White out

The beaureaucracy is moving at its usual pace and I should be mailing my visa paperwork ... ohhh ... any day now.

In the meantime, I've been treated to a little goodbye present from New England which came in the form of giant snowdrifts and frigid winds.

Since I was essentially buried anyway, I snapped pictures of the view from my apartment, to give you an idea of what a 20" snowfall looks like from a garden-level:

This self-picture shows my nose and chin underneath my running mask. The condensation from my breath froze and created a nice sheet of ice to go over my face.

Did I mention that I'm looking forward to living a little bit closer to the desert?

And you thought Christmas in America was busy...

I'm trying to take a step back this Christmas, knowing that I'll be abroad within a matter of weeks.  Why not take a minute to relax and kick back now, since this is what I have to look forward to?



After watching this video, baking a few cookies and clicking through Amazon for presents doesn't seem nearly so difficult.

Kill them with Kindles

I looked up the flight to India today and discovered that I've got a lot of time to kill on the plane.

... A lot.

Add to all that downtime my limited storage capacity and you have my moral dilemma.  Would it make my life easier to buy a Kindle?  (To be fair, I would probably buy one used, as suggested in this Slate article.  Let's call it revenge for all of the used textbooks bought and sold on Amazon every day. )

On the plus side, it would be extremely convenient.  I won't be able to shuttle more than a few books back and forth from the subcontinent.  Buying books off of Amazon gives the publishing companies more money than if I get them out of the Central Public Library (which I frequently do).

Yet, the question that is always raised in discussion of the Kindle:  what does their success say about the future of books?

Personally, I don't think literature is in jeopardy.  I don't think that my job is in jeopardy.  No matter how many repetitive tasks are outsourced, the strength of every publishing company lies in its creativity and its ability to create good content.  The tricky part is applying creativity to meet your customer's demands, and finding a way to (fairly) profit from this.  I believe that e-readers can satisfy those criteria.  So why do I hesitate?  Because, for me, buying a Kindle makes a statement.

If I weren't a book publisher, would I think twice about buying a Kindle?  If I knew printed books weren't going to go away, would it matter how I take my in-flight entertainment?

Sociology 101

Success begins with the approach.  There are all sorts of sports metaphors and tired cliches available on this topic, so obviously this is something that most people have run into and can identify with.  It's a nice thought when you're sitting at your desk reading a training paper, or drafting notes for a conference.  Approach is important.  Your foundation is important.

On the other hand, a foundation is only so strong as the ground it's built on.  I've read a lot of Indian literature - Salman Rushdie is one of my favorite authors, I loved Interpreter of Maladies, I loved The Life of Pi.  On a plane flight home from Europe last month, I watched Ben Kingsley chew the scenery in Ghandi.  My desktop now contains a telecourse, Working with India, designed to give me a primer on conducting business on another subcontinent.  So far, I feel solid in the stereotypes.  It's too bad that life is lived well outside these lines.

The benefit of living immersed in another culture is that it forces you to approach your surroundings in a new way.  When I read Indian authors, I translate the plot into my American sensibilities.  When I step out into the streets of Delhi, I won't have that luxury.  I have my hockey stick ready for a game of football.  (See? Sports metaphors.)

Culture shock is inevitable.  It's how I prepare for the culture shock that will define my experience.  I can't arrive with any assumptions; my expectations are a blank slate.

With one exception: I took a jog this morning in the first major snowstorm of the year.  Two miles in, I thought to myself, "Hey! It's Himalaya practice!"  I can't wait for this adventure...

Status: PreLaunch

I've been a textbook editor for five years.  My books have been big and small, Math books and Sociology books, a few textbooks about construction materials, and one book with a scene from Swingers on the cover.

Every day, I act as the point person for our production team, our sales team, our manufacturing team, and authors either gruntled or disgruntled. I grease the cogs and make sure everyone has the information they need.  I make sure that person A's instructions will be clear to person B.  I harass when books are running late, and I praise when authors submit materials early.

The end result is a textbook that fits the needs of students, professors, and teaching assistants.  A good textbook helps a class to stay organized.  We provide technology supplements to help students learn.  I chose this career because I love education, and I wanted my work to, in some small way, enrich the world.

My editorial career began with a niche quarterly magazine in South Bend, Indiana, through a publishing seminar in Denver, Colorado, and is now comfortably settled in an East Coast cubicle as part of a leading publishing corporation.

That is, until I learned I would be traveling to India as part of an exchange program.  Four months as an editor in a new custom publishing program being developed in Delhi.  Think The World is Flat meets Strunk and White's Elements of Style.

The details are being finalized now, and I should have a plane ticket booked next week. In the meantime, I decided to start a blog.  There are a few reasons for this:  first, to keep in touch with friends and family back home.  Let's be honest, a 9 1/2 hour time difference is not conducive to personal contact.  I'm cheating a little bit. Second, to organize my thoughts on the experience.  You'll see a lot of posts here about new publishing models, unfamiliar business practices, piracy, print-on-demand, and the role printed books still play around the world. 

Lastly, and most importantly, I started this blog because I don't want to go it alone.  I invite you to read through, read the comments, and by all means - contribute.  There are a lot of smart people out there who have been in similar situations.  I know I have a lot to learn.

Here we go...

Guess what, Mom!

... No, not that

..... No, not really, Mom.

OH DEAR GOD, no.

Well, no, but you're getting closer...

Give up?




I'm moving to India!


Images courtesy of L.Marie, Stefano Biano, futurestreet, and divemasterking2000 via flickr.com