publishers

Digital Book World Conference – Day 1

by Marian Schembari on January 26, 2010

Today I found out that I am a wimp. And that I would most definitely kill to have the ability to work a room.

Today was Day 1 of Digital Book World’s first annual conference in NYC and it was beyond awesome. You’d think that  a conference starting at 8am and ending at 5pm would bore you half to death but that was surprisingly not the case. I listened with rapt attention to every word and wrote a grand total of 10,000 words of notes (I wish this was an exaggeration).

After the initial speeches by hotshots like Brian Napack of Macmillan, I attended three separate panels:

  1. Getting Comfortable in the Niches: Reports from Publishers Working Their Verticals
  2. Optimizing eBooks: Cost-Effective Enhancements, Updates and Multimedia Options
  3. Synergizing the Book and Web: Books Plus In the 21st Century

I could write about the rock stars in these panels until, well, the cows come home, but that’s what the DBW blog is for so you’ll have to stay tuned. What I want to talk about though (and is really of no interest to you) is the fact that I pretty much only met two or three people today and maybe five yesterday at the Bourbon. Apparently I’m a little shy. Wtf? It’s weird, I didn’t know this about myself until I entered a bar full of publishing gurus and felt like a 12-year-old playing dress up in grownup clothes.

To top it all off I actually recognized most of the faces in the room. Due to my crazy (and probably not so healthy) blog fetish, I’ve read all the things these people have to say. I follow them on Twitter, but we’ve never actually met. And here I go not introducing myself to anyone, totally lacking in the business card department and even when some nice person does engage me in conversation it’s basically like talking to a toddler with all the insight I have to say. These people are geniuses. Well, scratch that. If they were all geniuses publishing wouldn’t be in the pickle it’s in, but still, there were some brilliant speakers today and fingers crossed tomorrow I’ll manage to crawl out of my hidey-hole and make some friends. Please? Anyone?

{ 29 comments }

Some Long Overdue Publishing Info

by Marian Schembari on January 25, 2010

A few pieces of business:

I recently met with a blog buddy and fellow publishing nerd (except he’s actually significantly cooler than I am) last week. Guy Gonzalez and his band of merry (wo)men put together the first annual Digital Book World conference, which is this Tuesday and Wednesday at the Sheraton NY Hotel & Towers. This evening is my first official outing as contributing editor for their brand-spanking new website/blog. So keep your eyes peeled in the next few weeks over at DBW for my publishing, well, musings if you will… ;-)

So on that publishing and DBW note, I wanted to post some videos of their cool event (which I sadly could not attend) 7x20x21. The brilliant Stephanie Anderson spoke about her book lover basketball league and how it’s fun that will save the industry (did I mention she’s brilliant and I love her?). Here’s the video:


And the equally brilliant Ryan Chapman did an awesome presentation on the publishing equivalent to Mad Men’s Sterling Cooper Draper Price (basically – who will be the one to stand out from the rest due to their awesome awesomeness?).

Anyway, I found this enormously entertaining, so if you agree there are more videos here. Peace out homies.

{ 3 comments }

Maybe Niche Isn’t Everything. But please stop calling your blog a “musing”

by Marian Schembari on January 20, 2010

The most successful bloggers on the web will tell you this: to be The Best Blog you need a niche. You need to assert your authority and establish a following and be super specific. Sometimes the posts we work hardest on are the ones no one gives a crap about. My own blog has slowly started to focus more and more on what other people find interesting, and not the ones I have the most fun writing.

This is my long-winded way of saying I’m a little bored of writing about social media and the job hunt. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s all valuable information and I love sharing what I’ve learned, but at the same time I don’t feel it truly expresses me. Except I don’t want to lose readers. So how to I stay “true to myself” (I’m aware I’m causing you all to vomit up rainbows so that’s the only time I’ll be cheesey) without sacrificing what my blog has become?

I posed this question on a Brazen Careerist network, Blogging Ideas and I got some really wonderful responses that hopefully will help me (and you!) develop my blog the way I want without losing whatever niche I’ve developed.

Tips for figuring out your blog’s niche:

  • “Write an entry that is direct with your audience that takes time to explain where you are at now in your career and the focus you would like to take with your blog.” ~ Jennifer Gleason
  • “I don’t see a problem straddling two or more topics; most blogs do this. To do it successfully, try tying it back to a larger theme.” ~ Rebecca Thorman
  • “The three topics you mentioned: publishing, job hunting, social media are already (or can be) integrated into one.  I am not sure if the best blogs niche themselves or just describe what they do. Penelope’s blog, the starting point for many of us including me, is her personal life account wrapped in career advice.” ~ Isao Kato

And my personal favorite….

  • “Your blog is turning into a compelling story of someone trying to get from point A to point B and finding some distractions in between. You can refocus yourself, but don’t lose the human touch that seems to be getting the most attention and comments. Start applying this job search/social media knowledge to publishing and freelancing.” ~ JR Moreau

I’m really starting to love the whole Brazen Careerist network. It’s surprisingly helpful and the people I’ve connected with so far are encouraging and lovely people. Hopefully I’ll be able to find my footing sooner rather than later so I can get this show on the road.

That being said, if I read one more blog with the words “musings”, “ramblings” or “rants” in the header or subtitle I might stab someone in the face. Just a warning.

{ 24 comments }

Mediabistro’s Definition of a “Dream Job” and Why I’ve Never Been Happier

by Marian Schembari on January 14, 2010

Rachel Kaufman of Mediabistro’s Media Jobs Daily recently wrote a post on the Facebook ads I ran this past August. While flattered that Mediabistro (Mediabistro bitches!) finds the story awesome enough to write about, I took issue with the general tone of the article. The title itself reads: “Woman Buys A Facebook Job Ad And Sort Of Gets Her Wish” and Kaufman writes, “But isn’t this story kind of like wanting to be a basketball star and ending up as a sportswriter or coach? Or wanting to be a chef and ending up doing PR campaigns for other chefs?” Maybe, I guess. But if Kaufman read even a little of my blog she would know that I no longer work at Jane Wesman PR. Plus, that is just like the media world to look down at a boutique firm because it’s not a big-corporate-conglomerate-that-puts-out-hundreds-of-books-and-makes-butt-tons-of-money-and-has-a-fancy-slash-prestigious-name.

Now, I can’t argue with what she says. My dream was to work for a big publisher, but only because I didn’t really know what else was out there for someone who wanted to go into publishing. In my limited (but enthusiastic) view, a job as an editorial assistant was the Be All and End All of publishing jobs. I hadn’t even considered book publicity until my Rodale buddy suggested it. Was I dissapointed I didn’t land a “sweet” gig at a fancy publishing house? Of course. Do I regret it? Not even a little bit.

In my cockiness, I’m pretty sure that if I spent a little longer looking I would have gotten my “dream job”. But after my interview at JWPR I realized that going outside the major houses would a) paysmore and b) give me better experience. Instead of being somebody’s “publicity assistant” I was actually a publicist. That being said, after three months I realized that I actually rock out more effectively on my own. And there was that little issue with enrolling in culinary school. So maybe the job I spent $150 getting wasn’t perfect for me, but I now have first-hand experience with book publicity, met some amazing people, work for myself, make more money and have clients that include major publishers, newspapers and authors.

So take that, Mediabistro.

{ 9 comments }

Internship Series part 2: The Cool Factor

by Marian Schembari on December 31, 2009

Just the other day I ran into a guy I went to high school with, Ed, who is an intern with a major fashion designer. He has a degree, is a helluva smart kid, but felt because of the recession he wouldn’t be able to get a paying job so chickened out and grabbed the first opportunity that came his way. Is he not gaining experience? I’m sure he his. But the time that he spends every day at the designers, he could be spending meeting people at all different designers, marketing himself to HR and going to interviews. He could instead end up somewhere he truly wants to be, with people who appreciate him for his work and his time, rather than his impressionable youth.

We also can’t forget the “cool factor”. Places like Ed’s company – designers, movie studios, event planners – have the prestige in certain circles of being The Coolest Kid on the Block and assume (correctly) that drooling kids will be falling over themselves to stuff envelopes. We’re willing to do shitty work for free so we can later say we worked for Time Warner/Burberry/Random House.

Chris Brogan wrote on his blog about the audacity of free, and how we shouldn’t be embarrassed to put a price tag on our services: “Paying something for a service or good helps us value it more.” And that’s the point now, isn’t it? Interns just aren’t valued, regardless of the “experience” they get in return.

When Jenavi Kasper resigned from her internship at a large ad agency, she wrote a letter that was later posted on a marketing blog. The response was enormous. She wrote, “When ‘helping with projections’ meant reading you numbers off a spreadsheet I became a little discouraged. When ‘working with scripts’ meant retyping scripts I was bummed. It was especially painful when I spent all morning cleaning out an office for the new girl while you guys took off to Starbucks.” She was doing assistant work. Except assistants get paid. And learn just as much as interns. So why do we still take them?

Tyler Hurst, Media Strategist at Amanda Vega Consulting, wrote me and complained about Kasper’s letter: “What I found was a meek whiner who refused to answer even the simplest questions I had”, he said. “I wanted her to be a rock star and she turned out to be a groupie.” While I don’t know this Jenavi character (she could have been the worst intern ever), she makes some excellent points. Internships are made out to be these wonderful experiences that are competitive and help us get our foot into the real world. What they really are is misleading and degrading.

Do you know what else offers amazing work experience, networking, and – gasp! – a roof over one’s head? A real job.

Tomorrow: The top 5 tips for gaining the experiences of an internship without actually having one…

{ 8 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →