Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ottawa via Asif A. Ali on Flickr

The Shebeen Club Opens in Ottawa

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ottawa via Asif A. Ali on Flickr

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ottawa via Asif A. Ali on Flickr

Well, kittens, we’ve up and moved to Ottawa for the next few wintery months, a place where we have literally two connections to whom we are not related by blood, so we’re dusting off the Shebeen Club and looking for a new monthly home in the freezing-rainyest city on the planet.

We have also given the Facebook group a bit of a tune-up, with a fancy custom URL https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheShebeenClub/ and a call for new members and suggested venues. Our needs are simple.

For a Shebeen Club meeting, we need a room that won’t charge us for the space, but will supply waitstaff, foods and beverages, and be okay if everyone wants separate bills (everyone will). To start with, seating for a dozen should be adequate, and if it’s not, we’ll learn fast. Hopefully we can get to critical mass fairly quickly. We need this once a month, from about 6 to 9pm. We don’t need this for September, and probably not for October either, but for November, for sure.

We also need you to invite your literary friends who live in Ottawa, since right now our Ottawa membership consists of: me.

Shebeen Club Jump Start Tuesday, May 27

Whee! We're back!

Whee! We’re back!

That’s right, we’re back, bitches! For ONE NIGHT ONLY, the Shebeen Club returns to the back corner of the Shebeen at 7pm Tuesday, May 27 for drinks and eats and catching up on what we’ve all been doing in the what, six? eight? months since last we met.

Heading into our ninth year of existence, I’m sure we have a lot to share and boast and bitch about. I, personally, have some SOOPER EXCITING news that I am saving for the night. There’s no point emailing and asking; I won’t tell you. You gots to put your butt in a chair at the actual event.

Here’s the Facebook post.

It’s high time we Shebeened again! I hereby invite you and your literary homies to the May 2014 meeting of the Shebeen Club, one of Vancouver’s longest-lived literary gatherings. Bring your latest work, your attitude, and your ravenous thirst (for knowledge, of course!) to the Shebeen at 7pm on Tuesday, May 27.

Who knows, you might end up reading some lovely poetry, like Rik Mayall here and his highly supportive audience!

Job: Friesen Press is looking for a Sales and Marketing Director

Christmas in Victoria

Christmas in Victoria

Ignore the obvious copy-paste error in the first line unless you are a copy editor or Quality Assurance Coordinator, in which case you may wish to pitch them. This job is in Victoria, not something that can be done remotely.

Sales and Marketing Manager

We are currently looking for a Quality Assurance Coordinator for our Downtown Victoria office. We offer an attractive compensation package, including:

  • Competitive wage
  • Full training including job shadowing, ongoing job training, and cross training
  • Extended medical and dental benefits
  • Group RRSP with matching contributions
  • Excellent opportunities for career development

Job Summary:

The Manager of Sales & Marketing is responsible for developing a team of highly productive Publishing Consultants and Marketing Specialists who are able to meet and exceed revenue targets while promptly and professionally addressing the needs of customers. The Manager of Sales & Marketing is also required to generate and deliver sales initiatives, revenue growth and staff and client retention strategies. The Manager is further required to coach and mentor the Publishing Consultant team through motivation, leadership and encouragement while striving for exceptional customer service standards and accountability.

Duties and Responsibilities:

  • Plan, direct and evaluate the operations of the Publishing Consultants team;
  • Develop, implement and monitor detailed sales strategies and objectives;
  • Ensure the provision of excellent customer service;
  • Maintain high levels of customer satisfaction and client retention levels;
  • Contribute to the development, mplementation and execution FriesenPress’ business plans;
  • Build and retain an effective team of Publishing Consultants with a strong positive culture;
  • Lead, coach and motivate the team to achieve sales goals;
  • Model and champion FriesenPress values and mission;
  • Attain revenue expectations;
  • Generate an annual sales and marketing strategic plan with specific and measurable tactics
  • Set sales expectations for each of FriesenPress’ Publishing Consultants including customer service expectations and quota achievement;
  • Manage the activities of Publishing Consultants and Marketing Specialists, measure their success and coach for constant improvement;
  • Resolve customer concerns and complaints in a courteous, professional manner;
  • Determine staffing requirements and oversee the hiring of staff;
  • Create a safe working environment for the discussion and resolution of issues and concerns;
  • Work in concert with other department and management team members to assure sales operations;
  • Complete various sales reports as necessary;
  • Conduct regular performance evaluations with each of your direct reports;
  • Ensure the product portfolio evolves to respond to changing market conditions, customer needs as well as supporting FriesenPress’ goals and vision
  • Oversee the planning and implementation of various marketing activities
  • Find new ways to generate business opportunities for FriesenPress through advertising, sponsorships and partnerships
  • Actively oversee the Google Adwords performance to full optimize
  • Ensure that all staff comply with Company policies, procedures and ethical standards;
  • Ensure compliance with FriesenPress standards for cost control, waste reduction, qualilty, safety and on-time delivery;
  • Provide leadership for employee relations through effective communications, coaching, training and development;
  • Other duties shall be assigned as required.

Job Requirements:

  • University degree in associated field;
  • Minimum 5 years Sales and Marketing experience with a track record of proven results;
  • Leadership experience with an emphasis on coaching for high performance, business planning, business process engineering and business development;
  • Strong attention to detail, capacity to learn and accept additional responsibilities;
  • A personal philosophy that embraces constant learning and solicitation of feedback from your manager, peers, employees, stakeholders and customers that promotes personal development;
  • A desire to foster a company culture that values honesty, open communication, performance excellence, collaboration, innovation and constant learning.
  • Exceptional presentation and writing skills and ability to convey a message that is clear, concise and relevant, linking business issues, financial results and strategy;
  • Excellent organizational skills and ability to multi-task and prioritize workload to meet deadlines;
  • Highly proficient with PC business software including CRM, Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc.
  • Demonstrated experience with Zoho systems would be an asset;
  • Prior book publishing knowledge would be an asset.

This role will have minimal travel requirements and is based out of our office in Downtown Victoria, B.C. If you meet the above criteria and would like to apply for this position, please email your cover letter and resume. We look forward to hearing from you!

email: careers@friesenpress.com  

Today in Twitter Spats of the Immortals

https://twitter.com/normmacdonald/statuses/390053346591006721

Also, like Capote, not wrong.

David Bowie’s top 100 books

David and Tilda as Tilda and David

David and Tilda as Tilda and David

As part of the travelling show “David Bowie is” the Art Gallery of Ontario got him to give them a scoop: his top 100 books. It being Bowie, and he being awesome, you can be relatively sure he’s actually read these, too. As reported in the Guardian, here they are. How many have you read?

The Age of American Unreason, Susan Jacoby (2008)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz (2007)
The Coast of Utopia (trilogy), Tom Stoppard (2007)
Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945, Jon Savage (2007)
Fingersmith, Sarah Waters (2002)
The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens (2001)
Mr Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, Lawrence Weschler (1997)
A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1890-1924, Orlando Figes (1997)
The Insult, Rupert Thomson (1996)
Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon (1995)
The Bird Artist, Howard Norman (1994)
Kafka Was the Rage: A Greenwich Village Memoir, Anatole Broyard (1993)
Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post-Historical Perspective, Arthur C Danto (1992)
Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Camille Paglia (1990)
David Bomberg, Richard Cork (1988)
Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, Peter Guralnick (1986)
The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin (1986)
Hawksmoor, Peter Ackroyd (1985)
Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music, Gerri Hirshey (1984)
Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter (1984)
Money, Martin Amis (1984)
White Noise, Don DeLillo (1984)
Flaubert’s Parrot, Julian Barnes (1984)
The Life and Times of Little Richard, Charles White (1984)
A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn (1980)
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole (1980)
Interviews with Francis Bacon, David Sylvester (1980)
Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler (1980)
Earthly Powers, Anthony Burgess (1980)
Raw, a “graphix magazine” (1980-91)
Viz, magazine (1979 –)
The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels (1979)
Metropolitan Life, Fran Lebowitz (1978)
In Between the Sheets, Ian McEwan (1978)
Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, ed Malcolm Cowley (1977)
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes (1976)
Tales of Beatnik Glory, Ed Saunders (1975)
Mystery Train, Greil Marcus (1975)
Selected Poems, Frank O’Hara (1974)
Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s, Otto Friedrich (1972)
n Bluebeard’s Castle: Some Notes Towards the Re-definition of Culture, George Steiner (1971) Octobriana and the Russian Underground, Peter Sadecky (1971)
The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, Charlie Gillett(1970)
The Quest for Christa T, Christa Wolf (1968)
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The Golden Age of Rock, Nik Cohn (1968)
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
Journey into the Whirlwind, Eugenia Ginzburg (1967)
Last Exit to Brooklyn, Hubert Selby Jr (1966)
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1965)
City of Night, John Rechy (1965)
Herzog, Saul Bellow (1964)
Puckoon, Spike Milligan (1963)
The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford (1963)
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace With the Sea, Yukio Mishima (1963)
The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin (1963)
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (1962)
Inside the Whale and Other Essays, George Orwell (1962)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark (1961)
Private Eye, magazine (1961 –)
On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious, Douglas Harding (1961)
Silence: Lectures and Writing, John Cage (1961)
Strange People, Frank Edwards (1961)
The Divided Self, RD Laing (1960)
All the Emperor’s Horses, David Kidd (1960)
Billy Liar, Keith Waterhouse (1959)
The Leopard, Giuseppe di Lampedusa (1958)
On the Road, Jack Kerouac (1957)
The Hidden Persuaders, Vance Packard (1957)
Room at the Top, John Braine (1957)
A Grave for a Dolphin, Alberto Denti di Pirajno (1956)
The Outsider, Colin Wilson (1956)
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov (1955)
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
The Street, Ann Petry (1946)
Black Boy, Richard Wright (1945)