Exactly this. Bingo. Unless you already have an in-road somehow with the publisher, you're not making it past the lobby.
Of course, you -might- get noticed by an employee who -happens- to not follow office protocol and opens your stuff, and -happens- to read it, and -maybe- likes it, and doesn't get caught before he/she -might- make you an offer. A lot of mights, maybe's, happenstances, and almosts there to hang a hope on - hence people get bitter and give up. For some - it takes one rejection letter, for others, it takes hundreds - but for a few - all it takes is the same rejection letter worded the same way by the top four for the same reasons:
You don't have an agent We don't know you You -could- flop, so we won't even try Suck tea bags.
Not allowed as in 'We're sorry - we are unable to accept materials submitted to us without the representation of an agent. We have refused delivery of this item so it will be returned to you / destroyed for you by your chosen carrier, contents unopened. Please note for the future that we cannot and will not accept manuscripts submitted to us without prior approval of our legal department and/or without arrangement through an agent." boilerplate language in a brief, legally terse letter usually accompanying your manuscript back to you. So, no - nothing so exciting as SWAT drop-repelling through your windows and flash grenading you and your pets.
As far as agents go, yeah - most don't accept just any client. You have to have a track record of published works usually to get an agent who won't rob you utterly blind or require exorbitant fees up-front.
The publishing world is a walled-off castle with the drawbridge up - about time things are changed...
...by a traditional publisher? Not going to happen. Unless you happen to personally know a best selling author already in their stable, or one they are looking to help jump ship to them; they wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. They are -so- risk adverse they will not publish new authors, and if you self-publish, your on a blacklist - no one will touch you. Is it any surprise that there is a market Amazon has seen, and has decided to exploit? Basically, the publishing industry is in the middle of the largest death-spiral they've ever seen, and they won't pull out of it because they are afraid of books bombing.
Guess what geniuses? You need to promote your authors and books for them to sell, otherwise they will most likely bomb.
I think we've seen this dance number already... Ummm...what happens when your robot nearly-free-widget-makers learn enough to want the 2.5 kids/white picket fence/Maserati in the driveway dream too - and realize you never intended them to ever have it? Yeah...we don't have spaceships this time around to make a run for it when they nuke our asses from orbit - and am definitely not keen on becoming a human Duracell.
Your geek card is revoked if you don't get the references.
Yeah, agreed (shocking, I usually never agree with ACs). You aren't being preyed upon if you enter into a deal and never read the contract language. If it was a shitty deal, you shouldn't have made it. Don't understand the deal? You hire a lawyer to help you understand it. He/She/They don't understand the deal? DON'T SIGN IT! That's not so damn hard...
....or the inevitable visit from the Child Protective Services people, who come in and you get to interview for your right to be a parent over and over again every time anything happens in public like that. Kid falls on the playground, CPS shows up wondering why you let them do whatever they did to get hurt. You don't sue, kick, and scream like a lunatic when your kid is hurt in public, CPS shows up wondering why you didn't act like a lunatic... you get the idea. Get it wrong, you lose your kid(s).
Granted, some people NEED to lose their kids. But innocent people get caught in the dragnet to get abusive parents, and the system is geared toward 'guilty until proven overwhelmingly innocent, and then it's only a matter of time...' type of thinking.
...besides screaming 'This can happen to you!' and 'It's only a matter of time before your next!' to anyone who will listen before they erase you? Heard enough times, people will not stand idly by and watch it happen too many times. Of course, it won't help YOU...but it would stop this from being a widespread popular method of doling out 'justice'
The big problem with the 'destruction of evidence' thing is that if I am correct, they have the burden to prove that what you destroyed was, indeed, evidence. You say it wasn't, they say it was; but can't prove it (if they could, then destroying it WOULD be a bone-headed move). You are legally able to destroy your own property for any, or even no, reason at all.
Contempt of court charges, however, would definitely be involved. If your not afraid of them, then they cannot compell you to help hang yourself.
Who's idea do you think it was to DO ALL OF THAT? NBC Universal is trying to devalue the network enough for Comcast to want it, hence the TechTV chop-shop treatment. It's not long for this world, as well as other properties... like USA. Comcast takes over, does away with all the innovative programming to air more soft core porn, explosions, and crap that sorta *kinda* passes for science and fiction. Goodbye Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, White Collar, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary. Blood and Chrome will get the Michael Bay wannabe treatment. Mark my words, it will happen.
No...I believe an appropriate statement would be to say that it would be like after Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa went to paint pornographic bathroom stall art for crack.
Would be nice if it were true...
on
Apple Eyeing EA?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
It would be really nice to see some quality EA titles for the Mac versus quick and sleazy ports - but it won't happen, and I am not saying that just because it's a rumor. Of course, if Apple really financially enticed EA to make titles for both PC and Mac - and *really* worked with developers to make games work on the Mac OS X platform to the levels of performance people come to expect from the PC only market - then EA could really make some money with games for the Mac.
Sadly, as it is right now - they are more than happy to let Aspyr hoover up the residuals making sadly ported versions of their games on the Mac platform.
It should just be SOP that you have a proof of age statement for ANY model that could potentially be seen as underage, file it right along side the model release form - and call it a day. A little extra insurance saves tons of headaches later in life, and a little prudence and CYA never killed anyone in this lawsuit-happy world.
One can hope that it actually had the specifications for modern GPUs... and not just stuff you might find in scrap piles or in 15+ year old government computers. Otherwise, it will be like when the RIAA gave a crap-ton of Whitney Houston Christmas CDs as a settlement for their price-fixing practices... technically within the letter of the law, but violating the spirit of the law all to hell...
...are the biggest problems with Gamestop's stores. It seems they go out of their way to find the most crooked people to work there - and it shows. They push every game as if it's going to be the best selling game of all time, and when you find out that it stinks, suddenly - it's about the crack-head prices they will give you for your basically new game you just bought yesterday.
They need to hire people with some morales, and not be afriad to tell people that certain games just -suck-. Selling the wrong items to your customers tend to make them other people's customers.
As a convert from the front lines of IT (Mainframe operation and network engineering) to management, there are a few things that will help. One, remember - management is more about people skills than technical expertise. This is NOT to say that you will not be amiss to keep your development skills up to snuff. Being able to speak engineer will make you a more suitable manager, as that will be one less barrier for you to cross that other management types will have to scale.
Leaping in does work for some people - but if your company has tuition reimbursement, I would seriously recommend taking management courses in a college environment. While a lot of people seem to think that management is a snap - there is things that seasoned professionals and professors can teach you that will keep you a step ahead of common pitfalls of entry-level managerial work.
If you really MUST do it solo, you could look into obtaining a list of books used in a Business Administration program and seek to study them in your own time. Many have valuable insight into little encountered tid-bits that might not seem valuable at the time - but can crop up at the strangest times and places.
And remember - it's an art as well as a science. A good rounded education will allow you to relate to the more human aspect of management versus the technical part of the development career path you held.
Doesn't the crushing, recursive fee schedule pretty much wipe out all the players? I mean, forcing DRM on something that won't be exposed to the public (for fear of never-ending, revolving bankruptcy) seems utterly pointless. I mean, it could be the desire to stomp out the few remaining embers using any method possible...
If I remember my Business Law classes correctly, a public business like a store or coffee shop is expressly permitted for all to enter unless you have specifically been prohibited to enter. Hence the store cannot simply file trespassing charges against a person arguing they had no right to be there during business hours - they would have to formally remove them from the premises for something like shoplifting or other gross violation - then if that person re-enters the premises; then they ARE trespassing as they have been expressely prohibited to enter the store.
Oh, BTW - IANAL. Just a business administration major.
Their answer - make the first break three minutes long, make the second break five minutes long, and then make the other breaks random in interval and duration... problem solved... they will staple you to the chair... unless you like to miss large chunks of the shows.
Coming from someone who used to work at a retailer who serviced machines - Dells are the WORSE. The quality of their product has gone downhill ever since the late ninties - and now are just horseshit. Specialized cheap hardware with crappy support. They reap what they sew in this case. People have stopped shopping with Dell not because they are direct-to-customer - they have stopped because the product is poor, and there are better alternatives now.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly this. Bingo. Unless you already have an in-road somehow with the publisher, you're not making it past the lobby.
Of course, you -might- get noticed by an employee who -happens- to not follow office protocol and opens your stuff, and -happens- to read it, and -maybe- likes it, and doesn't get caught before he/she -might- make you an offer. A lot of mights, maybe's, happenstances, and almosts there to hang a hope on - hence people get bitter and give up. For some - it takes one rejection letter, for others, it takes hundreds - but for a few - all it takes is the same rejection letter worded the same way by the top four for the same reasons:
You don't have an agent
We don't know you
You -could- flop, so we won't even try
Suck tea bags.
Not allowed as in 'We're sorry - we are unable to accept materials submitted to us without the representation of an agent. We have refused delivery of this item so it will be returned to you / destroyed for you by your chosen carrier, contents unopened. Please note for the future that we cannot and will not accept manuscripts submitted to us without prior approval of our legal department and/or without arrangement through an agent." boilerplate language in a brief, legally terse letter usually accompanying your manuscript back to you. So, no - nothing so exciting as SWAT drop-repelling through your windows and flash grenading you and your pets.
As far as agents go, yeah - most don't accept just any client. You have to have a track record of published works usually to get an agent who won't rob you utterly blind or require exorbitant fees up-front.
The publishing world is a walled-off castle with the drawbridge up - about time things are changed...
...by a traditional publisher? Not going to happen. Unless you happen to personally know a best selling author already in their stable, or one they are looking to help jump ship to them; they wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. They are -so- risk adverse they will not publish new authors, and if you self-publish, your on a blacklist - no one will touch you. Is it any surprise that there is a market Amazon has seen, and has decided to exploit? Basically, the publishing industry is in the middle of the largest death-spiral they've ever seen, and they won't pull out of it because they are afraid of books bombing.
Guess what geniuses? You need to promote your authors and books for them to sell, otherwise they will most likely bomb.
I think we've seen this dance number already... Ummm...what happens when your robot nearly-free-widget-makers learn enough to want the 2.5 kids/white picket fence/Maserati in the driveway dream too - and realize you never intended them to ever have it? Yeah...we don't have spaceships this time around to make a run for it when they nuke our asses from orbit - and am definitely not keen on becoming a human Duracell.
Your geek card is revoked if you don't get the references.
These methods sound like they are Michelle Bachmann approved
It's called climbing the wealth ladder, then pulling it up behind you when you get to the top.
Yeah, agreed (shocking, I usually never agree with ACs). You aren't being preyed upon if you enter into a deal and never read the contract language. If it was a shitty deal, you shouldn't have made it. Don't understand the deal? You hire a lawyer to help you understand it. He/She/They don't understand the deal? DON'T SIGN IT! That's not so damn hard...
....or the inevitable visit from the Child Protective Services people, who come in and you get to interview for your right to be a parent over and over again every time anything happens in public like that. Kid falls on the playground, CPS shows up wondering why you let them do whatever they did to get hurt. You don't sue, kick, and scream like a lunatic when your kid is hurt in public, CPS shows up wondering why you didn't act like a lunatic... you get the idea. Get it wrong, you lose your kid(s).
Granted, some people NEED to lose their kids. But innocent people get caught in the dragnet to get abusive parents, and the system is geared toward 'guilty until proven overwhelmingly innocent, and then it's only a matter of time...' type of thinking.
I think that's what his protesting makes use of, not the using the envelopes part. My gods, that would stink!
...besides screaming 'This can happen to you!' and 'It's only a matter of time before your next!' to anyone who will listen before they erase you? Heard enough times, people will not stand idly by and watch it happen too many times. Of course, it won't help YOU...but it would stop this from being a widespread popular method of doling out 'justice'
The big problem with the 'destruction of evidence' thing is that if I am correct, they have the burden to prove that what you destroyed was, indeed, evidence. You say it wasn't, they say it was; but can't prove it (if they could, then destroying it WOULD be a bone-headed move). You are legally able to destroy your own property for any, or even no, reason at all.
Contempt of court charges, however, would definitely be involved. If your not afraid of them, then they cannot compell you to help hang yourself.
Who's idea do you think it was to DO ALL OF THAT? NBC Universal is trying to devalue the network enough for Comcast to want it, hence the TechTV chop-shop treatment. It's not long for this world, as well as other properties... like USA. Comcast takes over, does away with all the innovative programming to air more soft core porn, explosions, and crap that sorta *kinda* passes for science and fiction. Goodbye Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, White Collar, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary. Blood and Chrome will get the Michael Bay wannabe treatment. Mark my words, it will happen.
No...I believe an appropriate statement would be to say that it would be like after Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa went to paint pornographic bathroom stall art for crack.
It would be really nice to see some quality EA titles for the Mac versus quick and sleazy ports - but it won't happen, and I am not saying that just because it's a rumor. Of course, if Apple really financially enticed EA to make titles for both PC and Mac - and *really* worked with developers to make games work on the Mac OS X platform to the levels of performance people come to expect from the PC only market - then EA could really make some money with games for the Mac.
Sadly, as it is right now - they are more than happy to let Aspyr hoover up the residuals making sadly ported versions of their games on the Mac platform.
It should just be SOP that you have a proof of age statement for ANY model that could potentially be seen as underage, file it right along side the model release form - and call it a day. A little extra insurance saves tons of headaches later in life, and a little prudence and CYA never killed anyone in this lawsuit-happy world.
One can hope that it actually had the specifications for modern GPUs... and not just stuff you might find in scrap piles or in 15+ year old government computers. Otherwise, it will be like when the RIAA gave a crap-ton of Whitney Houston Christmas CDs as a settlement for their price-fixing practices... technically within the letter of the law, but violating the spirit of the law all to hell...
...are the biggest problems with Gamestop's stores. It seems they go out of their way to find the most crooked people to work there - and it shows. They push every game as if it's going to be the best selling game of all time, and when you find out that it stinks, suddenly - it's about the crack-head prices they will give you for your basically new game you just bought yesterday.
They need to hire people with some morales, and not be afriad to tell people that certain games just -suck-. Selling the wrong items to your customers tend to make them other people's customers.
As a convert from the front lines of IT (Mainframe operation and network engineering) to management, there are a few things that will help. One, remember - management is more about people skills than technical expertise. This is NOT to say that you will not be amiss to keep your development skills up to snuff. Being able to speak engineer will make you a more suitable manager, as that will be one less barrier for you to cross that other management types will have to scale.
Leaping in does work for some people - but if your company has tuition reimbursement, I would seriously recommend taking management courses in a college environment. While a lot of people seem to think that management is a snap - there is things that seasoned professionals and professors can teach you that will keep you a step ahead of common pitfalls of entry-level managerial work.
If you really MUST do it solo, you could look into obtaining a list of books used in a Business Administration program and seek to study them in your own time. Many have valuable insight into little encountered tid-bits that might not seem valuable at the time - but can crop up at the strangest times and places.
And remember - it's an art as well as a science. A good rounded education will allow you to relate to the more human aspect of management versus the technical part of the development career path you held.
There is - it's called -6 to Coward posts.
Then never browse beneath 0.
Doesn't the crushing, recursive fee schedule pretty much wipe out all the players? I mean, forcing DRM on something that won't be exposed to the public (for fear of never-ending, revolving bankruptcy) seems utterly pointless. I mean, it could be the desire to stomp out the few remaining embers using any method possible...
If I remember my Business Law classes correctly, a public business like a store or coffee shop is expressly permitted for all to enter unless you have specifically been prohibited to enter. Hence the store cannot simply file trespassing charges against a person arguing they had no right to be there during business hours - they would have to formally remove them from the premises for something like shoplifting or other gross violation - then if that person re-enters the premises; then they ARE trespassing as they have been expressely prohibited to enter the store.
Oh, BTW - IANAL. Just a business administration major.
According to the Baseball franchise, this puts you NEXT on the wall for execution
Their answer - make the first break three minutes long, make the second break five minutes long, and then make the other breaks random in interval and duration... problem solved... they will staple you to the chair... unless you like to miss large chunks of the shows.
They are already doing it
Coming from someone who used to work at a retailer who serviced machines - Dells are the WORSE. The quality of their product has gone downhill ever since the late ninties - and now are just horseshit. Specialized cheap hardware with crappy support. They reap what they sew in this case. People have stopped shopping with Dell not because they are direct-to-customer - they have stopped because the product is poor, and there are better alternatives now.
Promissary Estoppel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estoppel