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Re: Offshore Editorial Providers

I read Friedman, and sometimes I agree with him. And sometimes he sends me running out into the garden screaming profanities in such a way that the neighbors run inside and lock their doors.
 
Let's look at free markets from a gardening perspective. People love free markets when they are buying, hate them when they are selling. My local nursery hates that so many of his starts are coming from Canada.
 
For years I dripped drool on catalogue pages that showed English garden tools, both forged steel and stainless stool. But I am a Scot, and I wasn't going to spend a hundred and a half on a spading fork, the stainless steel that I wanted, but I did eventually work my courage up and get a small border fork in forged steel from England. for about half that price. (And incidentally, if you don't have a border fork, you should.) Then Lee Valley out of Canada started carrying Chinese made stainless steel garden tools. The border fork was 30 bucks. I got one. It was better made than my English fork. I love it. I absolutely love it. Stainless steel isn't just pretty. The way it moves in the soil is art. Then a bit later I found the Chinese line of stainless steel in Target for even less. Got a full sized spading fork for twenty bucks.
 
What has happened to the vaunted English tool industry? Have they dropped their prices?  I'm not sure. I've heard that the Chinese have taken over three quarters of the market in England itself. But price aside, the Chinese tools are better made than the English, at least in my limited experience.
 
Then there is terra cotta. I touched on this a couple of days ago. Several years ago I bought a six inch Italian pot for something close to 75 dollars. Three or four years ago I bought a Chinese terra cotta 14 inch pot for $12.95. And like the tools, this is good stuff. Whether it is exactly as good as the Italian is up for debate, but it is damn close. It tends to sweat calcium a little more than the Italian, but I like that. Character. 
 
The Italians have become competetive. They've dropped their prices so that I can now buy Italian pots without sub lingual nitro. And there are still works of art coming out of Italy at big bucks, and they will always have a market. I'm not in that market.  Meanwhile the Italians are now making a product that I am buying, Thanks to the Chinese.
 
I have a friend who buys Christmas trees at five bucks a stump, trucks them down to NYC, and sells them out of his truck for a hundred or more. And he isn't Chinese. He's a redneck like me.
 
We are in an era where markets are shaking themselves out. I won't see the end of it. My daughters may. And they will benefit from it, as have I. When one person is able to produce a better produce at a better price, he gets the market. The same is true of a nation.
 
I just love my stainless steel border spade.
 
D
----- Original Message -----
From: DGreen
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 8:19 PM
Subject: RE: [GWL] Offshore Editorial Providers

To get a sense of where this is all going you might want to read The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
by Thomas L. Friedman. 

 

It’s an interesting read.

 

Doug

 

Doug Green SGF Communications: e-publishing content
Home: http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
Blog: http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/gardens-gardening-news.html

-----Original Message-----
From: gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of WGardenermag@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 12:46 PM
To: gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [GWL] Offshore Editorial Providers

 

I just received the following at my home account. With all the press coverage of jobs going "offshore" but I never dreamed editorial/creative jobs would be part of that as well.

 

I found it infuriating and had to share it with this list -- esp. upsetting to me is the "improve on quality" reference! That is just insulting. Surprising that I received it when the whole editorial purpose/mission of our publication is local/regional garden information for the Washington DC area. They have a lot of nerve to send it to me... just thought you all should be informed about what you may be up against in the near future.

 

__________________________________________________________________________

Forwarded Message:

Subj:

Reduce Editorial Costs and Improve Content Quality 

Date:

5/25/2005 11:45:42 AM Eastern Standard Time

From:

Innodata_Isogen@na18.net

To:

laserblast@aol.com

Sent from the Internet (Details)


Reduce Editorial Costs and Improve Content Quality

Many publishers have found that outsourcing editorial services to an offshore provider enables them to dramatically lower costs and focus in-house resources on their core business of developing content directly relevant to their audiences.

But some publishers are reluctant to contract out editorial functions to an offshore provider, primarily due to concerns about quality, data security and managing value. They may be missing a key opportunity to grab a competitive edge.

We invite you to attend our webinar series to learn more about how your organization can control costs and improve quality through editorial services outsourcing.

Webinar #1
Outsourcing Editorial Services... Seven Tips for Reducing Costs and Improving Quality
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 at 12:00pm Eastern (co-sponsored with American Business Media)

Webinar #2
How to Manage Value in Editorial Services Outsourcing Engagements
Wednesday, June 15, 2005 at 12:00pm Eastern

Our webinar series will:

·         give viewers a checklist of criteria to use in choosing the right outsourcing partner

·         provide real world examples of how publishers are achieving business objectives through outsourcing

·         offer a Do's and Don'ts guide to outsourcing key editorial tasks

You are also invited to visit our editorial services resource page, where you may read our latest white paper "Outsourcing Editorial Services: Seven Tips for Cutting Costs and Improving Quality" as well as other material that will help you decide how and when to outsource selected editorial activities.

Thank you,
Innodata Isogen
3 University Plaza
Hackensack, NJ 07601

Web Bug from http://na18.net/h/?51.2897891.722683
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__________________________________________________________________________

 

Sincerely,
Kathy Jentz
Editor/Publisher
Washington Gardener magazine
editor@washingtongardener.com
http://www.washingtongardener.com/

Our mission: to help your Washington DC area garden grow!

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