The Check is in the Mail and Other Black Comedies

[rolanni]

Today, kinzel and I drove out to the post office and thence roundabout to Augusta, where we visited Staples on behalf of SRM and Barnes and Noble on behalf of ourselves.

Our contact at B&N, who watches over the science fiction section as if it were his own child, spent a sizable chunk of time with us, digging deep inside the guts of the computer system, and explaining what's needed to get Corporate to model a book. Selling five books isn't necessarily enough to get more ordered in; selling five books in two days or otherwise creating a pop that gets the attention of Corporate -- that gets the book modeled. Usually.

In other news, he had ordered eleven Crystal Dragon, none of which have arrived. Indeed, there's no sign of the books yet in the regional warehouse, which in practical terms means they're out of his reach. And there was much gnashing of teeth.

We've also had news from at least one Alert Shopper that the ISBN for Crystal Dragon, when fed into the Ingram catalog, produces -- wait for it -- Class Dis-Mythed by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye. Those who need to special order, please do be aware of this glitch and encourage the clerk to search by title or author.

The afternoon has been filled with various tasks -- kinzel is laying out Calamity's Child, and I contributed some cover copy and an updated authors' bio, before getting a start on the next chapter in the Book Without A Name.

I need to do a post sometime soon about the revelations and inversions of Second Life, but today is not the day.

And -- drum roll, please -- kinzel and I have, after a careful consideration of our *cough* finances, opened the Dulsey Defense Fund for contributions. We do not, as a rule, ask other people to help us take care of our cats, but this past year's financial adventures have tapped us out. If you have any spare change that you'd like to send Dulsey's way, we thank you.

EDITED TO ADD: PayPal's helpful addition of a $5 s/h charge has now been turned off in both places.

Comments

Re: Modeled?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Ah! So this is an inventory control model, which attempts to predict what an appropriate level is. Given how little real information they have to base such a model on, it must be painful prognostication. And when they miss, people complain that they can't get the book, or that there are all those remainders just sitting there eating up stock space.

Thanks! Now I wonder if that usage is going to get into the dictionaries. It's an interesting one.