Plain words, uncommon sense
BC Book Prize Soiree is tonight from 7:00-9:00 pm and it’s FREE.
Location
Metropolitan Hotel, 645 Howe Street, Vancouver (downstairs, Cristal Room)
Full details on the BC Book Prizes website.
* Music by Ron Johnston
* Food by Diva at the Me
* Silent auction
* Shortlisted authors
Grokdotcom has a great article on changes that Amazon made to its product pages to increase visibility of key information related to the buying decision.
There are before and after shots and a good explanation of why bigger is better.
And if you are thinking of ecommerce, Grokdotcom also has a good post on the Amazon shopping cart.
One of the publishing circles that I’m involved with is organizing a meet-up for young(ish) publishing folk.
Quote: You’re experienced, gifted and… an assistant. Or an intern–for the third year in a row. You’ve got big ideas and know that someday there’ll be a place for you at the top. Maybe you’re even thinking of starting your own publishing enterprise.
Are you ready? Is the industry ready?
The issue of succession is on the horizon. You’re the future of the Canadian publishing scene, but are you getting the training, opportunities and recognition you need? How can we make sure our industry thrives in the face of new technology, shrinking grants and a diversifying workforce? How can we become the next industry leaders?
Join us for a brainstorming session. We’ll be presenting ideas to the ABPBC and others and we want your input!
Thursday, April 10, 7:30pm at the Legion – 3917 Main St (@ 23rd)
Back in January, I told you about a cool comic creator tool called Pixton
Here’s my first cartoon:
“Sam Goes on Holiday”
Well, the fab creators, Clive and Daina, were awarded “Site of the Day” by Adobe back in February. Interest in the site has continued to grow and now [big news drum roll] Pixton is a finalist in the “Flash in the Can” awards!
FITC (Flash in the Can) is sort of like the Oscars for websites. Prestige. Exposure. Red carpet glam. Actually, I’m not sure about the red carpet, but Clive was talking about flying out to the awards and being required to have an speech.
Pixton is also eligible for the “People’s Choice Award”. Please consider voting for Pixton at http://awards.fitc.ca/pc/
1. See Pixton in the “self-promotional” category.
2. Choose Pixton, enter your name and email address, and click “Submit Vote”. The system counts one vote per address.
Please pass this one.
http://www.pixton.com/comic/bhb99g2q
http://awards.fitc.ca/pc/
Good luck Clive + Daina!
Two of my incredibly talented Toronto friends are musicians and they happen to be playing together on Wednesday, April 9.
If you’re in TO, please consider going.
Craig Konyu of Yukon Cigar is playing The Cameron House in Toronto, on Wednesday, April 9, 2008. He is joined by super musical pal, Patrick Brealey (who, contrary to my blog title will be playing without his Knives–it’s Patrick Brealey and The Knives).
Schedule yourselves accordingly:
9:00 to 10:00 = Patrick Brealey
10:00 to 11:00 = Yukon Cigar
11:00 to 12:00 = A set of Neil Young tunes performed by above singing sensations.
Need a sound preview: www.myspace.com/yukoncigar (or check out www.yukoncigar.com). Patrick can be found at www.patrickbrealey.com.
CBC Orchestra: gone.
Canadian Tire Catalogue: gone.
Is it C_C acronyms that are disappearing of are we losing Canadian institutions faster than I can keep up.
The CBC Radio Orchestra was the last radio orchestra in North America. It was started in 1938 during radio’s hay days.
Canadian Tire Catalogue, well, I vaguely remember ordering Christmas presents from this and the Eaton’s catalogue. That activity was short lived.
What else is gone?
BPIDP?
For those of you not in book publishing, BPIDP (pronounced bippy-dip, not kidding) announced some policy and program updates.
http://pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/padie-bpidp/reports/bulletin-newsletter_e.cfm
My personal favourite is #3.
Quote: 3. Enhanced funding for new technology initiatives
After a successful six year investment in bibliographic data improvements through the Supply Chain Initiative for Publishers, BPIDP will be reorienting its support for new technology initiatives in 2008-2009. In keeping with the findings of several recent industry studies that have identified the need for increased training and professional development in this area, BPIDP will provide funding to support publishers’ acquisition of the knowledge and skills necessary to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies.
Starting in 2008-2009, BPIDP will fund up to 75% of eligible expenses for technology-based business planning projects and internships for individual publishers. Technology-focused professional development projects for publisher associations will also be eligible for the same level of support. This assistance will not be a permanent measure but rather a limited initiative to help the industry build the foundation for the effective application of new technologies.
Now if only I knew of someone with knowledge of the publishing industry and experience with technology! (About my services page.)
Congratulations to the BC publishers and authors who are shortlisted for the 2008 BC Book Prizes.
The full finalist list is available at 12:01 on the brand new BC Book Prizes website.
The BC Book Prizes website is what I’ve been working on for the last couple of months so I’m really pleased to see it live and corresponding to the announcement of the finalists.
And way to go David Chariandy of Soucouyant, Meg Tilly of Porcupine. and Douglas & McIntyre for Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs. These were 3 BC books that really stood out for me this year.
Go check out the new BC Book Prizes website. And if you like the new site, give them some link love. The BC Book Prizes are going to be blogging from the road this year.
Each year several authors tour the province, bringing BC books to communities across the province.
Are they coming to a town near you? Check the tour schedule.
And if you’re out of province, follow along with the tour blog.
Fun times! And, there’s some Flickr action happening too.
The 2008 winner of Canada’s largest literary non-fiction prize, the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, will be announced in a special ceremony in Vancouver on February 7, 2008.
In the running for the $40,000 prize are Donald Harman Akenson, Lorna Goodison, and Jacques Poitras.
Why is this cool?
It is the only national book prize to originate in BC, and the non-fiction counterpart to other major awards such as the Giller Prize for fiction and the Griffin Poetry Prize.
Turner-Riggs has 5 great reasons on why you should care about this fantastic prize and some ideas on how to participate in the prize announcement. My favourites are
1) Tune in to CBC Radio 1’s Almanac at noon to 1:00 pm PST February 4, 5, and 6 for interviews with the finalists, and to North by Northwest the following weekend for their interview with the award winner
and
2) Enter to win the three finalists’ books by writing to Turner-Riggs at {knockknock@turner-riggs.com} and telling them your favourite Canadian non-fiction book from the past year. Your email will automatically enter you in the contest.
I’m raising a glass to Canadian non-fiction books!
Slate.com has an interesting piece on Amazon’s top reviewers. (Reviewers are the regular joes who post customer reviews on Amazon.) It seems that the top reviewers, who do get a certain amount of perks (in particular free books), are perhaps more influenced by those perks than by the actual value or literary merit of what they are reading.
There are two ways to spin this story.
1) The top reviewers are all hard working, random people, who love to read books and have figured out how to make the system work for them. Who doesn’t want more free stuff?
2) The top reviewers are all hard working, random people, who propel themselves to the top using any means possible so that they can gain fame, small fortune (in the form of free stuff) and Amazon status.
Brilliant or dodgey?
Quote: From Slate: This is not to say that a Top 10 ranking doesn’t come with some sub rosa incentives for the reviewer. Free books, first and foremost; in an e-mail, Grady Harp told me he was “inundated with books from new writers and from publishers who know I love to read first works.” This fall, when it invited select Top Reviewers to join its Vine program, an initiative, still in beta-testing, to generate content about new and prerelease products, Amazon extended the range of perks. “Vine Voices” like Mitchell and Harp can elect to receive items ranging from electronics to appliances to laundry soap. As long as they keep reviewing the products, Amazon’s suppliers will keep sending them.
Why does any of this matter? Because this breaks the illusion that the reviewers are impartial customers who review a book because they liked/disliked it.
This is the thing: books on tables in a store; book at the end of an aisle; books reviewed in newspapers, magazines and blogs; books tagged in Shelfari; books “recommended” in any form are open to placement (i.e., someone has paid or done something in exchange for that book to be there).
I’m a top 500 reviewer on Amazon.ca and I review books on my site. But I only review books that I have actually read. I only review books that I think are worth talking about. And apparently, I’ve only reviewed 24 books on Amazon.ca. I’ve certainly read and reviewed more than 24 books here so I could add some type of review to Amazon, bump up my rank and perhaps establish greater credibility for myself, thereby gaining the interest of more publishers and more reviewers so that I could get more speaking engagements and more books and maybe more business helping publishers promote their books.
So where’s the line between building your credibility as a reviewer and saying “this space is for sale”?
What do you think?
(Source: Thanks to Darren Barefoot for sending this over the Slate article.)
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