Tim O’Reilly’s O’Reilly Media = Spammer

I’ve criticized Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media fame quite a bit recently. I’ve referred to him a bourgeois hippie and called “bullshit” on his attempts to turn Web 2.0 into something more than it is, masking, of course, the fact that the hype train is rolling off the tracks.

Given O’Reilly’s utopian ideals and his status as an upstanding netizen, I was surprised to log into my email this morning to find that O’Reilly Media had spammed me.

For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or interview with the
author, contact:
[Contact info removed]

YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts–New from O’Reilly Make a Splash on YouTube

Sebastopol, CA–Thousands of people post to YouTube each day with hopes of taking videos “viral,” but few understand how to make that happen. But if you want to be visible on YouTube or even go viral, then you’ve come to the right place.

“YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts” (O’Reilly, $29.99) written by YouTube veterans Alan “fallofautumndistro” Lastufka and Michael W. Dean, provides easy-to-read instructions on getting a video of your cause, song, commercial, or unique point of view noticed by thousands.

“You don’t need money or corporate backing to go viral,” explains Alan. “You simply need a very good, or very bad, video and the know-how to get viewers to your video–both of which you will learn how to do in this book.”

Both Alan, one of the Top 100 Most Subscribed Comedians on YouTube and someone who makes a successful living off of the site, and Michael, a seasoned filmmaker, recognize there are thousands of creative, intelligent people on YouTube. They’ve crafted a solid technology book filled with media production techniques along with thought-provoking tips on professionalism, networking–and, as they put it, “being a better citizen of the planet Earth.”

Unlike any other book on this topic, “YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts” also includes interviews with YouTube stars LisaNova, Hank Green (vlogbrothers), WhatTheBuckShow, nalts, and liamkylesullivan, as well as current YouTube staff.

With this new book, you’ll learn about:

- Storytelling and directing
- Shooting, editing, and rendering
- Creating your very own channel
- Broadcasting user-generated content
- Re-broadcasting commercial content
- Cultivating a devoted audience
- Fitting into the YouTube community
- Becoming a success story

Alan and Michael share their understanding of viral marketing and what they know about getting your work on everyone’s YouTube radar. And, once you read this book, so will you.

About the Author
Alan Lastufka, a.k.a. fallofautumndistro, is one of the Top 100 Most Subscribed Comedians of All-Time on YouTube. His YouTube videos have had more than three million views. One of his early short films received multiple airings on the Independent Film Channel.

Michael W. Dean runs the well-known pop-culture blog, Stink Fight. Michael is the author of the books “$30 Film School,” “$30 Music School,” “$30 Writing School,” “Starving in the Company of Beautiful Women,” “The Simple Pleasures of a Complex Girl,” and “DIY NOW! Digital Audio.” He directed the films “D.I.Y. Or Die: How To Survive as an Independent Artist” and “Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow. ” Michael played guitar in the band The Beef People. He sang and played bass in Baby Opaque and Bomb (Warner Brothers).

Advance Praise
“Let me begin by making an observation that the authors are too humble to make for themselves: This book will change your life.” John Green, YouTube channel vlogbrothers

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bio, and samples, see: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596521141/

YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts
By Alan Lastufka, Michael W. Dean
ISBN: 9780596521141, $29.99 US,
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
http://www.oreilly.com
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastopol, CA 95472

About O’Reilly
O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the
future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

O’Reilly’s Digital Media products and online resources bring the knowledge of experts to a broad audience of enthusiasts and professionals, illuminating the spaces where innovation, creativity, and technology converge. For more creative inspiration, visit:
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/

# # #

O’Reilly is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Although I got a kick out of the notion that I could be “a better citizen of the planet Earth” by uploading bullshit videos of myself on YouTube, I was a bit puzzled by this email and I really don’t like the notion that I can use your book to “go viral” (tried that with a girl once when I went to Sweden and it wasn’t fun).

Now I’m no social media maven, but I was under the impression that spamming your press release to bloggers is a no-no. I also thought press releases sent to bloggers were supposed to be “social.” A little personalization never hurts, right?

Given my skepticism about Web 2.0 in general and the likelihood that a book with the title “YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts” isn’t going to instantly impress me, I’m surprised that O’Reilly’s PR shill didn’t take the time to try to win me over.

And then my ego was battered as I noticed that this email wasn’t even targeted to me. I had simply been added to an O’Reilly Media mailing list:

Warning: This message may be forged. The return path (bounce-59630-9552642@newsletter.oreilly.com) does not match the from address.

Which is a bit problematic because I have never signed up to receive emails from O’Reilly Media.

I wonder how that happened. To the best of my recollection, I’ve never even provided my email address to O’Reilly Media. And given my harsh criticisms of O’Reilly himself recently, I hardly doubt that he took time out of his busy day saving the world to add little old Drama 2.0 to a mailing list.

No, the most reasonable explanation for why I was sent a useless press release about a useless book is that my email address was harvested in some fashion.

Is this a violation of CAN-SPAM? Probably not, even though no explicit opt-out mechanism is offered and I certainly didn’t opt-in to receive O’Reilly Media mailings.

But even if O’Reilly Media is operating in a grey area here, I would have expected Tim O’Reilly to hold his company to a higher standard. After all, O’Reilly has called spam “an example of the madness of crowds.”

I guess that makes him a member of the mob.

But I do hold out hope. I have to believe that concepts such as email etiquette, double opt-in and CAN-SPAM compliance are being researched for a future book that I’ll ironically be receiving a press release for.

Interestingly, I’m apparently not the only person O’Reilly Media has spammed in this fashion. In fact, adding people to mailing lists seems to be something that O’Reilly Media’s has been doing for some time based on this post from 2004.

Tsk, tsk Tim.

I guess at the end of the day the only logical conclusion I can draw is that Tim O’Reilly is genuinely concerned about making the world greener after all. Unfortunately, we’re not talking about the eco-oriented kind of green and we’re only talking about his world.

In any case, I’ll be saving a tree and won’t be purchasing “YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts.” I hope you’ll help save the planet and do the same.

Note to Tim: books are so Publishing 1.0. They’re an ecological liability and an assault on green equity. If you don’t start distributing your books exclusively via Kindle, O’Reilly Media’s publishing business is going to go the way of the Grateful Dead. I love Jerry and crew as much as you do but that’s not the path.