Our Bosses READ Our Blogs

If you have ever wondered if publishers and editors read author blogs, stop. They most definitely do.

I'm not surprised. I read theirs. I read lots of blogs. Nowadays, blogs give you a lot of insight into what people think, into insider things.

Unless you want to get fired or blackballed, don't put down people on your blog (or Facebook or other social media) unless you don't care if they see it. (And yes, once I posted something a long time ago about something that's a scam and I still don't care that someone read it. They weren't my employer, publisher, friend, or anyone whom I care to associate with again.)

I spent several hours this week reading a train wreck on a blog about one of my publishers. Unfortuantely, it's not the first time I witnessed something this sad. The publisher, authors, and even readers attacked one another unmercifully. A lot of conjecture went on. A lot of hatred and cat-fighting bloodied the pages. In case you're wondering, this happened a long time ago and I just heard about it, so you won't find anything recent if you look.

I have to shake my head.

I'm not a publisher or an editor. I am a manager at my day job, however, and I manage a staff of 13. Sometimes, that's a pretty tough job. I can't imagine managing hundreds of authors, and trying to keep all happy. It's impossible to keep 13 people happy all the time.

Someone (usually at least two or three someones) feel they are ignored, downtrodden, overlooked, even abused. This is despite how far I bend over backward for each and every one of them. There's always a few that have to be on top and receive constant praise even when they aren't doing well. When they don't receive the praise, or worse, receive constructive criticism or reprimand, they become very unhappy.

My staff doesn't know all the behind the scenes things that go on with the company, with our department, and with each other. Often they don't see their own weaknesses. Too often they complain about a coworker when they're just as guilty, maybe more guilty, of an infraction. They think their shit doesn't stink.

I'm not perfect, either. Because I'm not perfect, I try to give my people slack. I try to give my boss and his bosses slack. And I extend this same courtesy to my publishers and editors.

I don't know everything that's going on behind the scenes in my day job anymore than I do with my publishers. Unless someone attacks me personally, undisputably, I'm going to stay out of firestorms. And I hope others will, too.

And if someone should wrong me? I'll speak privately to that person. At most, I might mention something quietly to my good friends, but never attack someone in a public forum.

Also, if someone had a problem years ago, please let it drop. Give them, give the company the benefit of the doubt that positive change has taken place. People change. Companies change. They grow. They learn from their mistakes.

During this season of love, of peace on Earth, goodwill to men, practice it. Slow down and enjoy what we have, and stop worrying about trivia we don't have.

The last paragraph is a note to myself as much as to anybody else.

I hope all of my friends and associates are enjoying a very Merry Christmas season or whichever other holiday you observe.

Much love and peace.

Who Says E-Books Aren't Popular?

Yes, there is a Santa Claus! Hubby just ordered an ebook reader for me for Christmas.

http://bit.ly/5OfLkm

I've been home sick from the day job and so am not allowed out of bed. Luckily nowadays being bedridden isn't so bad, not even during Christmas shopping time. Not since the Internet and QVC.

Earlier today I read articles on Smart Bitches and Trashy Books and USA Today regarding how some of the larger publishers are planning to delay releasing the ebook version of books for up to 6 months after the hard cover launch. As of the moment I wrote this, Smart Bitches had 82 responses, most upset about this. It seems that the majority of the responders like to read ebooks. Many claim to read almost all their books in ebook format.

I knew the day was coming. I had no doubt. As a lifelong Trekkie, I thought it would be cool to read on electronic devices. It seems very futuristic.

Now with the Go Green movement, even in my workplace, ebooks and ebook readers are a no brainer.

So while I'm in the camp that's not happy about the delayed release of ebook versions, I'm happy that readers enjoy reading in e-format and that I'm getting an e-book reader.

Recent posts you might like to read:

When Do You Write?

Nanowrimo Thoughts 

To Nano Or Not To Nano - That Is The Question

Why You Should Consider Library Booksignings

Make Sure Pretentious Words Don't Turn Off Your Readers

Are You Writing Me Into Your Book?

Dont Give Up Too Early

Must Write Must Write Must Write!!!

You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)

A rose by any other name

When people buy a song or a collection of music by a recording artist, do they quibble if it's a "real" song because it's on an MP3 format versus a CD or a cassette tape or an 8-track tape or a 45 record or an album or a 78 record? Not that I've ever heard. But the debate has raged for more than a decade now that books aren't "books" unless they're printed on paper. Oh! Let me take that back and be more specific. "POD books" although printed on paper, that you can hold in your hands, are not considered "real books" by many either. Of course they're real books! The real discussion is whether readers believe they hold the same quality as books published by so and so publisher. Face it. Some people are being snobs. They're looking down their noses at small and new publishers, at writers with these houses and saying "you're not good enough" to be published with the big boys. Maybe. Maybe not. Every case is different. Everyone's career path is different. Everyone's desire is different. It's not only writers or readers who say "My publisher is better than your publisher," or "My book is better than your book". It's the same old story. Stuffy literary writers look down their noses at sci-fi and romance writers. Sci fi writers look down their noses at romance writers. Romance writers look down their noses at writers with a different publisher and so on and so forth ad nauseum. No, I don't mean that ALL writers or ALL people do this. But some, enough to be annoying. It's not restricted to writers. People look down on people for all sorts of arbitrary reasons: skin color, religion, and net worth are some of the usual suspects. However, snobbery also happens just about everywhere, unfortunately. There's a schism between Directors and the peon employees at the day job. Jocks versus non jocks in high school. The rich kids versus the non-rich kids in high school. Varsity players versus junior varsity players. Boys versus girls (my daughter says the female principal at her high school only talks about the boys sports teams and never the girls even when the girls win big championships). Black belts versus white belts. Does it ever end? Sadly, with some people, no. Fortunately, it's not true of all people. I'm blessed to know a lot of people who won't play the snobbery game or I'd truly go insane. But I run into enough mention of it to get annoyed from time to time. Obviously, I was reminded of it today, and also yesterday, voila this post. Yesterday my younger daughter brought it up. She sees it from two perspectives that are different from my perspectives. She's a female jock, a softball player. The last couple years she was Junior Varsity. Her experience was that a couple of the varsity players and even an ex-coach was snobby towards the varsity. One coach (no longer our school's coach btw for this reason) pretty much ignored the JV and hardly scheduled them for any games while he doted on the Varsity players. Meanwhile, even when the JV and Varsity both got big victories, the administration ignored it while they'd dote on the boys. My daughter's other perspective is that she's in a multicultural, multiracial group of friends. They love each other dearly and spend several hours and sleep overs with each other weekly. She's so grateful she has them and that she lives in a time when she won't get a lot of flack for it. I'm glad, too. I still hear people my age and older, however, make racial slurs. Get over it already. I was trying to teach my daughter and come up with a reason why people are this way. At least some of the time, it's probably due to the person's insecurity. They need to inflate their own egos to feel good about themself and the way they go about it is to try to make others look insignificant or worse in comparison. Oi! The only person any of us need to be in competition with is ourself. I only need to improve myself (and my minor kids). I need to make my current book better than my last book. I need to learn to be a better manager at the day job than I was the day before. I need to learn and grow and build upon my own experiences and constructive wisdom imparted from others. It's definitely not going to help me to diss anyone else. In the long run, and even in the short run, it would hurt me as much or more than I would hur the other person, to do so. You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)