Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy Pneu Year!

It never fails. I finally get a few days off, and the whole family has spent the entire time with walking pneumonia. I guess it just wouldn't be Christmas without another game of antibiotics roulette. Looks like we all got lucky and found one that is working without making our throats swell shut. I just feel bad that my little girl had to spend her 4th birthday at the minor emergency center.

We need to pull ourselves together quickly now. I leave Wednesday morning for the Paradigm sales conference in Las Vegas. Jason leaves Thursday for the Prentice Hall sales conference in San Francisco. As I mentioned back in August, textbook publishers have these twice-yearly sales conferences to get their sales representatives geared up to sell the newest titles. The winter meetings are usually someplace warm and slightly exotic (Marco Island and Bermuda are among Prentice Hall's recent venues).

My boss Sue and I will be presenting to the Paradigm reps about two of our best-selling workbooks. Our presentation is scheduled for the last hour of the last day of the conference, so hopefully the reps will be able to focus long enough to get excited about selling our books.

I'll be back in the office January 7. Have a safe and happy new year, and don't let any preschoolers cough in your face. I hear there's something nasty going around.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Don't Ever Dis a Former Employer

I just found this article from the Bluffton (Indiana) News-Banner. Gary Books talks about a bad job he had in the past. And yes, it sounds like it was awful, and that he handled it pretty well. Nonetheless, the fact that he is griping about it now (and mentioning that "upper, upper management has hated me"--even if it's tongue-in-cheek) doesn't reflect well on him.

This is a cardinal rule of job interviews: Don't ever speak poorly of a former boss or company. I don't care how crazy the situation was and how innocent you were. It will always come back to bite you. The employer will think that you were a big part of the problem, and that you could do the same thing at the new company.

Sometimes an interviewer will even try to bait you into saying something negative about a previous job by asking you point-blank what was the worst job you ever had. Resist the temptation to share a juicy story about your lecherous, bipolar boss. Soften it by saying something like "Well, all jobs have their positives and negatives. I think the job I enjoyed the least was ______, because it wasn't a good fit with my skills and interests." Just don't say "personality conflict." That's a red flag that will make employers doubt whether the conflict really was the employer's fault--or whether you're just a PITA.

Friday, December 28, 2007

The 10 Most Literate U.S. Cities

Jeanna Bryner of LiveScience.com reports today on the results of a survey to determine the most literate cities in the U.S. Jack Miller of Central Connecticut State University conducted the survey based on six factors:
  • Newspaper circulation
  • Number of bookstores
  • Library resources
  • Periodical publishing resources
  • Educational attainment
  • Internet resources

The winners were these:

  1. Minneapolis
  2. Seattle
  3. St. Paul
  4. Denver
  5. Washington, D.C.
  6. St. Louis
  7. San Francisco
  8. Atlanta
  9. Pittsburgh
  10. Boston

Kudos to our friends in Minnesota, who managed to hit the list twice. Indianapolis is not on the list; but we did make #12 on Forbes' Most Obese Cities list. Yay us!

Number of book publishers wasn't a factor, but number of magazine publishers was. So if you are interested in a career in magazines, these are some good cities to look into.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Google Ogles Steph (an Indy Publishing Person)

Funny article in today's Indianapolis Star--made funnier by the fact that I know the person featured in it. It seems Google has been out photographing cities in great detail so that people can look them up online at Google Street View. Meanwhile, unsuspecting Steph Mineart, a web designer at Pearson, was out pulling weeds in her yard. So guess what? Google now displays a photo of her rear end online. She's being a good sport about it, though, because it's lo-res. (Check out Steph's gallery of photos of "big things" found on roadsides across America, as well as her blog.)

I also found this article from the Times of London about 10 bizarre sights found on Google Street View.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Ahhh...Vacation Time!

I took off from work at 10am last Friday and won't be back to work until the new year (and really, not back to the office until January 7 because I'll be at the national sales conference January 2 through 4). When I was in school, I just took it for granted that I'd have the time between Christmas and the day after New Year's Day off. But it didn't work that way once I got a real job.

If I want that time off, I have to save up enough vacation time for it. And for the past eight years, our company required the entire staff to be at the company warehouse one day during that week. They were taking inventory, and they used their professional employees to do the work. (Don't get me started on how it would have been cheaper for them to hire temps.)

The first several years I participated in inventory-taking at the JIST warehouse were hellish. The warehouse was in a frightening part of town, was unheated, and shared a building with a foundry. So by the time the day was over, we were frozen stiff and covered in black dust.

It was also difficult for me because I was assigned to the "bulk" area. So I, a spacially challenged person, had to learn how to look at a partial pallet of cartons and figure out how many books were there. I was later promoted to "auditor" (probably because "auditor" sounds a lot like "editor") and my job was checking the counting work of others and pointing out when they made a mistake.

Gradually I began to grasp the value of working in the warehouse once a year. It gave me a better understanding of how that part of the publishing process works (there's no better way to appreciate the enormity of trade returns than standing there looking at the actual pile of them). It doesn't matter how great of a book you produce and how many you sell; without a warehouse to ship them out, you're nowhere. Also, it helped me understand why we couldn't schedule all of our books to come into the warehouse on the same day at the end of the month: The three people who worked there couldn't handle the volume.

Rarely was anyone allowed to skip out of inventory duty (I was thrilled to be able to use "in the hospital having a baby" as my excuse four years ago); as a result, we all got used to not being able to leave town between Christmas and the end of the year.

The last several years, however, it got better and better. The warehouse was moved to a cleaner, warmer place. Our accounting and warehouse departments got better organized, so the last time we did it, it took us only about two hours.

Now, enter our new parent company, which closed down our warehouse and moved our inventory to Minnesota this spring. So for all the negatives of losing control of your warehouse, at least we're not counting books this year.

Friday, December 21, 2007

What Indexing Was Like

Just one week on the Copyediting-L list, and already it's paying off! Member Dick Margulis posted about a memoir article on the art and craft of indexing. Enid Stubin's "My Time in the Indexing Trade" is a fascinating and funny look back to a time when indexing was a more tactile occupation than it is today. Most striking was the mention that they actually did their indexes on--of all things--index cards.

Nowadays it's all computerized, and indexers often mark what they want to index by placing codes directly in the Word or layout files. Then they press a button and "poof"--it's compiled. Of course, they still have to go back and edit it to perfection. But at least they're not shuffling around with a bunch of cards.

I'm planning to post a career profile from an indexer next year, if I can talk her into it. Meanwhile, I'm hitting the road for Evansville today and won't be posting again after Christmas. Have a wonderful one!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Are You Giving or Getting Books for Christmas This Year?

I'm putting the finishing touches on my shopping this year and it got me thinking. Books have always been a popular gift for me and my husband. We buy them for others and we put them on our own wish lists. (DVDs and CDs are always up there, as well.) What will it be like when e-books become the norm?

Instead of having a weighty, substantial little package under the tree, you'll say "Here's a gift card so that you can download something to your Kindle." It's bad enough that half my shopping consisted of using my credit card to put money on Ann Taylor, Harbor Freight, and Pottery Barn gift cards. At least in the end my family and friends will buy something they can actually touch and hold in their hands.

We're already doing this with music. We ask for iTunes gift cards and then download music later. I always feel like a fossil when I buy a real CD anymore (which I do when it's for my parents, since they don't have iPods--yet). Remember when the CD aisles at Best Buy filled almost the whole store? Now it's just a few racks in the corner.

If you're buying books this year, how are you buying them? Are you going to the store, to Amazon, or to a chain's website such as B&N.com? What factors influence your choice--convenience, discounts, being able to actually see the book before you buy it? And how do you figure out what books you want--do you browse the store and then go buy online, or vice versa?

One last barrage of questions: What kinds of books do you tend to buy as presents? Coffee table books? Sudoku books? Novels? Practical how-to stuff? Computer books? This inquiring mind wants to know!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The Copyediting List

A great resource for copy editors (or copyeditors, if you prefer) is Copyediting-L, a listserv where editors from all over the world post items of interest to one another. If you've got a thorny style issue, a lead on a job, or questions about the business side of freelancing, you can post it to this list and you'll likely get the answer you need.

Copyediting-L has been around for 15 years (a long time in Internet terms); however, I hadn't subscribed before now because, as I said before, I'd rather edit than read about editing. But I'm monitoring it now in case the members might send out something of general interest to readers of this blog. You can subscribe to the list for free, and I think you'll pick up all sorts of good information from it.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Cube Chic

Wired magazine online has a fun piece on a book called Cube Chic by Kelley L. Moore. The book features photos of "22 whimsical workspace makeovers" to take your own veal-fattening pen from drab to fab. Of course, the Zen Cube and the Nap Cube are just over-the-top examples. But supposedly there are takeaway nuggets that can help you jazz up your own cubicle without getting yourself tossed out the door along with your bamboo wallpaper.

You can also check out the apparently out of print Pimp My Cubicle by Reverend Smoothello G. Debaclous.

And when your cube is all decorated, here are some tips for coexisting in Cubeville, from the forthcoming fourth edition of Job Savvy by Laverne Ludden, which I am editing this week:

  • Use a reasonable voice. Cubicles are not soundproof. Others can hear what you say. Use a quiet voice when conducting business.
  • Think about your cell phone use. Check your company’s policy about personal cell phone use. Avoid disturbing your coworkers with the ringing of a cell phone. Set the ringer on “vibrate” or turn it off. Take the phone with you when you leave the cube.
  • Treat your coworkers’ cubicles as offices. Knock before entering. Wait till the person responds to you before walking in. If they are on the phone or busy with someone else, leave and come back later.
  • Hold conversations in the cube. Sitting in your cube and talking to the person in the next cubicle disturbs everyone around you. Leaning over the wall for a conversation is just as distracting. When you need to speak to anyone, enter the cube for the conversation.
  • Avoid overcrowding in the cubicle. Unless you are meeting with only one other person, a cubicle is not large enough to hold a meeting. A conference room is a more appropriate place to have a meeting.
  • Be considerate of others. A cubicle office is shared space. Eating strong-smelling foods in your cubicle may irritate others. Using scented lotions or perfumes affects people’s allergies. Coworkers who hum, chew gum loudly, or clip their fingernails annoy others.
  • Express your concern. If you are unable to do your work because of a coworker’s actions, politely discuss the problem with the individual. A direct approach is much more kind and effective than gossiping about the individual or avoiding the problem.

Monday, December 17, 2007

My Experience with a Career Coach

Many of the top career book authors these days call themselves "career coaches." If you've never heard the term before, it might sound a little funny. Do they blow whistles at people and make them run laps if they have a bad job interview?

In April 2006, I attended the Career Masters Institute (now Career Management Alliance) conference in San Francisco. I go to this conference as often as I can to support my authors (who are founding members) and hopefully find some new authors. At the end of the conference they were giving out door prizes, and I ended up winning one. It turned out to be two free sessions with a career coach named Wendy Terwelp of Opportunity Knocks in Wisconsin.

I figured, what better way to understand what career coaches do than to be coached a little? So we scheduled our two hour-long sessions. We started by getting to know each other. Turns out, Wendy was a journalist in her early career. So she could relate to me.

Wendy asked a lot of questions, and pretty quickly was able to pinpoint my issues and size up what's holding me back in my career. She gave me assignments and held me responsible for tackling my issues. She also helped me lay the foundations of a plan for career progress. I kept her advice in my head and it played a big role in my recent promotion.

I didn't end up paying for more sessions because, well, it would have been expensive (at that time, her services ran about $200 an hour). But she has stayed in contact with me, sending Christmas cards and birthday wishes each year, and occasionally touching base by e-mail.

So if you are feeling really stuck in your career or your job search, I can recommend giving a career coach a try. Just a few sessions can make a big difference. Check out the Career Coach Academy website for a listing of coaches around the country (but remember that you don't have to be in the same place--coaching works fine over the phone).

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Excellent Article on Breaking into Publishing

There's a fantastic article on SFGate.com about how to break into a job in publishing--for both new graduates and career changers. It was written from the San Francisco perspective and includes input from former Indianapolis denizen Brice Gosnell, who is now publisher at Lonely Planet travel guides (you might have seen him a few years ago as the "mean" Frommer's boss on a few episodes of The Real World). He's got some very specific advice about what he looks for in resumes and cover letters. This article is a must read!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Librarians Who Blog

Meredith Farkas has written a substantial and interesting article for Library Journal about librarians who write blogs. She managed to track down 839 librarian bloggers and survey them about their demographics and their motivations. It's good information to know, especially the examples she points out. I will definitely want to check out several of these blogs.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Use RSS Feeds to Find Job Opportunities

I have just recently figured out how to keep track of all my favorite blogs using Google Reader. You just set up an account (which you might already have if you blog with Blogger). Then you can search and add feeds to your main page. I had been doing this with My Yahoo!, but dropped them last week because my page wouldn't update to show new posts (maybe it was operator error, but I don't have time to figure it out).

So then I discovered something even cooler. Many job search sites will let you save your search criteria as an RSS feed. So, you just go to the site (for example, Monster.com), plug in your criteria (industry, location, and keywords, such as "editor"), and click the Search button. After the results come up, there is usually an RSS button you can click that sends these exact results to your Google Reader page--and updates them automatically as new jobs are posted. What could be easier?

In addition to Monster, I have found RSS buttons on Indeed and Simply Hired, two very cool "aggregators" that pull jobs from everywhere on the Web, including company websites. I was unable to find this feature on CareerBuilder, though.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Whatever Happened to the Career Profiles Posts?

I just wanted to update you as to why I haven't done any career profiles so far this month, in which I interview people working in publishing about their career progressions. Lots of people have agreed to send me their information, but they're all just too busy right now to do it. After the holidays, I will follow up with those people and contact some new people, too. So I think the feature will be back in full force in 2008.

Meanwhile, if there is a particular job you'd like to know more about, leave me a comment and I will try to find someone to write about that job. And if you are reading this and haven't shared your story yet, please feel free to send it along to me at loricateshand@yahoo.com.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

What Song Was #1 the Day You Were Born?

You can find the answer here at This Day in Music. Plug in my birthdate, 41 years ago today, and the answer is "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys. Man, that makes me feel pretty darned old!

Copyblogger and Writing White Paper's Top 10 Blogs for Writers

Copyblogger is a blog for bloggers. (You knew it would come to this someday, didn't you?) More precisely, it's a blog that gives tips on writing for blogs in a way that helps you promote whatever it is you're promoting (your company, your products, yourself...whatever). This week they announced that they have again topped Writing White Paper's list of top 10 best blogs for writers. Check out the full list here.

Thanks to technical writer and freelance editor Mark Cierzniak for tipping me off to the existence of this blog.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Books for an Editor's Wish List

Christmas is coming, and the relatives you see only once a year are asking you to tell them precisely what to buy for you. If you're like me, you're too busy trying to get your own shopping done to really come up with anything you want (well, everything you want is too expensive for Aunt Gladys to buy, isn't it?). So might I suggest a few books?

  • 2008 Writer's Market: A great place to look for target publishing companies and contact names of people who work there.
  • On Writing, by Stephen King: I'm not a horror fan, but I highly respect the way this man tells a story. This book has lots of insights into how he got started. The second part of the book is his own attempt at The Elements of Style, so it tends to plod along. (Ironic, too, coming from someone who won't suffer being edited.)
  • Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero-Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss: Have you ever found yourself editing poorly done signs in public? Lynne Truss is your girl. A very funny book, although I don't think I managed to finish it. I like to edit a lot more than I like to read about editing.
  • Stet: An Editor's Life, by Diana Athill: A memoir of a celebrated fiction editor. It's been on my Amazon wish list for five years and nobody's bought it for me yet.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Craigslist: Another Place to Look for Jobs Online

Craigslist has been gaining popularity throughout the last decade or so as a place to post a free online classified ad. If you want to unload your tacky "leg lamp" like the one in A Christmas Story, you'll likely find someone through Craigslist who will gladly come and haul it away for you. But only recently have I become aware of this site's usefulness as a place to post and find jobs.

Faced with the prospect of paying almost a thousand bucks for a local newspaper ad that will yield hundreds of resumes but few of them really qualified, Sue suggested that we try posting an ad on Craigslist. I have been thrilled with the quality of the responses so far.

Many other employers across the nation are taking advantage of this low-key way to connect with candidates. For example, in New York, High Times is looking for a proofreader; in San Francisco, North Atlantic Books is looking for an editorial director; and in Chicago, PIL is looking for a cookery editor.

So while you're out there trolling for jobs or candidates, don't forget to stop by Craigslist.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Wastin' Away Again in Kindleville?

Joe Wikert's got a brand new blog. Don't panic--he's not giving up on his wildly successful Publishing 2020 blog. He's just become so interested in Amazon's new e-book reader, the Kindle, that he wanted to give his exploration of it its own space. Thus, he's inviting us all to join him in Kindleville--not to be confused with the tranquil town of Kendallville, Indiana, home of 10,000 happy Hoosiers and famous for...uh...according to Wikipedia, its annual meth lab explosion?

Anyway, the Kindle represents another step (time will tell how big) toward the end of the printed book as we know it. It, or its descendants, has the potential to completely change the business of book publishing. And if anyone can discern the truth amid all the hype from Amazon, and the negativity from the Luddites, it's Joe. So let's all gather up the kids and hit the road to Kindleville!

Friday, December 7, 2007

Some Insight into British Publishing Careers

One of the ways I dig up ideas for my blog is a bunch of Google alerts, which let me know whenever their web crawlers run across something that contains my specified keywords. Often the results I get include pages relevant to publishing in the UK. I have tended to ignore those because I assume most of the people reading this blog are Americans (correct me if I'm wrong).

I love the UK. Heck, I used to live there. But I'm guessing it would be pretty difficult for an American editor to get into the field over there. Not only do they spell a lot of things differently, but their whole writing tone is different than ours (overly wordy and stilted by comparison, but with a lot of odd "cutesy-isms" thrown in).

Nonetheless, I couldn't resist sharing this link to the Publishing Skills Group's Work in Publishing site. For the aspiring British publishing professional, there's a wealth of information on the industry, training, qualifications, career paths, and job postings.

Come to think of it, I can name at least three Brits who worked for a time in Pearson's Indianapolis office. I wonder whether they had a tougher learning curve than us natives. And for the record, if there's a UK publisher out there that could use an American editor, Jason and I are ready to come back at the drop of a hat!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Do Aspiring Editors Know Enough (or Care) About E-Book Rights?

Earlier this week, Publishers Weekly e-book blogger David Rothman called attention to a startling discovery by a publishing veteran teaching a graduate-level publishing course: Of the 30 students Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti polled, none of them had ever downloaded an e-book or owned a PDA. Rothman extrapolates this to mean that young aspiring editors are more interested in the content ("nurturing future Hemingways") than the new and future forms of content delivery.

Rothman invites readers to prove him wrong. But most of the commenters just proved his point. For example, one said "Why is it the editor's job to deal with E rights? I'm a young editor, and I have yet had to deal with rights other than registering copyright on a book. Is it really the EDITOR's job to deal with subrights and such? Granted, it just may be the way my company deals with things, but the editors here aren't involved in rights issues. Yes, I'm aware of the issues, but I'm not the one going out and making deals. Are we expecting the editors to do a bit of everything now?"

My two cents on this is that if you want to move up to be an acquisitions editor and beyond, you'd better understand rights issues, especially electronic rights. Acquisitions editors often find themselves in the position of explaining parts of the publishing contract to potential authors before they will sign. And rights are a big part of the contract. So you need to know enough about them and how they work to be able to ease a skittish author's mind that they're not giving your company their first-born.

Then there's the other five percent of authors, the ones who know enough about rights to be dangerous, or have a lawyer advising them. You need to know what rights are important to your company so that you don't end up giving them away in a negotiation. And these days, you should never let go of your electronic rights. Any request from an author to keep these rights should be a deal-breaker.

Cathie Black Talks About Her Publishing Career on NPR Today

Thanks to Erik Dafforn for the heads-up on this:

Cathie Black: "Basic Black" (Crown)

In 1979, Cathie Black became the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine. Today, she manages such well-known magazines as Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, and O, The Oprah Magazine. She joins Diane Rehm to discuss her rise to the top of the publishing world and shares her advice on balancing career and family life.

Says Erik, "It says it's on the second hour (11am) but you might check at 10am just to be sure. It's on NPR, which you probably knew. Also, the shows are available for download within several hours of airing, in case you miss it."

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Some Days Are Better Than Others

What a morning! Because of the ill-timed snowstorm in Indy, it took me two and a half hours to get to work today. No sooner did I get here and read one e-mail, the phone rang. It was a potential author I really wanted to talk to. In the middle of the conversation, the entire office went dark. Thankfully, we didn't lose our connection and I was able to communicate what I needed to him.

So we all filtered out of our offices and cubes to find out what was going on. Some people launched a flashlight expedition to the restroom. Others fretted that we could freeze to death if power wasn't restored soon. I opened all the blinds in my office and several of us converged on a printout of a near-final cover design, really working it over because we couldn't do anything else. Then I graded an applicant's editing test (we make people take it on hard copy because if we gave it to them online, they could use spell-check).

An hour and a half later, the lights came back on--just in time for lunch! Jim, the world's nicest CFO, is here from Minnesota and had already planned to bring in an Olive Garden buffet to celebrate year-end. So that was festive and fun.

So I guess it's been a pretty good day, despite not getting anything done. Yesterday wasn't bad, either: We got unexpected year-end bonuses; and I got in and out of the BMV to renew my license in less than 30 minutes. I must be living right!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Eight Tips for Using Fonts Effectively on Your Resume

Part of my job as queen of the resume books at JIST has been to take the sample resumes from the authors, proofread them (or have them proofed by someone else), check the fonts to make sure they look as the author intended, and fix as needed. Then I PDF them and send them to layout. Many of my books have as many as 100 sample resumes, and some have more than 300. So, many thousands of resumes have passed through my hands this way. And as you might recall, I am in the midst of hiring a new editor. So I’m looking at lots of real resumes now, too.

I love fonts—I just adore them—and using them correctly can have a big impact on your resume’s success (or failure). Here are some ideas for using fonts as effectively as possible on your resume.

  1. If you’re using a font nobody else is likely to have on their computer, convert your resume to a PDF before you send it. Twice this week I got resumes that used some very obscure fonts. When I opened them on my computer, they had turned to generic-looking Courier because I don’t have those fonts installed. (And I just inherited a computer from a graphic designer, so I’ve got hundreds of fonts now.)
  2. Don’t use more than two fonts on your resume. I like to use a nice true bold, sans serif font for the headings and a readable serif font for the text. There are always exceptions to this rule, and they can work fine. Just don’t make your resume look like a ransom note. (OMG, is that my own original thought, or did I subconsciously plagiarize it from Mike Farr? Sometimes I lose track.)
  3. Stick to black text. I’ve seen some resumes that used color on the fonts for emphasis, and they were stunning onscreen. But when they were printed on a black-and-white printer (and not many offices have color printers), they were almost unreadable.
  4. Don’t use goofy fonts. If I see one more resume done in the cartoonish Comic Sans font, I will scream. People, that is so 1990s. And it doesn’t help your credibility.
  5. Don’t be afraid to keep it simple. Susan Britton Whitcomb, author of Résumé Magic, generally uses Times New Roman on most of her resumes—the most common font imaginable. But she makes it look elegant with proper boldfacing, small caps, and well-placed rules.
  6. Use your font choice to perpetuate your personal brand. If you want to emphasize your creativity, you can use a script font (as long as it’s readable) for headings. If you’re an accountant, Times New Roman is a good choice. I’m experimenting with old newspaper fonts on my resume to put forward a “retro-but-savvy woman of words” image.
  7. Pick the right font size. Some fonts are just naturally bigger than others. Experiment with sizes until you find one that’s readable and allows you to keep your resume on one or two pages.
  8. If you’re pasting your resume into an e-mail or an online database, use Courier. In this case, font doesn’t matter, and it will probably end up looking like Courier, anyway. Be careful not to use rules or bullets, because they will drop out. Instead, you can use keyboard characters to imitate these elements.

In all honesty, if the perfect candidate's resume came across my desk and broke one of these rules, I would hope it wouldn't keep me from calling them in for an interview. But in the ultra-competitive game of job seeking, why not give yourself every advantage possible?

Monday, December 3, 2007

Directory of Publishing Associations from John Kremer

John Kremer is a book marketing consultant and author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books. He caters to the small indie press and self-publishing crowd. But still, I get his newsletter every week and there are often tips I find useful.

So I was happy, as I was trolling for more publishing associations to mention here, to find his list of nearly 100 of them. He freely admits that some may be out of date (for instance, I can't find much online evidence of the Indianapolis Publishers Association that he mentions). But there are still plenty of good leads here for ferreting out smaller publishers and contact names.