Bryan VanDyke’s Post

A little more than a month left till IN OUR LIKENESS arrives at the door of anyone who's placed a presale order. I spent five years writing this book off and on; before I had an agent or an editor I went through six major revisions where I rewrote at least half of its 70000 words. I nearly gave up on it completely in 2022. I decided that once I hit thirty rejections from agents for that calendar year, I'd put the book into the deep freeze of my hard drive forever--along with all the previous manuscripts I'd written. I had tallied 27 rejections by December, and truthfully, I'd quit already, but I hate leaving a job unfinished. I decided to adjust my query letter to make reference to ChatGPT because my book had a chatbot as a major character, and OpenAI was all over the news. This is a strange novel, I wrote in the new query letter; but these are deeply weird times, aren't they? I sent the last three query letters in quick succession one day at lunch. By the time I finished the third, I had an answer from the first agent I'd emailed--he loved what I'd sent, loved the tie-in to artificial intelligence. Could I send him the whole manuscript? A week later he wrote me an eight word email: "Wow. When can we speak about your novel?" Fast forward to today, and I'm still in disbelief that this book is headed into the world with the strong support of a great team at Little A. Promoting a book is definitely harder than writing one--and I'm grateful especially to the thinkers and writers who offered blurbs in support of my novel, which I'm sharing here today. Books are written alone, yes, but they're sold by groups of people. I'm lucky enough to belong to a great clan. https://lnkd.in/ggFiSnEM

Two months till IN OUR LIKENESS hits the shelves, which means I’m late with a cover reveal here. I’m grateful to the Little A team that worked to create something visually engaging and also in keeping with the book’s themes. It’s beautiful work, and I’m still in disbelief that after decades of trying, I sold a book to a publisher. So what’s this book all about, you ask? Here’s the promotional copy, which lays out the plot in more detail: “Graham Gooding is a leader at a tech start-up when his brilliant coworker—and work crush—Nessie Locke asks for help testing a new algorithm. Graham jumps at the chance to impress her, and to improve his floundering personal life. He soon discovers that the algo is more powerful than Nessie—or anyone—realizes. It was built to detect lies on the internet, but when Graham makes a small edit to Nessie’s online profile, hoping to see if the program will catch the lie, Nessie changes in real life. The algo can alter the real world. Now, so can Graham. “No one knows what Graham has done, except his boss, enigmatic tech guru David Warwick. Graham is racked with guilt, but Warwick thrills to the possibilities of what they can do next. This promises to be the innovation that will make Warwick a household name. Drawn by the power of the algo but terrified by its potential for chaos, Graham must decide what to do and whom to trust in a world where one true reality no longer exists. “As love, trust, memories, and what it means to be human begin to slip away, Graham and Nessie work together to restore the past—before it’s lost to the anarchy of a world without truth.” Here’s the part where I provide a link for anyone who wants to preorder a copy. I’m told copies will arrive on your doorstep by September 2. https://lnkd.in/ee28HF_Q

The book promotion begins. My latest essay for the Millions—an attempt to grapple with two hundred years of machines that mimic humanity, for good or ill—is also a plug for my debut novel, IN OUR LIKENESS, which arrives in bookstores September 1. https://lnkd.in/e2bVQ35g

I'm searching for a VP, Digital Experience to lead the team charged with transforming Gartner's digital marketing ecosystem. We want someone who loves creating and improving digital experiences--and who can rally others to come together and build great digital products. Here's the link if that sounds like you or someone you know: https://lnkd.in/eSyYZ3k

Marketing leaders are under lockdown, but they're already making moves to adapt for the COVID-19 crisis in the weeks and months ahead. https://lnkd.in/ddrWe5W

I'm really pleased to share this new 2019 index ranking for retail U.S. banks, just out from our team at Gartner L2. From the promo materials: "Retail banks have a lot to worry about on the digital front — new tech competitors on the horizon, digital first banks nibbling at their margins and constantly rising customer expectations. It's no longer good enough to deliver basics, like online enrollment. Banks must reach for the next rung on the ladder of digital innovation." https://lnkd.in/e4bi3mT

Amazon isn't just for retailers anymore. We produced this report for manufacturers, but the underlying message is the same for all B2B brands: don't be complacent about how you distribute and promote your products. Unless you like the idea of going out of business. https://lnkd.in/dRefXVZ

Great new post from the B2B team at GartnerL2 on how to use digital tools to drive sales. Our hope is that it helps B2B Marketers make the case for more investment in their programs. https://lnkd.in/dzvcGRT

According to a recent eMarketer report, 58% of marketing organizations outsource some or all of their digital marketing. In contrast, 76% of their product marketing is done exclusively in-house. This begs the question: how much longer will product marketers get a free pass when it comes to digital tactics? #digitization #marketing https://lnkd.in/gqvnpCy