Blog: September 2007

Hop Studios Takes the Plunge

September 28, 2007

Happily Hop Studios has picked up another author as a client. Pam Withers is known for her pulse pounding Take It to the Xtreme Series of adventure novels for young adults. They follow the exploits of two daredevil teens, who discover (and get into trouble with) a new extreme sport in each book. Her last book, BMX Tunnel Run, takes the action underground in a series of mine-shaft misadventures. She is currently working on a new book, Mountainboard Maniacs, about that emerging sport, a kind of off-road skateboarding.

Pam asked Hop Studios to maintain her current site, www.TakeItToTheExtreme.com, updating it with speaking dates, new books, and hip links.

Pam researches and tries most of the sports she writes about. How she fits that in around all her writing and speaking engagements is anyone’s guess!

Posted by Matt Gardner at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

Meg Tilly: Actress, Author, and Now, Blogger

September 27, 2007

Sometime this summer, a friend did me a big favor by referring Meg Tilly to Hop Studios to build a Web site. Meg — yes, that Meg Tilly — as written several books and the newest one was due to come out in September. Over the phone Meg told me that she wasn’t sure why she needed a Web site, but her daughter seemed to think it was necessary, and did I have any ideas for what she might do with a Web site? As a matter of fact, I did.

We’ve done a bunch of author and book Web sites in the past while: Sam Harris, Christopher Noxon, Barry Glassner, Kim Edwards, Ann Packer. And they’ve been great fun. Authors are terrific to work with, although my favorite part might be that I get to read their books and call it “work time.” Meg’s no different. Together we figured out some areas of her life she might like to explore in the Web site, and her enthusiasm for the project quickly colored the design work we put together.

The result is a Web site that feels a bit like a scrapbook, full of personal reminiscences in Meg’s words and photos. For me, her work was full of nostalgia for innocence lost and childhood moments (though you can’t describe her heroines’ lives as idyllic by any stretch of the imagination) and so I tried to create a design that had the feel of the young women she writes about.

At some point in the process we decided to add a blog to the site, and since it launched I’ve learned what happens when you put a blog in the hands someone who loves to write: she’s off and running with blog posts about everything from blueberry muffin recipes to the fed cutting interest rates.

Even better, each of Meg’s books — Singing Songs, Gemma, and Porcupine — has its own section complete with excerpts, press links, and more. The Web site also has all kinds of stuff about Meg’s film career, and sometime here shortly, there will even be a section with information on buying audio books, read by Meg herself.

So congrats on the Web site, Meg. We hope you enjoy it!

Posted by Susannah Gardner at 3:36 PM | Comments (0)

Ann Packer’s New Web Site

September 5, 2007

Songs Without Words Book CoverHop Studios has done a number of book and author Web sites in the past year, and we’ve really enjoyed them. Authors are great to work with, and boy do they have excellent content!

Our latest client is Ann Packer, whose novel The Dive from Clausen’s Pier spent a long-time on the New York Times best-seller list and was made into a Lifetime TV movie.  Her next book is Songs Without Words was published this week!

Ann’s Web site was fun to build—we focused on her books, putting up reviews, reading guides and other tidbits. The site is a good resource for her readers, but we didn’t forget about the media, either! The press kit includes a list of upcoming appearances and a high-resolution image of the Songs Without Words book cover.

Ann wanted to be able to make changes to the site herself, especially as reviews of the new book are written, so we used the content management system Expression Engine to build her site, which means Ann can make text changes easily without getting mired in a ton of HTML code.

Check the site out—better yet, go ahead and buy a book (you can do that on the site, too)!

Posted by Susannah Gardner at 6:47 PM | Comments (0)

Help Our Blogging Panel Get Picked by SXSW

September 1, 2007

Susie’s gone and done it again.  She’s trying to get her panel into the lineup at the SXSW Interactive Festival in March 2008.  Her panel, “Blogging Tool Death Match!” seems like it’ll be well attended and feiry, to boot!  Here’s the nitty gritty…

Level:  Beginner; Description:  “Every blog project starts with the same question: Which blog platform is the right one to use? Answering this question correctly can make or break the final product. Get the nitty-gritty on each platform from experts who will defend their software choice against all challengers. Will it come to blows?”

If you wouldn’t mind—and if you think it’s a good panel—could you vote for it?  Go click on the panel picker, login, and vote.  You can even vote if you’re not attending SXSW, how’s that for democracy in action!

Let me know if you vote: I might just bring you back some BBQ sauce.

Posted by Travis Smith at 1:15 AM | Comments (0)