Unsubscribe
Every so often I purge emails from my inbox that I no longer use much anymore. Groupon got to that point. I started to feel like none of them were targeted towards me. So I unsubscribed and found this screen. Of course, I had to click to find out how to Punish Derrick. A funny animated gif played where he got some coffee thrown on him, and then they invited me back. It's a great example of how it should be done. One click unsubscribe, a funny little video, and an offer to join again. I almost did.
Some interesting happenings in the self-publishing world
These last couple weeks, there have been two things that have really caught the attention of publishers and author. 1) Amanda Hocking. She's 26, and she's self-published 9 novels to the Kindle. As of this month, she's sold more than 1 million books that way. Even at $2.99 or less per book, which is what she's charging, the general assumption is that no publisher could offer her a better deal than what she's getting from Amazon. 2) Barry Eisler. He's a New York Times bestselling author, who writes spy thrillers. He turned down a $500,000 advance from a publisher in Read more…
OK. Here are some facts from the Times article. Better headline? “Tacoma not as hard hit by recession as most cities”
And yet for some reason the article is framed as a hard-luck story for Tacoma. I dunno, but these seem like pretty great things going on, despite some challenges (ie, Russell and MorphoTrak leaving). Before the recession, retail taxable sales increased at a faster annual rate than in Seattle. The value of construction activity in Tacoma jumped 38 percent last year. Pierce County also has logged more consistent growth over the past 30 years than economically volatile King County. Tacoma has stable high-paying employers: heavy industry, such as the Port of Tacoma, as well as Joint Base Lewis-McChord. A new Read more…
Looking for something to read?
This is the Tacoma Reads book! I was looking back and I can't believe I haven't mentioned it here. It's a non-fiction book by William Kamkwamba, a teenager in Malawi. After a devastating famine, he taught himself electrical theory from a library book, and built a windmill on his family farm. It powered a lightbulb, then two lightbulbs, and eventually a water pump, that allowed extra growing seasons, ending a cycle of poverty. The author of the book will be here on April 10 to share his story. It's a great read! More here at the Library's website.
Glad to be back in T-Town
The park conference in DC went off really well. It was the first time I'd been back to the city since I was in high school, and it was fun to be there. We had meetings with our legislators in congress (well, technically, their aides). We called on them in support of the US Paralympics committee, who runs a national program of providing adaptive recreation to wounded warriors in the communities around US military bases. Metro Parks's participation with them helps us to offer sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball and other activities, and it's a partnership that the Paralympics uses as Read more…
Happy National “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Day!
via retrogasm.tumblr.com A great Mr. Rogers/X Files mashup. (via Frinklin.)
In DC!
We had a 4 hour ride from New York into DC today. We're excited to be here, because both of us haven't been since we were in high school. The parks conference starts tomorrow morning so tomorrow will be a very full day. We were really glad to add a couple days in New York onto the front end of that. It turned out to be a wonderful trip. Be back in Tacoma on Thursday!
^