An Open Letter to Amazon's Book Section.

[DISCLAIMER: This is totally a joke, I just couldn't think of anything better to write about.]

Dear Amazon Book Section,

I don't quite know how to put this, and I hope that this comes across as lightly and gently as intended....But you seem to be swaying my moral compass.

No offense, you are awesome. You provide for me in ways that many others just cannot. You give me everything that I need without having to leave my house. You save me the trouble of hassling with finding a parking spot and mid-day traffic, and sometimes you are even kind enough to ship to me for free.

Sometimes, when I don't exactly know what I'm looking for, you suggest things to me that you know I like. I don't even have to ask. You have my back with birthday gifts (my mom loved the Oprah book by the way), and you even did your part to provide literary picture books to my unborn nephew (he's alive now, but he still can't read.) You also helped me laugh in the face of the campus bookstore by slicing their prices more than in half and still making it to my door before my first reading quiz of the semester.

You are all around a great deal, and that's why I appreciate you. You make my life easier, you're gracious and you're cheap.

But lately I've found myself wondering, how can something that feels so right be so wrong?

Amazon books, you don't really care about me. You don't even know me. You wine and dine me with your shipping options and your "best books of the month" section, but this is all about the money for you, isn't it?

You don't devote yourself to filing books, building beautiful displays in the front of your store, or that "fresh book smell," do you? You pretend to know what I like with your subtle suggestions but they are merely piggybacking on my last purchase. There are people that care about me out there, Amazon Books. They wake up every morning, put on their vests and drive to work to service my literary needs, and you? You spend your days selling everything from lawn mowers to cooking aprons all while simultaneously pretending to care that I was interested in purchasing Tiger Lily just last week.

I've been warned about things like you all my life. You're no better than those credit card companies or free paid vacation callers. You're all profit with no warm embrace. But man, you're cheap.

See you next semester.

Sincerely and guiltily yours,

Andrea.

The not so scary truth about learning.

Educator Sugata Mitra is featured in a TED Talk, available online, where he talks about the future of learning and the evolution of learning in young children.

Mitra states in the beginning that students 200 years ago had to learn three things: how to read, how to write, and how to do mathematics. Mitra said this universal idea of learning is what helped widespread education across the world.

Mitra also states that schools as we now know them are "obsolete." This is a concept that we constantly find ourselves discussing while in class.

How are students learning in 2013? Are they learning in 2013? Is anyone reading anymore? How can we equip students to be readers in the midst of a technological boom?

Well, Mitra says we don't have to.

Mitra thinks that adaptation is embedded within us and is something that students can do no matter where on Earth they are, and he proves it. He places computers with particular programming in rural villages in India, and studies how the children learn to use the devices. The children do - and they do it all on their own.

These students are using context clues, cause and effect, and problem solving methods to maneuver through these computer programs and learn how to manipulate the systems. Are these children learning? Certainly. Are they becoming skilled in computer systems in a way that could be profitable without having the actual ability to read and comprehend like they would in a classroom? It seems that way.

I don't think that this video is any in way created to undermine the educational system or show the unimportance or textbook learning in any way, if anything I think the idea was to show the capabilities of children without opportunity in third world countries.

It is worth noting that maybe we shouldn't be so afraid of a life where students no longer learn from story books and textbooks. Learning is learning, and knowledge is knowledge. What's important here is that there are people out there obtaining it.

If you want something done specifically, do it by yourself.

Everyone knows the quote "If you want something done right, do it yourself," but in an interview with UNT Press Director Ronald Chrisman, I learned that if you want something done specifically, that too, you have to do yourself.

It's pretty much inferred that publishers are not going to be the biggest advocates for self-publishing. It seems to undermine and counter their very purpose, obviously. But Chrisman doesn't see it that way.

Chrisman believes in self-publishing for authors with specific purpose, specific meaning, and with a very specific goal in mind.

There is absolutely no sense in using your time and energy to shop publishers in regards to a book about your mother's side of the family, unless of course, your mother is Mother Teresa. That could spark some interest.

What's important to keep in mind is that, unless you are shopping the next big thing, keep it small. Work hard on it but do it yourself. It's easier and will still manage to advocate your point to your intended audience and will probably do so much quicker than going through a publisher.

Big time publishing isn't for everyone, and for those with specific intentions, there's no shame in doing it yourself.

An Interview with Publisher Ronald Chrisman, UNT Press

Ronald Chrisman is Director and Editor-In-Chief of UNT Press where he has served since 2000. Below are answers from an interview conducted by myself and fellow classmate, Veronica Jones. 

1.     Was it always your ambition to become a publisher or did publishing just happen?

I would say the latter, I’d always enjoyed books, reading books growing up but I didn’t intend in going into the world of publishing. When I got started I ended up just kind of dropping into it and that seems to be anecdotally what I hear a lot of other people in publishing saying that happened. That they kind of dropped into it, but grew to love it.

2.     How did you get your start in publishing?

My start was at Syracuse University Press back in 1988. I just took a job as the Editorial Assistant there when I saw it open up on the campus job board. Everything just went from there, I learned on the job. I was a Psychology major with a History minor, I got my Master’s Degree in Social Science with a focus on History.

3.     How is technology changing print culture regarding publishing?

That would probably be the big “E-book” issue. Yeah, over the last decade or more the whole culture of publishing has been changing to not just offer a print format for reading in hard cover or paper back but to also offer it for electronic consumption. For the whole book or parts of it that can be consulted in an online database. Also, coupled in with that is printing techniques have increased with electronic products all the way down to one of the On-Demand printing. So there’s kind of two concurrent issues going on with electronic technology and how we do books.

4.     How many books/prints have you published personally?

Here at North Texas, we do an average of about 18 books a year, sometimes 20, mostly hardcovers and paperbacks.

5.     What steps did you have to take to be in the position you are in now?

First thing was just getting starting. You get started at an entry-level job. I got started as an editorial assistant, and then I soon got moved into the full time doing acquisitions. At that point I was just learning on the job when I was at Syracuse. To continue in the field what you tend to have to do is be willing to move around. So I spent about 5 years at Syracuse and then I made it up to Assistant Editor there and then I was at University of Oklahoma Press for 7 years. After that I went to Director and Editor-In-Chief at North Texas, since 2000. You have to have a willingness to move around and get experiences at different publishing houses is how you tend to move up in the business.

6.     What do you think reading and authorship will look in ten years?

Authors will have to keep up with current trends and know how to market themselves. It’s important for them to know their market and how to deliver to it. They will have to be engaged in the evolving social media and be able to reach a wide audience through it. You have to have a following.

7.     What do you think publishing will look like in 10 years?

Consumption will be available on multiple platforms and will become even more of a simultaneous process. It will be technology-driven and consumers will have the option as to whether they want the full manuscript of the material or just bits and pieces. Authors will

8.     How do you feel about authors that self-publish?

Depending on your market, it’s better for some people to self-publish. If you are writing a book about your family ancestry or a topic that is specifically catering to one group, an author is better off self-publishing in order to get the material out. I do support author’s self-publishing their work.

When the light turns on, write like crazy.

During our author interviews, I interviewed Chip Stewart of the Schieffer School of Journalism. One of the things that Chip discussed I found to be a very important part of being a successful writer.

"When the light turns on, write like crazy." 

Writers block is easily the most detrimental aspect of the writing process if you let it be that way. Writers block comes when you least except it, but can clog your thinking space up so much so that you feel like you'll never be able to get an effective point across. The thing about writers block (however chronic and restraining it may seem in the moment) is that it isn't forever. There's a gateway in the writing process -- that's when the light turns on.

Dr. Stewart said he spent a lot more time thinking about what he was going to write, doing research, and learning before he ever even wrote anything down. He called in "sporadic," "irrational," and "unorganized," but he was just waiting for the light. Which, isn't that what the writing process is all about?

I love it when the light turns on. When words just begin to coincide together and fall into place. Tweaks and edits are still definitely necessary, but there's a sense of liberation and freedom that comes the moment when it's just you and the pen, pushing into this creative sphere that no one can interfere with.

The funny thing about Dr. Stewart's comment is that when he said that, toward the end of the interview, I knew exactly what he meant. I knew that feeling. I spend so much time thinking about how I can put my thoughts and ideas into one piece and when I finally can feel it, it's like a homerun. It doesn't even matter what you're writing - that much is irrelevant. It's all about the light - grabbing it, running with it, not stopping until it's turned off again. It's a beautiful, beautiful process and one that I think can unite every writer to one another.

This might be the best yet.

The Internet says more about who you are than who you actually are.

So a few weeks ago we had a discussion in class about our online profiles and online interaction's impact on our lives everyday. We discussed how we don't talk face-to-face as much, and how even then our interaction can be altered because we are all so accustomed and comfortable living our lives via web.

In class I mentioned that our online profiles do play an active role in our lives and that the way that we communicate with one another has drastically changed over the years.

What I really meant was - yeah, we may act differently toward each other because we spend more time with the online version of our friends in most cases than we do with our actual friends, but more importantly, your online profile carries more weight in the sense of what matters the most than YOU DO. 

Okay, so what are the key things that educators/administers/parents/mentors drain into our heads from day one? WATCH WHAT YOU PUT ONLINE. Phil Gomez, a social media guru came and spoke to my Media Law and Ethics class a few weeks ago. Gomez said that 85% of employers Google their potential employers before even seeing them for an interview. He also said that 7% of workers believe that employers actually do that. This means that our future jobs are potentially in the hands of our Facebook and Twitter profiles. What you put online matters. It can get you a job, even easier, it could lose you one. 

So in the grand scheme of things, your online profile holds more weight in the "real world" than you do. A superb interview and a knock-out cover letter and resume can only get you so far, but depending on your online profile, neither will be even considered.