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Inspiration/Information for free agents April 16, 2008

Posted by laborparty in Uncategorized.
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A couple interesting news stories today that should inspire and educate solo-workers and other free agents …

First, from the front page of today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, a decent profile of jazz musician Elliott Levin. At the ripe old age of 54, Levin has now been hustling obscure avant-jazz gigs for over 30 years. Here are two quotes from the story, which was written by the Philly-based freelancer music journalist David R. Adler: 

Philadelphia jazz artists may face a shortage of available bookings, but Levin seems to find every last one. “Man, I really do hustle,” he says, “but that’s what I’ve had to learn to do to survive playing music.”

Guitarist Rick Iannacone, a creative partner of Levin’s for decades, allows that his friend’s openness toward any and all gigs could be perceived as overzealous, even unfocused. “Some would say, ‘Why play with these cats, or with those cats?’ But the thing about Elliott is he has no agenda except to share music.”

[Elliott Levin's Official Website]

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Also, freelancer and Salt Magazine co-founder Catherine Price hands out financial advice and tax tips to the Free Agent Nation. [Salon, click here]

Dan Pink’s Johnny Bunko update April 16, 2008

Posted by laborparty in Entrepreneurs.
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Free Agent Nation author Dan Pink alerted many of his fans yesterday to a number of interesting promotions and tie-ins associated with Johnny Bunko, his recently-published book. Johnny Bunko, if you haven’t heard about this yet, is a business- and career-advice book produced in the style of a Japanese “manga” comic. Pink wrote the story, and a wonderfully talented illustrator by the name of Rob Ten Pas (that’s him, with the ballcap and the goatee) did the artwork.

The story itself aims to share with readers the six great secrets of career success, and after devouring an advance review copy in under an hour, I can attest to the fact that it does the job quite well. If you’ve been exposed to Dan Pink’s work in the past, and you’re now wondering whether or not Johnny Bunko might be worth it’s cover price, I’ll say this: If you consider yourself to be the sort of person who has creative career ambitions, and yet you still can’t seem to figure out how to survive comfortably outside the confines of a corporate 9-to-5 job, you might want to buy the book. (You might also want to buy two or three other creative career guides, starting with Carol Lloyd’s Creating a Life Worth Living, and possibly Barbara Sher’s Wishcraft.)

And for those of you who absolutely can’t get enough Bunko in your lives, check out the Bunko Facebook group, and keep your eyes on the website for information about upcoming contests, and possibly even a Bunko T-shirt. I’ll be wearing mine with pride.     

Lonely Planet author Josh Krist’s Memoirgate response April 16, 2008

Posted by laborparty in Freelance Writing, Lonely Planet, Travel Writing.
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Just a quick note to alert anyone who has arrived at The Labor Party looking for information about the Lonely Planet/Thomas Kohnstamm scandal that writer Josh Krist, also a Lonely Planet author, has written in with a comment of his own. To read the comment in its entirety, simply scroll down to the very bottom of the post that sits directly below this one, and then click to read the comments. If you’d rather not be bothered with all the scrolling and clicking, however, here’s a synopsis:

Hi Dan, I personally am miffed about the whole thing … I think he lied about lying — in other words, yes, he greased the truth about how carefree and fun-loving his research trips were to make the trips read more Hunter S. Thompson-like. I just read his interview over at World Hum, and to me, it was deception on top of deception … So, I can understand why people feel ripped off. Travelers pay us to be honest, trustworthy, and thorough. Thomas, no matter what the “real” story might be, is apparently none of those things, or, not enough. My dad has a good line: Not only should we avoid impropriety, we should avoid even the appearance of impropriety — because the second often leads to the first.

Josh also links to a wonderful article by Tim Wu about the importance and necessity of guidebooks that was published last April on Slate.

Perhaps not surprisingly, a relatively large number of guidebook writers, some who are affiliated with LP and others who aren’t, have been weighing in on the Kohnstamm Kontroversy via their personal weblogs. I’ve found two so far that should be considered required reading for anyone interested in understanding how this scandal happened in the first place, or for that matter, anyone interested in learning the truth about how the guidebook industry really works. 

The first is Zora O’Neill’s Roving Gastronome blog. Zora writes for Moon Handbooks, Rough Guides and Lonely Planet. This is the post of hers you’ll want to read first. It’s titled The Thomas Kohnstamm Affair: A Long Rant on What It’s Really Like to Be a Guidebook Author.

Next, read Lara Dunston’s Decoding Lonely Planet’s explanation. Dunston’s post, while amusing and fairly spot-on, is also rather snarky in tone. It’s therefore worth bearing in mind that after contributing to more than 25 books for Lonely Planet with her husband Terry Carter, the couple have both chosen to end their association with the company. Lara and Terry are both extremely prolific travel writers, and today they maintain the Grantourismo travel blog.