Translating Geek Career Paradise To Helpful Dullness

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Ikea is to furniture what Harlequin is to romance.

Our own Bonnie said that in a chat, and beyond the images it gave me, it made me realize something about success.

Imagine your ideal personal business, ideal employer, ideal industry.  You doubtlessly have ideals that you wish to learn from – the best company or person, etc.  But at times we're a bit too close to such ideals to learn from them.  I've seen this in several industries (most noteably gaming).

So I've wanted to suggest something that comparison made me think: maybe we professional geeks could learn by finding what "non-geeky" industries, companies, and individuals map well to your ideals.  It might give you enough distance – and enough stimulation – to extract winning ideas.

– Steven Savage

Late Breaking Geekery: Plagarism

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An article with interviews on a woman who found her entire novel plagarized with name changes on a fanfic site.  Quite fascinating on many levels, a good warning, and a reminder of how good fans can warn you to such things.

This happens more than people realize, and it's not just for no money – there have been issues of "ebook spam" where people sell copies of books cheap until they get caught.

For my money there's not enough focus on plagarism as of late in media.  I'm not sure why.

– Steven Savage

Media and Fan Relationships: Zones Of Creativity

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A lot of us work in or want to produce media, including fiction.  For those of us writing fiction, or planning to film it, or whatever, there may be some concerns about how to deal with fanfic and the like.  Fans are why we're here and how we get paid, and their fanworks help promote our works and draw everyone into a community.  However fanworks can also accidentally "brand" your work, something creators don't always seek or like – as we've had discussed here by our own Rob Barba.

I'm pro-fanwork as long as there's mutual respect and understanding.  I also know some authors fear what happens when people begin "playing in their world," and it's not always irrational (i can immediately think of two series I avoided due to fanfic battles and fanwank that gave me the wrong impression).  For authors and creators who want the best of both worlds, I had an idea.

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