Advertise on Professor Zero! This blog already has some discreet advertising and I want more of it, ideally for items and entities I approve of and covet myself. These include but are not necessarily limited to Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Cookware, Dansko Clogs, Old Gringo Mules, Dr. Scholl’s Original Exercise Sandals, linens made of a cotton and linen blend, and The Talavera Shop. I will put stars next to the links of products I actually have or want, and I will give those advertisers a discount since I will consider their links as decorations to my blog. To make room for this eventuality I am streamlining my links.
Renovated links list! For the monotonous list of my archives I have substituted a category cloud. I am also slowly eliminating other links. I started with blogs which are no longer being updated, and I am continuing with blogs whose addresses I know by heart. This means that if I eliminate YOU, I am not abandoning you, but quite the opposite: your presence is so palpable that I require no help to find you.
Regional French! I have at last seen Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources. These films are absolutely beautiful and should be seen on a large screen. They could be taught along with Doña Perfecta. They take place in Provence and I can just smell the plants and the soil. I identify so closely with this place that I am surprised to find I do not look like the characters. But to me the very most interesting aspect of the films is the local accent in French, with all its nasalizations. There are also a few grammatical constructions I have heard in Louisiana and that I thought were borrowings from Spanish – except that they are regional French. Listen.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
Two of my all time favorite movies! What would I advertise on my blog, if I took ads? Hmm. Probably won’t do it though. Too lazy.
Love it! reminds me of my year in Bordeaux. Also must view Pagnol’s earlier films César, Fanny and Marius, if you haven’t seen them.
I must see these films, yes!
And also advertise Diego di Lucca shoes … and something called fb linens I think.
More things to advertise: Mushroom logs from Graton, CA, Cline Vineyards, Norton Vineyards, Peet’s Coffee, Café Bustelo. And I must really push that Talavera Shop, it is far and away the most reliable for quality in my experience. And explain to people how linen (as opposed to cotton) lasts so much longer, and perhaps how good Egyptian cotton is. I am a great bourgeoise and far better than Martha Stewart.
Professor Zero, I would be willing to pay $10-12 for a collection of Professor Zero’s musings on scholarship, art and revolution. Have you thought of presenting the site to a literary agent? Perhaps transforming the whole thing into book form.
There is the Fiction 2 Collective (http://fc2.org/) which publishes non-traditional fiction – maybe they could direct you to a Non-fiction press also interested in non-traditional narrative
I know Cary Tennis of Salon.com compiled a collection of his advice column “Since You Asked”, which was also published online. You could possibly write to him and ask him how he did it.
I imagine maintaining a site like this is a lot of work. You deserve to be paid for your efforts– the occasional royalties check, something!
Well, this is the piece chosen to be read in my local English department’s reading series the other night.
http://sptc.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/that-midday-demon/
It’s under editorial consideration and I think has been too long … and the academic version of it has been rejected from two journals … but it’s creative nonfiction and I like it.
I’m flattered and yes I had thought of that … but the idea of presenting it to an agent as a site, and doing the editing later, is intriguing. There are certain parts of it that are supposed to be germs of various pieces, maybe the site itself as book *is* an idea … I’d love it … let me think a bit about this … and GRACIAS.
I’ve thought about it. I think the book should be the whole thing – all the posts, starting at the beginning. What say you (or what says anyone)?
YES!!! I think it would be amazing. You have to keep the posts because without the posts, you don’t have the full story, the full narrative.
Were you also thinking of including reader comments?
That may be a bit much – some can be long-winded.:)
Well, originally I had thought not – too much material – but perhaps selected exchanges should go in, it adds another level to it all.
I’m more concerned about what to do about hyperlinks and songs.
The interesting thing about it would be how it can be indexed according to topic or theme, and be read start to finish, or not.
I am thinking this is a good idea. Honestly, I had thought there were individual pieces and topics that warranted development, but the whole thing as a blog novel is easier, better, and everything.
In the online version of the novel, you can include hyperlinks to songs.
By the way, have you also thought about charging for a pass to certain parts of the site? I’m still dying to read “Professor Zero and Me” and “Why I am Mexican,” and would be willing to pay $2-3 dollars to have access to that part of the site – this seemed to work for Salon.com for a while before they started doing day passes.
So you were thinking of organizing the book by theme rather than chronologically? Hmm, interesting. I think I’m more interested in reading the entire collection in chronological order, but maybe my mind works in a more linear way than most.
AH YES, online version of the novel, of course!
Pass to certain parts of it, that is BRILLIANT. THANK you. I will work on this.
Book organization: both. Chronologically, but also with a type of index so that people could look at all the DA WHITEMAN posts together. In the online version, they could look at all the songs together (for instance) or whatever they wanted to call up.
I believe in the chronological thing, though – not because my mind works that way, but because it doesn’t. Looking at it chronologically would be very interesting, especially since it is in fact a journey.
One other suggestion – which you can take or leave, but I just wanted to put it out there – is that for me so much of the appeal of your site has to do with the mystery of your identity. “Who are you?” I’ve spent more time thinking about this in the last two weeks than I care to admit, and I think I’m not alone. At first I thought you were a man because of your writing style; then I thought you were non-tenured and struggling on a meager salary because of your draconian habits of frugality; now I’ve found you are a tenured professor; and there are still more mysteries to uncover. If I were you, I would play up this confusion surrounding your identity.
You could be a sort of “Scarlet Pimpernel” for the information age.
Ok, I’m done spouting off.
Thanks, Natasha! I’ll take this advice, too. I’m glad I’m still mysterious … I’ve let more and more out of the bag and I somehow suspect it isn’t really that hard to figure out who I am by now, but I guess it still is … good.
Originally I wanted to be truly anonymous so I refused to mention race or gender … and people thought I was a Latino man. Then I revealed gender so they thought I was a Black woman. Apparently I really do have a masculine writing style. It’s funny, I don’t even realize it. I like it. 🙂
MORE advertising ideas: HUE tights and socks, if they need advertising from me. I would have to be paid very well by Wacoal to advertise their underwear, or DKNY to advertise their stockings, but I recommend them … and Donna Karan in general, I think … more in character for me to advertise, though, would be the clothes shop Gae-tana’s in N.O., uptown on Maple Street.
I should also have advertising from REI, but they would have to pay well since they do not really need advertising.
(HMMM… should I advertise REI in general or just specific items? The character of the blog goes with the specific items, but REI as a business is good because it is a coop.)
And dyes from Dharma Trading. Forget the ubiquitous Rit. It is so much EASIER with a good product.
I don’t know about Donna Karan.
REI, Dharma Trading, yes.
Clothes shops in New Orleans, sure.
Professional athletes have to do this kind of thing all the time, or else they will have to give up their sport, but I’m wary of the brand with which you’re affiliating yourself.
What about car or TV show advertisements? Salon is always advertising new HBO TV shows and the new Lexxus.
Pop culture stuff. Tights and socks is a bit too…. grade school.
What kind of advertising were you thinking of?
Big and bold, front and center, or small and in the margins?
By the way, the reason I said that about Donna Karan is that I’ve begun to associate her clothes with a kind of bland sleek emptiness, which I associate with thoughtless materialism, although I agree that her tights are great. She’s one of the few to sell tights for tall women, and they usually last at least a year without running.
I just don’t think that she fits the ethos of your website very well. You may be better off going down a list of all the companies who took a stand against Bush in 2004 by donating to the Kerry campaign: Peet’s Coffee, Starbuck’s, Ben and Jerry’s, who else?….
I wouldn’t be surprised if Laura Bush wore Donna Karan outfits every so often.
OK, no tights, socks, underwear, or Donna Karan … even if I do like the tights, etc., and consider them a Find. No Starbucks, I hate them, no Ben and Jerry’s, I hate sweets and everyone knows they are PC, and I’m not … the one ad I have is under Blog Supporters and it is for a product I do not approve of, but they approached me and they pay. If they approach me with a decent price I’ll advertise anyone … it is ADVERTISING, it is not free publicity … but if I approach them I have to like them. You have a good eye … thanks … and I’m trying to figure out how to password a part of the site. I think I’d have to start hosting my own blog (costs money, that, although not much) so I could modify the style sheets … I can ask Nezua about that but I think there’s a technical reason why he just asks for donations via PayPal … I don’t want to do that but I don’t mind passwording part of the site.
“…no Ben and Jerry’s, I hate sweets and everyone knows they are PC, and I’m not”
I love it! You never cease to amaze me.
Go with your gut, then!
🙂 I might then still do the socks, stockings, and underwear – I swear, these things are not easy to find in actually good editions … right now I am wearing Hue tights and they are so much better than the no name ones I got at Target for the same price!!! Part of the idea of the ads is to promote quality stuff – as well as smaller stores.
Hmmm… no cars, no tv shows, and no Ben and Jerry’s, but maybe Angelo Brocato Italian ices, they are good, and a few independent grocery stores and markets eventually.
Now I have to actually find out how to get people to pay for these ads … and how to password the site. My other moneymaking idea is to consult in the oilfields (yes, don’t faint, someone is well paid for occasional translation and interpretation and it might as well be me) but I have to actually make the correct connection.
Perhaps these people might be of help for translation work?
http://www.devnetjobs.org/
It always is who you know/what connections you have though. When one of my early professors said that networking was important I thought she was having a laugh. If only…
OOOH, athestwoman, this will be especially good if we get seriously downsized! For what I’m looking for now, I’m networking in person … because it’s not a job I want but the right consulting gig. Still, thanks … devnet keeps telling me to tell the students to use them, but I had never actually looked at the site before.
Hola, Zero!
I stumbled across this website and wondered if you couldn’t use some of her advertising technique. She has a T-Mobile front and center and a bunch of other ads in a sidebar – wonder how much she’s making with all that?
http://fourfour.typepad.com/fourfour/
P.S. I like your new copyright “all rights reserved” sign. Boy, is it intimidating–I’m not stealing any of your stuff–not with a sign like that!
Thanks, Natasha!
That’s an interesting site. I don’t know what her hit count is but if she’s “average,” whatever that is, she’s probably making about $150 per month – from what I’ve been able to gather about these things. Bitch PhD uses those services and makes a lot more, but she drives her hit count up by swearing a lot and discussing her extramarital affair, child rearing, underwear, pornography, and so on.
These ad networks are a lot better than Google ads, though, which is why they are not taking new blogs right now. Also, you have to run Javascript to use them, which you can’t do on this version of WordPress. I’d have to buy the software and host my own site which means investment and work I don’t want to undertake yet because I don’t have enough of a following to make it worth it.
Avesil paid me $200 this year just to link to them, under “Blog Supporters.” That means I didn’t give them a lot of space, or have to put them at the top of the page. I asked for $720 for the year. They approached me, I didn’t approach them, and I don’t use Avesil or necessarily approve of it, believe in it, anything like that. I really will advertise anything, so long as I can make it clear it is a paid advertisement.
P.S. Nezua at UMX has a really sophisticated advertising system, but then he hosts himself, so he can. And he discreetly takes donations via PayPal. If I were in business for myself as an artist as he is, I’d do it … but it takes a lot of time, the blog and activities related to it is one of his main jobs.
But he and you are giving me some ideas … reiterated thanks … !!!
AHA – and I should also advertise grocery stores and restaurants, perhaps.
The copyright notice is inspired by you: I need to keep this content mine because I want the royalties I may get from the novel!
It was no trouble Profacero!
Hi atheist! Flash: Bitch PhD now sells access to her blog for $1 a month by Kindle. I’ll have to find out how she negotiated this. At first I wondered why one would have it by Kindle – it’s free on the Internet – but Kindles aren’t full computers, so I get it now. I wonder how much of a market she has. I think it would improve my market.
I thought you had a section on furniture d’époque repair in this blog. I was mistaken. Anyway, the reason for my looking for is that I have some of my grandma’s furniture ( little bulky for today’s spaces but beautiful) and I am considering to take it to a repair’s specialist. I have been asking for estimates and am shocked at the prices. Like for example, for an entire bedroom set $3900 and 2 dining room items $2600 which will make a $6500. That sounded overestimated!. Then yesterday, I talked to another one and gave me a $3900 total for the same work. Still, I find it very expensive. But my sister said I won’t be able to find contemporary nice furniture for the same amount. Do you know anything on the subject?. I hate to be screwed (robbed). On the other hand, I feel obliged to be fair.
I suspect your sister is right. You can find decent new furniture for less, but it won’t be like this. I do not know the costs of antique repair, though.