it there the day I brought Belton a copy of my book. And yes, I'm still wondering what she did with it. Maybe it's sitting on the publisher's shelf, right next to an open copy of the Centennial book, open to page viii, you know, where there is the heading "The Bakersfield Californian: More Than 130 Years of Service to the Community."
I cannot post the Danielle Belton letters without seeking approval. But I can post my final letter to her, declining an interview over hockey songs...
Danielle,
Bob Price indicated I should talk to you, that he
didn't do book reviews. That's what he told me at
Dagny's. You're the Entertainment writer, correct? And
I write entertaining literature. That's where that was
coming from, as well as feeling you out a bit
regarding your views of my book and Noveltown.
Here's the reason why:
As for the hockey songs, I'm not really interested in
doing an interview with you at this point. See, I was
feeling you out a bit because everything I do
overlaps. The hockey songs lead back to books and book
promotions. That's where the revenue is going from the
CD: books, Danielle, because I have a vision to create
a company that illuminates literature from the
Southern Valley. If the Californian is snubbing
Noveltown Books in articles/reviews/features, then
they might as well snub Noveltown's hockey songs...
because the hockey CD idea was created out of the idea
to create a literary scene...
The book, Danielle, is more important than the hockey
CD. All of the bands involved, their 'regular' music
is more important than the hockey CD. The hockey CD is
a window to the Bakersfield music scene and a
financial avenue to helping Noveltown... But the
Hockey CD is important also to the culture of hockey
that I helped grow because I was there at Jastro Park
during the early days of roller hockey... and I was
part of the Standard League, and part of the East
Niles League, and those people make up a lot of the
hockey fans in town. I'm proud of that culture as I am
proud of helping create a window to the music scene,
and ESPECIALLY, in helping to further literary arts
here in the Southern Valley, that, I'm sorry isn't
part of the New York Times Bestseller list.
Peace out,
Nick
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Thursday, November 10, 2005.
You can leave your response.
You are correct that the soldier should be destroyed, as that is your only target. Yet have faith, one day you will hit their top commandant, as they cowardly hide among their own, and will not reveal their true selves for fear they will be destroyed by their own, who they sacrifice so readily. So kill em all, let the truth sort em out. There have been many great empires fallen by guerillas with sticks and stones, so aim true and throw hard, the right-necks will fall eventually.
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