Sam Costello: Writer, Editor, Web Consultant
I am a writer, editor, and web consultant who works with marketing companies, web development and IT agencies, magazines, websites, and other organizations. I help clients develop and refine messages, ideas, and businesses through precise, creative writing, accurate grammar, and cutting edge web consulting.
I am available for freelance projects in any of these areas, and also in writing or editing fiction, comics, and graphic novels.
My clients include:
- About.com
- Schwadesign
- FrameMedia
- Rue Morgue
- Aardvark Design
- RI Home, Living & Design
|
My services include:
- Writing for the Web
- Web Consulting
- Web Marketing: SEO and Email
- Journalism
- Editing
- Blogging
|
Latest News
Archive for February, 2008
February 26, 2008 at 2:25 am
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
A holiday gift from
Josh. A fun little volume of short essays and photos about treasured objects from a host of writers, designers, artists, and cartoonists. A well timed book as it dovetails with my growing interest in ordinary stories told by ordinary people. This is full of insight in that area.
Buy Taking Things Seriously at Amazon
Book: 14/52
February 25, 2008 at 2:23 am
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
By Tom Manning
Manning’s Twin Peaks-esque small-town horror/mystery is appealingly drawn, with pleasingly eccentric characters that ring true to those familiar with small town life. Re-reading the first collection lacks the pleasure of discovery, but that sense will return in the next two volumes, which are mostly new to me. I’m looking forward to it.
Book: 13/52
February 24, 2008 at 4:23 pm
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
By Dave Sim and Gerhard
Some readers can’t set aside the beliefs that Sim espouses and look at this work. Admittedly, it’s difficult. Cerebus is the only comic I’ve read that cultivates a true sense of foreboding and one of the few with a truly complex, novelistic execution. Despite the unpleasant politics, it’s a stunning technical achievement.
Buy Cerebus Vol. 13: Going Home at Amazon
Book: 12/52
February 18, 2008 at 6:35 am
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
One of my favorite horror novels, though less chilling now than on first reading a few years ago. Oates’ horror stories are not always hugely original within the genre (though some, like the one titled with a black square, are stupendous), but her craft so surpasses most genre writers it hardly matters.
Buy Zombie at Amazon
Book: 11/52
February 14, 2008 at 2:08 am
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
I’m approaching the series’ end (just two books to go) and there’s no reason to care about the characters or plot. There are only so many scenes of destruction to draw. I’ve got book 9; it will determine whether I buy 10. Either way, I’ll be selling this series to someone else.
Buy Dragon Head Vol. 8 at Amazon
Book: 10/52
February 13, 2008 at 2:04 am
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
A great primer on branding, marketing, and company development lent to me by my pal/colleague
Josh. I don’t usually buy business books — or even read many — but this one is getting bought this week so I can have my own copy on hand. I suspect it’s going to be useful for years.
Buy Zag at Amazon
Book: 9/52
February 11, 2008 at 2:24 am
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
After about 1200 pages, we get hints of the apocalypse’s cause. It’s not what I’d guessed, which is nice. Still, it moves too slowly and dwells on boring segments. I know
manga is decompressed, but I suspect a good editor could cut this in half and still retain all the good stuff.
Buy Dragon Head Vol. 7 at Amazon
Book: 8/52
February 9, 2008 at 1:24 pm
· Filed in 52 Books/52 Weeks
Nothing
scares me like sociopaths, archetypal Others who can’t connect to human emotions — or humans — like the rest of us, but look like us. Tom Ripley is a great sociopath, perhaps one of the earliest drawn on the novel’s page. A risqué book in the ‘50s, in ‘08 it’s a lot of fun.
Buy The Talented Mr. Ripley at Amazon
Book: 7/52
February 2, 2008 at 4:43 pm
· Filed in Comics, News
One of the major tests of the quality of SEO work performed by consultants is whether they’re able to achieve #1 or #2 rankings at major search engines through organic placement on keywords valuable to their clients. I’m happy to announce today that I’ve achieved #1 or #2 ranking at all three major search engines - Google, Yahoo, and MSN - for a client near and dear to my heart: myself.
Over the past 18 months or so, I’ve conducted an informal organic SEO campaign to try to get my webcomic series Split Lip ranked on the keywords “horror web comic” and “horror web comics,” two keywords dead on the money for the series. As of this week, I noticed that Split Lip had the following rankings on these keywords:
At Google
horror web comics - #1 for Split Lip [screenshot]
horror web comic - #1 for Split Lip [screenshot]
At Yahoo
horror webcomic - #2 for Split Lip [screenshot]
At MSN
horror web comic - #2 for Split Lip [screenshot]
I also have top five rankings on some related keywords. I hope to be able to share top-two results on those keywords soon.
