In the discussion section of the previous post, skapusniak cited as example of self-destructive corporate behavior the Star Wars: Galaxies MMORPG saga ( Read more... )

I've been thinking a lot about the MINX mess, and how it was that that the professionals could get it so wrong and be so oblivious to how and why, when customers and potential customers were trying to tell them so loudly in so many ways for so long, and something somebody said that I saw in my dowsing which I need to find and cite helps encapuslate ( Read more... )

Headed by Vertigo’s Shelly Bond and Karen Berger, the line debuted with The PLAIN Janes, by popular YA novelist Cecil Castellucci and Street Angel artist Jim Rugg. They also recruited the likes of Andi Watson, Derek Kirk Kim, Rebecca Donner, Brian Wood, Aaron Alexovich, Alisa Kwitney, Ross Campbell and Mike Carey ( Read more... )

In the course of looking for commentary about Michael Idov's ill-fated coffeehouse venture, I came across the article that I linked in my post on the subject which had another detail, left out of Idov's own brief account which I heard on Day to Day and which was posted on Slate.com - the fact being that they refused to sell flavored coffees, which ( Read more... )

If you have decided to become a freelancer, and you have recently printed up lots of rather pricy promotional materials to distribute announcing this fact, and you have put a phone number on them so that people can contact you professionally, the correct process for answering calls to this number in order to inspire maximum confidence as well as ( Read more... )

This isn't a new account - there was some blog discussion of it back when it first came out on Slate and NPR - but as an illustration of how "smart people" can be just so stupid when it comes to running a business, it's not necessarily out of date; it contains in it (the author is not as self-aware as he might be) the debunking of the "Just follow ( Read more... )

The other day Jonquil posted about the bad experience of author Greg Frost with bookbuyers from Borders, in particular to take issue his claim that prior to twenty years ago everything was so much better, before the Big Chain Stores took over, those halcyon days of yore when instead of the Soulless Corporate Shells there were quaint "Dickensian" ( Read more... )

(and how not to make a business call for good measure)

1. When your printer/prepress person says "what program was the file made in?" you should answer:
a) Windows!
b) Mac!
c) Acrobat
d) Word
e) Publisher
f) Printmaster Gold
g) I dunno! (Bonus points for this one if it's already been established that you made the file yourself ( Read more... )

(It's a hobby that never gets old)

One reason this is so amusing to me (where by "this" I include not just the editorial decisions of Wizard but also the entirely-predictable croaking chorus of "well, they're BUSINESSMEN, it HAS to be a good BUSINESS DECISION for them!") is that I've worked in print media for so long that I have a little bit of ( Read more... )

A memo from the Department of Useless Advice.

(What's crucial and missing from this column?)

There are whole publishing industries of how-to books on this model, all missing the same key discussion, btw. Nice racket, that.