The Matriarch is dead

Today I went out to clean the guinea pig cage to the strange sight of all 4 guinea pigs reclining in the corner. At least, that was what I thought they were doing. 3 were and the fourth (Cocoa) was lying dead. I was so sad. Cocoa was the matriarch of the group. A grand old dame of a guinea pig. I am not sure why she had died (possibly old age) but the others, who had been snuggling next to her dead body, were obviously upset. As were the girls when they returned from school. We shall miss her.

Meanwhile I had a reply from Amazon. One that showed that they were developing something to combat negative behaviour and wanted to be kept abreast of any possible incidences of negative behaviour. However, I am concerned over what they can do about the situation now and have written back to find out.

Let's see what happens

Small publishers are definitely in a tight corner. When I first set up The Publishing Cupboard I knew that my prime target market was not the people walking into the bookshops in search of a laid-back approach to language learning, but the bookbuyers of the bookchains. In other words the language buyers for WH Smith, Waterstone's, Borders, Blackwells and John Smith.

Having come from the cossetted editorial world of HarperCollins where the Sales team were the ones that really carried any clout with these key accounts, I vaguely imagined I could do their job from the confines of a Cupboard. How wrong I was, dear readers!

WH Smith is practically impenetrable for any publisher (big or small). Waterstones as far as I can make out has one person allocated to look after the independent publishers. Given that there are 480 members of the Independent Publishers Guild, that person must be stretched to distraction. From what I gather from Wikipedia there are about 40 Borders shops in the UK compared to over 300 Waterstone's. Blackwells and John Smith are primarily academic/university shops.

When you take all that into account, Waterstone's is the best route to the secondary market (those language learners for us). So it is awfully important for the Hub to work for the small publishers who probably depend heavily on their Waterstone's sales.

For us, Amazon provided the shelf space we couldn't reach terrestrially. I have just written to them to see if they could sort out the bizarre review situation we are experiencing. It will be interesting to see what they come back with.

ps I should mention that our best customer now is the wonderful Grant & Cutler. Each month we receive regular orders from them.

Carrying on up the Amazon

Well, that wasn't too bad. I don't have a native to make contact with, but I do have an e-mail. I shall send in my communication and report back.

But so far, so good.

Travelling up the Amazon

Well, dear readers, it is time to embark on my journey into the Amazon. How I get in and find someone to speak to will be interesting. First I need to find somewhere to penetrate beneath the website canopy.

I shall keep you informed about my quest to find the source of the strange clicking.

To see more pictures of the Amazon, visit http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/esp133/amaztour.htm

A dignified silence

is what Harry recommends on the Amazon front. So though it pains me, I shall try to take his advice.

But something odd is taking place with Amazon reviews of the Nod offs. For a start there seem to be quite a few, followed by legions of language learners clicking their way past. Any good reviews get a rash of unhelpful clicks. And bad one-star reviews get a flurry of helpful clicks. Which means the bad reviews float to the top. If you compare this with other Amazon titles, it just doesn't follow the normal pattern. It's most puzzling.

For a Cupboard, people are taking mucho interest. I take it that they are clicking with their mano sinistra.

Interesting words

For anyone interested in words and where they come from, here is a blog to check out (courtesy of Harry).

And for anyone interested in whatever happened to places, check out Harry's book. It's a great Christmas gift.

The Language Show, Olympia, London

Anyone who is keen on languages might be interested in attending The Language Show which runs from Friday to Sunday at Olympia. There are lots of free seminars and taster classes. If your learning spirit needs a boost, maybe you should swing by.

I shared a stand at the last two shows, but am not able to attend this year. However, Lexus have kindly offered to have the Nod offs on sale at their stand. Do stop by and see all Peter has to offer. He has a great Chinese learning product just out. It is an interactive CD-Rom: Read, Listen & Speak, a combined vocabulary builder, character recognition instructor and pronunciation coach. Read, Listen & Speak assesses and evaluates learning progress. It will listen to users’ pronunciation of Chinese and respond on accuracy.

My absence from The Show means that I have been plunged into making Halloween costumes for my daughters. Last night involved sewing yellow stripes onto a black t-shirt for Luisa. She is dressing up as a bumble bee. Not sure how Halloweeny this is.