Writer Turns Page With Instagram

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For Jason Sperling, Instagram is more than a mobile app for sharing photos: It’s the publisher of his first book.

Sperling, senior vice president and executive creative director at Santa Monica ad agency RPA, will this week begin publishing a book – if you can call it that – one page at a time on Instagram.

Called “Look at Me When I’m Talking to You,” the book, billed as the first published on the photo-sharing app, examines how marketers are failing to reach consumers and offers new rules to get a customer’s attention.

And getting attention is why Sperling decided to publish through Instagram.

“I wanted to make sure people actually read it,” Sperling said. “One of the themes of the book is how to break through and connect with people. So, it was an opportunity to actually be my best example.”

Starting June 25, Sperling will release one page a day of the 160-page book as an Instagram post from the account @lookatmebook. Each will be either a short animated video with narration or a still illustration with a caption.

It took Sperling almost two years to write the book, much of that time narrowing down his thoughts so they would fit on Instagram. Now, though, he thinks there’s a chance the Instagram version could lead to an actual, you know, book.

“I think the way to connect to people is by surprising and finding great ways to stand out,” he said. “Once it’s out there and people recognize (the book) it may become more valuable to a publisher – or maybe not.”

– Subrina Hudson

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