We are published!
Oct. 9th, 2009 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jducoeurOkay, it's kind of a silly little thing, but it's still a neat milestone for the company.
Remember that marketing meeting I mentioned last week? The one with wine and cheese for everybody? It was for the in-company unveiling of Insidious, Memento's first book. Basically, we realized that by now, we know more about insider fraud -- how employees rip off banks, steal from their customers, and stuff like that -- than pretty much anybody else, and there are some interesting stories in it. So our CEO and one of our main bank experts spearheaded a project to write it up.
On the one hand, it's really marketing writ large: everyone is quite clear that the purpose of the book is to show off the company, and brag about what we know. OTOH, it's actually kind of interesting, and has been getting a bunch of press. (We even got slashdotted the other day.) The book's main purpose is to slam home that this stuff happens a lot more than people realize, and heaven knows everybody is primed to hear about crime at banks right at the moment.
They even managed to get a longish interview with one of the folks who got caught, who illustrates the point nicely: rather than being a professional criminal, she was a long-time, highly trusted bank employee who just kind of fell into stealing from the bank -- first small amounts, then more, until eventually it added up to a couple hundred thousand dollars. It's a somewhat painful but fascinating appendix, showing that the usual assumptions about who does this stuff are far from completely correct, and demonstrating how basically decent people can fall into crime when it's too easy, and how hard it can be to stop once you start.
Anyway, we all got free copies -- I'm even credited, although I think they simply credited everybody in the company. And seeing something labeled "A Memento Fraud Book" does make the company feel a bit more grown-up...
Remember that marketing meeting I mentioned last week? The one with wine and cheese for everybody? It was for the in-company unveiling of Insidious, Memento's first book. Basically, we realized that by now, we know more about insider fraud -- how employees rip off banks, steal from their customers, and stuff like that -- than pretty much anybody else, and there are some interesting stories in it. So our CEO and one of our main bank experts spearheaded a project to write it up.
On the one hand, it's really marketing writ large: everyone is quite clear that the purpose of the book is to show off the company, and brag about what we know. OTOH, it's actually kind of interesting, and has been getting a bunch of press. (We even got slashdotted the other day.) The book's main purpose is to slam home that this stuff happens a lot more than people realize, and heaven knows everybody is primed to hear about crime at banks right at the moment.
They even managed to get a longish interview with one of the folks who got caught, who illustrates the point nicely: rather than being a professional criminal, she was a long-time, highly trusted bank employee who just kind of fell into stealing from the bank -- first small amounts, then more, until eventually it added up to a couple hundred thousand dollars. It's a somewhat painful but fascinating appendix, showing that the usual assumptions about who does this stuff are far from completely correct, and demonstrating how basically decent people can fall into crime when it's too easy, and how hard it can be to stop once you start.
Anyway, we all got free copies -- I'm even credited, although I think they simply credited everybody in the company. And seeing something labeled "A Memento Fraud Book" does make the company feel a bit more grown-up...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-09 08:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-09 08:35 pm (UTC)Congratulations!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-11 05:40 pm (UTC)It felt neat when Guy Steele's book on Common LISP came out and everyone was credited, from the big-name contributors down to the students and interns. (I'm used to work for hire meaning no individual credit.) Yeah, not everyone contributed the same amount, but everyone helped make it possible. So there's nothing wrong with your name being there.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-13 04:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-14 02:10 am (UTC)(Or I could probably loan you my copy sometime...)