Never Forget – September 11th
Publishers Forcing a New Genre – Books for 14-35 year olds? Mature themes but packaged younger. Thoughts?
How Much Time is Wasted at Work? – This page and infographic should make everyone pause for a moment. The average worker checks their email 36 times an hour…. Astounding. I would have thought it was more. J
Hats Off to Amazon – Read this article! Mike Shatzkin, as usual, writes an insightful article on the strategies of Amazon and the implications of the Department of Justice settlement among other things.
How Bestseller Lists Work…and Introducing the Amazon Monthly 100 – Timothy Ferris takes a stab at unveiling the mystery. You may have seen this in an earlier post.
Sue Grafton Apologizes to Self-Published Authors for Calling Them Lazy – Important to admit when one is wrong and accept the consequences. I would never call any writer lazy…except in your case…yes, you know who I’m talking to… <grin>
Don’t Use Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail for Business Emails – If you are guilty of this, think about a change. I don’t think it is horrible for a writer to do this. But at least change how you are seen by the recipient of your email. It isn’t your email address that shows, it is the identity chosen when you set up the account. I once had an author send me an email but didn’t realize her kids had set up the account. So the e-mail showed in my inbox as coming from “mom.” Or another sent me a note from her account called “hot gramma.” Not very professional.
Mundane Routines Produce Creative Magic – An article length apologetic for working in your bathrobe.
I don’t think the new genre will work. As a writer, I can’t think of much that I would say to a teenager that I would also say to someone out making a living. Maybe if we’re talking about those people who are still living with their parents at age 23 and above, but the only thing I want to say to them is “grow up.”
As for the Sue Grafton apology, I don’t think apologies that are a result of mass public opinion. Just look at what The Susan G. Koman Race For the Cure did to themselves with the stunt they pulled. Sue Grafton won’t win any fans by saying one thing and then coming back later and saying the opposite.
Okay, the email bit. I use gmail because it’s web-based, and I can get my emails when I travel. Plus they have the best spam filter I’ve dealt with. I don’t view them as a cheesy email service, but I’ve also made sure my email name is professional.
Now for whatever reason, hotmail does come across poorly. I wonder why that is? Do you all see a difference between gmail and yahoo/hotmail?
Sally,
Having a domain based e-mail address doesn’t prevent you from using a web-based interface to read it.
Most of them are a pain to deal with and don’t work nearly as well as Gmail. Mine was a pain and was very fond of not letting me in. The spam filter provided by my domain host is made of Swiss cheese. Gmail’s is made of stainless steel.
I do have domain name based email accounts, but I hated working with my domain host servers and the fact that they attached a stupid cheesy banner to all my outgoing emails. So I rerouted it through the Gmail servers and I’m very happy with the results. I have plans to reroute my domain name itself through the Google servers, as soon as I make the time to sit down and figure it out.
Rachel,
You should be able to disable the cheesy banner. If you can’t, then you might consider switching hosting companies.
Why would I want to switch back to my domain servers and pay more when I’m beyond thrilled with the free Gmail results? I’m an Android user and I can now check all three of my domain name accounts through the Gmail interface on my phone. I’m not going to pay more for hosting services when I can route it through Google and get better results for free.