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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True® - the First For-Profit E-mail Publication (and Still Going Strong). |
Media Notice Archives
Hail to the Press
This Just In got its first major press coverage this week -- with a nice nod in Newsweek's 11 November issue, in their new "Cyberscope" section. There has been plenty of notice from smaller publications, but Newsweek is certainly a big fish.
TJI's The Best!
TJI is proud to be hailed as part of the "Best in Net Entertainment" in Internet World magazine's "The Best and Worst of 1994" issue.
"How Did He Get So Popular So Fast?"
Just over a year old, This is True is written up extremely favorably in the New York Times' business section. Their reporter is the first one to really understand the implications of my for-profit e-mail publishing idea.
Bi-Coastal Publicity
After the New York Times did a nice write-up on me and True, I sent a copy to a Los Angeles Times reporter so he could see how the out-of-town paper scooped a great story right in his own back yard.
I Like TV
The folks at CNN caught the personality piece in the L.A. Times and called to see if I'd go on the air.
Well sure!
Wired -- Behind the Curve
The April issue of Wired magazine finally takes notice of e-mail publishing -- after I've been doing it for nearly two years.
The magazine says True is "one of the biggest lists on the Net.... It's [sic] popularity comes from Cassingham's shrewd selection of subject matter."
Drudgery
True was given the "Fierce Site of the Week" this week award by fierce.com (which now seems to be a singles site, not a publication anymore.) They say that not only is truth stranger than fiction, "it's funnier, too." Like I'm going to argue?
True was also written up in this month's PC Computing magazine (in their "Amazing FREE Stuff!" issue), and I was clued in to a glancing but rather cool mention in Business 2.0's premiere issue. (I really appreciate it when you let me know when you see me or True mentioned in the press. Thanks!)
But the one I truly enjoyed the most this week is a mere link.
I'm Being Watched
The Online Journalism Review (published by the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication) did an interesting story on "Value-added E-mail: A Publishing Alternative to the WWW".
The article features Yours Truly, written by News Editor Matt Welch of Tabloid News Services.
Textbook Case
Today's mail brought a copy of the third edition of a college textbook, Computers in Your Future. It has a brief case study on one new trend enabled by the Internet: e-mail publishing, using This is True as its example.
Influence of the Stars
I don't often read horoscopes. But quite a few people sent me a clip of this one from Cancer for the week of June 8, 2000: "I see no reason why you should agree to your 'incarceration' in the lower depths much longer, Cancerian. In the opinion of both me and the cosmic powers that be, you've been punished enough. You have finished serving your time, paying your dues and carrying out your atonement. Therefore, I urge you to lobby hard for freedom in the coming days. If your oppressors show any resistance, start scheming about how to break out and escape by any means possible. To inspire your efforts, I encourage you to acquire a 'Get Out of Hell Free' card, which is available at..." and my address, with instructions to send $2.
Hoops of Murphy
Last night I was up until 2:00 because I spent an hour and a half doing an interview with a magazine. The interviewer was pretty good: it was more than the usual questions like "Gee, why do you think it's so popular?" He even went into what I thought of the Napster debacle, and the Microsoft anti-trust action.
But about True, he asked, "How do you put the thing together, what do you deal with in the process, what hoops does Murphy's Law make you jump through to make it all come together?" Good question -- no one has ever asked it before.
Be Unreasonable
Today I got a copy of the new book Be Unreasonable: the Unconventional Way to Extraordinary Business Results by Paul Lemberg. In the book, Lemberg uses me and True as an example of starting a business in an "unreasonable" way (in his chapter on "Unreasonable Thinking").
G. Gordon Stella
I had an interesting experience on Wednesday: I got a phone call from the producer of G. Gordon Liddy's radio show, asking if I could be on their show -- in five minutes. I was just sitting at my desk, so I said sure. He asked me to pull up my Stella Awards archives so I could talk about pretty much any story during the half-hour segment. No problem, I said.
