Alex Callinicos/SWP vs Laurie Penny/New Statesman Facebook handbags

[butchersapron]

this could equally go on the 'guardian going down the pan' thread

http://m.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/...cordia-molly-crabapple?cat=books&type=article

The final chapter describes events at the 17 September Occupy Wall Street anniversary protest in New York, where Crabapple was arrested. On 26 September Athens erupted with protest

Yes, they were not having that arrest

 

[butchersapron]

It's amazing isn't it, almost like multiple saved documents can be quickly edited together into a single document.

 

[love detective]

wasn't her two previous 'books' pretty much just a collection of auld shite thrown together in fancy packaging?

 

[butchersapron]

That's exactly what they were - interspersed with interviews that the interviewees said she had bullshitted about.

 

[DaveCinzano]

this could equally go on the 'guardian going down the pan' thread

http://m.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/...cordia-molly-crabapple?cat=books&type=article

That's written by James Bridle, who also wrote this in The Observer:

There's another term for what Authonomy and Book Country do: "monetising the slush pile".

Which leads us to...

wasn't her two previous 'books' pretty much just a collection of auld shite thrown together in fancy packaging?

One of which was Meat Market, which did not inspire unanimous praise from feminists.

That tome was published by Zero Books - sorry, Zer0 Books. Zer0 boasts that "we take a democratic view of the author/publisher relationship rather than the traditional feudal one, or the current adversarial model of authors/agents competing amongst themselves for the biggest slice of the publishers’ advance and marketing budget."

What that means in practice is that:

All authors can see as much as anyone else can see within our internal website systems, subject to some privacy limitations, like the sales figures of other authors, and contact details of people who do not want them public. Authors have a greater degree of control over their book than is the norm, are all on the same royalty rate, and tend to help each other by contributing to the website, particularly in the marketing contacts area. The more authors we have contributing to the contacts database the more comprehensive, detailed and effective it becomes for everyone. It’s a virtuous circle.

Oh, and...

The royalties are basically the same, but we can do less in terms of marketing investment for level 2 than level 1, for level 3 there's a small cost contribution, and a higher one for level 4.

Hey, slush pile monetisation, meet vanity publishing and pyramid selling!

 

[ViolentPanda]

If Laurie = Laura, does Molly = Maureen?

 

[DaveCinzano]

It's all back to the loft for book launch Molly toff cocktails

 

[weepiper]

Following​

Laurie Penny‏@PennyRed​

Right, France I am in you, and it's nice to be somewhere where I can speak at least a bit of the langue. Going to miss Italy though.

It's a terribly hard life, this impoverished lefty journo business.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Hey, slush pile monetisation, meet vanity publishing and pyramid selling!

I hadn't realised that there was a pay-to-be-published aspect to Zero's publishing model. That's interesting. It might also explain why they seem to have no quality control in terms of what they put out.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I hadn't realised that there was a pay-to-be-published aspect to Zero's publishing model. That's interesting. It might also explain why they seem to have no quality control in terms of what they put out.

I think it's only pay to be marketed!

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

I got the Mark Fisher book which is OK, but yeah the rest look shite on the whole.

The thing is I don't like slating self publishing or pod per se as there is a long and respectable history of self published comics, indy films, and self produced and released music and I think it's briliant books are now breaking free of the snobbery caused by vanity publishing and self publishing being conflated - but once you start paying the publisher to "market" your book it reverts to vanity publishing in my view

 

[The39thStep]

Following​

Laurie Penny‏@PennyRed​

Right, France I am in you, and it's nice to be somewhere where I can speak at least a bit of the langue. Going to miss Italy though.

It's a terribly hard life, this impoverished lefty journo business.

rock'n roll.

 

[DotCommunist]

I got the Mark Fisher book which is OK, but yeah the rest look shite on the whole.

The thing is I don't like slating self publishing or pod per se as there is a long and respectable history of self published comics, indy films, and self produced and released music and I think it's briliant books are now breaking free of the snobbery caused by vanity publishing and self publishing being conflated - but once you start paying the publisher to "market" your book it reverts to vanity publishing in my view

publishing these days seems to consist of punting whatever an agent flags as a possible winner and covering costs with sure fire cookbooks, celeb bios and Name authors latest offerings. In the hope of scorring a potter or a da vinci code and retiring to a yacht.

Paying to have your work pimped is worse than vanity publishing. At least with vanity publishing you just do a run and beg yourmates to buy it.Paying for associated but undeserved promotion is next level vanity.

 

[cesare]

@PennyRed: In the airport I was made aware of What George and Ian Did to the Welfare State. Disgusted, upset, angry.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

surely she is reading this thread and baiting the hook!

 

[ViolentPanda]

Following​

Laurie Penny‏@PennyRed​

Right, France I am in you, and it's nice to be somewhere where I can speak at least a bit of the langue. Going to miss Italy though.

It's a terribly hard life, this impoverished lefty journo business.

Is it a sign of my inner patriarchal oppressor tendencies that every time I see a picture of her, I marvel at what a smug, punchable face she has?

 

[cesare]

surely she is reading this thread and baiting the hook!

It must be a piss-take, surely?

 

[revol68]

I got the Mark Fisher book which is OK, but yeah the rest look shite on the whole.

The thing is I don't like slating self publishing or pod per se as there is a long and respectable history of self published comics, indy films, and self produced and released music and I think it's briliant books are now breaking free of the snobbery caused by vanity publishing and self publishing being conflated - but once you start paying the publisher to "market" your book it reverts to vanity publishing in my view

Nina Power's One Dimensional Woman is pretty good too.

 

[articul8]

Nina is in a different category than people like Laurie - she actually makes the effort to understand what she's writing about

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Nina Power's One Dimensional Woman is pretty good too.

Both of these were from very early in the line though, as was Owen Hatherley's "Militant Modernism".

 

[love detective]

surely she is reading this thread and baiting the hook!

She's definitely trolling us - she's just done an article for the new statesmen complaining about privileged white middle class women and unexamined privilege

 

[love detective]

Big news coming today apparently

Anyway. On a personal and professional note, I have some important news to announce tomorrow. Watch this space. (No, I'm not pregnant.)

Bet it's something to do with something else landed on her lap jobwise

 

[DotCommunist]

She's got a job doing the fritters at firebox?

 

[el-ahrairah]

She and Molly are setting up an activist work space to teach the proles how to emancipate themselves via the medium of drawings of skinny white girls with fairy wings?

 

[articul8]

Good guess but the amazing news is that she's leaving the Indie for a new job (and pay rise?) back at the Staggers:
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/staggers/2012/10/laurie-penny-rejoins-new-statesman

 

[cesare]

She is one of the outstanding talents of her generation

 

[DaveCinzano]

Come on, we've all had a boss who's told us to write our own reference.

 

[cesare]

Come on, we've all had a boss who's told us to write our own reference.

Yebbut, they usually say "don't forget it's got to be factual, and non misrepresentational" at the same time.

 

[DotCommunist]

and the cleverest girl at school

 

[love detective]

so her job consists of writing one article a month and one blog post a week