Sure, you want to buy baby chicks this year, but what if you only want pullet chicks? None of those nasty crowing roosters? If so, you're like a lot of people. Corvallis, for example, has an ordinance forbidding roosters in town, but hens are okay.

The problem is that the feed stores normally have straight-run chicks. That is, boys and girls together. What do do? Time's a'wasting, since the baby chicks will hit the stores in a couple of weeks.

Learning chick sexing is difficult and disgusting. See this video from Dirty Jobs if you don't believe me!

Well, that was fun, but what does it have to do with do-it-yourself chick sexing at the feed store? I'll tell you. The feed store will have at least one of these breeds for sale:

• Rhode Island Reds
• New Hampshire Reds
• Production Reds

All these breeds have something in common: The chicks with chipmunk stripes on their backs are females! Well, maybe not all, but at least 95%. And if you pick only the ones with well-defined chipmunk strips, it's more like 100%.

Most people don't know this, so the chicks aren't likely to have been picked over by other customers. Just make the clerk pick out the ones with the racy stripes because "they're pretty," and don't take no for an answer. Voila! Sexed chicks at straight-run prices!

(People have asked me, "What do you mean, 'chipmunk stripes'?" You'll know 'em when you see em. Most of the chicks won't have any stripes down their backs at all. On some, the stripes on their backs will be faint, and others, they'll be clear. Get the ones with the most clearly defined stripes.

And if you think that's clever, you ain't seen nothing yet. It's one of the least useful facts in my book, Success With Baby Chicks. Just by reading this book, you become a chick-rearing expert. Imagine how much more pleasure you'll get when you're completely successful every time.

I read hundreds of poultry books, extension bulletins, research papers, and magazine articles when researching this book, stretching from 100 years ago to the present day. I discovered many useful facts and techniques that have been forgotten, like the chipmunk-stripe trick. And it's all been reduced to 155 clear and straightforward pages. You will reap the rewards of my years of work in a couple of hours!

Buy the book before you get your chicks, so you know what to do, not what you should have done.

When the economy started nose-diving, I told myself, "During bad times, you want more irons in the fire. This is a great time to expand my publishing business." So I went from four titles to thirteen in about eight months.

I had it all planned out. During bad times, people start yearning for simplicity and more control over their lives, and there's always a back-to-the-land movement. So I published three classic back-to-the-land books: Gold in the Grass, Ten Acres Enough, and We Wanted a Farm. These, I figured, would do very well. I also republished a motley collection of books just because I loved them, though in many cases I felt that maybe no one else would.

So what happened? A couple of my labor-of-love books became mainstays of my publishing business, while the back-to-the-land books have been relatively disappointing. Only Ten Acres Enough was anything to write home about, but even its modest success was eclipsed by Fresh-Air Poultry Houses, which instantly became my #1 seller, and A Thousand Miles up the Nile, which has nothing whatever to do with any of my other books!

So it just goes to show, you never can tell. You have to swing at the ball a lot more times than you hit it, so you should give yourself a lot of at-bats, rather than counting on a home run on the first swing. Heck, I almost didn't publish Fresh-Air Poultry Houses because it's sort of eccentric, but I told myself that it's eccentric in a good way -- charming and thought-provoking, and in touch with natural thinking -- and it's a good thing I did.

Seth Godin has an interesting blog post where he shows a chart by Tim Burton of all his failed projects -- lots and lots and LOTS of them. Even now, only a fraction of his projects actually get released.

So keep swinging, and don't bet the farm on any one venture. Most of 'em won't get very far, but some will.

I'll be attending the M.E.W. multi-genre science fiction/fantasy/anime/role-playing/whatever convention at the Red Lion in Vancouver, Washington this weekend.

I'm sharing a table in Artist's Alley with Beth McBeth -- I'll be pitching my Heinlein-esque SF novel One Survivor and my role-playing handbook Through Dungeons Deep, and Beth will be displaying her artwork. I'll also be offering free writing and publishing advice to anyone who's interested.

I'm also giving three panel/workshop sessions:

1. Self-Publishing for Fun and Profit (12/31, 5 PM)
2. Turn Your Hobbies Into a Career (1/1, 11:00 PM)
3. Role-Playing Without Rules (1/2, 1 PM)

M.E.W. con is only in its second year, with a projected attendance of just 500 people, so it should be pretty intimate. Anime fandom appears to be the dominant theme, and plenty of people will be attending in costume.

Hope to see you there!

Admission is $40 at the door for all three days (12/31 - 1/2) or $15-$20 for a single day. For more information see the Mewcon Web site.

Here comes a new auction! Every week, I auction off a copy of every book in my Norton Creek Press catalog. Two people got books for a penny in the last auctions, which closed yesterday.

Why do I do it? This is promotion, pure and simple. Bargains get people to try things they otherwise wouldn't, and I have faith in my books. Try one, and you'll want more.

And when a few more people start noticing the auctions, and as word gets out that these are all great books, the days when you can get one for a penny will be over. That's good for me but bad for you. So get some insane bargains before they're all gone!

Let's go nuts and do it all again! Last week I auctioned off a full set of Norton Creek Press titles (thirteen in all), which sold for low prices, with savings ranging from 10% to 99.93% of full price -- one book sold for a penny!

So a bunch of people got great bargains, especially considering how good these books are (I won't publish a book I don't love). And I'm doing it again this week. Why? I think that a consistent presence in eBay auctions will eventually attract enough bidders that prices will become reasonable. So far, though, it's a bargain-hunter's paradise.

So check out my auctions. Christmas is coming! Buy books for your friends and don't let them know you got them at a bargain price!

Usually, when I auction books on eBay, they sell for a pittance, but hope springs eternal, and I try again from time to time. So, please, take advantage of my unwillingness to learn and bid on my book auctions! You'll get a real deal this way, most likely.

All my most popular books are here, including "Fresh-Air Poultry Houses" and "Success With Baby Chicks." As I write this, the prices are a penny apiece.