Feedback wanted

[Scurra]

Are the snark puzzles online somewhere? I was going to see how far I got with this issue, but I can't work out where it is.

No, they are not currently available on-line (as in the original version.) The link posted is just to the PDF file of the printed version that was distributed at the recent meet.
However, according to the database, you solved all the puzzles except for the Baker, but apparently didn't solve the meta...

[giraffe]

Isn't that to the new version? I have the hard copy of that. What I wanted was to see how far I had got, and which puzzles I still need to do. Presumably we entered the answers somehwere?

edit OK thank you.

[Scurra]

Simulposting. See my answer above.

[SparkOut]

My tuppenceworth: to get coverage, you need exposure. Without a massive marketing budget (or maybe even with) the best way to spread the word about PB is virally. Word of mouth has worked for a couple of people (anyone MBH accosts on a train for instance) but that's not going to be a significant method of increasing distribution. Really, you need to work the networks. Distasteful and alien as it is to some of us, Facebook is going to be the biggest friend to PB in the expansion stakes. And dare I say Twitter may be worthwhile too in the "New hints available" type of announcement, or even "The meta has been solved, congrats to <insertnamehere>, can you match the achievement?" type. It will help with getting a "buzz" out there, making it more of a challenge/race/beat your neighbour event, which I think will hook people. (I love the "are you up for the challenge/do you have what it takes?" type comments posted earlier.)

[clvrlad]

viral advertising...

does that mean pb is sending a team to beat the egg heads?

[Bunnylump]

Well that would certainly get a bit of free advertising. If I was clever I would volunteer, but I'm not, and my general knowledge is non existent.

[clvrlad]

but who else will sit in the back stopping them giving answers

[giraffe]

Is it possible to set up a stall at the freshers fair at Oxford / Cambridge (LAT) / Durham (MBH) / Manchester (Eirian) etc ? Or just hand out leaflets with one puzzle on outside the students' union.

Ask at the university bookshops if we can leave a pile of leaflets by their till.

Do Mensa have a magazine? Could we take out a small but colourful advert?

How about U3A? People with time on their hands and a little disposable income for a hobby that they can do from an armchair.


(Trying to think of places where people who like their brain exercised hang out)

[clvrlad]

mensa magazine
http://www.mensa.org.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?ap=1&id=597

[giraffe]

Might be worth contacting the editor and asking if they would like to interview Gill. (and / or how much an advert costs)

Just had another thought, you could maybe get a mention in something like mensa magazine by offering to write them a few puzzles? (Adapted from some old ones perhaps to cut down on work) That link said the magazine had puzzles in it.

Just reread the link and it mentions advertising, but I can't get the rate card link to open.

[Bunnylump]

I wonder if you were going to be marketing this through t'interweb then maybe the magazines would become redundant and it could be online only?

It does strike me that the magazine layout must take an absurd amount of time to do, and also there is surely a significant cost / organisation factor associated with publishing it?

[clvrlad]

Just reread the link and it mentions advertising, but I can't get the rate card link to open.

it varies depending what you want
from £155 for a mono 8th if a page
to £900 for colour back of the cover

[MBH]

Might be worth contacting the editor and asking if they would like to interview Gill. (and / or how much an advert costs)

Interview wins over advert every time for cost and readability. I'll certainly be using my contacts at BBC Radio Newcastle to spread the word.

I've never been involved with the universities up here, but in addition to Durham I've got the whole of Newcastle and Sunderland within reach. Some investigation required I think

[Bunnylump]

Don't forget Brian...I'm quite sure he would do something for you if you asked him.

[clvrlad]

Interview wins over advert every time for cost and readability. I'll certainly be using my contacts at BBC Radio Newcastle to spread the word.

whilst studying community media, it was suggested the best way to get an article/interview published was to create the information your selves and send it to the periodical

[Cenwulf]

The DVP puzzles were much easier to start. You didn't have to have an aha moment until you had done the first step.

I think the difference between DVP and PB is due to the original intended readership.

DVP was designed to be a regular puzzle book, with crosswords, su doku puzzles and the like - but with a central section which was something different. This was a set of harder puzzles which gave answers to be entered into a grid. This gave a prize word which could be submitted in a competition to win a holiday.
Because of the competition element, the puzzes were not made so hard that people would be put off from solving them - they needed to sell enough copies to cover the cost of the holidays and ensure that there would be plenty of entries to the competition.
But for those who liked a tougher puzzle, there were extras which didn't affect the competition puzzles. The 'bottom line', 'fragment', '26 pictures' and 'framed picture' fell into this category - and even the cover was part of it.
Also, the 'conspiracy theory' story was incorporated to add that bit of intrigue, and encourage people to want to buy the next issue to find out what happened next.
Even if the buyer didn't want to do the central pages, there were other regular puzzles to try.

Puzzlebrains was conceived as a special publication for those who prefer a really tough puzzle, for similar-minded people from DVP Forum and 'The Runes'. It is more of a niche publication.
It may have the 'extra' puzzles like those that appeared in DVP, but they are secondary to the main meta-puzzle. (Indeed, there have been issues with no extra puzzles at all.)
There is no 'competition' element except to be able to solve them (with or without assistance from the PB Forum).

Bear in mind that I have written both sorts.
My Gadus issue 'The Bletchley Enigma' was designed on DVP lines, with map trails, Rime&Reason, Bottom Line, etc. - while 'Leonardo Puzzles' was DVP crossed with Scurra's 'Clive's Dun Pizza' (which I renamed 'Divine Pal's Buzzard'!). Both of these had answers which fitted into a grid, and led directly to an answer.
Conversely, 'Band of Brothers' and 'Watching the Detectives' were designed to fit into a different patten where the method of solving the final puzzle was a puzzle in itself.

[giraffe]

The bit I didn't like about DVP was the story, not sure I even bothered to read it after the first couple of issues. I can never see the point in things like that, the puzzles are enough.

[Laura]

I liked the story. What I'm really curious about is this - did any of us lot win a holiday?

[Scurra]

I seem to remember that Bassbloke did

[MBH]

Distasteful and alien as it is to some of us, Facebook is going to be the biggest friend to PB in the expansion stakes.

I'm going to throw this in early rather than chasing it afterwards. I'm chatting with my Little Red friend about Facebook (and trying to decide if I'm a highly technical Luddite or the little boy passing comment on the Emperor's clothing ).

Can we decide that the aim is to bring people here to our forum(s) rather than getting dragged into 'yet another place' to chat to interesting people who might fit into our gang? It would be a shame to have a two-tier group when this location has worked well for us from DVP into PB. We all know each other here and welcome new visitors (even if they don't say a lot) - and although this whole structure could exist within the umbrella of Facebook, why should it?