Look! Another Bend "home-building Uptick"! Bulletin, 11/18/12.
Hey, probably so. Once the bottom was reached, it probably had to happen and then keep happening.
Notice, however, that employment and wages are at their lowest point. Significantly.
So what we end up with is another house (I'm still skeptical about the need -- I still believe there are lots of houses yet to come on the market).
But fewer employees are being paid less to build them.
Sort of reminds me of the story of giving a man a fish, or teaching a man to fish.
Here's a fish for you.
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Hey, a bonus to restaurants being non-smoking establishments.
Losing the Pine Tavern would have been a tragedy.
They don't blow up if there's a gas leak!
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The Bulletin is making the best case they can for their retrenchment.
I recognize the signs. Make less look like more, by consolidating.
It's a healthy strategy. I really expect and hope them to survive -- hopefully not being reduced the Crescent City newspaper size...
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Honey Boo Boo Palin?
Ouch.
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Asked Linda straight out: Agent or online?
"Online," she said without hesitation.
She writing even more than I am, believe it or not. Transferring an old manuscript to Word and adding a whole bunch and enjoying herself.
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Thanksgiving -- and therefore the Holiday Season -- is approaching with unseemly haste.
I've already stocked up on games -- and I'll be making a book order today, so I'll have the inventory. It just seems different this year, for some reason.
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Here's a thought. The books I wrote (STAR AXE, SNOWCASTLES, ICETOWERS) were published 30 years ago.
With the old media, by now, they'd be mostly gone. Gathering dust in a few used bookstores here and there.
In fact, about 15 to 20 years ago, that's exactly where they were.
Then...the Internet. If I Google my books, I get hundreds of listings all over the world. The mostly bad reviews (very, very few reviews of any kind -- almost none at first) from decades ago are now overlaid by a few good reviews as time gives the old books a rosy glow. I get my first fan letter! (e-mail.)
I remember the first time I realized that someone was digitally offering my books for free. I had a momentary qualm, and then I realized, "HELL, yeah. Someone might read my books. See -- money isn't the thing anymore at this point. You can't take it with you.
Put it online and daydream that a hundred years from now they discover a forgotten master. Heh.
So I'm in this weird position.
My writer self LOVES Amazon and all the other sites offering e-books.
My bookstore self HATES Amazon and all the other sites offering e-books.
Good thing I can compartmentalize!
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3 comments:
I think The Bullshittin's strategy of creating more and more "special" sections is a bad one, and here's why: Every section has to have a front page, and that's a whole page of newsprint with little or no advertising on it. It's a big waste of newsprint, and newsprint is the biggest single expense a typical daily paper has. Monday through Saturday they should publish only a front section, a Local section, a Business section and a Sports section, plus an Entertainment section on Friday. A 48-page paper with four sections of 12 pages each, including four section fronts, is much more cost-effective than a 48-page paper with eight sections of six pages each, including eight section fronts. Also, as a reader I find the multiplicity of "special" sections inconvenient and confusing. I understand they're doing this to have more options to offer advertisers, but I think it's ultimately a losing strategy.
That's why you never made it past City Editor, or whatever the hell you were. Making sound business decisions was beyond your scope. That's also why you can't afford to move from a town that sux so badly.
No personal attacks, please.
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