I Need to Get Some Platform

I'm back. Did you miss me? You may or may not have noticed that, since last summer, I've more or less given up blogging. Now I think it's time to start up again.

This weekend, I've been looking into literary agents. I sent queries to a handful that sounded like they would be a good match for me and the book. One word that stood out on many of their sites was "platform." They want writers with a strong platform. Platform, in this context, means voice and visibility. You probably know that publishers these days want authors to take an aggressive role in marketing their books, initiating events that don't require any investment by the publisher. Platform means they want to see authors who are positioned to do this even before the book is published. In non-fiction, this means they want the author to be an recognized expert in their field. Since I made up my field (historical mammothology) I am the world's leading authority in it, but I am falling down on the "recognized" part of that formula.

This brings us back to the blog. I need to get some new material in here, write frequently, spiff up the look a little bit, and find some way to create some "added value." And, most importantly, I need to get some traffic moving through here.

Meanwhile: here's a herd of mammoths trudging through a late spring snowfall.

We Made the Big Time

My latest mammothy post is being published in Scientific American's guest blogger series, today. It's a little mystery story about a small drawing of an elephant on a Renaissance map. It's distantly related to the post below. The connection will become more obvious in a few weeks when I publish my third post on the mammoth-walrus-sea monster confusion. Until then, go over to Scientific American and enjoy their bloggy goodness.

What's up?

I'm having some problems with the links on the Word Press version of Mammoth Tales. Until I can get those cleared up, I'll be copying my science posts over to Mammoth Tales 1.0. I also plan to repost some of my older mammothy posts from archy to both versions of Mammoth Tales.

Mammoth Tales Has Moved

Check out the snazzy new digs at the Southern Fried Scientist Network.

Stay Tuned

Posting has been nonexistant for the last few weeks due to an eye injury. I've spent a lot of time laying in the dark with warm compresses on my face. My skin is clean and soft now and I can see as well as usual (which is so-so). That means I need to get back to work. I have some nice mammothy and non-mammothy things in the works. I just located a couple of nineteenth century German articles I've been looking for. After I beat a translation out of them, I'll want to write something about each.

Mammoth Tales: The FAQs

Does the world really need a new blog? I don't know, but I need a new blog and, really, what's more important than that? It's a rhetorical question; you're not expected to answer unless you want to. Below, I have provided answers to some of the questions I imagine you might have.

Who are you?
I'm John McKay. If you know a John McKay, I'm probably not him. There are way too many John McKays in the world. I keep waiting for all of the others to change their names and leave the field to me but, so far, they are not cooperating. This John McKay is an underemployed, middle aged, historian with an interest in science. I'm writing a book.

Really? Tell us about the book.
It's about woolly mammoths, a history of their early discoveries and how Enlightenment scientists reconstructed them into the animal we know. It is not about mammoth extinction or about cloning new mammoths. Other people have written about that and I'm trying to fill in some of the gaps in the mammoth story.

But, what did kill the mammoths and when will we clone some new ones?
Bad luck and not soon.

Is this blog going to be all mammoths all the time?
No. Mammoth Tales will feature science journalism, science education, history of science, and maybe a little plain old history in those fields that I feel comfortable commenting on. I plan to offer links to stories that I find interesting, even if I don't have much to add to the stories. Moving away from science, I like good conspiracy theories, pseudo-science, and hidden histories. Expect an occasional deconstruction of those ideas. I also like to expose bad writing about science and history. But, there will also be mammoths.

Even with that other stuff, is there really enough to say about mammoths to fill a blog?
The short answer is yes. But if I ever get to busy to post or run into a dry stretch in the news, I have a pool of old mammoth and science posts from my other blog that I can update and post here.

Other Blog? If you already have another blog, why do you need this one?
The other blog includes a lot about politics and social issues. I am very opinionated on most things. However, it can be bad business to mix too many things together. How often do we hear conservatives complain about how a celebrity's off stage liberal politics ruin their enjoyment of that celebrity's performances? How often are non-believers and other believers turned off by businesses that push the owner's religion? Mammoth Tales is a blog for people who share my interest in mammoths, science, history, and bad ideas, but might not share my political, social, or religious beliefs.

Can you tell us a little more about those political, social, and religious beliefs?
No.

The place look a little sparse. Are you planning to fix it up a little?
That's high on my to-do list. I'll have a blogroll up in the next few days. After that, I plan on making a nice logo and adding some pictures to the sidebar. I'll also look for some cool bells and whistles to make the Mammoth Tales experience more interesting.

Is there anything else you want to say at this point?
No. That's about it.