Posted by Persephone Green on Jan 17, 2009 in
Calls to Action,
Charity Villagers in the Native American fishing village of Emmonak are in need of help: they need food and money for heating oil to make it through the winter after an especially bad fishing season. It makes me want to cry.
The good news is that some donations may already be on the way. The bad news is that everyone may think that Emmonak has received all of the help it needs, when there are around 800 people in this village who are used to taking care of themselves and are unused to turning to the state for aid.
Complicating this issue is that Governor Sarah Palin (whom we all just KNOW cares SO MUCH about the Native populations and the environment /sarcasm) has no rural advisor at this time and was probably unaware of the problem, since the last rural advisor resigned some time in October.
There’s more local coverage of the crisis from an Alaskan-oriented blog here, and if you want to make a contribution of funds or food, here are the contact addresses:
Emmonak Tribal Council
P.O. Box 126
Emmanok, AK 99581
(907) 949-1720
or
City of Emmonak, (907) 949-1227/1249 (They will take donations by credit card.
Please specify the donation is for heating oil!)
It’s always good to remember that just when you think you’ve hit hard times, you can still be grateful that things aren’t even worse.
Unfortunately, that usually means they are worse somewhere else, which is where your moral conscience comes into play. Please donate if you can afford to, even just a tiny amount will help. Thank you.
Tags: AK, Alaska, Call to Action, Emmonak, Inuit People, Native Americans, People in Crisis
So, to summarize:
1. Borders may be involved in the practice of “book churning,” or ordering more books than it knows it needs, tearing the covers off the mass-market paperbacks, and sening them back to the publishers for credit, even though they aren’t spending a dime. These orders go through Ingrams and cause the stores to receive credit on their accounts with the publishers. For more information and a really helpful explanatory post on this practice and how it’s affecting the small and large presses, check out “Smacked in the Face by the Long Tail: Business Churn” by LiveJournal blogger Kaigou. This article is well worth the read, as it has a breakdown on the mathematics involved and the profitability issues associated with the practice. It’s worth the read.
2. Ellora’s Cave overspent by buying its own presses and warehousing its own books, and while the profitability of its ebooks remains steady, its print division is suffering because no one wants to work with the company anymore.
3. EC’s executives are suing Borders for screwing EC over, but Borders has only about $40 million in assets, %435 million in debts, and even if EC wins its suit, it will be at the back of the line if Borders liquidates.
4. Allegedly, EC has let its relationships with several authors, both popular and less known, suffer over the last three years because of various unsound, unexplained, or seemingly arbitrary decisions. Some anonymous (and a few not-so-anonymous) authors have aired their complaints in the comments section of the Dear Author thread concerning the lawsuit announcement.
5. Jaid Black and her V.P. have reponded unprofessionally on the thread, and a shitstorm ensued.
…Wow. I am so, so glad I decided not to submit to EC. Not only do these hysterics remind me of past public relations issues that people have had with Ellora’s in the past, but it looks as if the company might end up running itself into the ground from bad business decisions. Why didn’t EC use Ingrams? What gives? And does it really help to issue veiled threats against authors who act as ‘whistleblowers?’ Wouldn’t it have been wiser to simply not respond and let people read the legal summaries?
Tags: Bad Business Decisions, Borders, EC, Ellora's Cave, Jaid Black, Lawsuits, Mismanagement, Publishing Industry, Publishing Industry Controversies, Shooting One's Self in the Foot
Posted by Persephone Green on Jan 9, 2009 in
Blogging The one about blogging every day on this blog, anyway. Oh, well. ou should only write if you have something worth saying.
The problem is, I *do* have something worth saying. Every day, there are new conversations about the future of publishing, genre fiction, the digital epoch, etc. So why is it so hard to commit to not just drafting, but PUBLISHING a post every twenty-four hours?
For me, it has something to do with permanence and privacy. If I say something I don’t believe or won’t believe forever, I’m stuck with it. Someone, somewhere will have an archive, and the words will stay with me forever.
I really want to know: what makes *you* hesitate before hitting the “Publish” button? Even if you find this most months or years from now, I’ll still want to know, so please leave a comment. Thanks!
Tags: Blogging
