I am looking for a job, a normal job. A job where I can plan my own
work, where I can see my son, and daughter and my wife most of the
year. A job where ... I am looking for a job. I am a trained book
editor but have worked with magazines and now working with a newspaper. And it sucks.
So, in the spirit of job seeking and resume upgrading, I came across this post, off tompeters.com, http://www.blueprint4resumes.com/2009/04/whats-your-resume-worth.html
Here: (Sorry the figures are all in dollars - but you could as well replace them with shillings)
What’s your resume worth?
About $250,000 - $550,000 if you land a Chief Operation Officer (COO) position.
About $100,000 - $150,000 if you land a Retail Regional Manager position.
About $75,000 - $125,000 if you land an IT Manager position.
About $65,000 - $85,000 if you land a Technical Writer position.
About $45,000 - $65,000 if you land a Cost Accountant position.
About $35,000 - $55,000 if you land an Elementary School Teacher position.
About $25,000 - $45,000 if you land an Assistant Restaurant Manager position.
About $22,000 - $32,000 if you land a Receptionist position.
About $17,000 - $27,000 if you land a Retail Sales Clerk position.
About $17,000 - $22,000 if you land a Fast Food Cashier position.
About $3,000 to $18,000 if you are looking to go part-time for the majority of retail positions.
About $8 if you count the cost of resume quality paper, folder, envelope, a
few squirts of ink toner to print it, and then… you never mail it.
About two cents if you print it on copy machine paper (but you wouldn’t do that… would you?).
About .008 cents for the amount of electricity spent to e-mail your resume to a potential employer.
Zero (that’s Z – E – R – O!) if you never send it out.
What’s your resume worth? Do I need to explain this?
The above writing sent me thinking about the plight of book editors in the unfortunate event that they are fired, or, as our HR boss gleefully puts it, 'separated.'
I should correct the above paragraph to read: A conversation I had over the weekend with my mentor and relative, Mr O, sent me thinking about life after early loss of paid employment for book editors. Mr O is a published school books writer with 10 books to his name.
Anyway, he was telling me about his former editor, Mr K, who was edged out of a job in a prominent publishing firm in the country. Though he told Mr O that he had opted for early retirement, it was obvious he had been 'separated' for he was looking for a job, a teaching job.
He tried to talk Mr O into publishing a revision book with him, never mind that Mr O already had a revision book under his name and published with Mr K's former employer. They were to meet for Mr K to sell his proposal to Mr O. Somehow, Mr K didn't show up; he sent a text to say he was away in the farm so would get back to Mr O. Three weeks later, he hasn't.
Before he was edged out, Mr K, an outstanding editor, was earning over Ksh100,000 a month. As a an editor out of employment, Mr K could start his own publishing firm, do consultancy, seek for a job in another firm, take up teaching or move out of editing and publishing altogether.
Employment in another firm, unless at a higher level, was out of question. His employer is the best paying slave-driving firm in publishing; no other employer can afford to pay him the salary he was getting at that level.
For Mr K, his area of specialisation was such that he could not leave on consultancy, unless all the editors in that field all died and he had to edit the various firms' books one after the other.
He could as well go into self publishing: With the severance pay, get a few teachers, compile a revision book or student companion of sorts, publish it and market it like crazy. I will say nothing of his setting up a publishing firm but he could take up teaching. considering he is trained as a teacher.
All those options aside, the fact that as an editor of certain subjects, once you are fired you are as good as dead, professionally, should worry those in the field. Should they think of a career away from editing and publishing - have a solid career elsewhere and only dabble in publishing and editing as a side job? Maybe publishing firms should consider hiring such editors on short contracts so that from the word go they learn to fend for themselves or better still, remunerate them handsomely.
Those feeble suggestions aside, if you are a book editor in Kenya and employed by one of the numerous publishing houses: What would happen if your employer retrenched you tomorrow, next week, next month or next year? What would you do to sustain your family? Think about it, now. Then act. So, what is your CV worth?
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Prestige Bookshop is the place to be ...
Many are the times, as a book lover, I have walked into a bookshop and left, an hour or so later, feeling drained, assaulted and insulted.
The routine is: Walk in, 'shelf' shop, flip through titles, pick a title, two or three or ask for particular titles, pay and leave.
I feel drained after endless shelf/title hopping. Throw in the feeling that I may never get to read as many interesting titles as I may wish and the fact that I cannot afford as many books as I'd love to own, the drain is complete.
The assult and insult comes in the way the staffers respond to your queries - as if they are swatting a fly. So easy, so effortless and with such a bored look, you feel an idiot, a million times over.
However, today at the Prestige Bookshop, none of these 'ill' treatments were given. Indeed, if you happen to be in Nairobi and you are a lover of books and you love order, neatness, technology ... name it, go to Prestige Bookshop, (Mama Ngina Street, I think).
There is a way you feel when you walk in and are met by these warm, custom-made shelves, neatly and appropriately labelled: Fiction, Classics, World Affairs, Self Help, Business, School etc.
You get the feeling that so much thought was put into arranging/stacking the books on the shelves. It is not the size of the book noor the name of the author nor ... but, in my view, the cover of the book that attracts you. I thought this is a good thing: Let the book sell itself to you.
The staffers, as good and neat as they were, had half of their work done for them. Apart from a question or two about this or that title that could not be found on the shelves, they were more or less left to idle around.
I went looking for Frank McCourt's 'Angela's Ashes' but didn't find it. I tried John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, nil. Of Mice and men, nada.
Not to despair, Sara introduced me to Frank McCourt's other works: 'Tis and Teacher Man. I found Teacher Man interesting. I should buy it over Christmas.
Oh, and Gabriel Marquez Garcia's A Hundred Years of Solitude,hardcover no less costs a friendly 880/-.(Elsewhere, the paperback costs 990/-).
It is a nice place to go for books.
Kudos Prestige Bookshop
The routine is: Walk in, 'shelf' shop, flip through titles, pick a title, two or three or ask for particular titles, pay and leave.
I feel drained after endless shelf/title hopping. Throw in the feeling that I may never get to read as many interesting titles as I may wish and the fact that I cannot afford as many books as I'd love to own, the drain is complete.
The assult and insult comes in the way the staffers respond to your queries - as if they are swatting a fly. So easy, so effortless and with such a bored look, you feel an idiot, a million times over.
However, today at the Prestige Bookshop, none of these 'ill' treatments were given. Indeed, if you happen to be in Nairobi and you are a lover of books and you love order, neatness, technology ... name it, go to Prestige Bookshop, (Mama Ngina Street, I think).
There is a way you feel when you walk in and are met by these warm, custom-made shelves, neatly and appropriately labelled: Fiction, Classics, World Affairs, Self Help, Business, School etc.
You get the feeling that so much thought was put into arranging/stacking the books on the shelves. It is not the size of the book noor the name of the author nor ... but, in my view, the cover of the book that attracts you. I thought this is a good thing: Let the book sell itself to you.
The staffers, as good and neat as they were, had half of their work done for them. Apart from a question or two about this or that title that could not be found on the shelves, they were more or less left to idle around.
I went looking for Frank McCourt's 'Angela's Ashes' but didn't find it. I tried John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, nil. Of Mice and men, nada.
Not to despair, Sara introduced me to Frank McCourt's other works: 'Tis and Teacher Man. I found Teacher Man interesting. I should buy it over Christmas.
Oh, and Gabriel Marquez Garcia's A Hundred Years of Solitude,hardcover no less costs a friendly 880/-.(Elsewhere, the paperback costs 990/-).
It is a nice place to go for books.
Kudos Prestige Bookshop
Saturday, October 31, 2009
USIU Ksh20,000,000 Africana gig
Just seen a news item on KTN that USIU has launched a Ksh20,000,000 book fund (or is it an Africana Library or a fund to boost African authors?).
In the item, it is reported that USIU has so far raised about Ksh3,000,000 and hope to raise the rest in five years. (Standard Group CEO - or is it chairman? - Paul Wanyagah feels 5 years is too long a time!).
The chairman of the initiative is one Ken Kariuki.
I listened to the VC Prof Frieda Brown and she was talking of something to do with tuition, other resources - online, print etc. I am lost.
Maybe due to the nature of the news item - brief, rushed, almost PR-ish and all - and the education or otherwise of the writer of the item (shallow, book-matters illiterate, whichever way you look at it), it didn't come out clearly what USIU is coming up with?
a) Is it an Africana Collection? (they should be having one, surely?)
b) Is it an Africana Library?
c) Is it a book fund to boost authors (but how? paying them advances, helping them self-publish, sponsoring them to writing workshops? Buyng them decent clothes? What?)
Towards the end of the item, it was mentioned that USIU hopes to raise the cash from its alumni. I'm not one (thank you so much, Moi University serves me so right, er, for now), so does that mean am excluded from contributing? I can do Ksh50,000 in, you know, five years. I don't make much, really, but when it comes to books, I can even take a Sacco loan just to lay my hands on a said book.
Confusion aside, I think I like this. It was also metioned that there will be a hall of fame kind of thing - every contibutor's name will appear here. I think I will do with a certificate to show I supported a book cause. Considering USIU is my future employer (check with me 5 years from now - after I have done my Masters, written my two books and the works), I think a certificate that shows I contributed a princely Ksh50,000 would not be so bad, au sio?
On a serious note, if ever there was a time for Kenyan publishers and writers to shine, this is such. I'll illustrate.
The East African Educational Publishers beats all the Kenyan publishers hands down when it comes to Africana titles (by that I mean titles, both fiction and non-fiction, done by Africans). What if EAEP just bit the bullet, so to speak, and donated like each of its over 200 titles in the famed African Writers Series? (I know someone will say something to do with Heineman, Longman ... let them!).
Second example: The authors. They can and should surrender a copy of their published books to the USIU Africana thing. I am talking the likes of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Francis Imbuga, Meja Mwangi, Mwangi Ruheni, Margaret Ogola, Micere Mugo, Maina Kinyatti, Koigi wa Wamwere (I know his limitations as a writer), Grace Ogot, ... (where have all the writers gone?).
Shhhhh: In fact, Ngugi wa Thiong'o with all the money he makes abroad could just write USIU a 1,000,000/- cheque (assuming they are receiving money from non-alumni.)
As soon as I get me the Ksh50,000, I'll go looking for Ken Kariuki. Watch this blog.
Kudos USIU.
In the item, it is reported that USIU has so far raised about Ksh3,000,000 and hope to raise the rest in five years. (Standard Group CEO - or is it chairman? - Paul Wanyagah feels 5 years is too long a time!).
The chairman of the initiative is one Ken Kariuki.
I listened to the VC Prof Frieda Brown and she was talking of something to do with tuition, other resources - online, print etc. I am lost.
Maybe due to the nature of the news item - brief, rushed, almost PR-ish and all - and the education or otherwise of the writer of the item (shallow, book-matters illiterate, whichever way you look at it), it didn't come out clearly what USIU is coming up with?
a) Is it an Africana Collection? (they should be having one, surely?)
b) Is it an Africana Library?
c) Is it a book fund to boost authors (but how? paying them advances, helping them self-publish, sponsoring them to writing workshops? Buyng them decent clothes? What?)
Towards the end of the item, it was mentioned that USIU hopes to raise the cash from its alumni. I'm not one (thank you so much, Moi University serves me so right, er, for now), so does that mean am excluded from contributing? I can do Ksh50,000 in, you know, five years. I don't make much, really, but when it comes to books, I can even take a Sacco loan just to lay my hands on a said book.
Confusion aside, I think I like this. It was also metioned that there will be a hall of fame kind of thing - every contibutor's name will appear here. I think I will do with a certificate to show I supported a book cause. Considering USIU is my future employer (check with me 5 years from now - after I have done my Masters, written my two books and the works), I think a certificate that shows I contributed a princely Ksh50,000 would not be so bad, au sio?
On a serious note, if ever there was a time for Kenyan publishers and writers to shine, this is such. I'll illustrate.
The East African Educational Publishers beats all the Kenyan publishers hands down when it comes to Africana titles (by that I mean titles, both fiction and non-fiction, done by Africans). What if EAEP just bit the bullet, so to speak, and donated like each of its over 200 titles in the famed African Writers Series? (I know someone will say something to do with Heineman, Longman ... let them!).
Second example: The authors. They can and should surrender a copy of their published books to the USIU Africana thing. I am talking the likes of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Francis Imbuga, Meja Mwangi, Mwangi Ruheni, Margaret Ogola, Micere Mugo, Maina Kinyatti, Koigi wa Wamwere (I know his limitations as a writer), Grace Ogot, ... (where have all the writers gone?).
Shhhhh: In fact, Ngugi wa Thiong'o with all the money he makes abroad could just write USIU a 1,000,000/- cheque (assuming they are receiving money from non-alumni.)
As soon as I get me the Ksh50,000, I'll go looking for Ken Kariuki. Watch this blog.
Kudos USIU.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Upcoming title: My Journey with Jaramogi by Odinge Odera
Informed sources tell me that Odinge Odera, the first secretary of the Kenya Press Club that was formed in July 1965 is to release an autobiography of sorts but capitalising on his time with the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Odinge Odera was among the top 19 KPU men to be detained in November 1969. In a November 11, 1969 Kenya Gazette signed by the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mr. A. J. Omanga, Odinge was detained alongside Ochola Mak'Anyengo,Ondiek Chilo, Ochola Achola, Jeremiah Opiyo, Onyango, Okello Odongo, Solomon Obeid Oiro and others.
The book, 'My journey with Jaramogi' or words to that effect should be coming out in two weeks time or so.
The book will be published by African Research and Resources Forum, the publishers of A leap into the future - 2007 (By Prof Anyang Nyong'o), Discourses on Civil Society in Kenya and the quartely New Path.
Odinge Odera was among the top 19 KPU men to be detained in November 1969. In a November 11, 1969 Kenya Gazette signed by the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mr. A. J. Omanga, Odinge was detained alongside Ochola Mak'Anyengo,Ondiek Chilo, Ochola Achola, Jeremiah Opiyo, Onyango, Okello Odongo, Solomon Obeid Oiro and others.
Odinge Odera was among the top 19 KPU men to be detained in November 1969. In a November 11, 1969 Kenya Gazette signed by the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mr. A. J. Omanga, Odinge was detained alongside Ochola Mak'Anyengo,Ondiek Chilo, Ochola Achola, Jeremiah Opiyo, Onyango, Okello Odongo, Solomon Obeid Oiro and others.
The book, 'My journey with Jaramogi' or words to that effect should be coming out in two weeks time or so.
The book will be published by African Research and Resources Forum, the publishers of A leap into the future - 2007 (By Prof Anyang Nyong'o), Discourses on Civil Society in Kenya and the quartely New Path.
Odinge Odera was among the top 19 KPU men to be detained in November 1969. In a November 11, 1969 Kenya Gazette signed by the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Mr. A. J. Omanga, Odinge was detained alongside Ochola Mak'Anyengo,Ondiek Chilo, Ochola Achola, Jeremiah Opiyo, Onyango, Okello Odongo, Solomon Obeid Oiro and others.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Frankfurt Book Fair, October 14-18
The Frankfurt Book Fair kicks off today.
Links:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4786466,00.html
http://www.buchmesse.de/en/fbf/
http://www.book-fair.com/en/blog/
Links:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4786466,00.html
http://www.buchmesse.de/en/fbf/
http://www.book-fair.com/en/blog/
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Manuscript doctor session for business writers, October 17
This from an email I received:
A MANUSCRIPT DOCTOR SESSION FOR BUSINESS WRITERS
Business writers, this is for you! Business books are best sellers around the world as well as here in Kenya. What makes a good business book stand out from the rest? What can you do to make your own manuscripts grab a publisher’s attention? The first step is to attend the Storymoja Manuscript Doctor Workshop for Business Writers. Bring your manuscripts for review and receive instant expert advice on style, content, structure, and get all your questions answered. The session will start with a workshop on general craft issues. You will learn how an idea and/or early draft can become a book that sells. Come refine your creative ideas with editors Muthoni Garland and Doreen Baingana.
Muthoni Garland, MD of Storymoja, worked in the corporate world for 15 years and wrote business articles on job creation for the Daily Nation. She is the author of several fiction books for adults and children, and the editor of the bestselling business book, “Crown Your Customer” by Sunny Bindra.
Doreen Baingana, Managing Editor of Storymoja, is an award winning fiction writer and editor of the Uta Do? Business Series.
WHEN: SATURDAY OCTOBER 17TH 2009 9:00am – 1:00pm
WHERE: STORYMOJA OFFICES, Njamba House, behind Spring Valley Shopping Centre (with Total petrol station),
Shanzu Rd, Off Lower Kabete Road, Spring Valley, Nairobi
COST: 500 KES
For more information, contact Sheila on 0722838161 or 020-208 9595
Acquire business writing skills for life!
A MANUSCRIPT DOCTOR SESSION FOR BUSINESS WRITERS
Business writers, this is for you! Business books are best sellers around the world as well as here in Kenya. What makes a good business book stand out from the rest? What can you do to make your own manuscripts grab a publisher’s attention? The first step is to attend the Storymoja Manuscript Doctor Workshop for Business Writers. Bring your manuscripts for review and receive instant expert advice on style, content, structure, and get all your questions answered. The session will start with a workshop on general craft issues. You will learn how an idea and/or early draft can become a book that sells. Come refine your creative ideas with editors Muthoni Garland and Doreen Baingana.
Muthoni Garland, MD of Storymoja, worked in the corporate world for 15 years and wrote business articles on job creation for the Daily Nation. She is the author of several fiction books for adults and children, and the editor of the bestselling business book, “Crown Your Customer” by Sunny Bindra.
Doreen Baingana, Managing Editor of Storymoja, is an award winning fiction writer and editor of the Uta Do? Business Series.
WHEN: SATURDAY OCTOBER 17TH 2009 9:00am – 1:00pm
WHERE: STORYMOJA OFFICES, Njamba House, behind Spring Valley Shopping Centre (with Total petrol station),
Shanzu Rd, Off Lower Kabete Road, Spring Valley, Nairobi
COST: 500 KES
For more information, contact Sheila on 0722838161 or 020-208 9595
Acquire business writing skills for life!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Awesome repetition, this
I'm reading Shimmer Chinodya's Harvest of Thorns.
The blurb reads, 'Harvest of Thorns is a novel of great significance which will give all those who read it a greater understanding of the road along which Zimbabwe has travelled, as well as indicate many of the directions ahead.'
I'm moved by the way Chinodya employs repetition: the first line of the first four paragraphs is repeated in a very creative way:
Line 1, Paragraph 1: The day he came back, ...
Line 1, Paragraph 2: And on that same morning of the day he came back ...
Line 1, Paragraph 3: The afternoon of the day he came back ...
Line 1, Paragraph 4: And on the night of the day he came back ...
The blurb reads, 'Harvest of Thorns is a novel of great significance which will give all those who read it a greater understanding of the road along which Zimbabwe has travelled, as well as indicate many of the directions ahead.'
I'm moved by the way Chinodya employs repetition: the first line of the first four paragraphs is repeated in a very creative way:
Line 1, Paragraph 1: The day he came back, ...
Line 1, Paragraph 2: And on that same morning of the day he came back ...
Line 1, Paragraph 3: The afternoon of the day he came back ...
Line 1, Paragraph 4: And on the night of the day he came back ...
Notice the way the day he came back is repeated with great effect.
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