I recently ran across an excellent and innovative site called Book View Cafe, whose idea seems simultaneously very straightforwad and rather forward-thinking. A collective group of professional authors have pooled their work together and created a site that offers a combination of free and paid work for Science Fiction and Fantasy fans the world ’round.

As it happens, I’m a Science Fiction fan the world ’round, and I was excited to see some recognizable names on the author list, such as Ursula K. Le Guin.

I recently exchanged e-mails with Sarah Zettel (whose short fiction work you can find on the site here), the project manager for Book View Cafe, and had a chance to ask her a few questions about the scope and direction of the project:

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I think one of the most important ideas that needs to spread through the internet at large is that some things are worth paying for. That’s how businesses are formed.

In past, newspapers have been worth paying for largely because the news was hard to get for free. The delivery service—the transmission of news—was worth paying for.

As everyone and their three-legged-dog now knows, the internet makes it close to impossible to build a business that charges for delivery of information. So if delivering information is no longer a service worth paying for, what is?

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Grassroots is the way to go. Green is the new green. And authenticity is a key component of successfully leveraging any kind of social media. The whole internet is out to Find You Out.

And if you’re laying down AstroTurf instead of cultivating some real grass, you will Get Found Out. It happens almost invariably, and the backlash is usually quick and ugly. I cannot underscore enough the importance of being authentic.

That’s why Obama’s online campaign resonated so well - it played to authenticity. And he’s our new President, so he must have done something right.

Laying down AstroTurf is a sure-fire way to get yourself burned (get it?). Don’t make that mistake.

The whole news brand industry seems to be a little timid these days when it comes to rocking the boat. From this side of the fence it can be a little infuriating—as Robert Niles so eloquently put it, newspapers need to stop bringing a plastic fork to a gunfight.

When I talk to skeptical journalists about social media, I often get asked for case studies. People want to see an example of how it worked for some other journalist or newspaper before they try it themselves.

But this is new territory. The only people to go before you are the bleeding-edge innovators and web 2.0 technology geeks who are inventing the tools themselves.

It’s the wild west, a whole new market, and new markets do not reward the timid. First mover advantage is real, and it will give you tangible benefits in credibility and publicity to make bold plays in social media. You will not go unnoticed.

On Wednesday I wrote about how your thoughts should be half-finished, because that way you can create engagement with your community (formerly known as your audience). Now it’s important to realize that asking for people to talk with you is only half of your task: you need to actually listen as well.

I’ve seen several people (I should mention, they weren’t journalists) finish a blog post with a question, only to delete comments that disagreed with them. Not offensive comments, just dissenting comments.

If you’re not willing to host a dialogue, then social media is not the place for you to be. And increasingly, hosting a dialogue is going to be what journalism is all about.

I try to make sure that most of my blog posts are at best half of a thought. Some mediums, like Twitter, make it nearly impossible to stuff a well-rounded idea into one discreet item (a Tweet, in that case), by pulling character limits and whatnot.

But social media is inherently a conversational type of media, and it’s harder to have a conversation if every avenue is already explored, every stone unturned, every…well, you get the idea. Nothing that you put online should be a “finished product” in the sense that a print article traditionally is.

It requires a bit of an open mind, but social media can be the ultimate sounding board. It can be extremely rewarding to throw a question out there and see what you get back.

But you will get answers. So don’t ask if you aren’t willing to listen.

In the world of social media, there are things that are done and things that are not done. Unfortunately for the newcomer, the things not done aren’t always obvious.

The first and one of the more common errors I see journalists making is this: snooping. Tools like Facebook and Twitter seem to be very voyeuristic by nature. The main reason you’re not creepy if you’re on Facebook is that you’re participating in the community.

Participation is the number one ingredient for getting value from new social media tools. And if people find out that you’re logged in and poking around (in other words, the digital equivalent of wandering around in people’s back yards and looking through the windows), they’re not going to be too quick to invite you into their home.

If you want in on social media—and you do—make sure you commit to it, and don’t do it in secret.

I’m so excited about the new USA Today iPhone app that I’m writing this post from Week’s Kitchen in Dover, New Hampshire while I wait for a table. I’m using the wordpress app to do that, of course.

I took some screen shots and I’ll share those as soon as I get back to a computer. Apparently the iPhone app for wodpress lets you add pictures. They are at the bottom of the post. I’d also recommend downloading the free app for yourself.

Here’s a list of what has me floored, so far:

• Nice article layout with zoom-able pictures
• Dynamic ads that slide off the screen shortly after appearing
• Ability to share articles via email, text message, or Twitter!!

Plus there are some intangibles, like a slick user-interface and good use of color.

But one of my favorite bits is the way they do location-based polling using the iPhone’s current location feature. You can drill down in poll answers by state and city, based on where poll responses came from.

The app has crashed on me once so far, but it seems reasonably stable. And the Twitter feature requires that you have twitterific installed (sorry twinkle users) in order to share an article.

All in all, it looks like USA Today has put together a killer iPhone application.

I always like it when I find research that confirms my earlier statements, like when I called cost-per-click ads evil. MediaPost recently pulled together a number of ad research studies and distilled some of the goodness in one place.

Among the more interesting results:

Fulgoni’s research found that online ads have a positive impact even without clickthroughs. There is a lift in site visitation of 4 to 6 percent from display ads, even without a click. The increase in lift over a control is 65 percent in the first week and 45.7% in weeks 1 to 4.

“Even with no clicks or minimal clicks, online display ads can generate substantial lift in site visitation, trademark search queries and lift in both online and offline sales. The only reason we have the focus on clicks is that they can be measured.

Told you so.