Day by Day, by Chris Muir
Cox and Forkum
June 01, 2004
At Last! The Big News!
As of today, I am no longer unemployed.
Even better, as of today, I am officially self-employed. I figured if I was going to work for a jerk, I might as well work for myself.
Yes, I have joined the ranks of the fearless entrepreneurs, stoking the mighty engine that drives economic expansion even in the face of governmental interference through excessive taxation and regulation.
Over the past several weeks, I've been filing paperwork, acquiring equipment and supplies, talking to vendors, and doing a little industry research. Heck, I've even got one client on board, and a couple more prospects.
Ladies and gentleman, please welcome PHD Publishers LLC, your educated choice in micro-publishing.
So, what is micro publishing? Well, you're reading it right now, at least, in one form. New technologies have allowed the average person access to traditional media processes that before had been out of their reach. While blogging is a very visible part of that, it is really only a small piece of the whole picture. Just as blogs complement the traditional news media, micro-publishers like PHD Publishers LLC will complement traditional publishers.
Think of us as a microbrewery; they're not out to compete with Anheuser-Busch, but to offer the public a variety of options that the big brewery can't afford to offer. They serve the niche markts that are too small for the big boys. In the same way, PHD Publishers LLC will take advantage of the thousands of talented writers whose work may not be mainstream enough to warrant the attention of Warner or Random House.
My mission is two fold. First, I will run a small, independent press, specializing in genre fiction, and releasing 12-20 new titles per year. I'll be marketing these PHD Press releases directly to independent bookstores, as well as to the big chains through a distributer. The books will also be available through Amazon, and/or the PHD Publisher website, currently under construction. The titles will also be available as e-books, if the authors wish. Additionally, PHD Press will provide low cost, quality editions of classic books in the public domain, like Huckleberry Finn, A Christmas Carol, or Around the World in 80 Days. These PHD Classics will be available through the web or mail order.
The second mission will be to provide a one-stop solution for people looking to self publish their work. The big publishers have such a high overhead that they really can't afford to take a risk on an unproven author. They reserve their time and efforts for proven talents, making it increasingly difficult for new authors to break in. It's far easier for Tom Clancy to get a steaming pile of horse crap (The Teeth of the Tiger) published than for a young unknown to get a truly unique story even noticed. Looking through the Writer's Market illustrates this point. One major publisher puts out 60 books per year, but gets 3000 submissions. Another publishes 175 books, but only 5% of those are from new authors. While many may be rejected for good reason, even if only 10% of them are good, that's 300 quality books that will never find an audience. One of the most celebrated examples is James Redfield, whose The Celestine Prophesy was initially self published. While not every author will see a similar success, his story certainly shows that there is a market for books rejected by the big publishers. But there was no cost effective way for authors to reach that market.
Until now.
In the past, a rejected author's only recourse was the vanity publishers, who, for a substantial fee up front, would promise to edit, format, print, bind, and market the book, "just like a real publisher." Unfortunately, the reality rarely lived up to the promise, and most authors wound up several thousand dollars out of pocket, with a garage full of books they couldn't sell.
But today, there is another option; self publishing has become both cost effective and efficient. Rather than requiring a press run of several thousand copies to achieve a reasonable cost per book, new printing and perfect-binding processes make printing even a single copy inexpensive, which brings just-in-time inventory management to the publishing world. Rather than maintaining an inventory of several thousand copies of a book, with Book On Demand (BOD) printing, the writer can order copies of their work as they sell them, reducing the amount of capital tied up in inventory to the point where self publishing becomes a viable option for virtually everybody.
Self publishing is also expanding into a brand new area, electronic publishing, or e-books. While still in its infancy, by dispensing with printing and binding altogether, an author can make his work available to the entire Internet community for the price of an account on a webserver.
Which leads us to PHD Publishers LLC. We offer all the services a self publisher needs, proofing/copy editing, formatting for print or e-book, ISBN registration, printing and binding, whether short run (100-200 copies) or BOD, and web hosting for e-books, or author's book stores. It is our purpose to provide all the support the new author needs to break into self publishing, or to prepare their manuscript for traditional publishers.
So, that's what I've been doing with myself the past few weeks. I'm very excited about this project since if it works out, I'll be able to make a living doing something I love, which is worth the risk I'm taking.
Wish me luck!
A note
I was using the comment moderationfeature in MT 3.0, which meant that any comments you posted had to be approved by me in order to post.
That's a pain in the butt, so I turned it off.
May 31, 2004
Memorial Day
This is a day when we stop and reflect on the sacrifice so many men and women have made to protect America. Of course, for most of us now, the meaning of the day gets lost in the feverish activities of a three day weekend. Somehow, getting the entire race in before the rain hits is more important that actually pausing to consider what these folks have sacrificed, and even more importantly today, what they've made that sacrifice for.
Over the last few years, as I've watched the news, listened to talk radio, read weblogs, listened to politicians, and talked to folks I work or play with, I've become more and more concerned over the irrational anger and hatred that divides us. America is in the process of tearing herself apart, and today, I am convinved that this division is the single greatest enemy we face, far more dangerous than any WMD al Qaeda can come up with. Unless we can find a way to heal this rift, our foreign enemies won't have to do anything to destroy us; we'll take care of that ourselves.
And it may already be too late.
For eight years, we watched the opposition tear into a president they hated, taking every opportunity to attack him and his policies, even as he lead the country into one of the greatest periods of economic expansion in its history. He was vilified by the opposition, even as he advanced initiatives they proposed. Despite nearly non-stop criticism by the press, and the utter loathing of the opposition, he was re-elected to a second term, and retains great popularity with the party faithful today.
Which President am I talking about?
Your answer probably depends a great deal on your politics, since the above description applies equally well to either Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton. There exists such a divide in our political consciousness today that the same man can be hailed as a hero or condemned as the worst president ever, depending on the political affiliation of the observer. How can any single entity survive such a radically diverging view of reality? The answer is it can't. There was a time when we could afford this national schizophrenia, when partisan gridlock worked to keep an already over-reaching federal government somewhat in check, but that time ended on the morning of September 11, 2001. That morning was a clear signal that the world's scavengers had sensed a terminal weakness in America's spirit, and struck a savage blow, targeting our economic and political heart.
The results of that blow, echoing over the past 32 months, have shown just how accurate their perception was. Instead of rallying together, emphasizing our common interests over our differences, America is more divided today than she was then, and like a flawed diamond, one more blow, applied with a jeweler's precision, may shatter our nation forever.
Liberals take deliberate aim at the President, heaping scorn and derision on everything he does, deserved or not, all in the attempt to win power for their party, at any cost, and by any means necessary. Conservatives are no better, attacking the presumed Democratic candidate just as viciously, and with as little basis in fact. Liberals hold President Bush accountable for every failure, while giving him no credit for any successes. They distort reality, painting a bleak picture both here and Iraq, refusing to admit that anything is going well. Of course, this is nothing new; conservatives did the same with former President Clinton; and before him former President Reagan was given the same treatment. This leads inevitably to hypocrisy, since the instant their candidate is in office, the standards change 180 degrees.
Both parties are guilty of playing this game, and the excuse, "They started it" is just as weak and childish today as it was in a kindergarten sandbox. We need to be better than that.
This is not to say that there are not legitimate points of contention between liberals and conservatives, or that we must bury those differences in some patriotic fervor, only that the increasingly nasty partisanship on both sides leads to national paralysis at a time when we can ill afford it. A healthy debate is vital to the survival of a republic, but when that debate is dominated by specious claims of falsified military records and claims of unfulfilled military obligations, it is anything but healthy.
The reason I bring this up today, when we honor those who've given their lives to protect our country, is that it would be a damn shame if their sacrifice was wasted because we were too busy fighting each other to defend ourselves. Historically, democracies have not fallen to outside invaders; instead, they quietly rot from within.
Is that the road we want to travel?
I hope not.
May 28, 2004
A few more personal notes, for those who are interested.
My unemployment is nearly over. During the last two months, I've been working feverishly to get a new venture off the ground and running, hopefully not into a brick wall.
Things have progressed well, and Tuesday will see an announcement here of my next big production. It's closely tied in with blogging, and even if I never get rich at it, if I can make a living, I'll be ecstatic.
So, stay tuned for that.
A couple of weeks ago, I finally bought a gun for carry. After a lot of research, that included reading several magazines, talking to knowledgable shooters, and test firing several guns at the range, I decided to get the Springfield Armory XD-40. I'd test fired the XD9 at the range, and was impressed with its comfort, and ease of operation. I still consider myself a beginning shooter, but even so, I could see the improvement in my groups using the XD. I went with the .40 over the 9mm based on conversations with several people, who told me to go for the increased stopping power of the .40.
I shot the new gun at the range the day I bought it, and then again, with Les and SayUncle last week. Altogether, I've put almost 200 rounds through it with absolutely no problems whtsoever. Cleanup was a breeze as well. All in all, I'm very pleased with this gun.
Finally, I took the plunge and got satellite radio. I bought the unit at WalMart, signed up when I got home, and had it installed in less than half an hour.
And it's wonderful.
I liked it so much, I went ahead and bought the boombox attachment so I can listen to it in my office at home. We listened to it all the way from Tennessee to Massachusetts without losing the signal. from blues to comedy to NASCAR to 70s to urban to contemporary; XM has it all.
(I even listened to Air America for awhile. Don't tell anybody, OK? I'll lose my secret VRWC wingnut decoder ring.)
OK, after midnight now, and time for me to call it a night.
It's good to be back on the air.
OK, several hours later...
...everything seems to be running well. I guess the bugs will start popping out later. I took the opportunity to go through and eliminate most of the comment spam that's been plagueing my site for the last month or so, and banned the IP's that most of it came from.
Unfortunately, the reason I upgraded was to install MT Blacklist to get rid of that garbage more efficiently. Only now do I discover that MT Blacklist doesn't work with MT 3.0.
Bummer.
So, I'm trying the moderated comments feature of MT 3.0 and will see how that works. If it's still too much trouble, then I may have to consider an alternative comment scheme.
