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Deep in the heart of Texas

I just got home from a little media tour that was a complete blast. Here's some pictures of me at the Lonestar Scrapbook Co. with some of the lovely ladies that work and buy products ( sounds like a 50 / 50 ratio ) there.

I had sent an email to a friend of mine weeks ago about having to print several hundred pictures out next day service and cheap. Pretty much everyone I contacted said check out Walmart.com or Ritz.com because they're pretty cheap and use Fuji paper. I was relaying my story of how I was able to upload a ton of pics and get fast service which was a novel concept because I've never really printed out the years of digital pictures I have on my hard drive aside fomr the occasional doctered 8x10 or something from photoshop. Turns out my friend has a friend at Fuji corp. and we were connected. One thing lead to another and they sent me down to the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington and an on location shoot at the Lone Star Scrapbook Store in Houston.

Everything worked out great because I didn't recieve any money and they didn't tell me how to make my movie. I don't think they've actually seen anything other than the promos. In fact, the trade off was they set me up with morning news show interviews to help plug the movie and although I was nervous about some shameless promotion issues, in the end they pretty much just let me say what I wanted and in my own style. You can check out the blog below for some pictures and updaes I sent to my friend Michelle who wanted to go but couldn't so I tried to keep her informed.

Michelle's Blog

Looking back that is an insanely bold move on their part because my promos are pretty agressive and an odd fit with the average scrapbooker. They took a big chance, particularly because it was a herculean effort for them to rent a studio, cart me around everywhere, get a top notch producer / director and show me off at their booth... all based on some schmoe who's never done live TV or radio stuff before and doesn't come off as a safe bet in the non offensive category.

In the end I was able to be interviewed all over the place:
WVNU Radio Cincinnati
WZEZ Radio Richmond, Va.
WSIL (ABC ) Paducah
KYTV ( NBC ) Springfield, Mo.
KLBK ( CBS ) Lubbock, Tx.
WKBN (CBS ) Youngstown, Oh.
KIDK ( CBS ) Idaho Falls, ID
KCTV ( CBS ) Kansas City, KS
KMZU Radio Kansas City, KS
KYTX ( CBS ) Tyler, Tx
KWIX Radio Columbia, Mo.
WJSS Radio Baltimore, Md
WDIS Radio Boston, Ma.
WFIN Radio Toledo, OH
KWGN (Warner Bro. ) Denver, CO.
WYAM Huntsville, Al.
WBRC ( Fox ) Birmingham

Also on the Fox morning show with Lanny in Houston and an on location interview at the convention on CBS in Dallas. I'm amazed at the freedom I had and the exposure I recieved. I caught a huge break and Shannon, the PR / logistcal person that traveled with me and did all the work caught a huge earful of stress... from me. Yikes! This was all new for me and she was able to defuse my explosions of being on live TV at 4:30 in the morning. Whatever she's making, she needs a raise.

posted by wes @ 7:15 AM