• About Us
  • Book Club Books
  • Recommendations
    • Kelsey Recommends
    • Maggie Recommends
  • The Book List

Blue Black Ink

~ Book geekery from two friends in publishing

Blue Black Ink

Tag Archives: Ooligan

Apologies for the Confusion

26 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by Maggie in Grad School

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Lauren Myracle, National Book Awards, Ooligan, Promotion, Publishing Companies, Shine

Dear Kelsey,

I know that complaining about PSU’s communication is soo last semester (I work at an academic press; I can still use the semester as a unit of time) but I’ve just received an email that I think demands some newly revised complaint. 

The text is as follows:

Hi Mary,

This message serves as a follow-up to a recent email that you
received from Portland State University about opportunities to live on campus. In our previous email, we offered our congratulations on your recent acceptance to the University. Please note that the Admissions office is still reviewing your application at this time and will notify you by mail once a decision has been reached.

We apologize for any confusion that our email may have caused.

Sincerely,
University Housing

Now, I’ve been sending out a LOT of email campaigns at work, and the ways we flag certain names for certain lists is certainly problematic. Emails go out to the same person twice because the “Remove Duplicate Entries” function requires the address to be an exact match. So when the University of Puget Sound rebranded a few years ago and all our school emails changed from @ups.edu to @pugetsound.edu, all of our professors on Paradigm’s list would have gotten two messages of everything we sent, even though they routed to the same place. It’s a nightmare. 

But at least all of the people on our lists have–at some point–expressed interest in the topic (even if they later ask to be taken off the list). 

Now, admittedly, I DID express interest in PSU. But:

1. I WAS accepted to PSU
2. I was already notified by mail
3. When applying, I clearly marked myself as an “Off Campus/Commuter” student
4. I’ve deferred my admission for over a year, and the original email was in regards to Winter housing

And I’ve gotten regular emails from both PSU and NYU in the wake of my deferral(s). I found the orientation reminders silly and the agendas a little sad, but I understood, at least, why I made it on the those lists. 

And clearly this email is pretty harmless. But if I hadn’t been accepted already–if I’d gotten the first email and reacted as if it had been an actual acceptance–it would have been very far from harmless. 

Now watch as I tie this tangentially-related-to-publishing anecdote back to Breaking Book News. 

Shine Cover

Did you hear about the National Book Awards nominations? Lauren Myracle’s Shine was withdrawn from the list after it was revealed that the NBA staff misheard Chime by Fanny Billingsley. Yikes. NBA is donating $5000 to the Matthew Shepard Foundation in support of Shine’s cause, but the damage has already been done. (Just read the comments on the Publisher’s Weekly article for a taste of the outrage) And although the mistake is giving Shine a LOT of attention, I don’t know if it quite makes up for such a heartbreaking oversight. As an industry, we trade in the specificity of language and the eloquence of the properly chosen word. Nothing is perfect, obviously, but if I have to attempt some kind of resolution to this post, I guess I would encourage us to be attentive to such details inside and outside the covers of the book. 

Or, PERHAPS, in non-book related situations as well. 

DFTBA,

Maggie

P.S. I’m not going to lie, a big incentive for this post was the opportunity to put something in the “Grad School” category 😉 

Advertisements

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

First Day of School, Grad School Style

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by Kelsey in Grad School

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Ooligan, School

Dear Maggie,

It’s very disorienting to be back on a college campus where 1. It’s raining (I’m still use to SoCal weather) 2. I have no idea what’s going on. This isn’t undergrad anymore. I haven’t lived on this campus for four years and know every building’s courtyard and twisty back hall. Apparently, as grad students we are suppose to know what we are doing. Therefore our guidance from PSU has been pretty much nonexistent.

I had “orientation” (a couple hours of talks) on Friday. Let the first-day overeager meet-and-greet dance begin! You know, the mad dash to meet everyone and make friends with everyone. It goes something like this:

HI HI HI, my name is Kelsey! I’m new too! You’re in my class! I’m NICE! I promise! I’m NOT SCARY! Will you be my FRIEND? PLEASE? PLEASE? Look! Another NEW PERSON! HI! *repeat*

Oof, it’s exhausting.

I woke up at 6:30am this morning with a weird sense of déjà vu. That’s the time I use to wake up for high school. I am none too pleased about this schedule arrangement.

Fortunately my Intro to Publishing class seems pretty sweet. Though we do learn some publishing history background, it is mostly about modern publishing. You know, actually practical and applicable information. This means: Assigned blog subscriptions, discussion through class blog posts, twitter account required.  Sounds like my kind of place!

Just for future information, the keystone to my publishing program is Ooligan Press, which is a completely student-run press. We had our first meeting today. Though all the information was overwhelming, it is amazingly cool to hear that “this is your press” and we should take it as seriously as a job. It is a real publishing house, though it may be an usual one! It was also heartening to hear from the outgoing program director that he believes this is the most exciting time to be in the industry because we can reinvent the publishing world. I tend to agree with my intro teacher in my reaction to that proposition: “Awesome. Horribly terrifying. But awesome.”

All in all, first day of Grad school? Exactly like all past first days of schools with its huge info dumps mixed with social confusion. Except for one major difference: everyone has chosen to be here.

Now I have to go do homework 😉

Love,

Kelsey

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

RSS Feed

 RSS - Posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Book Club Books
  • Recommendations
    • Kelsey Recommends
    • Maggie Recommends
  • The Book List

Authors

  • Kelsey
  • Maggie

Contact Us!

You can contact Maggie or Kelsey at writeblueblackink AT gmail DOT com

Archives

  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011

Categories

Tag Cloud

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Banned Books Blogging Book Club Book Covers Book Geekery Booksickness Bookstore Boy Books Brandon Sanderson Classics Covers Crown Duel Daughter of Smoke and Bone Doctor Who ebook Fantasy Feminism Flowcharts For Laughs Geekery Grave Mercy Harry Potter Henry James Impressions Jane Austen Jane Smiley Jay Asher John Green Laini Taylor Lev Grossman Literary Lola and the Boy Next Door Mansfield Park Mark Twain Maureen Johnson metadata Mistborn Mistborn: The Final Empire Mystery Nerdfighter Nerdfighteria New Editions Northanger Abbey Ooligan Personal Picture Post Powell's Pride and Prejudice Publishing Publishing Companies Reprints Review Robin LaFevers Romance Sci-Fi SciFi Series Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Stephanie Perkins Structure of Feeling Suzanne Collins The Fault in our Stars The Hunger Games The Magicians The Name of the Star Thesis Thirteen Reasons Why Time Travel Video Games Visual Rhetoric Women's Fiction Young Adult YouTube

Search

Advertisements

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy