Promo Video for New Website

05Nov09

My new website, BoaterMouth, is nearly ready for launch. It brings together the work of a dozen leading marine journalists in one place.

I just uploaded our promo video to the BoaterMouth YouTube channel. Check it out:

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The Affluent Page “Explains Away” Its Debt

05Nov09

I continue to be ignored by The Affluent Page magazine and its publisher, Mario Jourdan, who owes me more than $4,500 for writing and editing work completed as long ago as August 2008. I won a ruling against the magazine in New York Civil Court this past July, and Jourdan continues to ignore that, too. (For my previous posts on this subject, start here.)

What has been most interesting to me, as I continue to write about this ordeal, is the number of fellow media professionals who have posted comments to my blog about how unprofessionally The Affluent Page has treated them, as well. One of the most recent was submitted just four days ago.

Most upsetting to me, though, is what I learned from a writer who posted the following comment on October 9:

“I’m in a similar situation with The Affluent Page. I agreed to do a last-minute writing project for Mario Jourdan in August and was promised payment upon receipt of work. Now, all I get from Mario, on the rare occasions he deigns to respond to my e-mails and voice mails, is a “check is in the mail”-style promise. I’ve got two friends who are also owed money by The Affluent Page, and they gave up fighting for it a long time ago. This poor excuse for a publication should not be allowed to treat writers this way. I intend to collect my money, one way or another.”

And she did–but only after I agreed to remove her comment from my previous blog post. She told me that when she mentioned my name to Mario Jourdan at the New York City offices of The Affluent Page, he told her that he had been able to “explain away” everything I had written about my situation.

I offered Jourdan a chance to respond to that statement 24 hours before posting this item today. He has not replied.

It’s so insulting, not only being made to wait more than a year for payment after being told my work was great, but now to learn that Mario Jourdan and The Affluent Page magazine believe it is appropriate to “explain away” payment for that work, even after a court of law ruled that they must pay.

Again, I urge anyone considering doing business with The Affluent Page magazine or Mario Jourdan to steer clear.

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BoaterMouth: All Boat Talk, All the Time

30Oct09

It’s alive.

Well, not quite. But the buzz sure is gaining a life of its own.

This week at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, I am introducing my soon-to-launch site BoaterMouth. I spent Wednesday night and all day yesterday walking the docks with handouts and my laptop, showing the BoaterMouth concept to boatbuilders and other marine manufacturers. Essentially, I have scooped up 11 other leading marine journalists from the depths of the recession and created a place for us to write and grow advertising revenue together.

In my first 12 hours here at Fort Lauderdale, I landed us our first three advertisers. And the BoaterMouth home page isn’t even live yet. Major brand marketing managers are buying in on the strength of our writers’ reputations and our online concept, which is an evolution of my revenue-generating yacht charter site CharterWave.

I’m now working with my talented friend John Turner of MediaBuoy to complete the BoaterMouth promo video. I’ll have it for you here soon, or you can follow the site’s launch progress at BoaterMouth.com. We should be live in the next two weeks or so.

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Meet Me in Fort Lauderdale

28Oct09

As you read this, I am preparing to immerse myself in a scene much like the one shown above. This photo (by my talented marine journalism colleague Forest Johnson) is of last year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. This year’s sprawling festival of boating mania opens to the press tomorrow, and to the general public on Friday.

I’ll actually be starting my interviews aboard yachts as of 5 o’clock tonight, right after my plane lands. So many boats, so little time…

On Friday morning at the show, during the general meeting of Boating Writers International, I will be one of three speakers on a panel titled “Online Success Stories.”  I’ll be discussing the website you’re viewing now, my yacht charter site CharterWave, and my upcoming new launch, BoaterMouth (which I’ll have more details about soon).

Hope to see you on the docks in Florida, or at Friday morning’s BWI event at the Bahia Mar Hotel.

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New Video Posted to CharterWave

24Oct09

I just posted this new video to my yacht charter website, CharterWave. It’s a three-minute look at Nelson’s Dockyard, a popular yachting destination on the Northern Caribbean island of Antigua.

I’m the videographer, still photographer, editor, “effects person,” and whatever other titles you want to give me for creating this baby from scratch. Enjoy:

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I Love This Video

19Oct09

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