maxbarry.com
Tue 09
Aug
2011

I Had to Make a Book Trailer

Machine Man Machine Man is out today. As celebration/punishment, I offer you this promotional book trailer.

Watch on YouTube.

Comments

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Matt (#5546)

Location: US
Posted: 4835 days ago

Love it, Max! I'm going to have you be in any future LOST videos I make!

Machine Man subscriber Paul (#4154)

Location: Minneapolis
Posted: 4835 days ago

Awesome.

Machine Man subscriber James C King (#156)

Location: Perth, Austrslia
Quote: "Let us rain some DOOM down upon the FILTHY heads of our DOOMED enemies! - Zim"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Okay, That was Awesome.
I was buying the book before. Now I'm buying more then one copy.

Stijn (#5223)

Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Quote: "Seek nothing and you will find everything."
Posted: 4835 days ago

Well... there's always the possibility of creating some sort of game from your book idea. I'm not sure if that's been done before, but it could create something really cool that last for, I don't know, a year or two?

Brittany O. (#1688)

Location: Montana
Quote: "people are kind of overrated "
Posted: 4835 days ago

Fantastic!
And you sound much different then I expected.

Machine Man subscriber Adam (#24)

Location: Morristown, Indiana
Quote: "Why do I blog? Simple, because Max Barry blogs."
Posted: 4835 days ago

Tue Aug 9 2011

SIGNING AND SALES AND THE BEAUTY OF BOREDOM

Recently, and by "recently" I mean the past two months, I have been unemployed. This has led me to do some odd things out of boredom. I took my nation(the_robot) off vacation mode and answered issues for the first time in several years. (I could name my own capital city? How long has this been around?) I learned to play the ukulele. I read all the books I want. I've lost weight. I've had time to journal(it's like blogging, but on paper with a pen). I'm accomplishing more things than I ever thought possible.

Despite the lack of income, I seem to be 100 times more productive and happier than when I had a job. This is probably because I worked in sales.

Sales was created by the devil himself in the book of genesis, when he sold the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to Eve, then Adam. Sales resulted in sin, death, and damnation. It has not changed much since.

Also, I'm learning sign language. Seriously, online through videos. Recently, and by "recently" I mean a couple of weeks ago, I met some deaf people, and thought, "It would be awesome if I could talk to them with sign language." So now I'm learning it. With my previous sales job, I would have met them and thought, "...I don't have time." or more likely, "I bet I could sell them my product better if I learned sign language."

-Adam

Swkoll (#5394)

Location: USA
Quote: ":)"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Amazing, awesome can't wait.

Billy McMahon (#4690)

Location: Variable
Quote: "revolution"
Posted: 4835 days ago

That's just hilarious. Definitely buying the book (was anyway, but hey).

Machine Man subscriber Karen (#2180)

Location: wishing I was at home
Quote: "Question authority, not your mother!"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Wow, the beard's back!

Machine Man subscriber Michael Crider (#3054)

Location: Colorado, United States
Posted: 4835 days ago

Max, why do you have Breaking Bad-style meth cooking accessories in your home? Just wondering.

Machine Man subscriber SRD (#2889)

Location: Ogden, Utah
Posted: 4835 days ago

That was great. 10! The local B&N doesn't have Machine Man for some reason, so I'm gonna have to get it from Amazon.

Machine Man subscriber coolpillows (#3749)

Location: new york general sort of vicinity
Quote: ""It's not working" -- Joseph Clark"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Yeah...I was gonna buy the book anyway so it didn't sell me. BUT...I am considering about doing a trailer for this post on your blog. I think it could really help my sales. Nice going Max...EXCITED about Machine Man!!

lee

Machine Man subscriber Katrina (#847)

Location: SF, CA
Quote: "Good sex is like good Bridge: if you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand." -- Mae West"
Posted: 4835 days ago

That was awesome. I am still laughing several minutes later <3

stanley becker (#5283)

Location: black hole
Quote: "DON"T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!!"
Posted: 4835 days ago

"I am a writer" reminds me of George Orwell's 1984 - it always amazes me when I reflect on what triggers what but seriously Max, if you think about it, brain amputations must be next, - I sure could do with a better brain - GO FOR IT!! .......... Yours Stan

Stephen Atwood (#5559)

Location: Fort Lewis, WA
Quote: ""My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work...""
Posted: 4835 days ago

I messaged you on Twitter when I first received the digital copy of the book. Possibly not the first celebrity I'd sent a message to, but I can still count them on one human hand. To my pleasant surprise, you responded. I'd compared the joy of literacy to that of recreational drugs. You kindly advised me not to inhale your book (it turns out, you've replied to two of my messages. I should have exposed myself as a loyal fan much sooner).

Advice, I'm afraid, that I did not take. Less than 24 hours later, I'd finished the entire piece and was already planning my second reading around my hectic schedule of learning a foreign language ( Pashto: one of two languages known to man to contain endoclitics. Thus, they are one of three languages that have dis-proven the "Lexical Integrity Hypothesis").

I've always been entertained by your stories, how they expose the most wild and insane ideas to, in all actuality, simply be following the strange and mis-guided logic that we apply today (see: Nike killing customers for profit). But this one seemed to have touched on something personal. It exposed my own personal obsession, perhaps with my own mortality, or perhaps with the maddening truth that modern prosthetics continued to be designed only to clumsily imitate Mankind's already clumsy motions of forward movement.

I have a phone roughly the size of a deck of cards that can access more information than the American president had access to twenty years ago. I can communicate globally, check facts, weather, everything at the touch of my fingers. Why would they not do more with something the size of a leg?

But as rambling and strange as my rantings may seem, I have every intention of surviving my next deployment unscathed. The only difference is that on my next deployment, as I curl up in a tent or simply a dust-worn sleeping bag, with my rifle cradled next to me, I'll have but one more damn good book to read.

Good on you, Mr. Barry.

Adam A. (#256)

Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Quote: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." -George Carlin"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Very cool sir. I expected some blood splatter at the end there, but the choice of music was great. I was definitely planning on reading it, but that made me want to read it sooner than later. Good work.

Andrew Riley (#1970)

Location: Parker, Colorado, USA
Quote: "Predictions are difficult, especially about the future."
Posted: 4835 days ago

That is the best book trailer I've ever seen, and the first one I've ever heard of. Two birds with one stone!

Pre-ordered the book and it came bright and early. Looking forward to tearing through it over the weekend.

Simon (#3192)

Location: Melbourne
Quote: "I'd rather be arrogant than wrong"
Posted: 4835 days ago

What is it with artistic trailers these days..? www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHG-RiqCLy4

Machine Man subscriber David (#1456)

Location: Sydney, Australia
Quote: "Why are the pretty ones always insane?"
Posted: 4835 days ago

I bought the book the day it came out on Kindle but haven't gotten round to reading it yet. Now I'm too damn scared to open it! (And I've already read it in the original blog format...)

Totally excellent work on the trailer Max.

Machine Man subscriber Bushra (#36)

Location: Fremont, California
Quote: "www.caffeinatedmuslim.com"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Just ordered it from Amazon! Still kinda sorta bummed there's no book tour though.

Machine Man subscriber Max

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Quote: "I'm my number one fan!"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Thanks everyone! I made this several months ago, but wanted to save it for launch day.

So the beard is not back. The beard was grown for the trailer and excised immediately afterward, under Jen's strict supervision.

Janet (#2030)

Location: California
Quote: "There are three kinds of people in this world: Those that can count and those that can't. Which one are you?"
Posted: 4835 days ago

Best trailer everrrr~ I'm gonna go on Amazon and buy it right now! XD

Machine Man subscriber Yannick (#3858)

Location: Heist, Belgium
Quote: "he reads things"
Posted: 4834 days ago

I loved it!

I'm still waiting for my hard-copy to arrive, but I'll probably open the package while I'm still standing at the mailbox, reading it right then and there.

Machine Man subscriber SRD (#2889)

Location: Ogden, Utah
Posted: 4834 days ago

Max, I actually found a copy of Machine Man at B&N today in Layton (that's in Utah on the north side of Salt Davis county, just south of Ogden. Y'know, for those of you who care. For everybody else, just think "Not quite Salt Lake City, but in the general area.") They only had two copies on the floor, but thankfully I didn't have to move the one I didn't buy because it was already in the front. I'm sure its as great as the serial, but I'll still read it before I write a review on Amazon. Y'know, just so I don't say something that was true for the serial but not for the novel, making me look like an idiot henceforth. :)

Machine Man subscriber SRD (#2889)

Location: Ogden, Utah
Posted: 4834 days ago

And whats the deal with writers and their close female associates intolerance for excessive hair. Earlier this year I toyed with the idea of not shaving or cutting my hair until I had finished an all-new manuscript, but when my sister-in-law found out about it, she went out of her way to let me know that this was not acceptable. I know that sounds kind of weird, my sister-in-law bossing me around, but I was renting their basement at the time and I really liked living there and I didn't want to screw that up.

Christina (#5562)

Quote: "Until you start to move, you're going nowhere!"
Posted: 4834 days ago

The trailer was great! I was reading the online part of the book before, and today I bought the only copy of Machine Man in the Books a Million near me. I was pretty sad that they didn't have any of your other books (I wanted to read Company D:) but I'll find them eventually..maybe in a Barnes and Nobles...anyway can't wait to read it!

Chaz (#5572)

Location: California
Quote: "I have nothing quotable to say"
Posted: 4833 days ago

I play your game NS and work at a bookstore. Pure joy of your game translated to guilt of enjoyment has made me force several people to buy your books.
The reason I comment though is because this trailer is bloody brilliant and well-appreciated. I posted it on my G+ and shared it with the store owner who has shared it with everyone. Including the store Facebook.
Not a single other book trailer has come close to grabbing out attention like this. Oh, and because of that you have already sold several copies here.
Cheers.

ryandake (#2199)

Location: scenic monterey, ca
Quote: ""The rest is not our business.""
Posted: 4832 days ago

LOVE the trailer! almost as good as the book. which i finished last night. sad now, no more new max to read... please put down the circular saw and write another book!

Machine Man subscriber Russell (#3897)

Location: USA
Quote: "O Lord, Protect us from those to whom you speak directly"
Posted: 4832 days ago

Max, your book is excellent! I pre-ordered in april and i received it a few days ago and i've been reading it basically non stop. I LOVE IT.

but there was one thing i remembered about the serial that was markedly missing.

the phrase: "Don't do that thing!"

i'm only about halfway through, maybe it comes up later. please tell me you did not leave it out!

Joanna (#5296)

Location: Seattle, WA
Quote: ""The wise man despises no one. Instead, he watches him closely and tries to discover the roots of what he sees." (Gogol, Dead Souls)"
Posted: 4832 days ago

Very cool! I shared this video with a friend who has not had the pleasure of reading any of your work... and now he thinks your totally awesome anyway. :P

Colby (#5585)

Location: California, USA
Quote: ""... when we started making better machines than people.""
Posted: 4828 days ago

Max, I began as a Nationstates player, and eventually started poking around your site. I began reading the portion of the Machine Man serial you released for free, and upon finishing it, chose not to purchase access to the serial because at the time you were still writing the novelization of it.

I purchased it a couple of days after it was published, and I have to say you are a great writer. I was so hooked by the first chapter of the serial, and now I am hooked on the book as a whole and can't wait to see what happens. I am about 60% through the book in a matter of one and a half days, and I am torn between finishing it and letting it sit for a bit because I don't want it to be over.

Anyway, great book! Good enough quality that I may very likely purchase your other books. I read somewhere that movie rights have been optioned, and I cannot wait to see that realized!

Great work. :)

Dustin (#5586)

Location: United States
Quote: "It is far wiser to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, then to open it, and remove all doubt. -Abraham Lincoln"
Posted: 4826 days ago

Okay, so you finished another great novel. Now, get cracking on another! We expect our entertainment from you! Lol. Seriously, hilarious video, wonderful book.

Machine Man subscriber coolpillows (#3749)

Location: new york general sort of vicinity
Quote: ""It's not working" -- Joseph Clark"
Posted: 4820 days ago

Just finished rereading "Machine Man" or how do we say this, reading the book, the published commercially available version. And, following that, decided to come back and re-read the serialized version (which actually was commercially available way back then...I forget what we paid US$6.95?).

I didn't actually read every word of the serial again...just skimmed through assorted pages and comments. But what a great experience that was...in 2009. For those of us who were in the original group, commenting and reading a page a day, it was a communal experience. You go back to the last page and read those comments again and you can see how the readers reacted to the ending in real time, each one piping in the satisfaction, the loss, someone even shed a tear.

Any of the other subscribers have any thoughts like this? Anybody go back and look at the serial after reading the book? This should be taught in lit classes...the serial, the comments and the book together. (and btw, max, the scenes at angelica's worked fine in the book...dunno what I was thinking questioning that in the serial.)

Dana (#5604)

Posted: 4816 days ago

A banner for your book "Machine Man" says "OUT NOW". Is this a gay thing?

blab (#1632)

Location: The Sandwich Isles
Quote: "Adventure is just poor planning"
Posted: 4808 days ago

The trailer just reinforced what those of us who are fans of your writing already knew -- you're a creative genius, man! Loved it!

paola (#5751)

Location: Italy, Milan
Quote: "I am a publisher: I have to have booktrailers! "
Posted: 4742 days ago

IT WORKS! I saw the trailer 10 minuts ago - I bought the book on amazon 5 minuts ago (in english, because it still doesn't exist in italian) - I joined your blog, right now... hope it will be gret as the trailer, at least...!

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