Jesse, did you see this: [link]

It's Onerous Task Number One for authors these days. Publishers want to know that you're going to do as much as possible, that they don't have to pay for, to publicize.

Seriously. I was hired as an editor for my content and language expertise, not as a salesperson or marketer. But my company now expects me to do both while still paying me as an editor. And not in a small way: market development is now 40% percent of my annual assessment and sales is 20%, while my project load as an editor has not changed. That effectively means a 25% pay cut of my already crappy salary.

Joker Plush

Awww....

Allyson, insent with regard to all of the above.

As a benefit of getting me during the work day you get to hear me bitch about organizational politics.

To wit: Dear idealists at headquarters: if you think it's so important that X be protected, perhaps you should find the cash to protect X rather than badger me about it. X is not my responsibility, and in fact you have gone to great lengths to take all Xs out of my responsibility. You can't then insist I find $80K in my pockets to protect X. Do it yourself!

Argh. I've spent 2 years discussing this with them, and they just don't get it. Yes, X is valuable and important, but their insistence that only their way is the right way is just pissing people off and making us find ways around them. Frelling idealists.

Jesse, did you see this: [link]

Of course! Love it! Effing Dan Feyer.

Hey, y'all...I've just had to skip/skim the past few days worth of posts due to extreme Life getting in the way. Just busy with work stuff (show is next week...need props, costumes, and sets!). The good news is my work has paid off and I have all props and costumes. I built some cubes and they are getting painted tonight. Yay!

Student quote of the day (said to another student): "Are you supposed to look gangsta? Cuz you just look homeless."

Dude, of course IIS lets you set a default page for every folder on a global setting. I don't know where, and I don't know how, but it can't compete with Apache if it doesn't.

There are some weird things that the main developer I work with doesn't know. Still, he's brilliant on most fronts and dedicated to a fault.

Some publishers will sell books at a much lower discount to authors than bookstores. If a bookstore wants to help out an author they will sometimes let them sell these copies, which yields the author a lot more per book than royalties on the books the bookstore sells.

This is my experience with my singer/songwriter buds. Especially with independent book/music stores. Depending on how cool they are, the stores are willing to take the extra bite in their own profits to get folks in the door on performance days.

The activity thing is odd. The story times at our dinky local library branch are packed as a rule. No extra effort required.

In a sea of overtaxing requirements to see something great get its due, I can see how the request would be aggravating but, in the end, they can ask for anything they can imagine. Don't mean they're gonna get it.

OMG, I just had an argument with my boss, who believes that the phrase "course materials placed on reserve" does not include books placed on reserve.