February 2008 Archives

The video teaching series for Mike Zigarelli's Influencing Like Jesus is now available for download on LifeWay.com.

This is pretty exciting for me because it's the first video project that I've seen all the way through. This has been the pilot project for my job and everything that's to come for me, video wise. With this project I was able to gather the information needed to make my workflow, get authorization for the correct software needs, and fully understand the process of getting the files up to our file server and connected with our online catalog.

The more exciting part about this series is it's a first for LifeWay in two ways:

(1) This is our first DRM-free video download product. This is an experiment for us to see how our customers will react to the files not being DRM'd. There's quite a bit of risk for us here, as there isn't a DVD companion piece to this. In the long run, I think this will serve as a great customer convience. From my customer service background I know the troubles that a lot of our customers have had with the current DRM set-up. Plus, this will allow our Mac users to download the files. I truly think this is a win-win situation, and I hope to get approval on more DRM-free content in the future.

(2) This is our first multi-tiered quality product. What I mean by that is the videos are available in three flavors:

• Audio Only
• Individual Use / Low Resolution

• Small Group Use / Standard Definition

  This is the first time we're offering a standard definition downloadable product. All of our past downloads, such as the Beth Moore Daniel files, were low-res, 360×240 files. We still have that size available for Influencing Like Jesus, but now we also have the full res, 720×480 files available. For 'Influencing' the files were encoded at an average bit rate of 3000kbps. Amazon Unbox - a leader in digital downloads - offers their files at an average bit rate of 2500kbps. I'm proud to say we're able to beat them at that.

Of course, with that bump in resolution and bit rate we see a much high file size... so these files are definately only for customers that have a broadband connection.

One of my first real friends here at LifeWay was Darrel Girardier.  He was working for Fuge when I started working in the Fuge offices in 2002.  I found a peer that I could talk with, brainstorm with, learn from, and look up to.

I first met Neil back then, too, when he came in to help write some of the creative elements for portions of the camp experience.

Now, they're both full-time employees of LifeWay, heading up the creative direction of the kids camps and student camps.  These two are both so completely on target with the current trends in culture and marketplace needs for their respective demographics that, if you have any interest in the culture of student from grades 4-12, I highly recommend watching this video.  These two are genuine experts in their field that don't get nearly enough time to share their knowledge.

(Seriously, guys - why aren't you speaking at conferences and such?)

A while back, I got to meet with David Webb about the B&H pitching process.  Our conversation back then really turned into a "get-to-know-you" meeting, and we talked a lot about the Christian Fiction market, what his job was, who some of the new authors were, etc etc.  The information he was sharing - as well as his passion for Christian Fiction - seemed to me to be something that anyone interested in Christian fiction might want to know.  How often do you get a chance to sit down with one of the top guys in the business?

The video is also a lot of fun because you get a peek into David's mind as to how the whole process works, and how involved an editor might be in a story (David talks about how one time a story really needed a character to die...).  David also talks a bit about upcoming books by authors Jamie Carie, Leanna Ellis, and Rebecca Seitz.

So, without further ado, here's a video conversation with David Webb.