CCS sent us over an e-mail last week about an Awareness Week they're having to — um, raise awareness about the fact that CCS exists.  I'm not really sure if anyone who reads our blog hasn't heard of CCS, but if you are that sole solitary reader scratching his or her head over this curious combination of initials, be made full of awareness now!

I got a chance to visit CCS this fall, which was fun, because it involved very long train rides and also butternut squash/beet soup and Alec Longstreth.  And (of course) the most fun part of all was talking for 2.5 hours to a group of second-year students about marketing (after which there was ice cream, which I needed because I had no voice left). 

As a marketing type, I find it to be an excellent thing when schools incorporate into their curriculum some sort of 'professional practices' class that includes marketing.  Because, it turns out, marketing is important when it comes to publishing books well.  And if authors are prepared beforehand, everything runs much more smoothly.  When authors have an accurate idea of what sorts of things are their responsibility marketing-wise, they are less frequently accidentally crushed to death under the weight of events, interviews, and other miscellany. 

(We like our authors best when they are not crushed to death.  It is a better state from which to get them to do more books for us!)