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I don’t know if you heard any of this, but in this very curious segment yesterday, the Big Show crew angrily went off on the entire fantasy football concept, and in particular,’s K.C. Joyner who bills himself “The Football Scientist.”

The segment started innocuously enough, a little after 4:30 with a caller casually mentioning that LaMont Jordan was a guy who had killed his fantasy team for the last couple of years, and now here he was, playing for the team that he roots for.

It seemed to be the signal that Ordway and company were waiting for, as they went on a collective tirade that lasted until the 5:00 commercial break.

Pete Sheppard started it off with “Fantasy Football, who gives a rat’s ass?”

The Millions who sign up to play, apparently. But these guys either aren’t smart enough to understand it, or somehow the word Fantasy threatens their cigar-smoking, leather chap-wearing, motorcycle riding existence. They mock what they can’t understand.

Ordway then followed up with his “I must say…” introduction that he uses when he wants to get serious and pretend that he has an actual important message he wants to get across…“I gotta throw this out there…please people, we have no problem with anyone playing fantasy football, ok, if you could get a date, it would probably improve your life a little bit, but there’s nothing wrong with it…BUT ITS NOT THE SAME GAME AS THE REAL GAME OF FOOTBALL.”

Really Glenn? How did you figure that out?

“The problem is, but now there are these geeks out there, who are now taking fantasy football, crossing the line, and think its actually REAL football.

Think about how totally absurd that entire statement is. A “problem?” Is that a problem like the financial crashes or the housing crisis? Is it something we should all be concerned about? “Geeks” – the buzzword for anyone who knows how to use a keyboard. “crossing the line” – whoa! These guys have taken it way too far. THEY’VE CROSSED THE LINE. Um, what line exactly is that? They “think it’s actually REAL football.” Once again, WHO thinks fantasy football is real? What in the world is he talking about?

“And they’re basing it all on numbers.” Um, yeah, that’s kind of the point of fantasy football…

“IT’S NOT REAL FOOTBALL…fantasy football is…listen to the word they use how to describe it…FANTASY. OK?

Once again, I guess I missed out on the people who were claiming that fantasy football was in any way real football.

The stuff we actually watch on Sunday is REAL. Another brilliant revelation!

Fred Smerlas then chimed in “Like the clubs you go to – fantasy.” To which Ordway said “Exactly.” Ordway then launched into his attack:

Have you seen this, this kid, who calls himself the uh, the football scientist? He wears like a white scientist jacket? I mean, this kid,  he’s on as well.

Steve DeOssie: He’s unbelievable.

I don’t watch it…I don’t watch it…why don’t you click it off? – Sheppard was reaching the boiling point now, as his words were impatiently spoken like someone ready to just completely lose it…

Ordway continued: He comes up with numbers that obviously may make some sense if you’re playing fantasy football, but then when you try to convert them to stuff on the line, line play…guys…this is not…you can’t…this is not baseball, you can’t take…

Isn’t the whole point that those numbers are meant for those playing fantasy football? What idiots are using them to analyze REAL football? Who are these people, Glenn?

After stammering a bit longer on what a “goofball” Joyner was (though they never mentioned him by name) Glenn made what he felt was his most important point:

You’ve got to be able to separate…you guys played the game…statistics in football do not tell you the story…

They went to say how these fantasy geeks have no idea about how the game is really played, that they can’t account for double teams, or how well a cornerback played or other factors. These are all valid points, which make sense, but apparently these guys can’t fathom that people actually understand that fantasy football is separate from the real game. To them, if you play fantasy football, you’re not a fan of REAL football.

Ordway made fun of Joyner’s claim that he watches game film and rates the players and the plays. “IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THE GAME, HOW CAN YOU WATCH TAPE AND RATE A PLAYER’S PERFORMANCE? You know what? I’ll tell you what, I’m gonna go home tonight, I’m gonna watch five operas, I’m gonna come in tomorrow, and I am going to rate for you all of the operas. OK? And guess what? Whatever I tell you will be absolutely USELESS – because I won’t know what I’m talking about.”

That hasn’t stopped you from speaking on any other topic, Glenn.

They then ranted about how these formulas have credibility among the blogs and other sites on the internet. Sheppard yelled “ITS ONLY CREDIBLE TO THE IDIOTS OUT THERE WHO DON’T KNOW ANY BETTER. IF IT’S CREDIBLE, YOU’RE AN IDIOT! SERIOUSLY NO OFFENSE BUT YOU’RE AN IDIOT. WHAT IT IS IS EMBARRASSING!”

Ordway then made the following statement: “I gotta tell you (that voice again, and repeated about three times) you guys are around, and we’re around some of the football guys you guys are around a lot of them…people in the game, the coaches, the GMs, they LAUGH AT THIS STUFF! Because its not what they do. It’s not their business, it’s not real football. They LAUGH at this stuff, these stupid statistics are an absolute JOKE…it’s just a joke.”

Ordway then condescendingly gave the “kid” credit for being able to sell his stuff even though he doesn’t know what he’s doing.  Sheppard yelled again that they should get someone on to challenge him and not let him “spew his ridiculous crap.”

Wouldn’t you love to hear Sheppard just try and do that?

Smerlas referred to him as a “con artist” able to sell his stuff to salespeople at ESPN who don’t know any better.

I think Ordway had an inkling of how stupid they were sounding, as he tried to change up the arguement by saying what they were talking about was “separate from fantasy football” and he then talked about how these people were “trying to put a spin on the game of football like it’s above this violent game where two people are going to butt heads in the trenches…they want to make it above that, and they want to suddenly integrate NUMBERS into it, which will tell you why this team did this and why they won by seven and didn’t lose by four.”

Somewhere along the line, Ordway and company have gotten the impression that the statistics and analysis used by these fantasy “experts” are being taken seriously and being applied and used to try and predict “real” football. Who does this? Anyone? These stats are designed for fantasy football and are used by those who play the game. There are new football stats out there, which, like any stats, can be used as another way to look at the game, as long as you keep things balanced. Is Football Outsiders, which has a weekly segment on WEEI’s Dale and Holley show an “embarrassment” in the eyes of Pete Sheppard? The more likely scenario, as mentioned earlier, is that these guys simply can’t understand these new ways of looking at things, and so they mock them…

I would venture to say that this “kid” Joyner (he’s not a “kid”) would talk circles around Sheppard and Ordway when it comes to football.

When Smerlas and DeOssie are talking football seriously, you can tell, and they do give you some pretty good insight at times as to what is happening on the field, and the mindset and techniques needed to play in the NFL. Ordway has never impressed me with his football knowledge, which seems to mostly consist of knowing which buzzphrases to throw out there that week: “Eight in the box” “cover two” “punch them in the mouth” “two gap.” Sheppard is clearly a huge fan of the game, and his enthusiasm for it is evident, but his analysis not something you tune in the radio specifically to hear.

ESPN has tried to limit their personalities to appearances on only ESPN outlets, unless they are promoting something such as a book, or charity. Joyner happens to have a book out right now, so maybe they can get him on and challenge him on their airwaves.

As a followup based on the comment from “Lefty” below…Ordway and crew said a couple times in the segment that “The Football Scientist” appears on…I haven’t seen him on there that I remember. The site has Kirk Minihane on there as their fantasy specialist. (He also has a blog.) I meant to mention these items in the above rant.

55 thoughts on “The Big Show Realizes Fantasy Football Isn’t Real

  1. This whole episode sound like Jay Mariotti against the DeadSpin guy: “You Blog guys SUCK! Us neanderthals are the only ones who ‘know stuff,’ and the louder we shout it the more we’re right.” (roll eyes). These media fossils are so out of touch, it’s just humorous to listen to and watch them get unhinged and unglued when ‘their world order of things’ gets upset by a bunch of ‘bitter clingers.’ This is why iPods rule.

  2. Fantasy Football has deepened my understanding of the game. It has made me aware of players I was not aware of before. It continuously balances my point of view, for example: Marion Barber, last season my fiancee drafted him and I laughed at her. I said he was going to be splitting carries and he was a horrible pick. I was wrong. Donovan McNabb, he’s right up there with Brady and Manning. I’ve known this for as long as I’ve been playing fantasy football.

    Wes Welker. I was aware of him because I used his kick return yards to dominate a league that my friend had messed up while setting the stats. This was 2 years before he became a Patriot, and one year before anyone else had heard of him.

    The list goes on and on. I’ve always loved football, now I appreciate it more.

    Oh yeah and my Fiancee, the woman I am going to spend the rest of my life with. Fantasy Football and Baseball helped bring us together during the long distance relationship part of our relationship. She started out better at baseball, and me better at football. 4 years later, I’m better at baseball and she is better at football.

    Can we just pull the plug on WEEI?

  3. Of course, has a fantasy football blogger on staff on their site, Kirk Minihane. He updated today, so he’s apparently active on their site.

    In addition, there was some back and forth in that discussion yesterday about whether or not “The Football Scientist” is linked to the EEI site. (I can’t see it if it is)

  4. I didn’t have the pleasure of hearing this segment, but I’ve heard this type of thing before from these guys. One thing I can say about it is, even when they’re right (which isn’t too often)it still makes for pathetic sports radio.

    I never had a fantasy team, but still don’t see why a gang like that would have such strong feelings about it. It looks a lot like the gay bashing. Maybe these guys are suppressing desires to have a fantasy team…maybe they’re all in the closet.

    The best way to deal with the moronic talk on the Big Show is to switch stations. I sure hope 890 can get their act together.

  5. Can’t wait for Pete Sheppard to analyze the “real” Boston College football team before their next game with Tennessee in the future.

    Smerlas calling somebody a “con artist” is like Lobel calling someone a drunk.

  6. The other thing Fantasy Football does is expose you to other teams and players. Do you think Ordway and Shepard even know who the RB’s are on the Titans or the starting receivers of the Saints? I guarantee they only watch the Pats and whatever game is on Sunday and Monday night.

    1. Bingo.

      It really does expose you to the rest of the NFL players.

      Ask those meatheads in the afternoon if they know who Pierre Thomas or Courtney Taylor is. They would have no clue.

  7. GREAT post Bruce. I really don’t know how anyone listens to these guys. Isn’t fantasy football the norm for men 18-34 or whatever their demographic is these days?

  8. My favorite part of the big show is when they start screaming about how much better Brady is than Bledsoe. How many years ago was that controversy. Is there anyone out there who compares Brady to Drew? Maybe to Unitas and Montana but not Drew. It is as if they think the more they talk about Brady the better chance they have of Tom calling them up some night and asking if they want to go out with him and Giselle. It’s been along time guys, when the phone doesn’t ring you’ll know it’s Brady!!!!!!!!!!

  9. WEEI’s football analysis from the The Big Show is always about moving the goalposts to kiss Belichick’s ass. They said if Cassell went down, the season was over. Then they said, “how could Belichick have this guy around if he didn’t think he could play.”

    why the hell didn’t you say that when Cassell was struggling?

  10. I would like to think that players, coaches and GMs can understand that fantasy football is simply another form of gambling. I suspect the laughter Glenn is hearing from Belichick and others in the game is aimed at overweight moronic talk radio hosts who think that they have actually earned their respect.

    1. I wouldn’t say that….I guess the Big Show guys would call me a “Fantasy Geek”….because I do play alot of fantasy sports…but I’ve never rooted for one of my fantasy teams over one of the REAL teams. Hell, I don’t take it that seriously…….

  11. Take heart, Bruce. Poeple are listening to that afternoon program in significantly-decreasing numbers. Ask anybody in local advertising.

    John Dennis and Gerry Callahan are absolutely carrying that station, and they have been for over two years now.

    Cream always rises, and Dennis & Callahan is the show that media buyers request most often when purchasing time.

    1. That’s … even more depressing. For the five minutes I could tolerate them this morning, Golf Boy and the Giant Forehead were going off on Kornheiser for his comment about hispanic people. This from the Metco Gorilla duo. Sigh.
      I’m pretty sure Opie and Anthony slaughter them in the ratings.

      1. In the most recent rating book (spring) The Big Show had an 11.1 share of M25-54, a dominanting #1 over WTKK (7.4). Howie Carr was 3rd. In the more competitive AM drive, D & C was also a clear cut #1 with an 8.4 (followed by WAAF at #2, O & A were #4). Among A25-54, the “money” demo, D & C were in third behind KISS and BZ (O & A were 10th). In the afternoon, The Big Show was #1 again, for something like 11 times in 12 books, with WTKK about a point behind in second.

        Look for these ranks to be as good or better when the people meter methodology comes in 2009, though the gap between the stations will close as it has in all of the markets that have adopted the technology so far.

        N.B. There is nothing wrong with Fantasy Football or the people who play it, as long as the practitioners realize that nobody else cares who’s on their team. I think these guys feel the need to poo poo it so they can look cool in front of their jock friends.

        1. Do you honestly believe what you read in those books…or that what happened in Rhode Island was the exception as opposed to the rule?

          Media buyers conduct independent research with listeners and advertisers alike.

          Their afternoon drive is losing its steam, likely due to the inanity and monotony of its content.

        2. Are you a real media buyer? All the ones I know absolutely live by the numbers, even in Providence. Tell me aboout this “independent research” – do you spend $50K on statistically significant surveys, or is it just the PIK (People I Know) Index? The Big Show and WEEI are among the few entities in Boston radio that are actually garnering MORE revenue than they were a year ago.

  12. With all the time Glenn and Pete save by not playing fantasy football, you’d think they would be able to hop on the treadmill or fix up a garden salad once in a while.

    But, yeah, those of us who enjoy fantasy football — which by definition requires friends, or at least some level of social interaction, to play — we are the losers.

    1. LOL…I can take that a couple different ways! But looking at his morbid face in that web site picture is nauseating. He really looks like an undertaker.

  13. I’m pretty sure I’ve read and/or heard of NFL players being in fantasy leagues with their friends, or even their teammates.

    So, are they confused about which is the real game and which is the “FANTASY!!” game? Something tells me no …

  14. By the way this statement by Ordway is not true

    “Ordway then made the following statement: “I gotta tell you (that voice again, and repeated about three times) you guys are around, and we’re around some of the football guys you guys are around a lot of them…people in the game, the coaches, the GMs, they LAUGH AT THIS STUFF! Because its not what they do. It’s not their business, it’s not real football. They LAUGH at this stuff, these stupid statistics are an absolute JOKE…it’s just a joke.”

    I’ve heard of players having fantasy teams. Also is there really any difference between fantasy football and a Madden NFL video game? They’re both an attempt to make a game out of NFL stats. NFL players (at least some of them) love Madden Football – and it tries to describe players as being a set of numbers from 1-100 in a limited amount of categories.

    Every summer some player is complaining because he only has a 92/100 speed and another guy has a 95/100 on the new Madden.

    1. Great point Nopointe! I think they just want to seem cool to their ex-jock friends. In fact, I think Pete played Madden football at one point.

  15. If there was a God the seven second delay on that station would break and the FCC would have to close the doors for good on that sorry station. Apparently, genuine racism, homophobia, and sports and political ignorance and unintelligence aren’t enough. Their favorite whipping boy Manny – was shipped out of town, much to their delight – and they still can’t bash him enough. Now Brady is out for the season – and despite years and years of listening how the Patriots would be doomed without him – most of the idiot hosts/callers are tripping, screaming and drooling over themselves making Super Bowl reservations. Thank God I have XM radio now and never have to listen to that $hit again.

  16. Honestly, who is Pete Sheppard? He is a guy that hangs out with Deossie and Smerlus and now thinks he is hardcore football guy. Everyone does fantasy football and realize that it is all about numbers. Nobody takes this as reality. Fantasy football is about getting the players that put up numbers. Time for these guys to lighten up. I often think that they think they are above the regular public, just because they are on the radio and know some of the players doesnt make them any better than any body else…Even fantasy football “geeks”
    I guess this is why even though I am a die hard boston sports fan, I’d rather listen to Mike Francesa in the afternoon on the Fan.

  17. Glen Ordway: “King of the Strawman Argument.” It is so much easier to sound convincing when you are arguing against a false premise.

  18. I’ve gone off WEEI cold turkey and can honestly say I don’t miss it one iota. There are plenty of websites and blogs (thank you Bruce) to get your info at work during the day. If I were a salesman riding around I suppose it would be a different story. That station is a piece of crap – just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s good.

  19. …..WOW…I missed that whole thing (thank god) talk about BIZZARO WORLD….what is the big mystery to those meatheads?..FANTASY SPORTS ARE ALL ABOUT STATISTICS, what’s so hard to understand?…all this talk about people thinking it is REAL???…..That statement doesn’t even make any sense to me….if you like sports, Fantasy is a fun pastime, nothing more, nothing less……and by the way in 2003, I actually won an ALL EXPENCE PAID trip to the Patriots/Panthers Super Bowl in Houston by playing fantasy football. This is the typical WEEI way of mocking the Fans, we all know their other favorite way of mocking the fans. If I got a dime everytime a WEEI host said, “IF YOUR OVER 12 YEARS OLD AND WEAR A TEAM JERSEY YOUR A LOSER!!!!” I would be rich….

      1. ….Dennis and Callahan are the ones who always make the “jersey” remark…and I’ve heard Dale say it several times, too….it’s a FOOTBALL GAME….what are you supposed to wear?…a sweater vest?….these WEEI ass clowns make sports about as fun as a root canal

  20. The Big Show blowhards are intimadated by the statistical knowledge of fantasy sports participants. It’s that simple. A good fantasy guy can tell you the stats (and thus the performance level) of every skill player in the league and this catches the Big Show boys with their pants down.

    It’s the same reason they rag on Sabermetric guys in baseball. These cats simply know way more than anyone on the Big Show and this galls the insecure egomaniacs on the show.

    Ordway does his usual bit of over-stating the obvious in an attempt to make it sound insightful but just ends up coming off as a guy more afraid of a knowledgable caller than of welcoming a compelling dialogue.

  21. I’ve lost respect for Ordway and Sheppard over their stupid jokes about fantasy football. It just shows they are insecure.
    They’re just threatened by it…they don’t play it and they don’t feel like anyone else should play it or enjoy it.
    They’re a completely tired act…and offer little fresh insight into the NFL.
    They’re the same unabashed homers reguritating the same opinions day after day and month after month.

    There’s nothing wrong with playing fantasy football. It’s fun and hugely entertaining and makes all the games much more interesting. It’s definitely changed the way I watch the games. I don’t feel like it’s ‘real’ and it doesn’t make me any smarter about understanding the plays or how the NFL works. It’s just fun, period.

    The Big Show is just a bunch of stale chuckleheads.

  22. I caught the beginning of the segment – and turned off the radio. With, they can’t attack “internet geeks in mom’s basement” any more, so they turned on fantasy football. They’re like old geezers talking about that crazy Elvis Pelvis guy, shakin’ his hips and all. “Why, back in my day, we called a guy like that a fairy!” Ordway and crew always have to put down anything associated with statistics – the typical response of the mathematically illiterate. Dollars to donuts that not one person covering sports in Boston ever took a stats class in college. Dumbass bloviators.

  23. The comments about fans wearing jerseys is hilarious. I have a great idea: why don’t they support the team their way, and I’ll support it my way? I understand “freedom of choice” is verboten to a lot of these clowns, but honestly. Why do they care?

  24. Sheppard has actually convinced himself that he’s a peer of Smerlas and Deossie. He thinks that they’d be his buddies even if he wasn’t on WEEI.

    He sounds authoritative until you realize that he’s never played, coached, officiated, or covered the game at any level, which is fine, but he would have you believe that he has some NFL background, without actually saying it.

    My only problem with fantasy football is that I don’t know how it’s played and accordingly the talk is boring to me.

  25. Why I hate Fantasy Football:

    Week 1, 2008 NFL Season – Tom Brady goes down with a serious injury on the first drive of the game. As a life-long Patriots fan, I’m yelling obscenities at my TV. My 14 year old nephew (and supposedly a Pats fan) shows up at the house 5 minutes later, and when I tell him Brady is out and it doesn’t look good, his first reaction was, “Thank God I didn’t take him in my Fantasy Football draft!” Then he laughed, and said, “My brother has him on his Fantasy Team! Yes!” The kid actually owns a Brady jersey, and he’s laughing… Why? Because winning his Fantasy League is more important to him then the Patriots winning the Super Bowl. That’s just wrong.

    1. No Paul, it is you that is just wrong.

      Fantasy football is a hobby for kids like that, such as card collecting was when I was a kid.

      Get over it and you’ll probably enjoy your own life a heck of a lot more.

    2. …as someone who plays ALOT of fantasy sports, even I agree that’s wrong….I would NEVER root for my fantasy team over THE REAL TEAM… anything, you can’t make broad generalizations when it comes to fantasy sports….I do it for fun, but I don’t “live and die” with my fantasy teams……..I guess a SMALL minority do…..that’s the problem with the “BIG SHOW” they just ASSUME that everybody who does it is OBSESSED with it and spend 24 hours a day “locked in their basement” pouring over stats and “obsessing” about their fantasy team…..ridiculous

  26. YPA = Yards per Attempt is a KC Joyner stat.

    Jeffrey Lurie, no less than the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, an REAL NFL franchise, cited the stat recently in response to a question about Lito Sheppard’s contract negotiations.

    I might have to lift my ban on the Big Show and call in with this tidbit this afternoon.

  27. of course they won’t take my call becuase of the topic.

    Should have told Brett that I wanted to kiss Pete’s ass and they would have taken the call.

  28. Boston Dan,
    I’m wrong? So a hobby that has anyone cheering an injury to the best player on his pro football team just because it improves the chances of his Fantasy Football team winning is okay, but my objection to that is wrong? Wow.

    Sorry, but any hobby that has anyone cheering against their pro teams bothers me. And like it or not, that’s one of the raps against Fantasy Football “geeks”.

    Oh, and thanks, I enjoy life just fine as a Boston sports fan.

    1. Paul,

      It seems to me that they probably enjoy the hobby of fantasy football more than being a fan of the pro team.

      Maybe they find it more fun becuase the constant roster turnover in pro sports (generalizing here) makes it tougher than it used to be to become emotionally involved as a fan of a particular team.

      And really, this “bothers” you?

      I’m bothered by the state economy of the U.S., not by a harmless hobby.

  29. Whatever you call fantasy football, the NFL loves it. More fans at games, more fans watching at home, more jerseys and merchandise sold, more buzz in general.

Comments are closed.


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New Hair Salon

Yesterday, I was bound and determined to try to find a new hair salon. I did not want to go to the one I normally go to.  I  wanted to try some place different, even if that meant paying a little more.  I called around Friday morning and everyone was booked up for Saturday. I desperately needed my hair done my last call was to Michael’s Hair Loft. They had an opening at 9am, which is what I needed. I booked the appointment with Misty. I was so excited a new salon and a new hair stylist.

This morning, I woke up early and got a shower. I made some coffee and hung out with Drew for a bit, then I left and went to my hair appt. I was so excited. When I arrived, I was greeted immediately by Misty. I introduced myself and she took me back to her station. I took my hair out of my ponytail and I had some serious regrowth in the back and probably needed a trim. I explained to her that I usually get all over highlights, but I like the dimensional blonde and not all one blonde. She said that she will pull some pieces and had some dimension to them, but keep me mostly blonde. Then she said, how about the roots. I said, Well I like the rooty look, so when the highlights grow out it doesn’t look too streaky. She said, I totally agree with you. We can do that. Then I asked her if she uses bleach or olipex. She said, I will show you. It is a brand called illusionist they have the color and the toner. I said, awesome. I prefer no bleach. She said, not a problem. We decided on layers and a little trim at the ends.

Honestly, I have been getting my hair done since I was 15. I started with highlights. I longer hair, and the hair dresser at the time pulled my hair through a cap and gave me bleach high lights. Sure I was bleachy blonde, but the high light process hurt when my hair was pulled through a cap. She refused to do foils. I changed salons and went to another salon that did foils, which I have been dedicated to for the most part, but I did stray and go to Ulta (too pricey) and then to the Cutting Edge Salon (Stephen moved to Florida). I know my hair products and proper hair care.

After she applied the foils and the color to my root, I sat under the dryer, which was a high tech heat lamp. We talked about the weekend and Easter. After my color was set, she took me to the sink and she washed my hair, and took the foils out. I was so excited to see what it looked like, but it’s hard to tell when your hair is wet, if you are a blonde. The anticipation was killing me! I couldn’t wait for her to dry it. She trimmed me up and gave me layers. I already felt lighter and so much better.

After she finished trimming my hair, she blew my hair dry and round brushed my hair. I absolutely loved the color! It was gorgeous and exactly what I wanted. I was so happy I almost teared up. She was glad that I loved it. After my hair was styled and dry, I decided to get my eye brows colored. I never had it before, and I hate having to fill in my eyebrows. She took me into her relaxation room and put on some peaceful zen like music and I laid down on the table, and she colored my eyebrows and waxed them. I was so relaxed.

When she was done, she handed me a mirror and I was like I love them! I have eyebrows. She said, “your husband is going to have to take you to dinner tonight.” I said, I know right someone better. 🙂  When it was time to check out, I booked my 6 week appt. I was so happy. I excited for my next appt!

When I got home, I finished my legal paper and submitted it. I am so ready to be done with the semester. When Drew came home from the gym, he said, “I like your hair baby.” I smiled and said, “Thank you.” We talked about the end of the semester and what he wanted to do for dinner since tomorrow is Easter. He said, “We should probably go out.” I asked him where he wanted to go? do we have any gift cards anywhere? He said, “I don’t think we have any left.” I said, “We have that coupon for Plaza Azteca.” He said, “We could go there.” We got ready to head to dinner around 5pm to beat the dinner crowd.

We were seated at a table and I ordered the same thing I always get the Burrito Espinaca. We also had guacamole as well. I love Mexican food. After dinner, we went to the mall, we had to get his mom a birthday card. We also wanted to get her a gift card to Philip Pelusi where she gets her hair done.

Then we stopped into Hot Topic, and they had t-shirts on sale buy 2 get one free. Drew and I bought shirts for the new Avengers movie. I bought a Captain marvel shirt. The 1 free shirt I got was a Britney Spears shirt. It was her album cover from “Oops I did it Again.” I can’t wait to wear it! I was thinking about wearing it for Easter dinner tomorrow, but I probably won’t. 🙂

After the mall, we went home and watched tv, until it was time for bed. Tomorrow is Easter!

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Posts Tagged ‘e-commerce’

A pop up store about the future of retail

13 October 2012

On the 5th and 6th September 2012 – The Marketing Store celebrated 25 years in retail and brand marketing by opening ‘Everything Must Go?’ a pop-up shop on Shoreditch High Street, aimed giving visitors an exclusive look into the future of retail. The exhibits and seminars appear to addressed a number of themes and raised some interesting points and ideas

The death of RRP
In the next 25 years it is possible we will see the death of fixed pricing
The merging of shops, shopping and shoppers
‘Everything will be for sale everywhere and by anyone thanks to technology.’ Personalised, time-sensitive and location-based shopping discounts are expected to become a common strategy used by retailers to encourage on-the-go impulse shopping.
A move from high street to ‘try street’
The high street will become the ‘try street’. As routine and habitual shopping is taken care of by online, then other shopping will likely be driven by an emotional, social and adventurous recreation. The retailer will become entertainer, curator, expert, event organiser.
The rise of metail
In 25 years’ time retailers will be masters of the technologies and data that will help them cater to every consumer’s unique desires and preferences – delivering the true reality of metail.

via retail focus

The Future of Retail in Six Trends

25 September 2012

Nurun published a useful trend report on the future of retail defining . They define Six trends that they think will shape the future of retail.

1.) Social Product Discovery, Consideration and Evaluation

2.) Product placement morphs into content and commerce

3.) Integrated Expansion of the Omni-channel

4.)The New Geography of Merchandising

5.) I’ll trade my privacy for a 5 dollar coupon

6.) Sophisticated Frugality

For the whole report Digital for real life

Kellogg’s opens pay-with-a-tweet pop-up shop

25 September 2012

The Tweet shop in Soho is a pop-up shop where you will be able to pay for a packet of Special Cracker Crisps by tweeting a message about the snack.

The shop is staffed by a number of Special K shop assistants in red dresses who will check each customer’s tweet before giving them a pack of crisps.

The Tweet Shop marks the first venture into the retail space through a dedicated physical space for Kellogg’s, the owner of the Special K brand.

Sarah Case, brand manager for Special K, said the decision to swap real money for “social currency” in the campaign was made because “the value of positive endorsements on social media sites is beyond compare”.

The Tweet Shop is lined with hundreds of packs of crisps, a “try before you buy” snack area and a community notice board that showcases the social media reaction.

Slice created the campaign that launches today (25 September) and will run until Friday.

via Campaign

Here’s What Google (Plus Microsoft And Amazon) Will Sell At Their Stores | Fast Company

14 February 2012

click here for the article

News Analysis – Online brands are coming to a high street near you | News | Design Week

14 February 2012

click here for the article

The best of january

1 February 2012

Because I haven’t published that much this month I will therefore give you a wrap-up of the most interesting things I already twittered with some explanation why I consider it interesting.

1. Sleep above the store at Maison Rika in Amsterdam

A guest room above a store? What is more engaging than being so close to the  store the brand and its story.

2.  Small businesses can sell their product at Target

3. The first  ‘Start up store’ opened its doors in New York

Individualism and an uncertain employment market infuses the rise of a new mercantile class. Retail concepts that offer more niche products/services and takes the (new) small entrepreneurs serious will be winners.

4. Top shop bus service to promote new store

If viral marketing is the word, than this ‘billboard’ bus that drives you to the new shop location is a winner.

5. Radio Shack recognize it roots and starts a community site

Acknowledge your heritage by giving your first fans a platform to meet and share knowledge is a wise marketing move for every brand. When this platform is all about creating, it’s spot on the current trends.

6. Swap vending machine

Now the environment and the crisis are dictating the way we think about consumption. New (commercial) initiatives around swapping are more relevant than ever.

7. JC Penny’s groundbreaking (price) strategy

In a time that service seems to be a must and price is leading. Thinking different about pricing your product can be  a great way to keep the lead.

Retail trends in 2012: Let the Blur Begin part 2

5 January 2012

I really love the list of 12 things to watch out for in 2012 by marketing agency Idea works shown in the last message. So I thought it would be nice to illustrate it by a slide show with examples.

Many are interpretations of what I think suits the point others are already being mentioned by Idea works.

For the the list and explanation of all points click here

Retail trends in 2012: Let the Blur Begin

2 January 2012

The blog New Retail by marketing agency Idea works published its predictions for 2012. They see an overall trend that blurs and blends everything in retail. The psychical worlds with the digital, manufacturers are becoming retailers or vice versa and global players transform to local heroes. In a list they define 3 key trends and 12 things to watch.

  1. Digitization
  2. Globalization
  3. Polarization

Amongst these three key trends, they  picked out 12 things to watch out for in 2012.

  1. The Rise of SoMoLo (SoLoMo)
  2. The Growth of Retail Hackers
  3. Small Time is Back Big
  4. Putting the Squeeze on Prices
  5. The Treasure Hunt is On
  6. Mashops and Digitail
  7. Responsible Retail
  8. Digital Wallets Take Off
  9. Store as Hang out
  10. Pop Ups Mash Up
  11. Anti Mall
  12. Click & Collect

For the explanation of all points click here

WGSN: list of Retail Trends for 2012

2 January 2012

click here for the list

UPcload Uses Your Webcam To Help You Order Clothes That Actually Fit | TechCrunch

4 December 2011

to read the rest click here

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About Broad Town Women's Institute

The Broad Town WI are a friendly group of women. We meet in the village hall on the 3rd Wednesday of each month, apart from December when we meet on the 2nd Wednesday. We start with our speaker so please arrive promptly at 7.30pm for a talk or activity which may be educational, inspiring, amusing and energetic.  After the talk we have time for socialising and refreshments.  This is followed by a short business meeting.  We also arrange visits to gardens, pubs, local attractions, and go on summer walks.  With a membership of 27 and growing we are keen to welcome new members. We have had a stall at the Broad Town summer Big Gig for the past few years supplying the festival goers with hot drinks and delicious homemade cakes.

We are affiliated to the Wiltshire federation of WI which in turn is part of the national WI allowing us to make a difference to campaigns such as reducing supermarket packaging, influencing the price of milk at the farm gate and accurate labeling food with the country of origin.  Current campaigns are helping to alleviate loneliness, improving hospital arrangements for carers of people with dementia, helping to reduce plastic waste and trying to end food poverty.
There is also a dedicated college of further education; Denman college in Oxfordshire, offering the widest range of courses allowing WI members to learn new skills or further existing ones.
If you would like to meet some new friends in the village, have an opportunity to learn something new and maybe influence a national campaign why not come along one evening soon?  Visitors are always welcome and you can try us out without any obligation.
Broad Town Women's Institute - Events and Plans

In January our speaker was Janet Bultitude a Graphologist.  She gave an interesting talk about what our handwriting shows about our characters.   The slant, the shape, the width of stokes, and even the pressure used shows what we are like. We also voted on this year's National WI suggestions for a resolution to be campaigned for in 2017.  The favourite from Broad Town was to support women's refuges.
Next month (15th) our speaker will be George Tarte from the St John's Ambulance who will give us a First Aid update including how to use of a defibrillator. We are a friendly group and welcome new members.  Our meetings are generally held on the third Wednesday of the month in the Village Hall.  If you are interested in visiting us, please contact Kate on 01793 731536.  We are also on the Broad Town Village website and on Facebook.

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A week in my life as a freelance writer

By Caitlin Kelly

IMG_20160617_102113083 (2)

Ohhhh, so glamorous!

At the moment, which is blessedly almost unheard of, I actually have no assignments at all. That means, no income for this month. That means, (thank heaven we have one) dipping into our emergency fund. At least my husband, a freelance photo editor, does have steady work.

For those new to Broadside (welcome!), here’s my website.

I’ve been fighting a cold, sleeping 3.5 hours one afternoon to give my weary body a rest — but also heading 25 miles into Manhattan to meet with friends visiting from far away: a retail expert I’m Twitter friends with and hadn’t met before, from D.C.; a former New York Times story source, who then lived in the Middle East and now lives in London and who I last saw at my birthday party in Paris in June, and a bilingual young friend I met at a writing conference in New York who’s from Montreal and is (yay!) moving to Paris.

I’m excited for her — ditching a well-paid corporate career, selling her condo and most of her belongings — and, single and bold, heading into a great new adventure. I had a life-changing year in Paris when I was 25 on a journalism fellowship so I hold tremendous affection for that city and what spending some focused time there can produce.

Next Monday I’ll meet a talented writer who lives in Mexico City and with whom I’ve only, so far, traded notes with in an on-line writers’ group. Then have coffee with another younger writer, a New Yorker back home after years living in Berlin.

So many writers’ relationships now, working alone at home or in a co-working space or library or cafe, are virtual that I’m eager to meet face to face whenever possible.

malled cover LOW

My second book

I also sent a book idea recently to an agent — whose name and phone number a writer I’ve never even met shared with me. This is, at is best, what a successful career in this business will produce — sufficient affection and respect for one another that we boost those whose work and ethics we admire.

People often wonder: How do you find an agent? Once you’re established, often by a referral like this.

To my delight, the agent called me back that same day saying: “I know your work.” Whew!

Because, honestly, there are days, weeks and years it’s too easy to feel invisible and hopeless, watching the Big Name Writers win awards and grants and fellowships and adulation, especially here in New York where people are, ahem, quite vocal about their success.

Being modest can feel weird and self-defeating.

So I burbled out my idea to this agent and he listened and said: “Tell me more.” I sent a bare-bones outline.

He didn’t like it, but said, “Let’s keep talking.” So I thought hard and brainstormed with five smart women friends, several fellow writers and a few who aren’t, to help me refine my thinking and expand it.

One of them thought the idea not useful at all, which was worth hearing — and offered an insight I hadn’t considered that was valuable and which I incorporated into the second iteration.

It worked!

Simple Giving_mech_v4 flaps.indd

This book is by one of the friends whose wisdom I consulted…

I’m meeting my new agent, the sixth I’ve worked with, next week.

But, now comes even more unpaid hard work, a larger gamble for both of us, as I produce a full book proposal, which is much less literary than a hard-sell document filled with promises — our goal to win an offer from a major publisher and one big enough I can actually afford to stop most other work for a year or more. Book advances are now paid out in quarters, (thirds if you’ve got some clout), which means a long, long time between payments, from which your agent first deducts 15 percent.

So, if you’re really lucky and get, say, a $100,000 advance (rare!), you’ll net about $28,000 (pre-tax) per instalment — which, in a place like New York, really won’t even sustain a year’s living costs. I know Big Name Writers with full-time well-paid jobs who turn down a book deal because they can’t afford the drop in income.

My first book, published in 2004. As someone who grew up with no exposure to guns, I was deeply intrigued by this most American of obsessions

I’m eager to write more books, though, as basic story-telling already pays poorly and, isn’t sufficiently challenging. I’ve been doing this work for decades, and want to produce deep, smart work — which very few places now have the space or budget for.

I also applied last week for a cool staff job at the Washington Post, because, what the hell? Why not? I asked a friend who’s a writer there who encouraged me, and then (deep breath) took what for me is a huge risk and asked someone for their help. She’s a Big Name Writer at the Post who I deeply admire and met in person in June 2016. We follow one another on Twitter, but that’s the depth of the relationship.

She said she would mention me to the hiring editor and say good things.

I was grateful as hell, stunned at my good fortune. It’s very difficult for me to ask others for help.

I also, being ill and exhausted, sent out some LOIs (letters of introduction) to editors, spoke to one by phone about possible assignments and emailed back and forth with several others.

Still waiting for payment for work already published.

So much of this business isn’t writing, but finding and nurturing relationships with the people — agents, editors, fellow writers, grant and foundation judges — who need to place their trust in you: to be accurate, to be ethical, to be a decent person to work with, to not miss deadline.

I listened to three interviews with writers and editors from the Longform podcast, one of them the editor of a Big Fancy Magazine which emboldened me to send him a pitch.

If you’re interested in journalism, writing, publishing, media, this series offers 277 podcasts and you will learn a lot, and gain some useful insights into who wins the Big Fancy Jobs, when, how and why.

So, even though I haven’t earned a penny this month (!) it’s actually been great.

As we say in New York, go figure!

Literary Siblings

Seated man reading a book
Image by National Media Museum via Flickr

That’s what I call them anyway.

I grew up an only child (I now have three step-siblings) so never had to fight for my share of my parents’ attention.

Now, as an author, I get a kick of knowing who my agents’ other writers are and watching their successes. Jealous? Sure, it would be nice to make The New York Times’ best-seller list or get short-listed for the hugely prestigious Booker Prize.

But I also know that writing success is a wild mix of talent, hard work, luck, timing, persistence, discipline. It’s not, as so many would have you believe, a zero-sum game — you win, I must lose. There are always many extremely determined competitors our there; some have helped me and vice versa. Score!

I see two sorts of what I call literary siblings — both the other authors sharing the same agent — and those who are published by the same house, maybe even by the same editor. (Which does she like better?)

I heard an author interviewed on the radio recently who is also published by Penguin/Portfolio, who will issue my new memoir, “Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail” on April 14, 2011. Some of their authors have had huge best-sellers, like Seth Godin.

I root for every writer I like but also cheer for those on the same editorial team, even if I’ll never meet them. Our successes will (I hope!) keep our agents and our publishers thriving.

That’s a win for all of us.

Finding, and Keeping, A Literary Agent

Books Books
Image via Wikipedia

Some of you have asked advice on how to find an agent for your writing. Having been through seven of them over the years, I have some experience with this.

So, here are some of my thoughts, albeit most suited to writers of non-fiction, as I do not write fiction. Most agents represent a mixture of fiction and non-fiction, children’s and young adult material. Read their list carefully and don’t submit any genres they don’t handle.

How do I know when it’s time to get an agent?

Do you have a manuscript ready? Or a full-fledged book proposal? (If you don’t know how to write one, read this book.) If all you have is an idea, or several, you’ll need very strong writing credentials, a platform (i.e. thousands of people who know your name and will possibly be eager to buy your book), media savvy, and the willingness to undertake the writing of a book proposal.

Why do I have to write a book proposal?

How else will the agent know what you hope to accomplish? In a few cases, an agent you are introduced to through a trusted contact may sit down with you to hear about your project — and if they’re intrigued they’ll ask you to produce a proposal. If they want the project, they’ll work with you on it. They are not paid for this time, nor are you. It’s a lot of work! Do it cheerfully and diligently. Even if that book does not sell (and that happens), you’re learning how to write this crucial document and will do it better next time.

How much work will an agent do on a book proposal?

As much as s/he thinks is worth it. They may love you and your idea, but they only earn a living when they sell a book and close the deal. They can only invest so much time on each project and writer. Don’t take it personally. Find someone to help you polish and edit the proposal if necessary. It is not unusual for a proposal to take months as you send it back and forth to your agent until they are totally satisfied with it. It’s their name and reputation that intrigues and attracts editors, not yours.

What do agents do?

They help you prepare a proposal and decide which editors at which publishers are most likely to find it of interest. They submit it and hope. If someone shows serious interest, they will come with you to the meeting with the publisher — which is common now so they can check you out in person. If an offer is made (or several) they will negotiate with the publisher and editor to get the best offer they can.

Do I have to pay them to read my work?

No. If an agent wants to work with you they will take 15 percent of your earnings after the book is sold. They will also take a percentage of all ancillary sales, such as television, film and possibly speaking engagements.

How should I treat an agent?

With respect! They are not your BFF or your Mom or your writing coach or English professor. They know what a tough game it is to be a writer, but they’re not especially eager to hold your hand. They expect professional behavior even if this is your first book and it’s all totally new to you. They will help you understand this new world, but don’t abuse their time and goodwill. I tend to check in every few months to say “hi” and hear what they’re up to on other projects once I’m mid-book. But once your book is sold, you’re essentially on your own.

How do I find the right agent for my project?

Consult the Association of Author Representatives. A reputable, experienced agent is likely to be a member. This site also offers a fantastic wealth of information; and this list of FAQs.

The way many writers find an agent is through their friends and colleagues who will recommend someone to their agent. The way for a new writer with few or no such contacts is to read a number of books similar to the one you hope to write and read the acknowledgments; authors always thank their agents. Write to a few agents whose authors’ work you admire and tell them why you and your work are a potential fit with their list. Read their websites and see what sort of people they tend to take on — Academics? Politicians? Celebrities?

One of the best ways to find an agent who might be a fit is to attend writers’ conferences like this one, where they often speak. You can quickly get a feel for their personality and can probably slip them your card.

What if my agent is new to the business?

This can be an advantage. New agents are hungry for new clients while (much) more established ones have their pick.

What if turns out to be a poor fit?

It happens.  Initial enthusiasm, on both sides, can pale. They can take too long to reply to calls and emails or sending out your work. They need to communicate with you clearly. There are others out there. Don’t stick with someone if it’s really not working well for you.

What should I be looking for in an agent?

Someone whose personality will work well with yours. They may be skilled and experienced and have a Really Big Name, but if they’re too brusque or intimidating or hurried or busy, move on. Someone who really gets who you are and what you do best and are excited by your project. I want someone who’s been around the block a few times, who won’t waste my time encouraging things that won’t sell. I think you want to like them enough to work with them, but they’re not your pal. They’re a business partner. Feeling cosy with them, however personally comforting, is less important than feeling certain they have your best interests at heart.

What sort of books most excite them? Sell well for them? Ask to see their list of authors and recent projects.

If you read it with a thoughtful eye, you’ll notice patterns. I saw that one agent’s list was heavy on academics — he likes smart and informed think-y books/authors (who doesn’t?) — but I saw in that a warning. Professors have salaries and crave acclaim from a wider audience, and can afford a tiny advance. I have different goals and need an advance I can survive on. Another had a list studded with celebrities and one-book-wonders. I want an agent who wants to run with me for years.

Here’s how I found the agents I’ve met and either worked with or considered:

1) Can’t remember. A NYC agent. Deal fell through after I flew all the way to Australia to do the reporting. Ouch. Costly error, fun vacation.

2) An adult student in one of my NYU writing classes knew an agent who gave me three names. One became my first agent.

3) A friend in Toronto, a former newspaper colleague, sent me to someone highly regarded there. She demanded 15,000 words and then blew me off after reading them with one sentence. Dick.

4) I play softball with a bunch of fellow suburbanites. One, the pitcher, is an agent. He read over a few of my non-selling proposals and diagnosed why they were going nowhere.

5) A friend whom I have yet to meet face to face (we met through an on-line writers’ group) sent me to his agent. She’s terrific and we discussed one proposal but I back-burnered it. This book is too similar to one of hers (a NYT best seller) so she had to decline it.

6) A friend admired an essay of mine and sent me to her agent. Not a good fit. One email was enough to show me this.

7) I spoke on a panel in NYC about writing and a passionate young woman in the audience asked a few questions. She was then the assistant to my current agent and suggested I write a memoir. Now I have!

My current agent is Kathleen Anderson. She’s my age, bloody brilliant and even harder-headed than I, which I didn’t think possible. We’ve had shouting fights with one another and equally fierce hugs. She’s got a NYT best-selling author right now short-listed for the Booker Prize, Emma Donoghue, author of “Room.” Cool!

Like dating, finding an agent can be a little challenging. It  can be a fantastic fit or a disaster. Or neither. I’ve learned not to be in awe of them. They’re people. They work hard. They love writers and ideas. They advocate for talent. If you find a good one, treat them well!

Want To Find An Agent? Don't Send Letters Like These!

Old book bindings at the Merton College library.
Books. Yes, some day you, too will sell yours, with the right letter...Image via Wikipedia

This list of decidedly losing letters to one annoyed literary agent (and their unsent replies) is delicious, from mediabistro.com’s GalleyCat, the blog that follows the publishing industry:

“Greetings agent. I have written the most important book on earth.”

Will someone, for the love of God, please kill me.

If you really want to find an agent, find a writer who thinks your work is excellent and ask, very nicely, if they’ll share the name of their agent. That’s usually how it’s done. I found mine when I spoke at an event and her assistant suggested I write a memoir. I did.

Hoping for Best-Sellerdom? J-Day's Q and A With Two Veteran Agents

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

This week’s installment of J-Day offers two New York City-based veteran agents, Kathleen Anderson and Joe Spieler, both of whom I know personally and have worked with on my own proposals. They’re very different people, but both bring a tough-minded, battle-scarred perspective to the brutal business of book publishing. No matter what form a new book arrives in, someone has to find it, prepare it, sell it, advocate for it and negotiate every possible profit for its author, from audio to foreign-language rights.

Being a terrific agent demands the diplomacy of an ambassador, the speed and agility of a prize-fighter, the protective instincts of a momma grizzly and the tenacity of a pit-bull.

I met Kathleen through one of her assistants, who found me. I met Joe Spieler when he, literally, pitched to me first — playing in the same co-ed softball group for the past eight years. Kathleen blends great sensitivity with a steel spine; Joe’s a gruff, tough guy with a deep love of excellence, the agent for Thomas’ Frank’s 2004 best-seller “What’s The Matter With Kansas?”

Kathleen Anderson is an award-winning editor and agent who has been working in the publishing business since 1977 — first as an editor at W.W. Norton where she published DEAR AMERICA: Letters Home From Vietnam, which became an Emmy award-winning documentary, then as a senior editor at Poseidon, formerly a division of Simon & Schuster, where she published and edited Mary Gaitskill and Ursula Hegi. She is a recipient of the Tony Godwin Award, given to an outstanding American editor under 35 who is then sent to England to learn about British publishing.  She was a founding partner of Anderson Grinberg Literary Management, Inc., then formed her own firm in 2006. She specializes in adult and young adult literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, American and European history, literary journalism, nature and travel writing, memoir, and biography. She is a member of PEN and the AAR (Association of Author’s Representatives).

Where did you attend college and what did you study?
KA: I attended Hampshire College because it’s an experimental college with no grades or credits.  It allows you to progress through college by individual evaluations by professors. It was perfect for me because I needed a more creative education that allowed me to design my own education while providing me with the opportunity to take courses at any of the other colleges in the valley: Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, U.Mass.
JS: I studied comparative literature (I don’t know why, except that I spoke a few languages, all of them miserably), taking a degree from City College in the Pleistocene.

When, how and why did you become an agent?

KA: I became an agent in 1995.  Previously I had been working as a senior editor for an imprint called Poseidon, a division of Simon & Schuster, where I published a lot of serious nonfiction and literary fiction writers such as Mary Gaitskill and Ursula Hegi.  The imprint was terminated so I found myself without a job, so took a few years off to travel and regroup.  In the process, I metamorphosed into an agent, which was a rarity in those days for editors to jump the fence and become an agent.  (It’s very common now.)  But it wasn’t a big leap for me because I was always an author advocate in-house as an editor, always trying to get the author more money, better book jackets, always fighting with the powers-that-be on behalf of my authors.  I somehow never realized that I was supposed to be representing the house and not the author.  So when I became an agent, it made perfect sense and gave me much more flexibility — now I can work with all the publishing houses and I’m no longer restricted to one house’s point of view on a manuscript or proposal  What my former employers reject, I can sell elsewhere.

JS: I became an agent in 1981, when a close friend, a Marine lieutenant who had seen and endured much in the Vietnam War, asked me to help him publish a series of linked short stories of his experience there. I did and the book was “Cooks and Bakers”, by Robert A. Anderson. I never looked back.

What are the top three skills an agent needs to succeed?
KA: Patience, perserverence, and literary acumen.

JS: Perhaps a weaving of cultural passion, deep reading in the agent’s areas of interest, and a concern for others. Of course, I know hugely successful agents who show no sign of these traits.

Who’s the ideal client, i.e. what skills or aptitudes do they bring?
KA: Patience, perserverence, and literary acumen.

JS: I have no ideal client. I want somebody who can write, who has something to say that hasn’t been said, and the mental/psychological conditioning of a saint, or who has come into a healthy financial inheritance.

Who’s the nightmare client? How can a writer who hopes to find an agent avoid being that nightmare?
KA: Authors who treat an agent like their employee.  Being an agent is a service profession, but it’s a profession nonetheless.  Mutual respect of each other’s expertise and a general feeling of trust is paramount in the relationship. Once that goes, the whole relationship is a nightmare.

JS: There are no qualifications for being a nightmare client: if the writer is a nightmare to others in his life, the odds are he’ll be a nightmare to his agent. Sane, wonderful writers can become nightmare clients overnight — who knows why. The process generally doesn’t go in reverse.

What’s the most useful preparation a non-fiction author can do before coming to you?
KA: Find out what other nonfiction authors I publish so you have a sense of the scope of what I have done. Write a proposal before coming to me — and the proposal needs to present a narrative overview of the book as a whole. It is expected that in order to promote your work, you have a website and hopefully participate in blogs, whether your own or someone else’s.

JS: Write it and rewrite it until you can’t go further. Put it aside from anywhere from a week to a year. Then rewrite it again. Then call me.

What is the most challenging aspect of selling non-fiction these days?
KA: PLATFORM.  This is what you most often hear from publishers — what is the author’s PLATFORM? I’ve never cared much about an author’s PLATFORM.  I’ve always cared more about the writing.

JS: The same challenge it’s always been: to get editors–and their higher-highers–to see past their nose. Some can, and are encouraged to by their houses (probably less than a dozen senior such editors now in trade publishing); most can’t.

How has publishing changed in recent years and what are you, and your clients doing to adapt?
KA: Publishers have become much more selective — they only want to publish books that can sell at least 25,000 copies. There are many successful authors who sell way less than that — and I’m sure Herta Muller, the woman who just won the Nobel Prize in Literature today, is one of them.  So clients have to do one of two things to adapt:  (1) they keep writing whatever they want, regardless of potential sales, and adjust their expectations accordingly — it would be more important to find a good home with the right editor in that case than strive for an unrealistic advance; (2) clients discuss with their agent different ideas for books and make a strategic decision about which book would have the best chance of furthering their careers or getting the highest advance (not necessarily the same thing). For my part, I edit the proposals and try to make them the best they can be before they are sent to an editor so they have the best chance of getting bought.

JS: Books have lost their cultural primacy, though they won’t disappear. Other forms have taken huge bites out of the printed word. What am I doing about it? I’m waiting for further developments. The horse did not give way to the car overnight.

What’s the greatest pleasure of being an agent?
KA: Relationships with authors and what I learn from them.

JS: Drinking and going to sleep.

The greatest challenge?
KA: Relationships with authors and what I don’t learn from them.

JS: The whole damn thing’s a challenge, like preparing yourself for root canal.

Anything you’d like to add?

KA: Remember that if your book is rejected fifteen times, it doesn’t mean anything.  The proposal could have been sent to the wrong people, or the editors are too conventional to understand what’s in front of them. If you and your agent believe in the book, then you have to keep trying.

JS: The exception to all this–and it’s a big one — is books for children. For some reason, the dumbing down is at a minimum, and for most houses there remains an ethical strand in their books for the young-uns. That will probably disappear after the next generation of tiny-tot readers. Then again, so might the whole mammalian endeavor.

Next week’s final installment, a Q and A with non-fiction authors Ulrich Boser, whose 2009 best-seller is “The Gardner Heist” and Kelsey Timmerman, author of “Where Am I Wearing?”, a look at how our clothing is cheaply made overseas.


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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Every Picture Tells A Story

Logo from Rock Art Show's online store.

Rock Art Show, the website run by Scott Segelbaum that features music-related art, photos, and posters, has just announced the opening of its new online store.

I’ve had a chance to view Rock Art Show’s wares in person the past two years when its traveling exhibit came to the Arlington Park Racetrack. It’s a fascinating collection of art by musicians like John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Entwistle, and Jimi Hendrix; as well as live performance and portrait photography, album cover art, and posters by artists like Bob Masse, Scotty C, and Karl Farris.

This year when I dropped by the Rock Art Show, I struck up a conversation with Segelbaum, who was happy to talk about the various works on display. He introduced me to Ron Campbell, the director and animator of The Beatles Saturday morning cartoon show. It was a thrill to watch Campbell working on an original Beatles portrait while we talked. A number of Campbell’s pieces are available through the online store.

Rock Art Show tends to focus on classic acts like Pink Floyd, The Who, The Beatles, and Aerosmith, although some newer bands like U2 and The Police are represented as well. There was an interesting early poster advertising an upcoming gig by Bob Dylan, on which his last name is misspelled. Masse is particularly noteworthy for his eye-popping use of Art Nouveau and vibrant colors. His Women Of Rock poster was one of my favorites. Scotty C’s elaborate renditions of The Doors and John Lennon are also impressive.

In addition to the art, photography, and posters, the online store sells framed gold records, handwritten lyrics, and concert programs. It’s still a work in progress, but hopefully will be fully stocked in time for Christmas shopping. And if the Rock Art Show comes to your area, I highly recommend checking it out.

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Albertoni Chardonnay

Tasting Notes:

This light buttercup-colored wine has very prominent Chardonnay distinctiveness arising from a foundation of pear aromatics. It delivers a rich, full-bodied, creamy savor that leads to its extraordinarily smooth finish.

Suggested Food Pairings:

This Chardonnay is delicious with olives, creamsauced pastas, pork chops, grilled chicken and seafood, like lobster, scallops and crab cakes. Good cheeses to pair with this wine include provolone and brie.

—Margaret K. Leonardi, Winemaker


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NYU Tandon School of Engineering Student Helps Build Bridge to Success

Bridge team (1)
NYU Tandon School of Engineering students collect awards for Steel Bridge Competition. Pictured are Enes Sinan; team co-captains Nathaniel Evelkin (second from left), Julia Langewis and Mark Milkis.

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn native Nathaniel Evelkin co-captained a team of engineering students at NYU Tandon School of Engineering that qualified for a national competition after taking home first place in three categories of a model steel bridge contest during the regional finals on Saturday, April 9th at the City College of New York.

Evelkin and his teammates placed second overall, thus securing a spot in the national finals at Brigham Young University on May 27th to 28th.

The Steel Bridge Competition, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), requires students to conceive, design, fabricate, erect and test a steel structure that meets client specifications and optimizes performance and economy.

“Second place is a very good achievement,” said Evelkin, a junior at the university who is expected to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering and mechanical engineering in 2017.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering students collect awards for Steel Bridge Competition. Pictured are (l to r) Enes Sinan, Mark Milkis, Matt Light and Chris Katsanos)

“It’s a significant achievement, because it’s the first time in the history of the school that the team has qualified for the national competition.”

The team from NYU Tandon’s Department of Civil and Urban Engineering (CUE) took first place in the classifications of display (how their bridge looked), deflection (how much it moved while bearing a static load) and structural efficiency (a ratio of deflection to weight of bridge) during the regional competitions.

Evelkin and three other main team members, which included co-captain Julia Langewis, a senior majoring in math and civil engineering, worked  around the clock while juggling demanding, grueling course loads in order to see the bridge to fruition.

“It (the competition) was very time consuming,” said the 21-one-year-old Brooklynite who graduated from Yeshiva of Flatbush High School in Midwood. “We were in the lab every weekend, from the morning to night—3:00 a.m. We even worked on weeknights, from the morning hours to around midnight or 1 a.m.

Concrete Canoe
NYU Tandon School of Engineering students line up their first place Canoe (photos courtesy NYU’s Department of Civil and Urban Engineering).

“It worked out well between us because each one could relieve the other when our course loads became heavier.”

In addition to the steel bridge squad, Evelkin was a part of the school’s Concrete Canoe team, as a paddler, who nabbed the top spots in the categories of final product and oral presentation and finished in first place overall at the regional ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition on Sunday, April 10th in Denville, New Jersey.

The students will take part in the national competition on June 9th-11th at the University of Texas at Tyler—the school’s fifth trip to the nationals.

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Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights 2020

Saturday, January 30, 2010

LISTEN: Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman, First Voices Indigenous Radio

Chairman Joseph Bring Plenty's segment begins around 10:35ish.
To access OR and scroll down to Jan.28th 10AM [EDT]
Thursday, January 28, 2010first_voices_01_28_2010.MP3
Dahoud Andre and Miriam Neptune Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees - speak regarding the relief efforts being denied by the U.S militarization in Haiti.
Joseph Brings Plenty- Cheyenne River (Lakota) Sioux Tribe- Chairman on the declared "disaster area" by the Governor Rounds of South Dakota - during the third of major ice and snowstorms that has devastated the CRSTs since early Dec. 2009. The noticeable effect of an "emergency" would be relief efforts by the Red Cross or Federal Emergency Management Agency, until this date 1-28-10 "FEMA has not shown up on Cheyenne River and what Red Cross aid there is for Natives on this reservation is sparse at best". The National Guard is assisting with restoring power and water resources but with 10-21 days. Meanwhile, subzero temperatures, no water, no gasoline, no stores or businesses, no schools and no power keep services inadequate for most of the members on and near the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Sioux Reservations. For help and information, call the CRST Emergency Coordination Center at (605) 964-7711 (or -7712)
-- - Tiokasin GhosthorseOyate Tokaheya Wicakiye
212.209.2800 switchboard
Broadcast Info
WBAI NY 99.5 FM120 Wall Street, 10th Floor New York, NY 10005 Streaming: www.wbai.orgPacifica Radio Network
WJFF 90.5 FM Jeffersonville, NYW233AH 94.5 FM Monticello, NY Streaming:
WPKN 89. 5 FM Bridgeport - New Haven, Conn. Streaming
WPKM 88.7 FM Montauk, NY Westerly, Rhode Island New London, Conn. Streaming
COMING SOON!KVNF 90.9 FM Paonia, Colorado
99.1 FM Grand Valley, Grand Junction88.7 FM Lake City98.3 FM Hotchkiss Crawford 88.9 FM Ridgway 90.1 FM Ouray
KVMT 89.1 FM Uncompahgre Valley Montrose Delta
KUNM 89.9 Albuquerque, Santa Fe KBOM 88.7 Socorro KRRT 90.9 Arroyo Seco - Taos KRRE 91.9 Las VegasKRAR 91.9 EspañolaK220EM 91.9 NageeziK216CT 90.5 Eagle NestK216CU 91.1 Cuba
Please visit: SKYPE: Tiokasin
CRAZY HORSE (His Horse Is Enchanted) 1877 said this smoking a pipe with Sitting Bull 4 days before his assassination. "Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day, there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole Universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am that place within me, we shall be one."

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About Censored News

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Best Practices to Receive Payments and Avoid Collections

April 29, 2019 Chicago

Fraternities and sororities continue to focus on the collection of various payments owed by its members. One area where issues may arise is a member enjoying all the benefits of membership in the organization and simultaneously becoming delinquent in required payments. Below are the best ways to ensure that your organization can continue to thrive economically while holding individual members responsible for payments due and – as a last resort – taking legal action via collections.

1. Formalize the relationship between the organization and the member, including communication with the member’s parent(s) or guardian(s)

Ensuring that your organization can continue to be financially solvent requires formalizing an agreement between the member and the organization, usually in a form resembling a Membership Services Agreement.

The agreement should include both the member of the organization and the member’s parent(s) or guardian(s) as signed parties. Including the parent(s) or guardian(s) as a party to the agreement serves as an insurance policy for the organization in the event that a large outstanding balance is due.

It is imperative that the member and its parent(s) or guardian(s) view the organization as any other business entity or membership organization that collects money. Proactive, early communication is effective to solidify the monetary requirements of the member. An alumni board member discussing specific details with the parent(s) or guardian(s) could provide clarity and comfort. This agreement sets the foundation for all parties to understand their rights and responsibilities.

2. Clearly define payment due dates

The agreement may vary depending on the services the organization is able to offer to its members. Such services include housing (including utilities, parking, or furniture and fixtures), meals, and social activities. Within the agreement, various payment categories must have clear, specific due dates. For example, housing costs may be paid in installments throughout the school calendar year, with the initial payment made before or during the first week of undergraduate classes.

For payments past due, the agreement should include a provision for “liquidated damages.” Late fees is one form of liquidated damages, and the late fee can be payable either as a percentage of the total outstanding amount due or a specific dollar amount for each day such payment is late.

3. Be proactive in finding alternative solutions to legal recourse

When late payments have accrued or such delinquent behavior has become commonplace for a member, it is best for either an undergraduate executive board member or an individual on the alumni association to speak directly to the member. Agreeing to a payment plan is a good first step.

A payment plan illustrates the organization’s flexibility and willingness to work with the member. Changes in the member, parent’s or guardian’s life, such as losing a job or an unexpected medical cost, may not allow for such payment currently but sometime in the near future. Some members may use a portion of student loans to pay for membership housing or dues and must wait until receiving those funds to pay.

Instilling good financial habits is also a valuable life lesson for a college student. Consequences, both minimal and severe, occur if the member does not make required payments as an adult “in the real world.” This teachable moment reinforces the organization’s appreciation of its membership and simultaneously gives the member a reminder of its current financial responsibility.

4. Protect the financial health of the organization

If payment plans and communication fall on deaf ears, be sure the agreement includes actions the organization can take to collect all payments owed. Including a joint and several liabilities provision fully protects the organization by having both the member and its parent(s) or guardian(s) be liable for all payment obligations under the agreement.

An attachment to the agreement may include a credit card authorization form that allows the organization to charge a credit card on file (of either the member, its parent(s) or guardian(s), or both) if payments are delinquent. This scenario is most applicable because of a severe delinquency in housing payments.

As a last resort, the organization should have the right to take any party under the agreement to collections. Collections may come in the form of third-party debt collectors or the organization enforcing the contract against all parties to the agreement in court, with the specific venue and jurisdiction spelled out in the agreement. Liens on assets or the garnishment of certain wages are mechanisms for the organization to be made whole.

Balancing a member’s financial responsibilities and the organization’s need to function as a legitimate business is a necessary exercise that relies on a well-drafted agreement and constant communication between all parties. In the end, it’s a best practice to be sure your organization has all protections available to collect payments due.

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