Where’d You Go?

Does anyone even read this thing any more?

For the three or so of you who are still checking in, a quick update: I finally found a new job! After 14 years in various types of publishing-related marketing, I’m stepping up to the next rung on the ladder and moving into sales.

No, it’s not American Express redux! I can think of a million better ways to have my soul die a death of a thousand cuts and I have no interest in revisiting those particular depths.

It’s the northeast territory for a group of publications I’ve been doing marketing for for the past 2+ years, so it’s an internal transition that has been a glowing example of why you’re sometimes better off quitting and reapplying for a job instead! On the plus side, I got to keep my previous salary as my base, which is way better than I’d have gotten elsewhere, as I technically have no prior sales experience. (Most people don’t realize that selling financial planning in a lower-middle class region mere months after 9/11 is fifty times harder than most other types of sales, not to mention the thick skin a few years of knocking on doors as a Jehovah’s Witness helps develop!)

Anyhow, I officially started today and it’s perfect timing as it’s the beginning of the selling season for 2007. It also means I’m going to be busy as hell for the next month or two as I have a couple of major conferences to go to in Vegas and Nashville, plus have some regional traveling to do to meet with my major clients and prospects. Boston, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, I’m looking at you all in particular.

One of the most intriguing things about the move is that in publishing these days, especially in B-to-B, the path to Publisher goes through sales not editorial. The idea’s pretty crazy considering I fell into publishing via my first post-Army temp assignment back in October 1993, but ever since then, I’ve had aspirations of setting up my own publishing company.

Sometimes I believe that things really do happen for a reason…

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.

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