Book Review: Monster Loyalty

Katie May 5, 2013 1 Comments

Monster Loyalty is about Lady Gaga and her brand.  She has a group of fiercely loyal fans, known as the little monsters.  This book looks a bit in to the business aspect of Lady Gaga and how she has become such a pop phenomenon, seemingly overnight.  She has huge success on social media, and it really is all about marketing her brand and she seems to be a great business woman.

The key to creating loyal customers is having a focus that is something bigger than people can be emotional about.  Gaga is all about making the world better and her fans can get behind that and support that message in addition to her music.

While I wouldn’t consider myself a Lady Gaga fan, I certainly can respect her as a business woman and obviously she is doing something right because she has a very solid and loyal fanbase who are following and supporting her.  I also am very much so interested in the music business and fans as a customer so I am always interested in reading different approaches that different artists and record labels take to see how I think they are working or not just from my perspective as a consumer.

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

“WE IDENTIFY WITH EACH OTHER. I SEE MYSELF IN MY FANS AND MY FANS SEE THEMSELVES IN ME. I CALL THEM LITTLE MONSTERS BECAUSE THEY ARE MY INSPIRATION.” —LADY GAGA 

Famous for her avant-garde outfits, over-the-top per­formances, and addictive dance beats, Lady Gaga is one of the most successful pop musicians of all time. But behind her showmanship lies another achievement: her wildly successful strategy for attracting and keeping insanely loyal fans.

She’s one of the most popular social media voices in the world with more than 33 million Twitter followers and 55 million Facebook fans. And she got there by methodically building a grassroots base of what she calls her “Little Monsters”—passionate fans who look to her not just for music but also for joy, inspiration, and a sense of community.

In Monster Loyalty marketing expert Jackie Huba explores Gaga’s biography and fan philosophy and iso­lates the seven lessons any business can learn from her. For instance…
Focus on your One Percenters: Lady Gaga is  investing today in the audience she hopes to have twenty-five years from now. She spends most of her efforts on just 1 percent of her base, the highly engaged superfans who spread her message. Lead with values:Gaga stands out not just for her music but also for her message that it’s okay to be yourself and to love others for who they are. When you connect with customers beyond just providing a product or service, you create a lasting bond. Give them something to talk about: Whether she’s wearing a meat dress or delivering jaw-dropping performances, Lady Gaga knows what will get people talking. Making your business word-of-mouth-worthy cuts down on advertising costs and spreads buzz faster than anything else.
Love her or hate her, you can’t ignore Lady Gaga. And while not all businesses want to stand out the way she does, any business can win big by creating monster loyalty.

Book Review: Cropped to Death

Katie May 4, 2013 0 Comments

When I saw there was a book called Cropped to Death – a murder mystery that revolved around scrapbooking I knew that I absolutely had to read it.  While this may seem like a strange genre to most, I absolutely love murder mystery and thriller books AND scrapbooking and never would have thought about putting the two together!

Faith returns home to work at her grandmothers scrapbook store and while at an event, one of the worker’s husbands is murdered.  Of course, everyone believes that Marilyn, his soon to be ex wife is the one who did it.  Except Faith.  Marilyn tells Faith to find out who really did this so that she can be set free and Faith jumps in head first into the world of private investigating, something that we find out that she is not that great at.  She drives the detective on the case crazy as well as everyone around her with her theories of who did it.  She goes through several suspects before finally everything becomes pieced together and they figure out who really did it, and why.  (Maybe thanks to Faith’s meddling in the investigation. I won’t tell you for sure)

Faith had me convinced that some of her suspects had done it – I was running all sorts of scenarios in my head and some of them were absolutely crazy (and no, they didn’t cross anyone’s mind in the book, just my own.)

Overall I really liked the scrapbook store as an additional character of sorts in the book and I am looking forward to reading more books like this 🙂

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Former US Army JAG specialist, Faith Hunter, returns to her West Virginia home to work in her grandmothers’ scrapbooking store determined to lead an unassuming life after her adventure abroad turned disaster. But her quiet life unravels when her friend is charged with murder, and Faith inadvertently supplied the evidence. So Faith decides to cut through the scrap and piece together what really happened. With a sexy prosecutor, a determined homicide detective, a handful of sticky suspects and a crop contest gone bad, Faith quickly realizes if she’s not careful, she’ll be the next one cropped.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christina Freeburn wrote her first book in the ninth grade, mostly during algebra class (which she doesn’t recommend). She served in the JAG Corps of the US Army and also worked as a paralegal, librarian, and secretary. She lives in West Virginia with her husband, children, a dog, and a rarely seen cat except by those who are afraid or allergic to felines. When not writing or reading, she can be found in her scrapbook area among layouts, paper, bling and stuffed Disney characters. Her novel, Cropped to Death, brings together her love of mysteries, scrapbooking, and West Virginia.

Book Review: Apatoff for Destruction

Katie May 2, 2013 0 Comments

This was an interesting book – I always like to see books from fellow bloggers – even if it gives me all sorts of ideas on what books I can write (and then makes me realize the book I have been trying to write has been on the back burner for months, years even now… I better get to it!)  While I don’t consider myself a metal fan I am always interested in hearing about passionate fans from other genres – it’s all the same at some level.

This book isn’t too long – a bunch of short essays by Ben on different topics, all of which are interesting and not too long that you’ll lose interest in them.  Topics include Playlists, Rants and Essays, Reviews, Songs, Appetite for Destruction.  Don’t be fooled by the Table of Contents – it seems overwhelming but the book really isn’t.  I love how it was organized and I of course love the ticket stubs included on the cover and the first page of the book.  Definitely right up my ally 🙂

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review.  I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

A Metal Fan’s Notes is a collection of a headbanger’s musings, playlists, reviews and rants from metal blogger Ben Apatoff, to inspire readers “to investigate, reconsider or start a fight over some of the music described herein. You owe it to yourself to at least give these bands a shot. You won’t be sorry, although your neighbors might be. What are the best Iron Maiden songs about famous literature? How does Axl Rose make a small group of people cry in his presence? What happens when you play Faith No More’s “Epic” on a tavern jukebox? Turn the e-pages and find out.”

Book Review: Katie’s Choice

Katie May 1, 2013 0 Comments

 Katie’s Choice was an obvious choice for me to pick to read. Then I could pretend the book was about me! (If I was Amish.)   The book is about Zane Carson – Zane is a war reporter but he is recovering from being shot.  He is being sent on a more safe assignment – to the Amish country in Oklahoma.  Zane didn’t even know that there were any Amish in Oklahoma, but he would be living with a family and writing about their life for several months.

At first, adjusting to the Amish way of life is tough for Zane, but he quickly befriends Katie Rose, the daughter of the family Zane is staying with.  She teachese him about God and the way of the Amish and confides that she is too old to get married and will stay as the communities teacher instead – that is what God wants of her.   She is still recovering from a broken heart when her boyfriend left the community and decided to become English.

Of course, before Zane left on assignement, he had proposed to his girlfriend Monica, but she was unable to say yes or no.  Once Zane and Katie really start falling for each other, there is a Christmas surprise – not only has Monica come to town to surprise Zane and let him know that she says Yes!, but Samuel, Katie’s ex shows up as well.

Zane assumes that Katie will now marry Samuel and he leaves after his assignment is done to go back home with Monica.  But did the two really make a connection bigger than that?  And what is Katie’s choice? Zane or Samuel?

I seem to always avoid Amish fiction stories, but then when I do decide to read a few I always enjoy them, so I am not sure why I put up such a fuss about reading them!  There were a lot of characters in this book – the Fisher family is quite extended – but I had no problem feeling like I was one of them once I got into the book.  The fact that one of the main characters names was the same as my own probably helped as well.

If you enjoy Amish or Historical fiction, you will enjoy this book.

I received a free e-copy of  this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Katie Rose Fisher loved Samuel Beachy with an intensity that shook their Amish district. No one doubted they would one day marry, until Samuel turned his back on the church and joined the world of the English.

Alone now in Clover Ridge, Katie Rose dedicates her life to God and the school children she teaches each day. Although she secretly longs for more, Katie knows God’s hand is at work, and she is happy.

News correspondent Zane Carson never even knew Oklahoma had an Amish community until he got the chance to live among them and learn about their day-to-day activities. Their simple way of life is intriguing, but not half as much as the young teacher.

Katie Rose is flattered over the attention she receives from Zane, but she has resolved to never marry. Even if she were to entertain the idea, it surely couldn’t be with an outsider like Zane.

Never one prone to the restraints of organized religion, Zane finds a comfort in the rituals and blessings in the day to day righteous living of this small Amish community. He finds himself, God, and love with Katie Rose.

But as Zane draws closer to Katie Rose, Samuel comes back to repent his ways and return to his place at her side. Can Zane convince Katie Rose that he is committed to adapting to her way of life, or will Samuel win her affec- tions back for himself once again?