Busy is good, right?

[kinzel]

If busy is good, I'm doing great ...

for example, in less than an hour I need to many miles away, with my car to get it repaired. Lucky me.

So ...

At Boskone... we introduced (and handed out quite a few) badge ribbons to stick across the bottom of the con badge/badge holders ... I'm sure you've seen them... colorful and fun. Ours say:

1 Vote For Boss Conrad
I Follow Theo Waitley
Monday is For Saltation
Read Advertently
The Stars Are Dancing
Flaran Cha' menthi

we have some left and are looking for folks to hand them out at cons (and take SRM fliers, too, possibly)... but we're also looking ahead to Denvention to see which badge ribbons we should be sure to have more of, and what other such ribbons we really ought to have ... We need time to plan and budget for these, so now is not too soon.

Meanwhile, I've been working hard with Andre the webguy to get the new SRM catalog in gear. It *is* approaching gear, but let's be truthful ... this is still beta. If you want to *look at it* you can go to http://srmpublisher.com and take a gander. I think the ordering system is in gear, but, it *is beta* and we're still adjusting things ... I still need to get the ISBNs in for example, and not all the categories are complete... meanwhile, I have a box of catch-up orders that will not be getting out today because the advice of all concerned about my car is *to not pass go, do not go to the PO, drive the car directly to the dealer and crossfingers* ... so those things will get mailed tomorrow.

Tonight is supposed be chess night for me. We shall see.

Comments

[klingonguy.livejournal.com]

I was talking to my wife about ribbons for Denvention just yesterday.

I'm torn between repeating a previous, well received ribbon, or trying to come up with something new. In either case though, I think I'll go for a wider range of colors.

Beta Catalogue

[(Anonymous)]

I think it looks classy. Very nice.

Kelly
TC, CA

Site

[muehe.livejournal.com]

Ok, I am not a web guy – and I am defiantly not a marketing/merchandising guy. Hell, I work with those guys and I have come to the conclusion that what I think is NOT what the market wants.
But, all that said – I think your home page is weak. It is like I dropped right into a product grid. It needs some bigger cells and something to draw my eye.
My first thought was to have the artwork from a book taking up about a half of the grid – without any title. You know just a nice colorful picture. Change it out every once in a while so your regulars will not get bored. But you probably have some copyright junk you would have to deal with. Then throw in your newest or hottest items.
By the way, still think tanker looking ship looks cool – way better than station or the streamline ship.
I just re-read what I wrote. Seemed a bit critical, please do not think that. I like the site – a good sold piece of work.

Re: Site

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Part of the choice here is mine: I got rrally bored with the old Meisha Merlin site which had lots of art and explanation but which made it really hard to order and see what the books looked like. The art on the page changes if you refresh it; and it can vary from front page to internal. True, I may have too many "front page" choices ... that's something to look at.

Re: Site

[(Anonymous)]

As someone who goes to a lot of websites for work, but didn't specifically look at your beta site - my vote is for simple. If someone wants to order a book, they want to be able to find how to order that book - not look at pretty pictures that take 20 or more times as long to load if you're using an old computer or if you have a slow connection.

And the ribbon I'd suggest is "Until Soon"

B. O'Brien

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

More ribbons:

Tree and Dragon
Nerligig Technician's Union or Authorized Nerligig Service

Jela's Troop

[baggette.livejournal.com]

Yes! I second that.

and maybe a seed pod?
or a Tree & Dragon

catalog

[(Anonymous)]

I really like the new catalog. As a long=time reader and customer, I can tell you that it loads much faster and is easier to navigate. When I have money soon (!) I'll order more good stuff to give and to keep.
And, if I went to conventions, I'd love to have the ribbons and maybe a seedpod!

Website looks good

[paw3pals.livejournal.com]

I like the simple and easy to navigate look you have chosen. I buy a lot of ebooks from publisher websites and easy navigation with no frames is a definite plus. The artwork and changing banners are great and appealing.

Suggestions:
For those books available as ebooks from Webscriptions and Fictionwise and wherever, I would indicate so. While a link to those websites would be nice, it is not really necessary, just the mention that it is available.

Also, a Liaden Universe information link of some sort, with a listing of each Liaden book & chapbook (numbered) with maybe short descriptions, and indicating which Companion book the chapbook is in. When originally ordering my copies, spent quite a time checking that all the chapbooks up to that time were included, and even then I missed one. As an orderly type, the lack of such a listing was a botheration.

Maybe include a link to korval.com for further background info on the authors & Liaden Universe.

Also, I would not have your phone number in the banner - just under the Contact Us link.

paw3pals

[(Anonymous)]

Burton from Montreal

new site looks nice and easy to navigate. Is everything available already listed or more stuff to be inserted?

Just a question on shipping. Is UPS going be exclusive worldwide shipper in the future?

[(Anonymous)]

shouldn't still say UPS ... does it? Or does it say USPS?

[(Anonymous)]

Burton from Montreal

It says UPS ground on the shipping page on the beta site.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Good catch! That's one that we had fixed but got "reverted" when we moved it form the test site. Thanks!

[otaku-tetsuko.livejournal.com]

Ribbon thought...."It's Complicated."

[keristor.livejournal.com]

A couple of comments on the website. Neither all that serious on a beta site.

Note: I'm using a text-only browser ('links' under Linux), to see what this looks like for non-graphics users.

1) Your book pictures have ALT text which is the same as the accompanying text. This isn't necessary, and in fact is confusing since each link appears twice. It is possible to have ALT='' on the images, and this will cause the extra link to disappear.

2) Attempting to add to the wishlist resulted in a 404 page not found error. Adding to the cart, however, worked fine so it seems that the cookies are OK.

Otherwise it seems fine (I didn't go all the way to checkout, but if it uses PayPal that may well be OK in a text-only browser from past experience).

test drive of website

[(Anonymous)]

I went all the way through the ordering process. Only thing I particularly noticed is the item count is wrong when you go through and print a receipt. I tried ordering 3 items, but the receipt says "1". Otherwise, e-mails confirming order arrived immediately.