Forgotten And Lost

I was reading this frustrating report on Melville House this morning, entitled "Absolutely nothing will enter the public domain in 2013"

What could have entered the public domain in 2013 - screen shot from Center for the Study of Public Domain

The reason it is frustrating is due to the revisions made to US copyright law that pushes certain works from coming into the public domain today until 2052.

Sigh.

When it is public domain it allows people the ability to those books into other languages, create Braille or audio versions for visually impaired readers, create interesting new enhanced versions of the books, or adapt them for film.

The article quotes an interesting note from the Center for the Study of Public Domain:

“Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the current copyright term is that in most cases, the cultural harm is not offset by any benefit to an author or rights holder. Unlike the famous works highlighted here, the vast majority of works from 1956 do not retain commercial value. This means that no one is benefiting from continued copyright, while the works remain both commercially unavailable and culturally off limits. The public loses the possibility of meaningful access for no good reason.”

The cultural ham is not offset by any benefit to an author or rights holder.

Then why.  Why?  Why?

Sigh. Oh wait, I already said that.

Trouble With Handheld Devices

Our eight year old son has a plethora of hand-held devices, and he pulls them out at almost every opportunity.

And it seems like, more and more, Francine and I are frustrated with how consumed he can become in these little things which you can take virtually anywhere; we are constantly competing with a portable little device for his attention.

He is continually distracted by these things.

At the breakfast table. Sitting on the couch. In the back seat of the car.

Instead of going to bed on time, he sits there with his head stuck pointed down, drawn in and blocking out virtually everything happening around him.

It's getting worse, too.

Last night I called to him in a loud voice from just four feet away, no less than three times before I finally got his attention.

He looked up at me and said, "Please, let me read just one more page, Dad."


I suppose I should have expected this. He gets this sickness from both of his parents.

Damn books.

Meta Spam

I have to laugh.

Last year I posted a cheeky tale called "Fun with Telemarketers" outlining an ongoing frustration about telemarketers - specifically ones that are calling about duct cleaning.

It documented the call I received. You know the ones that start out like this:

TELEMARKETER: Hello, may I speak with Mr. Lefjlkaliufdkjlalkflj [indeterminable gibberish as he tries, desperately, to pronounce my last name. The poor guy. There should be a sympathy greeting card for having to go through all that in front of a complete stranger]

In any case, my post was about making the best out of a frustrating situation, and the fun I ended up having with the guy.

This morning I woke up to find a spam comment posted here with a link to a service -- you know the one I'm talking about: it's a vague commentary about enjoying the "article" and then a link to a service.

The service was, of course, for duct cleaning.  So at least they did their "strategic spam" homework - I'll give them that.

But like I said, you have to laugh.

The Grinch Who Stole Halloween

My son went out the front door this morning to discover that somebody has stolen two of the "Gruesome Greeters" that have been a part of our annual Halloween decor in the front yard for several years now.

A pic from last year - stolen "greeters" are circled

They were attached two a couple of plant stands that Francine uses - including the wonderful "bunny" plant hanger that we had for years - those were stolen too.

It's not the cost of these items that bothers me, but rather the effect it has on my son.


It was a fun morning - the family was happy, heading out the door to drop him off at school, only to discover this.  He burst into tears of frustration and was determined to go hunting through the neighbourhood, convinced we could find them.  Going to school and learning and seeing his friends and teachers was the furthest thing from his mind.

The incident has been reported to police - it's not the first time items have been stolen from our front yard -- this is perhaps the fifth or sixth time.  Honestly, I have lost count.  And, like in the past when his fun things were stolen (a statue, a fountain, planters, Halloween and Christmas decorations), Alexander is going to obsess with trying to find these items we'll likely never see again.


It's interesting - I'm often asked why I write horror stories.  One of the reasons might be that at least the bad things are fiction. At least, there are opportunities in the horror I write, for good to triumph over evil. And sometimes, when the evil does win in the story (becomes sometimes in horror, the monsters win), at least when you close the book, the bad stuff is over.

But these thieves haven't just stolen some decorations from me and my family. They've also stolen a bit of fun that has become ritual in our neighbourhood.  We enjoy putting out fun decorations - this time of year, kids walking to school enjoy pausing to check out the decorations -- adults often stop to take pictures.  It's a small thing that brings fun and seasonal spirit to people. A little bit of that is now taken away.

I would just love to find the jerks who did this and force them to stand in front of my son and apologize.

Context is King

Sigh, I just got a nasty sounding request from Google Adsense to take down the offensive content on a blog post entitled "That Little Faggot's Got His Own Jet Airplane"

There's a screen shot about the post below.  For the record, as I clearly state in the original post, I'm quoting from the song "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, mentioning a new items about a decades old song being censored and make sure I'm clear to define myself as against homophobia.  Some of my best friends are gay and some of my family members are gay and I love them all dearly.  Further in the post, I walk through all the other potentially offensive terms in the song, yes, poking fun at the situation.

Here's the email from Google AdSense telling me to remove the offensive content or else . . .

The most frustrating thing about this is that there is no indication that a human actually read this to find it offensive, and no way for me to explain that I'm using a derogatory term quoted from a song lyric in order to discuss the concept of censorship.

It's all about the CONTEXT, people.  Context is king.

For the record, I'm not changing that blog post. I like what I have written and I stand behind it.

I'm also not changing this one either.

Too bad for me.

If I Did The Morning Traffic Report

Public Domain use image from Wikipedia

Every morning on my drive in from Hamilton to Toronto, I love listening to Ben, Kerry & Shawna of Y108, a Hamilton rock radio station. Their fun banter helps alleviate the morning traffic blahs.  And the regular traffic reports by the chipper Cara Graham are something I also appreciate. 


Cara's pleasant voice makes even the bad news seem not as grim.  But, with all due respect, I think about how Cara and other morning traffic reporters tend to sugar-coat the morning traffic with terms such as "seeing a bit of volume" and "starting to fill in" rather than what it really means.

That's why, if I were doing the morning traffic, I'd be a bit more tempted for it to sound like this.

Good morning, this is Mark Leslie, your Y108 traffic reporter. Yes, I know, this job is like being the weather man when all you have is constant showers on the weekend. But suck it up, sunshine, you've got to head in to work and the truth is, it's not going to be a pleasant drive at all.  Here's the dirt:


The QEW coming in on the Skyway bridge is starting to fill in. And by fill in, I mean it's looking like the parking situation in the neighbourhood near Ivor Wynne stadium just before a big game.  You'd be better off jumping off the bridge onto a canoe and paddling your way in to downtown Toronto.


We're seeing a bit of volume where the QEW and 403 meet in Burlington. And by volume I mean the loud screams of the drivers who are yelling at each other because of the idiots who don't use their signal and cut everyone else off by racing up the merge lane and cutting in at the last minute.  At this point you'll likely be kicking yourself that you didn't take the 407 toll highway.


By the time you pass Walker's Line you're really better off just parking your car and getting out and walking -- you'll get there faster.  Between Appleby and Burloak you'll find there are more jackasses whose constant lane changes end up slowing down two full lanes of traffic.


As you near Erin Mills you'll come to realize that traffic is at a dead stop because 5 years ago some idiot slowed because they saw a shiny object on the side of the road that they thought was a penny.  Experts estimate that we'll still be seeing the effects of that slow down for another three years.


Heading further into Mississauga you might as well put your car in reverse -- that'll likely get you to your destination faster. If you take a glance out your window, you might just see a chain of ants zipping past your car.  Seriously, there's no other way to describe the traffic at this point other than stupid.

And if you make it all the way to the Gardner without repeatedly banging your head into a bloody pulp on the dashboard out of sheer frustration or having a stroke because of your consistently elevated blood pressure, you might want to pull the horseshoe out of your ass and stop in at the nearest convenience store to buy a lottery ticket for this week's Lotto 649, which is bringing you this morning's traffic report.  

Lotto 649:  Just imagine not having to deal with this bullshit.

And that's what my morning traffic report would be.  Simple. Honest. And pointing fingers at the small handful of idiots who make the drive worse for pretty much everyone else because of their selfishness.  I'm pretty sure there's a special place in hell reserved for these assholes. 

Of course, my positive attitude about the whole thing is which is why I'll never get a stint as a traffic reporter.

All joking aside, getting frustrated just causes more grey hair.  Which is why, after ten to fifteen minutes of getting my morning fix of the cool folks at Y108, I tend to sit back and relax and listen to an audio book in the car.  I figure, if I'm going to be stuck in traffic, I might as well do something productive and useful such as "read" a book.  Of course, this morning, having already finished the latest audio book in my queue, I composed this blog post in my head.

I Didn't Vote For You!

Watching the Conservative Harper majority government come into power last night was a little chilling, even for this writer of horror. 

I was fully prepared to have another minority Conservative government with the NDP as the official opposition. What I never suspected was just how decimated the Liberal party would be.

I'm still a little frightened.  Initially, to make myself feel better, I amusedly thought back to previous commentary I made about Mr. Harper being in office, back in Jan 2006 and October 2008): 

Jan 26, 2006 (Well I Didn't Vote For You! - inspired by a scene from Monty Python & The Holy Grail).  It opens with the following text.

Last night my son threw up in a sudden explosive burst.

This was at about the same time the news media was announcing the certainty that Stephen Harper was going to be Canada’s next Prime Minister.

And people say that babies don’t understand what’s going on in the world around them.

I know, snarky harsh words. But you must admit it's a bit funny. And that blog post goes on to explain the bizarre way in which we elect the leaders of our country. What better way than using a "Monty Python" inspired scene to do it?

But despire my initial concerns, here are few things that give me hope:

1) With such a startling new government makeup, there's a real chance for change, and a chance for the NDP to show us what they've got now that they have so many seats in office.

2) Within my own riding, the candidate I voted for got in, and she has consistently represented my concerns beautifully in Ottawa. (I pay attention not to the parties but to the candidates who represent ME in my riding, and I vote for the person who best fulfills that role - I'm delighted that both federally and provincially, the MP and MPP in my riding are solid upstanding leaders that I'm proud to have represent me)

3) While I still don't fully understand how 60% of Canadian's could vote outside of a particular party, yet that party still end up with a majority government, that % gives me a sense of hope that there is diversity and balance in the attitude of voting Canadians.

4) Elizabeth May, one of the party leaders I most admire, won in her riding, bringing the Green party into Ottawa - this is a refreshing opportunity for another fresh voice to be brought to the House of Commons. And wee desperately need that.

5) The leader's speeches were inspiring (unlike much of the pre-election debates) - Michael Ignatieff displayed perhaps his finest moment of leadership in his speech last night. Dignified, strong, respectful. Jack Layton kept on target talking about working for Canadian families, health care and jobs. And Stephen Harper's speech was inspiring (I fully expected he would still be our Prime Minister) and he was eloquently respectful of the other leaders. I'm curious to see if he will indeed work with the opposition and other parties to make a better Canada.

6) More people voted than in the previous election. THAT is important to me. Still, less than 62% of eligible voters turned out to vote. Really? What the hell is wrong with the 38% of Canadians who are demonstrating sheer "laziness and stupidity" by not voting? Every vote counts. YOUR vote counts. Don't let other people speak for you. (I have to stop now because just thinking about this type of lethargy makes me sick to my stomach - have to focus on the fact that MORE people voted this time around and hope that continues to improve as Canadians wake up and smell the democracy we're fortunate to live in)

So I remain cautiously hopeful. I am a "glass is half full" kind of guy, after all.

FYI, CHML has an excellent post that includes audio clips of the three main party leader's speeches last night. No, I didn't vote for any of them (because none of them are in my ridings), but I respect the things they each said in their speeches.

Put Your Hands Together For This

Last night on CHCH news, there was a bit about the Brant Community Healthcare System posting a video featuring Doctor, Doctor playing "I Want To Wash My Hands" (sung to the tune of The Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand") and featuring staff from the local hospital.  It was cute. I immediately went to check out the whole video on YouTube.



Of course, in the wonderful way that YouTube displays similar videos in the right nav, I noticed another one done by Jefferson University Hospital.

This one is called "Wash 'Em" and is done to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat it!" (complete with parallel spoof actions lifted in a hilarious fashion right from the original)



Apparently, there are a lot of similar videos like that out there.

Got to love when people use Weird Al type parody to promote a good cause (that takes minimal effort but has tremendously positive results) like hand-washing.

Speaking of Weird Al . . . after seeing a parody of "Beat it!" I just HAD to go watch his classic "Eat it!" version . . .



Notice how this blog post is a reflection of the way YouTube can really suck a person in and you can almost forget the reason you originally were there . . .

. . . and I almost did, but I'm back on topic.


Washing your hands is important.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the practice, you really should try it. I'm getting tired of being polite about the whole thing and can't help but think of adults who should know better but don't wash their hands as being simply selfish stupid idiots. [No, Mark, don't hold back, tell us what you really think!]

I'd like to put together a list of funny things that people can say to someone when they notice them NOT washing their hands. If we can't appeal to people's intelligence or reason, perhaps we can SHAME them into the practice . . .

That Little Faggot's Got His Own Jet Airplane

I was disappointed to see the news that "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits was being banned for airplay in Canada because of a complaint about the offensive use of the word "faggot."

Really? It's offensive?

After a quarter century of being a staple of rock and roll, this song is considered offensive?

Get over yourselves, people.

For the record, I despise homophobia.

But this song isn't about homophobia and it's not an anti-gay song. It's a song written from the point of view of a labourer who is looking at a rock star, mocking him and being jealous of all that he has gained.

It's the perspective of the average one of us looking at celebrities and their lives and seeing that the "grass is greener" -- after all, actors, musicians, they don't work hard like us, do they? Naw, they get their money for nothing, and the rest of us work hard.

It's a simple as that. An interesting song with catchy lyrics and a fantastic guitar riff.

Okay, so according to the complain and the order, the use of "faggot" is offensive. Because fictional characters aren't allowed to voice their opinion, whether or not it is politically correct.  This isn't Mark Knopfler saying he has anything against gays -- if anything, he's mocking himself as a rock star.

But the use of "faggot" is offensive. So it needs to be banned.

So while we're at it, shouldn't we also ban the chorus itself? 

After all, you "get your money for nothing and your chicks for free" - that subjugates women, doesn't it? Shouldn't we be offended at that?  What about the fact that the singer makes fun of a primate by describing the drummer as "banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee?" Shouldn't animal rights groups take offense?

While we're at it, doesn't this song make labourers look like close-minded idiots? Shouldn't labour groups take offense to the song because it makes them all look like close-minded homophobes?

Shouldn't we just seek to ban the entire song altogether? Yes, we'll all be much better off with the song banned and forgotten all about as an important part of the 1980's cultural history. Let's let the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx decide all the artistic content that is safe for us to consume.

Yeesh!

I just logged on to iTunes and bought the song. That's my reaction to show my support of the song and the artists.

I.......waaaaant.........myyyyyy.......M....T.......V.......

This Blog Lacks Literary Merit

I recently listened to a great interview/discussion between Shelagh Rogers and Louise Penny on a special podcast extended interview section from Shelagh's CBC Radio show The Next Chapter.

It's a great discussion about Penny's Inspector Gamache series of crime novels, but one of my favourite parts are when they start talking about crime fiction and the Canadian literary landscape.

It was interesting to hear how when the Crime Writers of Canada has put in requests with the Canada Council for the Arts, their requests for money or support inevitably come back with the stamp LACKS LITERARY MERIT.

Penny also talks about how crime fiction is rarely ever even nominated for major literary awards for the same reason, and her and Rogers try to determine who decides what lierary merit is and why great crime novels which also happen to be just plain good novels are constantly overlooked.

Of crime fiction, Penny says, "These books are not about death, they're about life. The murder is a vehicle to examine all sorts of issues about human nature."

I feel the same way about good horror novels.

Horror, science Fiction and other speculative genres, of course, are also often similarly overlooked, as if the speculative elements, or their dark subject matter make their stories any less serious, the tales any less true. 

Not all that long ago, a colleague of mine who was extremely well read, balked and insisted she did not like science fiction when I recommended Robert J. Sawyer's novel Rollback to her. After I forced the book into her hands, telling her to ignore the genre label and just start reading the story and to stop when it got to writing or a part of the tale she didn't enjoy, she read the whole novel and loved it. Then she went on to read other novels by Sawyer, her initial hesitance tossed aside.

She realized that the novel was a beautiful love story.

As Sawyer has said, a good science fiction novel must be about something, it can't just be some half-baked "wouldn't it be neat if this happened" idea. The characters need to be real and the book has to make the reader think, engage them at a level that makes them consider something.

Rollback, while seeming to be about a person given the chance to extend their life using cutting edge technological advances in order to work on an important generation-spanning celestial communition project, is really, at its heart, a love story.  It's about a couple who have grown old together their whole life, and what happens to their intimate relationship when one of them has their body rejuvinated back to that of a twenty-year old.  (In other words it examines how a relationship is affected by a sudden and dramatic change taking place in one of the people in that relationship)

Similarly, Sawyer's FlashForward, on the surface a tale about what happens when humanity passes out for two minutes and receives a vision from their future, isn't about the speculative phenomenon so much as it's a novel about freewill (ie, if you were able to see what your future might be and didn't like it, would you be able to change it or are you destined to follow some pre-scripted plan?) - the premise came from Sawyer's own experience at a high school reunion in which "God, I wish I knew then what I know now," was a regularly repeated phrase when everyone was looking back on their teenages selves and how they imagined their lives might be twenty years into the future.

Me & Robert J. Sawyer at the McMaster launch for his novel, WATCH

So yes, this blog lacks literary merit.


So too do many fantastic novels if you judge them merely by the "subject" area assigned to them for the purposes of marketing them to readers, shelving them in bookstores and the online browse paths they fall under.

Fireworks Rant

Fireworks are cool.

Big, spectacular, wonderful firework shows high in the air that display intriguing patterns and timed launches coordinated by professionals who put on a real show are awesome, a spectacular sight to behold.

Like a well written, directed and performed stage show, they offer a magical experience for a large group of people.

Lighting up the sky and inspiring the hearts and minds of the people gathered as friends and family to observe them, they are a real thing to behold.

Fireworks made available on any street corner to any yahoo with a few dollars in their pocket are stupid.

Think about it. The Victoria Day long weekend is coming. And, prior to any long weekend there's an explosion of availability of fireworks almost everywhere you look. The advertisements for fireworks the average person can buy remind me of those old ads in the back of comic books, the ones that promised you something really cool like x-ray glasses or a family of cute dancing sea monkeys. The hype seems to promise the same spectacular effects that the professionals can offer. But like most "you can do it yourself" hype they fail to remind people that putting on such a great show as the ones that Disney puts on every single night requires a LOT of work, a lot of time, and the proper amount of effort and skill.

Not to mention safety.

That idiot who doesn't understand gridlock, who cuts you off in traffic, who tosses their garbage haphazardly wherever they want without any consideration for anything or anyone other than themselves; that knucklehead who leaves their grocery cart in the middle of the parking lot rather than putting it where it belongs so it can roll off and dent someone's vehicle, who butts ahead in line when the new cashier opens and clearly states "next person in line," who isn't responsible enough to curb their dog so that the next time, walking on your own lawn you step in a messy pile of stinking crap can suddenly be in possession of dangerous explosives.

Think about this. Bubbleheads who nobody in their right mind would let operate dangerous machinery or handle weapons can quickly and easily be in possession of a box of explosives that they're most likely to use while even further stupified by alcohol.

I worry about innocent people, children and animals being injured or personal property being damaged by some jackass lighting off fireworks in their backyard or driveway without a second thought for safety.

But I also marvel at the idiot in my neighbourhood who was lighting these things off last night near midnight. I mean, c'mon, what was that bonehead thinking last night? "Hey everyone. It's a Thursday night prior to a long weekend and I have a box of fireworks. I think I'll set off explosives that nobody is even around to watch or enjoy, and wake everyone within a 5 block radius." Of course this is likely the very same idiot who drives his car through the neighbourhood at 1 in the morning blasting music so loud that the windows of houses he drives by rattle. He thinks he's showing off how cool his music is, but he's just showing off that he's a jerk without a second thought for anybody else.

Humans are pretty darn smart, sophisticated and capable of ingenious intelligent acts of discovery and creativity. We solve problems, engage in complex and marvelous activities that educate, engage and inspire.

But we can also be incredibly and intensely stupid.

If You Can Read This You're Following Too Close

I'm on Twitter.

But I'm not on it as a gigantic game of seeing how many followers I can amass.

I'm using Twitter as yet another way to communicate back and forth in the social media landscape. I tweet about writing, books, bookselling and mostly related topics (of course, as we're all human, I also tweet about completely un-related topics)

But let me repeat. I'm not using Twitter out of a "mine is bigger than yours" mentality that the person with the most followers wins.

I don't have a lot of followers. Nor am I interested in having a ton of followers -- particularly followers where I don't offer anything useful to them.

I don't follow people in the hope that they follow me back.

I basically follow any person or entity that adds value to my day as a bookseller, writer and book nerd.

Here's how I roll.

When I started on Twitter I sought out various folks whom I thought would be interesting. Then I followed them. I also followed people whom the folks I followed retweeted (RT) if I thought they had interesting things to say. As I move along, when something catches my interest, I check out a person's profile and see if the rest of their tweets are interesting to me.

Similarly, whenever someone follows me, I usually get a notification. If I have the time, I'll check out their Twitter account and I'll look at a few things I see there.

A) Are they a real person/entity/business that is of interest to me
IE, I want to confirm that they're not some sort of spam account. I also like to see SOME sort of profile information about who they are, and, hopefully, a link to their website so I can see more if I'm interested.

B) What are their last half dozen tweets?
For this, I'm looking at the content of their tweets. Are they interesting TO ME, or do they add value TO MY STREAM? Looking at a single tweet doesn't do it, because the last tweet might be some sort of response to another that I'm reading out of context -- but usually, within the first half dozen tweets I can tell two basic things -- are they a sincere Tweeter and, if so, is the content they're pushing out intriguing or interesting.

I'm quite particular about this last questions, because there are a ton of interesting and intriguing people out there on Twitter. I just don't have time to follow them all. So, in the same way that I can't read every single great book ever published, I recognize I can't follow everyone. Yes, I know, there are lists and filters and all kinds of options where I can add 100,000 people to follow, yet filter 99% of them out and only read 1% of them.

But, seriously, what's the point of that?

It's like subscribing to 1000 channels on TV when what I really want to do it watch 4 shows on 3 different channels.

There's enough noise out there already. Why should I invite MORE of it into my already noisy social media space?

This is why I am continually baffled and ticked off by certain people who seem to be using Twitter to just grow their "follower" list -- they'll follow anyone and everyone merely in the hopes of having people follow back.

You can tell these people because you'll get a notification that they're following you. Then, you'll get a notification a day or week later that they're following you. And again, and again.

What it seems to me like they're doing is following you, hoping that you follow them back. And, if you don't, they stop following you. Then they follow you again -- again with the hope you'll reciprocate.

Seriously, people. Grow up.

If you want to convince me of your complete insincerity, then keep doing that.

If, however, you want to ACTUALLY connect with me, feel free to try to connect with me, not play an endless game of "follow/unfollow" -- I mean, really, who has that much time in their day?

Along those same lines, I don't want everyone to follow me -- particularly if I don't add any value. (Example, if someone is on Twitter to find out more about the fine art of knitting, they're going to waste their time following me - I pretty much have nothing of value to offer to them) THAT would just be a waste of their time. It's similar to the way I think about my fiction. As intriguing as it might seem to me, I actually don't want EVERYONE to read my fiction.

I recognize that some people will love my writing (and am self-aware enough to know that this is very likely to be a select minority of people), some will merely like it and some will hate it. The worst thing I could do would be to flog my fiction around to EVERYONE. In standard day to day contact with people, I don't tell everyone I write and what I write -- I usually only mention it IF I believe that my writing is something they might enjoy. At that point, it stands to have more value to them.

So, similarly, I'm on Twitter. Check me out. If you think my tweets add value to your day, feel free to follow me. If not, then check out someone else. I'd hate to waste your time.

Opposing Amazon

* Please note that this blog post is the viewpoint of a single Canadian bookseller and though there is cross-over viewpoint included, this is not meant to represent any other larger entity or organization.

When Stephen Cribar, Canadian Bookseller Association President, was unable to make it in to the CBC studio's yesterday evening for a live appearance on Politics & Power to discuss why CBA opposes Amazon's recent desire to set up a physical warehouse in Canada (Globe & Mail article, Quill & Quire blog, National Post article), as CBA Vice President, I stepped in.



The interview appears on CBC's website here at about 1 hour and 4 minutes. (It's an interesting show overall, but if you don't have time and are interested in the "book" discussion, you can skip through to about 1: 04 in the broadcast)

Reactions to CBA's opposition are mixed, and mostly due, I think, to a misunderstanding on why the opposition is occurring.

Here's my personal take on it, or why I personally support CBA's opposition.

CBA is NOT proposing that Amazon not sell into the Canadian market or that the government attempt to block Amazon from having access to the market.

First of all, it would be impossible, since the internet is pretty much available anywhere to anyone (at least in the free world). And second, let's look at the reality: Amazon is ALREADY a powerful and dominant presence in our market.

So what is CBA opposing?

CBA is opposing a ruling that would open the gate for this foreign-owned company to set up a physical location into Canada. And it's not necessarily because of what that simple warehouse means, but the fact that this step could be the first of many in which a powerful, rich "American Goliath" might be able to commandeer a different sort of presence in Canada that could systematically take down any semblance of independence and free-thinking that currently exists.

Is it likely to happen? Who knows? Is our Canadian independence and distinct Canadian voice worth fighting for? Damn right.

Since the explosion of internet bookselling and big box retailing, many independent booksellers across Canada have closed up shop. It's sad and frustrating to see. However, that's part of the nature of the business. Some stores continue to operate, and some just can't do it anymore. And yes, competition is good. Competition is GREAT, in fact. It allows the consumer to be able to have access to more choice about where they want to shop and how they want to shop.

CBA is NOT opposed to choice for consumers. In fact, choice is one of the underlying reasons why CBA is leery about what this move means for Canada.

Right now, consumers have a choice as to where, when and how they purchase their books. They can do it online via hundreds of various sources, whether it's their local independent bookstore, via Canada's largest chain, Chapters/Indigo, or via Amazon's US or Canadian website. Or they can do it via a variety of physical locations, whether it's a big box warehouse, their local drug, grocery or department store, Chapters, Coles or Indigo, or their local independent bookstore, all of which offer an incredibly complex and dynamic breadth to the cultural landscape of Canada, particularly when it comes to the written word.

In my opinion, consumers having that choice is wonderful. I WANT consumers to have that choice, to be able to decide where and how to spend their money on books. In my mind, the very fact that people are interested in purchasing books and reading is wonderful. And Canadian consumers should ALWAYS have such a wonderful choice between as many options as possible.

But what happens if an American giant is able to work it's way into Canada and takes over a large Canadian operation? The initial thought is that there would be more choice, more selection available to consumers. However, let's look at some things that have happened in Canadian bookselling in the past few decades.

Local communities and support of smaller local presses and local authors suffered significant blows when Canada's dominant bookseller moved their purchasing focus from being decided within the regions where their stores were located, and centralized them to a downtown Toronto office. How can a buyer in Toronto (no matter how great they are, and I personally know many of them -- they are truly intelligent, wonderful and very passionate book people) properly get a handle on a local interest title being produced in a small town in Eastern Canada, a title that perhaps isn't destined to sell well anywhere except in a particular region? A title that requires actually knowing something about the actual community, that requires being a part of that community.

Chances are, it'll get overlooked in the long run if due to nothing more than the red tape of a larger organization.

It's very likely that the local bookseller, whether it's someone who works locally in that chain store, or an owner or employee who works in the local independent bookstore, have their finger on the pulse of the local community, are in touch with the artists and creators and customers.

For the knowledgeable employee in a Canadian chain store to get their voice heard it takes a great deal of effort and energy to work against the "norm" and push for local content and support their local community. Because the system is set up for information and knowledge to flow from Toronto to all outlying locations, getting a decent flow of information back to Toronto that would be important to the local community, is a challenge.

There are employees within the chain stores that do it -- but it's usually because they persist against the odds and these are extraordinary people. Of course, employees and owners of independent bookstores can do these things quickly, easily and efficiently. They are extraordinary people, too -- and fortunately, there isn't a system preventing them from showcasing their passion for books and community spirit. They are, after all, independent, and with that comes freedom of choice and the lack of preventative red tape.

Imagine how difficult that struggle for the local bookseller might be if the bookselling operation and main purchasing decisions for Canada were located in New York rather than Toronto?

Imagine what might happen to those books which are produced that offer regional and local authors and publishers a chance to share their voice no longer have the opportunity to be accessible to consumers?

Sure, the local regional publisher might be able to set up an account to sell their books on Amazon. Sure, perhaps their titles are searchable via a million other titles on a gigantic website that screams selection, selection. The "Long Tail" of bookselling brought about by internet bookstores is truly remarkable. But the down-side of that is that the odds of a customer being able to stumble upon a locally significant title within the overwhelming selection are greatly reduced.

That's one of the side benefits of a local bookseller invested in a local community -- they are there to help consumers within that selection. To get to know their community and their customers. To help the customer make decisions based on previous reading, based on their viewpoints and perspectives. The book-shopping experience isn't just about buying a physical product, it's about the multi-level and complex cultural experience involved. Often, the physical browsing and the conversation between consumers and booksellers are what add a relevant and dynamic spice to the book-shopping experience.

The chances of that local authored and locally produced title being prominently displayed or discussed in a physical location within the region where that book is integral to the community or important to the local consumers is pretty strong. And sometimes it's those lesser known regional titles that end up making a significant stance in the Canadian market that were championed by local and regional bestsellers, merely because they existed, were able to support the book, the author, the publisher, and help it work its way into the hearts and minds of consumers.

Thus, we, as consumers, currently have a great system which is a combination of Canadian chain and independent operations, all offering slightly different things in terms of price, selection, availability and service. We also have access to rich repositories of online books both Canadian and foreign owned.

We need to keep that dynamic and rich selection available to consumers.

With the existing landscape of the Canadian bookselling market, with the wonderful and dynamic range of bookstores that Canadian consumers have access to, customers are nicely served.

In Hamilton, for example, where I live, consumers can go to Coles, Chapters, Bryan Prince or Titles Bookstore at McMaster (to give 4 good examples) to purchase their books. Similarly, they can also go online and seek out their books.

When I work at our general books desk at Titles Bookstore at McMaster I regularly get customers coming in and looking for titles, AFTER they have searched the Chapters and Indigo websites. What are they often looking for? Titles from a smaller press that might not have been able to crack into those markets. Wonderful books from independent Canadian booksellers written by local and regional authors that I, as a bookseller within Canada, either already have on my store shelves or can easily reseach and order. But it's not just my store, it's hundreds of stores across the country where the same thing is played out every day. If the customer's ONLY option were the online behemoths, is anybody going to bother researching and ordering their book in for them?

Again, I'm not saying that the online booksellers are terrible. They're great, in fact. I love them. I buy books from them as a consumer. (I buy books at my own store, and I also buy books online from Canadian and US websites as well as at bookstores wherever I travel. And I LOVE having the ability to choose and relish the fact that consumers should continue to have this choice)

Imagine yet another "Wal-Mart" type business setting up shop and focusing on a strategy by which they will continually sell items below cost in order to squeeze out all competitors.

Imagine what might happen when, in squeezing out all competitors, the Canadian landscape of bookstores remains nothing but a variety of online and physical bookstores all run from a distant head office located outside the borders of Canada?

We Canadians LOVE making fun of how little our U.S. neighbours know about us -- the fact that they have no clue we have a Prime Minister instead of a President, wondering if we all live in igloos, or when, during the Vancouver Olympics, NBC confused Michael J. Fox with Terry Fox. Of course, there couldn't possibly have been two different Foxes from Canada who did something significant. It's a simple mistake for an unknowing US journalist to make. But a ridiculous error made by simply not knowing anything about our culture and identity. What if a Canadian journalist confused Jamie Fox with Matthew Fox? Well, we know that wouldn't happen. We are already saturated in media from the U.S. and regularly see evidence of what a lack of knowledge about Canada in general means.

What if MORE decisions with respect to Canadian produced content and culture were given over to foreign or US owned companies?

What would happen to the richness of our choices, then?

As I stated before, this is merely one possible scenario that could happen. I'm all for selection, I'm all for choice. But I'm also all for a system in which consumers will continue to be offered choice, not have that choice taken away from them if all book-retailing decisions are made by a single powerful foreign owned entity.

Stranger, more frightening things have happened when people just sat back and watched rather than stuck their necks out, took a stand, and spoke out against something they strongly believed in.

The Best A Man Can Get

I'm thinking that, as their slogan goes, Gillette is the best a man can get.

Several weeks ago, towards the end of a challenging pay period where the bills and expenses overpowered the amount of available funds, I was in need of a razor, having stretched the re-use of my existing one to about three times it's expected life.

So, at my local Shopper's Drug Mart, while browsing through the razor blades, I decided to forgo my default purchase of the MACH 4 Gillette razor (or whatever number they're at now, since they just keep increasing it to make it more and more impressive -- soon, I'm sure I'll be using a MACH 4000). Instead, I bought one of the cheaper knock-off brands -- in this case, the much lower priced Life Brand razor (a Shopper's Drug Mart branding for better prices on various products)

The Life Brand, in most other cases has proven to be a suitable compromise for me. Better price, seemingly no difference in quality.

Except when it came to the razor.

How do I best state this? Okay, let me try.

Ouch!!!!

Ahhh!!!!

Damn!!!!

Oy!!!!

By the time I was finished, my face looked somewhat like Frankenstein's monster. Seriously, the tiny nicks and cuts of outrageous fortune were all over my face, some of them running deep and taking well over a week to heal.

Needless to say, I eagerly awaited the next pay coming in so I could buy a decent razor. A Gillette.

BTW, this ad isn't sponsored by Gillette, and they know nothing about me talking about this -- IE, this isn't a sponsored post. I told myself to write it. I've also used Wilkinson and Schick and others, and they all do well, too.

I guess the point I'm trying to make here (aside from an attempt at telling a humourous story about hurting myself by trying to be cheap), is that you often get exactly what you pay for, and that, being price conscious when shopping is, of course, a good thing to do, but there ARE cases where the "deal" is not a "deal" because it's a lesser quality product that costs you something else.

In my case, the cost was blood.

I'm not slamming Life Brand, because there are various Life Brand items I use that are perfectly fine. But when it comes to safety razors I'm going to stick with Gillette and the other top notch brands that cost more, but keep my face smooth and sleek and free of the thousand thin razor cuts that flesh is heir to.

I'm sure you might have your OWN examples of when you tried to make do with a lesser brand or service because of cost savings and ended up doing yourself a huge disservice.

VistaPrint Making It Right

Just a few hours after I posted an open letter to VistaPrint, I heard from a representative at VistaPrint.

This person very politely thanked me for the kind words about their services and products and then offered me a quick and easy link to where I could modify my "promo email" settings to one per week -- a spot in my VistaPrint account that I hadn't been previously aware of. Though I'd prefer one per month, one per week is definitely better than the almost daily ones I've been receiving. So I'm quite satisfied that will stop.

This person also wondered if some of my extra emails might be coming from affiliates who weren't supposed to be sending emails to existing VistaPrint customers and offered to look at any of the ones I received in excess of my account-setting limit by having me forward them so they could be investigated further.

THIS is an example of two really cool things, IMHO.

1) A company using social media to check out customer feedback (obviously some sort of auto-scan bot must have found my mention of their company) and actually listen to customer feedback and commentary.

2) A company that takes the time not only to listen but to engage, communicate and respond to customers in a proactive and constructive way. This makes the company "real" and "human" to me as a consumer and not just a "corporate" entity.

Colour me impressed.

I had an issue, I raised the issue (not even with the company, I was just randomly ranting on my blog to try to show an example of something that some companies do that annoy me), a representative from the company in question was listening AND they took appropriate and reasonable action to help me resolve my issue. I started out annoyed and angry and ended up a satisfied customer. And it didn't cost the company much more than a caring employee taking a few moments out of their day.

So, in celebration of that, here's my new and updated open letter to VistaPrint:

- - - - -

Dear VistaPrint Canada:

Thanks for listening, thanks for being proactive. Thanks for responding, thanks for helping me with my issue. I'm now doubly impressed with your service and integrity. Your company employs really good people. Thank you for that. I will continue to use and suggest your services to friends and colleagues.

Sincerely,

An Impressed Customer

An Open Letter To Vistaprint

I'm far from an expert on marketing and social media. But I am a consumer. And a damn fine one, since I've had decades of experience not only purchasing things, but deciding which things I like to purchase and basing my decision on a combination of factors -- my need or desire for a product or service, the quality and reliability, my satisfaction and my overall perception of a company.

So, in the interest of helping out a company that I want to keep liking, and perhaps help other companies considering doing the same sort of things, I post this open letter to the good people at Vistaprint.

- - - - -

Dear VistaPrint Canada:

First of all, I want to tell you that I have found great value in your products and services. Several months ago, I spotted an online link to one of your online ads (I honestly can't remember where it was, most likely on some website for writers or perhaps even in a Google search result ad link) and checked out your "free business card" offer.

In a matter of minutes, I was able to create a pretty decent looking business card and order it. I opted for the $1 custom update to the free cards, allowing me to put my own website on the back of the card (because by default the free cards carry the vistaprint website url on it, which is pretty fine, especially for a free custom business card), and know I had to pay for shipping, which was a bit steep so must be part of where you actually make your money. But that's fine -- I recognize the need of a business to make money and the time saving and the cost were definitely worthwhile to me.

On my way to the checkout, I spotted an interesting "add on" option to have sticky notes created with a logo/look matching my cards. For a few extra dollars I ordered them, too. After that, the multi-repeated "would you like fries with that?" experience of checkout was a bit much -- ie, there were TOO MANY offers (it was more like: "Do you want fries? How about a larger coke? What about extra deluxe napkins? Or filtered water? Some ice cream? A hot dog? Or perhaps a muffin? A cookie? No, then what about this waiver thin mint?) -- but the experience was still manageable despite the "endless" nature of it.

A few weeks later, my 250 business cards and sticky notes arrived -- they were truly top quality products that I'm proud of. [An image of my business cards, sans my phone number and address appear below]

I know, based on my experience, that I WILL order custom stationery and business card products from you again. I have also already suggested you to several other writers that I know and believe they have also ordered from you. I realize that I'm doing both THEM and YOU a favour, and I'm happy to do so. Because as a consumer, if I have a good experience with a company or service, I LIKE telling others about it so that THEY can also benefit from the great value offered.

But here's where you not only continue to fail to impress me, but where you're making me reconsider doing business with you again.

Though I have already deleted most of them, I still have hundreds of emails in my inbox from your company telling me about great promotions or products. And I only started dealing with you the last week of August 2009. These emails are all virtually the same offer. Something cool for free or discounted significantly.

The thing is, I ALREADY know that you have great products for a great price. You don't need to repeatedly tell me. You don't need to preach to the choir here.

Second, every single extra spam email I get from you (and that's honestly what this excess of promotional emails feels like, even though I know I opted in when I bought something) makes me LESS and LESS likely to return business to you. Why? Because simply, they are annoying.

Again, don't get me wrong. Your company offers great services at a great value.

But you sincerely run the risk of pissing me off so much with a plethora of emails that aren't really telling me anything new such that I DON'T want to buy from you.

Really, when I see these emails I think of an annoying person yelling "look at me, look at me!" then pausing a few minutes and then screaming: "No, really, look over here -- look what I'm doing!" And then, when nobody looks, they start throwing things to try to get attention. The bottom line is the blatant annoying nature of the behaviour.

Please, for the love of the customers like me who are satisfied with your services and are planning on coming back, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, limit your promotional emails to one per month -- unless of course there is truly some COMPLETELY DIFFERENT or UNIQUE offer or limited promotion.

I honestly like your products and service, the price is right, the ease of use on your website is great, and the reliability is there too. Just please reconsider your "in your face" email promotions and rely on the customers you have satisfied to help spread the word. Otherwise, your over-the-top blanketing of web-blast emails (which remind me of the endless porn, Viagra and "increase your manhood size" type emails that fill my inbox daily) will likely serve to have a negative effect on returning customers and a negative effect on my desire to refer your business to others. I know they'll get value, but I don't want my friends to have to be subjected to such "spammy" behaviour.

And since I value your services, I really don't want to see that happen. I DO want to continue to like you.

Sincerely,

A Satisfied Customer (who becomes a bit less satisfied with every additional excess email I receive from you)




UPDATE: Within hours of posting this, a representative at VistaPrint contacted me and helped me modify my account settings (which I wasn't aware of) to change the frequency of emails I received from them. Read this updated post entitled VistaPrint Making It Right for more details.

Social Gaffe

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very graceful in social settings, nor am I very good with names. It's true that though I might have already met someone and been told their name that I'll often forget unless I find a way to use their name almost immediately. It's a weakness I recognize in myself, and I am trying to work on it.

At the very least, though I'm not good with names, I typically remember a face and pride myself on at least committing part of the introduction of a person to memory. And, being a socially awkward person, I'll admit that I recognize them and apologize for forgetting their name. Usually at that point, their name is committed to memory.

My point is that I'm far from perfect -- but I feel I at least make an effort.

But something that I can't stand are self-important people who might have met me on multiple occasions and yet, each time act as if it's the very first time we've met.

Normally, in a social setting, I lie back and take it and don't make an issue of things. After all, we all make this mistake, don't we? My manner has always been to try to make the other person in a social situation feel good and relaxed. I'll ignore gaffes and minor things rather than making a big deal out of them.

But last night at a social gathering, I just couldn't let it pass.

Last night, this woman whom I've met, had conversations with and socialized in a relatively intimate group setting for the past half dozen years tried introducing herself to me as if we didn't know each other and had never met. Yes, I'm impressed with the attempt at the social nicety of introducing herself, but the fact that she didn't realize we'd met and conversed on numerous occasions felt like a gigantic slap in the face.

This particular woman who is generally pleasant and nice, has consistently given me the impression that she looks down her nose at most of the rest of the world and that, to be in a conversation with someone unimportant like me is her version of "slumming."

So while normally, I let such things pass, this time I couldn't help but respond by saying:

"Hi, Madame[name excluded to protect the innocent], I'm Mark. We've met about 5 or 6 times now at this annual party."

Of course, the best part was just seconds later when, simply moving on rather than respond to my comment, she made the same gaffe and introduced herself to Francine. Fran responded by saying. "Hi, I'm Francine. Mark's wife. We've also met several times."

Strike Two on Madame.

I believe at that point she stopping introducing herself to the same crew she "met" every year and seemed to relax into just enjoying the gathering rather than risk a third strike.

Our work done, Fran and I went back to socializing with people we quite looked forward to spending time with and usually only saw once or twice a year at this lovely annual gathering of friends.

Doing It Right

[Overheard regularly at Titles Bookstore McMaster University on a daily basis for the past couple of weeks]

Student: "Excuse me, sir. Do you sell this Chemisty textbook on its own?"

Me: "I'm sorry, we only sell it as a package. The textbook on it's own sells for anywhere between $120 and $190."

Student: "Gulp. So how much does this three part package cost?"

Me: "$97.95. You get the hardcover textbook, the paperback solution manual and an interactive software media pack."

Student: "Oh!"

There's a reason the student's reaction is typically a really stunned look or that they eye me suspiciously for a long time and usually back away slowly, careful not to turn their back to me.

It's because by the time they find this package, which is being used in almost all of the first year Chemistry courses being taught at McMaster, they're used to being ripped off. But I think this is a case of an academic institution and a publisher working together and doing it right.

I'll be the first one to admit -- the textbook industry is broken. It's a horrible mess. It's a legacy monopoly environment that keeps spiraling out of control. For the longest time academic publishers sold millions of books because instructors "adopted" them and students had no choice but to buy them. But in the past ten years particularly, sales stopped going up. The price got to a point that students couldn't afford the books and so started looking for other solutions, which include buying used books, using the library, international editions or other illegal methods, or simply opting NOT to purchase the textbook at all.

In fact, unit sales of textbooks have consistently been going downhill for many years now and publishers are spending more and more to try to stay relevant, produce additional value in their course materials and compete with one another for the elusive "textbook adoption" -- but the additional millions upon millions of dollars they are spending to compete with one another is having a negative effect on the textbook price -- it's driving the prices upwards. And thus the frustrating death-spiral.

CCRA (Canadian Campus Retail Associates) stores across Canada launched a great promotion last year called WeirdBlame. With the phrase "Don't blame the bookstore, we didn't pick your roommate either" the site attempts to use humour to help educate frustrated students on where things went wrong.

CCRA and other campus stores are doing their best to work with student groups and publishers on solutions to help fix this broken market. Titles Bookstore at McMaster is a member of many such groups and we are constantly looking for new solutions to these problems before the textbook industry goes the way of the auto industry. The writing should be on the wall -- it's too bad so many intelligent people who DO know how to read aren't seeing it.

But in the meantime, rather than point out the obvious negatives, I wanted to return to spotlighting one particular approach taken done by a faculty at McMaster which I think created a win-win situation for students, the publisher and the bookstore.

Three years ago, the Chemistry Department at McMaster negotiated a deal with Pearson Education Canada. As I understand it, it was done after a lengthy RFP-type plan put out to a number of publishers. But, in a nutshell, McMaster's Chemistry department agreed to "lock in" the same textbook package for the majority of their first year Chemistry classes provided that the publisher whose textbook was chosen locked in the textbook package at a reasonable price.

The result is that first year Chemistry students at McMaster for the past three years have been able to purchase the Petrucci Package for a fantastic and very reasonable price.

The package includes the 9th edition of the Petrucci General Chemistry textbook (which normally retails on its own for between $120 and $190 -- if you don't believe me, check out Amazon's listing for the book, which at the time of me writing this, lists the book for $140 US), plus the paperback Solution Manual (which I've seen listed for between $60 and $90), plus a software Media pack (a kind of interactive "Study Guide" to assist students, which usually retails for under $30 on its own) for the price of $97.95.

I applaud the wonderful efforts made by McMaster's Department of Chemistry as well as the folks at Pearson who made this possible. When I think of the millions of dollars that both parties have helped to save students over the past three years at McMaster it makes me proud to have been a part of it.

But what, business-wise, is the end result?

From the bookstore's perspective, I can tell that in the past three years we have sold thousands upon thousands of units of this package. Having personally unpacked thousands of boxes and broken down dozens of skids of the textbook (that were selling like Cabbage Patch Dolls or the lastest iPhone release from Apple), I have continually witnessed the effect of a reasonably priced textbook package.

And even though our bookstore is admittedly aggressive in the pursuit of used books in order to save students money, and we did sell a lot of used packages for about $73, more than 90% of our sales in this case were for the NEW BOOK PACKAGE.

Simply put, this is a textbook package that the students can easily see the value in and which most are willing to purchase new. (Value is tough to nail because it's weighed on two elusive tiers. On one side, the price needs to be "reasonable" and on the other, the students need to actually use MOST of the material in the book. When both things are true, the students tends to find "value" in their purchase. If you ask the average student to define what a good priced book should be, most are likely to say "it depends" because of these elusive factors -- that is one of the things that makes the business of creating textbooks at a reasonable price so frustrating for publishers. There are no hard numbers to rely on.)

I don't know the figures at Pearson with respect to this package and sales at McMaster, but I'd like to believe that they did okay and actually made some money on this deal. Despite all the arguments I often get into with publishers over outrageous textbook prices, I respect the money they invest into their products and recognize that they are businesses and need to generate a profit in order to stay in business. I just prefer that the profits are made from making smart business decisions and when expenditures aren't placed onto the backs of the students.

So I really would like to believe that Pearson also saw this as a worthwhile return on their investment. I'd like to believe that because I think that THIS is one of many solutions that can help publishers and help students at the same time. And if a publisher can make money while students can spend less and get a good deal, then that's a good thing that can last and break the vicious cycle of what the textbook industry has devolved into.

Since we're at the end of the 3 year commitment for this package at McMaster, I am eagerly awaiting to see what the Chemistry Department does next and which publisher will step up to the plate this time around -- but I truly hope that a similar deal can be struck for the next three years.

For the sake of students and for the sake of the death spiral this industry is so desperately trying to avoid.

Godin Gets It

I was absolutely delighted to see Seth Godin's recent rant about textbooks.

I should have known that someone outside of the industry would be so keen as to have picked up on the topic with the proper angle and hit the nail so perfectly dead centre on the head.

It's not surprising, though. I only recently finished reading Seth Godin's book Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers. It was highly recommended to all participants at a recent CCRA meeting I was at in Montreal. Not only was the book a compelling and quick read and chock full of fantastic information, but in it Godin also made predictions about Amazon that are coming true. (Let me put this into perspective -- this book, which was first published in 1999, is now in it's 24th printing and still in hardcover, which, I imagine, suggests just HOW many copies are still selling today) In the book Godin suggests some strategies that Amazon would be likely to adopt -- lo and behold, they're coming true. Nuff said about that. Get out there and read Godin's book. Me, I'm about to pick up and read through as many of his other books as I can.

But back to Godin's rant. Looking at marketing textbooks, he found a frustrating list of problems with the existing textbook market. Like the folks in CRAM (Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials) *, he realizes that the current model is broken and needs to be looked at seriously.

If you're in Canada and somehow invested in the textbook industry (be it as student, bookstore, faculty member, librarian or publisher), please do check out CRAM to see how you can be involved in helping make a difference in the industry. If you're not in Canada, you still still go check it out and take advantage of the resources listed because all of these principles are universal and likely apply in your own country.


* CRAM is a group of students and bookstores working together with as many industry partners as possible (faculty, libraries and publishers) to try to find new solutions to this existing broken model. Their nine principles are listed below:

1. Academic materials must be a high quality and offer reasonable value to students.
2. Academic Community Members are the ultimate decision makers for selecting academic materials.
3. Academic Community Members should consider the cost for students when selecting course materials, and should explore and utilize the most cost-effective forms of delivery.
4. Publishers and other supply chain providers should, where feasible, utilize the most cost-effective technologies for delivering academic materials.
5. Strive for a clear balance in copyright legislation between owner and user rights that promotes the sharing of ideas.
6. Encourage academic community members to fully and clearly understand the legal implications of copyright-related agreements, so that Fair Dealing can be fully exercised at the campus level.
7. The academic materials delivery processes at each participating school should incorporate joint Bookstore, Student, Academic Community Members and Library committees that foster communication, promote enhanced relationships, and facilitate the sharing of ideas and concerns.
8. Establish monitoring and feedback mechanisms in order to measure and enhance the quality, affordability, and accessibility of academic materials.
9. Advance the cost-effectiveness and affordability of academic materials through the development of:
   1. Advocacy strategies and tools that can be utilized at the campus level to promote enhanced awareness of the problems and the solutions.
   2. Advocacy strategies and plans at the national level that focus on presenting a concerted and unified position in relation to matters concerning academic materials.
   3. Communication with other national entities in the sphere of post-secondary education, including but not limited to the Association of Universities & Colleges of Canada (AUCC), the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and Campus Stores Canada (CSC).

Writer's Block - A Serious Illness

I found this embedded video on mb's blog. It's an episode of Steve Patterson's That's Not Debatable. Steve is the host of The Debaters on CBC Radio. You can see more episodes of TND as well as other hilarious clips on You Tube.

I have long argued that there is no such thing as Writer's Block, that I don't believe in it and that perhaps it's just a convenient excuse writer's use so we don't look like lazy asses.

But I just love the way that Patterson sums up his view of Writer's Block perfectly in just over one minute.