Quote:
Originally Posted by CRussel
Ah, Hitch. I seem to have struck a nerve, what?! I'd give you some more K, but apparently I've done so too recently. IAC, I agree completely. I mean, really, how many emails does it take to turn bad docx into a .mobi version of the same (likely horrible) book?
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Thanks, Charlie:
I think we shared a moment (oooohhh...
) about something else, recently. Yes, it's just mind-boggling to me. Do I occasionally do stupid s**t, and misread instructions, or goof up on something? Sure, but, bejeezus, I try not to make a freaking lifestyle out of it!
I'm just...frustrated. The biz has just changed a lot; all the low-hanging fiction fruit is long gone, mostly, or is being DIY'ed (not necessarily in a good way, mind you). So now, we seem to have a heavy traffic in uber-complex books, and uber-not-schooled clients. And worse, we get a lot that are BOTH. I set a rule in place on Wednesday, at the shop: no more workout books this week that were made in Word, or by obvious, first-time, just-subscribed INDD in the Cloud users. No more books this week that are cookbooks, with obviously do-it-yourself-with-your-smartphone-home-photography. (I may never eat meatballs again...).
It's exhausting. I'm not trying to complain, nor obtain sympathy, it's just...it's not like there's a good (secret, Masonic-handshake, closed-to-the-public) forum for professional bookmakers to vent, realistically, and you certainly can't BLOG about it, for the love of heaven. I mean, no prospective client wants to see you making fun of another client. That would be BAD, and let's face it: it would be unprofessional. Just doing and saying what I'm doing here is on the verge, but...mostly, I manage to stuff it, tamp it down, but with 5-800 books a year, sometimes, it gets out.
Oh, and don't get me STARTED about the guy with the blog. Who thinks that everyone he's spoken to is either being condescending or ripping him off, because "obviously there's an automated way to turn Wordpress posts into a Kindle book." That's a long, long, looooooooooong story, and I won't bore you guys with it. But...man. It simply seems like this past month, folks are being either deliberately abusive or, like Mr. 49-emails above, cavalierly abusive of one's time and dignity.
Hitch