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| Hearsay: |
The hard-hearted folk at the Quill and Quire, Canada’s leading trade print mag, are asking publishers to stop sending books in bubble envelopes. Apparently their black little hearts are the only ones on earth that aren’t instantly charmed and gratified by the popping soundsation of these things under foot (I use them as carpet). But seriously, they’re right and making perfect sense. I’d like to second their call, and add a couple others:
- American publishers, please stop sending those paper/cardboard envelopes stuffed with what looks like a cross between dust bunnies from the back of the couch and asbestos — because I feel as though I have emphysema every time I open one of these, I’ve stopped opening them… get it?
- All publicists, when you’re mail merging names into an emailed flack sheet to try to fool us in to thinking you’ve personalized the pitch, it’s probably best to ensure your database entry doesn’t read “editorsGeorgeBookninja” or somesuch
- All publishers, when you’re shipping books straight from your printer, check to see how they’re packaging them… I’m having single books arrive in boxes (BOXES!) that look like care packages for soldiers in Afghanistan — one book surrounded by six inches of packing material
- All book people, I have a new rule: if you ship books to me for Bookninja care of one of my publishers (M&S has graciously, and at their own expense, been forwarding your packages to my business address), that title will be BANNED from coverage on Bookninja… FOR.EV.AR. In fact, I will likely never cover one of your books ever again, if I can help it. I’m not sure if it’s just poorly trained interns who are getting the address wrong in your database, but I shudder to think that working publicity people could be so lazy as to take the first address they find on the web associated with my name. Take a second and send an email. (The vast majority of book people, of course, know this is common sense, but you’d be surprised at some of the big players who do this.)
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February 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 am
Seeing as how it’s in a writer’s interest to see that the publicist does the job properly, would be good for us scribes to forward this message to those who do the grut work.
George, your reach is long. Is that a ninja move?
Mary
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Wow, I wish people were sending me piles and piles of books.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
Me too, Anne C. The only one who sends me books is amazon. sigh
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:07 am
And you have to pay Amazon, but George gets his for free!
Actually Quill’s blog has a photo of the mound of bubble wrap envelopes they get; rather depressing.
Mary
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Oh, I hate “those paper/cardboard envelopes stuffed with what looks like a cross between dust bunnies… and asbestos,” too. I have to open them outside and quickly stuff the offending envelope in a plastic grocery bag.
February 23rd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Here’s the deal, George. You take all that bubble wrap, lay it out on the living room floor, crank the tunes and let Ninja Junior do an improvised bubble-pop dance. Hell, you could probably get a grant for it.
It worked at my house, except for the grant part.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I know, Mary, it hardly seems fair. I’d like to even get crappy books for free.
Tho i saw the pic of the mounds of bubble wrap envelopes. it is a wee bit sickening. all that waste. whatever happened to brown paper packages, tied up with string?
btw, i’m secretly addicted to popping bubble wrap. sometimes i hide it from the offspring, just so i can have it all to myself. of course, if i got mounds of envelopes, i’d be more inclined to share.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Know what’s fun? Spreading the bubble wrap out on the floor and rolling yer chair around on it. POP! POPOPOPOPOP POPOP POPOP!
Good times.