My Reverse Application

Anyone who has ever searched for a job will tell you it’s hard. They all have an opinion about it too. It’s all about who you know. Just keep at it. Quality over quantity.

I created this blog to talk about my journey into the publishing world. One thing I've steered far away from is the hardship of finding that place. Honestly, before now I wasn't sure how to phrase it so that I seemed continuously hopeful. But sometimes it feels like hope is, in fact, lost.

It’s the nature of the beast.

I am talking about this now because I have been going through a beasty phase recently. My most recent best hope for breaking in fell through. Discouragement about my future is kinda a given.

But I have an amazing supportive boyfriend who always tries to lift me up from my beasty times. And he sent me a link that gave me an idea (hence this entry).

The Link? The reverse application by Andrew Horner.

http://www.reversejobapplication.com/

On this site there is a detailed description of what this guy is looking for in an employer and an application for the company representative to fill it out. Genius!

Now, while I may be done talking about what I want to do and ready to get in there and do it. I am not ready to completely rely on Andrew’s strategy, which is to sit back and let employers come to him.

I have no idea if this worked for the man. For all I know, he is still sitting at home waiting for someone to fill it out - living with his mother because he has no money to pay rent. Moms are awesome.

Or he could be working for the company of his dreams, in the job he wants and making millions. Like I said; I have no idea. But the idea struck me as brilliant - I mean why shouldn't I also create a list of qualities that I am looking for in a company?

So, using Andrew’s site as a template and some of his descriptions as well:

ABOUT ME

I AM:

• Creative. I am a writer, it’s a given.
• A leader. Leadership comes in many styles. I am verse in nearly all of them.
• Willing to tackle tasks outside my comfort zone. This means I like learn new things. Some people call it a lifetime learner.
• A local and global thinker. I am detail oriented for sure, but I keep a constant eye on long terms goals.
• Willing to ask questions. Because so many do not, and I find you learn so much from asking.

I AM NOT:

• A robot. I am an individual with my own thoughts, opinions, and ideas. And I will let you know them.
• A mercenary. There are jobs I am not willing to do for money alone. I have to be happy with my daily life.
• Opposed to relocating. I will go where I need to for a great job. Just give me some warning please.

 ABOUT YOU

YOU MUST:

• Be passionate about your industry and your work. If you don’t love what you do every day, then why should you expect me to?
• Be flexible. Stand out in your industry, by changing with it. Be open to new ideas and try a few new things.
• Believe in ethics and helping the community. I like to help others, help me to help them.

YOU SHOULD:

• Have a sense of humor. It’s important to laugh with others.
• “Encourage me to make new friends. Networking opportunities will help me grow and ensure that my ideas stay fresh. “
• Take risks: consumer trends require companies to think outside the box and try things no one else has before.

So there you have it. The main qualities I am looking for in a company.

As I said before I am not willing to rely on this tactic in order to find a job. However, I’m also not opposed to employers contacting me if they happen to see this and feel the need to hire me immediately… my email is pretty easy to figure out LisaWicks01(at)gmail(dot)com.



Novel Nirvana

First off, I think you should know; Nirvana is my title for my book but it will not actually be the title for the book. I struggle with the titling of it now because 10 years has changed a lot and it’s no longer about a dream like state – and yet it is. IT’S COMPLEX.

Ok so… I said I was going to write my novel via my cell phone for a week and I did. In fact I started it the exact day that I wrote “Writing in the City” and on that day I wrote a total of TWO paragraphs. “Wow! That’s a lot Lisa.”

Hush inner sarcastic me.

Truth is – it was more than I had written in a long time. I stopped going to my NY SCBWI group because I wasn’t feeling the support from them. I have yet to find another one and I suspect that starting a group of my own, like I did in Florida, may just be the added investment I need. My excuse for not doing so yet is that my current job schedule varies weekly.

Anyway, this week proved to be inspiring…. Writing for me has a domino effect. If I start writing, I will continue writing. So two paragraphs turned into two pages and then two more pages and by the end of the week, I had a total of …

Did you add it up yet?

FOUR PAGES!

Some days during this week, I wrote more than others. On the weekend, the trains seemed to be faster and more jerky; so I wasn’t able to write as much. But in all; I very much think this is a very viable way to finish writing my book.

Now, the pages need to be edited. But as a rough draft, they are pretty good if I do say so myself. Next, I need to set aside a day to look it all over and fix it up.

Since this experiment has worked out so well, I’ve decided to keep doing it. “Sounds like a great idea Lisa!”

There’s really no need to be cheeky inner sarcastic me.  ^.^'

Writing in the City

My typical morning is getting ready for work then leaving an hour and a half before my shift starts to ensure I get there in time. You never know with the trains, especially on the weekends. Fifteen minutes of that hour and a half is occupied by walking to the train station. My train ride is then about 30 minutes into the city with a few minutes walking to my work. That is a lot of time wasted sleeping on the train or what have you. Time that, if I had a car would be spent driving.

I have actually gotten use to the motions of the train to be able to read. But books are heavy – especially 700 page hard backs that my mother lends to me. Audio books and e-readers cost disposable income I simply cannot spare right now, so...

Chair with a "No distractions" hood!

I’ve been working on my book for 10 years. Nearly every detail has been planned and the characters are as fleshed out as I can make them. I’m currently writing version 3.2 of the first book. Version 1 was written in high school and since then four other books have been planned. At this point, I simply need to write the damn thing. But I get tired after work and the prospect of writing something I’ve already written gets me down. Still, my dream and ultimate goal is to get it published. And if I locked myself up in a room with no distractions, I can guarantee it would be done quickly if I don’t get caught up in editing as I go; which usually happens. Anyway, needless to say – I don’t get the motivation to write often; except while traveling or right before I go somewhere.

Motivation can come at the most inconvenient times.

Because during these times of transient motivation – I have nothing to write with. Which is why I am and always will be a fan of the classic paper and pencil. You could carry those. The only major problem with them is that eventually you need them digitized. So once again – I end up writing what I’ve already written. Maybe I should be such a fan anymore.

And now that I'm not driving to and from work, there's a lapse in time that I would like to use for writing. My laptop is too big to deal with even though it’s relatively small. And an IPAD, which I suspect is the perfect size with the optimal storage power necessary to hold my entire book - so that I can simply continue to write from my last position - is expensive and simply not in the budget at this time. Which leaves the next smallest device that simply doesn't have the capacity as of yet to hold my growing document (that I know of). In addition, writing from the last sentence made can become confusing and I worry about continuity. However, it could just be my perception.

For example, I have no issue writing myself an email with notes for my next blog or even writing the whole thing while I ride the train (which is pretty much what I did here). But a book ...

I mean don't get me wrong the first draft of a blog post written on my cell is full of text speak and in need of major editing. But I'm ok with editing. But … books have dialogue and… other stuff.

However, I am reminded of lessons learned at the BEA.

http://www.figment.com/

I wrote about this before and I gotta say it made a big impression. Cell phone written books made by Japanese school girls posted to the web inciting followers, generating feedback, and eventually making it to print. I mean, why not me?

Figment.com is currently in its beta stage. When it’s up and running it will attempt to bring this Japanese phenomenon to America. I don’t think I’m ready to post anything on the web yet, it’s marketed towards teens anyway. But I see great potential for this site and for the motivational opportunities it will provide writers. I started in the SCBWI to have an audience who would analyze my work, keep me motivated with a deadline, and help to make it better. This site would serve this purpose as well.

However, writing on my cell phone? Dare I do it? I suppose trying it out wouldn’t be a bad idea. I mean – it’s just like writing an email to myself right? I can do that. I just have to transfer it over to my larger document and edit out the text speak.

I feel like I sound old – being averse to writing with a blackberry - I have no issues texting with it all day long. If it gets my book done faster… and it’s not as if I’m ever without my phone.

I’ll try it out for a week and see how much actually gets done.

Printed Magazines

I want to start this out by saying; I’m not a magazine subscriber. I hate having them around the house. They just sit there. I keep them because I tell myself that I’ll get to the article I want to read eventually, but I never do. I end up throwing them out half a year later unread and then I feel dirty for wasting the paper like that. There can never be too many trees.

However, the one type of magazine I love to have around the house is interior design magazines. I have cut outs of everything I like and might someday own if I had a house. Now, that does mean that if there is a magazine in my living space then there may be some pictures missing here and there, maybe a page or two. But it’s literally the only type of magazine I will sit down with immediately to look at. My favorite is “Southern Living” (I mean who doesn’t love that one?). My future home collection is made from mostly that and catalogue cutouts.

There has been a lot of talk recently that many of the things we are used to, such as books and newspapers, are going out of print. Now, books going out of print – that’s just silly. I mean that won’t happen until YEARS from now. And even at that, I don’t think that they will ever really go away, I just think that the default will be digital. There’s a whole book about it by my technology management professor at Crummer that talks about this trend; it’s called “The Future of Less” by Allen Kupetz. A little ironic isn’t it. There’s a book about going digital. It makes me giggle.

Anyway, while out I perused a magazine that had a brief one page thing in the October issue of “Real Simple” about why magazines would not be going out of print anytime soon. The reason: “magazines do what the internet doesn't”.

What their saying is that magazines create brand loyalty by providing what the internet articles can't, and that is time. "Neither obsessed with immediacy nor trapped by the daily news cycle, magazines promote deeper connections. They create relationships."

The one page blurb also states that magazines are still the number one medium for driving sales. And I can believe that because hey – I started by telling you that I have cut out of things I want for my future not-yet existent house. So, in case you were worried about your favorite magazine going out of print or your collection of cutouts staying small. No worries.

Special note: I love fall!

Idiocracy Eminent?

The WSJ had an interesting article about the reading habits of young boys. The article, written by Thomas Spence, talks about publishing companies that are meeting boys at their level with all the gross stuff that boys like. Spence claims that this can be detrimental to their education in the sense that if we continue to meet them at their level we’ll end up with a society like that of the movie “Idiocracy” (I’m exaggerating but not really). If you are not familiar with the reference, I suggest renting the movie. It’s a little painful to watch, what with the stupid humor and all, but it does have an underlying point.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

The classics used to engage children of the male sex just fine, Spence wrote (I’m paraphrasing obviously) until one colossal event happened that changed history forever… the videogame. Now, it is very true that the videogame is a disruptive technology and yes, because boys are not only the target market for videogames but also the largest group of consumers, boys have been known to spend their lives playing videogames. But I would like to argue that there is a type of videogame that could be used to increase reading. It’s an RPG (Role Playing Game). The newer versions have pretty much every character voiced, but in my time we had to read those things. The entire storyline was read on the screen. You had to talk with people to find out where you needed to go next, or just to get additional story, but you read it. All of it.

Am I reaching in my defense of the videogame. A little. But I’m not wrong.

I’ve said all throughout my growing years that videogames could be the next books. I just never figured out how. But with technology growing, there must be a way to integrate the two. I mean, we can get entire books on our cell phones now for gosh sakes. Plus, the next generation will be ever more reliant on technology than mine is.

I don’t think printed books will or should ever go away, but I do think that some disruptive technology in regards to books is needed. Especially for children. If videogames are what interests’ boys, let them play something that can help them along with their reading. That and limit their play time.

Whatever choice is made… I have to agree with Spence, meeting them at their level is only going to work for so long.

Read up on the article below:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405511702112290.html

Me as a Leader

I realized a while back that I had the perfect writing sample in my possession to offer potential employers. During my last semester at Rollins (that would be for my MBA) I took a leadership course that forced us to analyze ourselves as leaders. There were many assignments; however, only one took place throughout the whole semester; The Leadership Journal. It’s a journal spurred by writing prompts in which we look at ourselves as leaders. We didn’t have to follow every prompt and we didn’t have to write based only on the prompts. It was solely at our discretion. No one else was ever supposed to see it other than the professor, which meant that we could write about anything so long as it was a genuine reflection of ourselves. I wrote a lot about my goals to be in publishing; it’s one of the reasons this makes for the perfect writing sample. The other reason is that it can get a little personal and anyone reading it would learn more about me.

I thought I would share some entries here. I will attempt not to change them from their original form.

Unprompted entry: The Ning site offered an article about different types of leadership styles. From my recent experiences both at Crummer and in my critique group, I’ve come to realize that the democratic leadership style seems to fit me best. I like to take everyone's input into consideration because I feel this will make the team more invested in the results. In my critique group for local children book writers, I make sure that all my members get a say in the decision making; things such as where we meet, how often we meet, and what time we meet. I do this because I am aware that this group cannot exist without them. If they are not willing to put in the time for this group then it will fail. I want this group to succeed and continue, without me if need be. Therefore, I want to empower everyone to be an equal member of the group.

Prompt Three: My personal and professional goals are similar. I’m writing a book, five books in fact. It’s a high fantasy series that I’ve been working on for years. I’ve mentioned this before. My short term goal is to finish the first book and attempt to get it published, but this is not my career goal. It would be wonderful to write my books for a living, but I’m a bit more realistic than that. This is why I went to Grad school, to have the knowledge to support myself while I’m trying to write. Through additional school, riffled with group projects, I rediscovered another skill I like to use; editing. I mentioned in my last entry that last semester many of my finals were in fact papers which I had to edit. This steered me towards my career.

My professional goal therefore is to be an editor at a publishing company. I don’t need to be a CEO or have my own business, it’s simply not in me to do that, it’s not my passion. However, writing and editing is. One of the steps I’ve taken towards both my professional and my personal goal is to join the SCBWI (Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators). This society is internationally known and is well known in all publishing houses. Through this group I expect (my outcome expectancy is) to meet authors, publishers, and agents from all the major publishing houses in which I am interested in working. Additionally the SCBWI provided me with a unique opportunity to become a Critique group leader. The critique groups are another benefit to being in this organization, it’s a feature that allows a group of writers to come together and critique each other’s work. This provides support and motivation to the writers, and from it we all learn a lot. I’ve never lead a group like this before and I’ve certainly never started one on my own. The Society was very helpful, but it was/is the most challenging leadership position I’ve been in so far.

How does this relate to outcome expectancies? Well, the group is intended to give me experience editing and working with other authors, as well as strengthen my leadership skills. These skills will then transfer to my job, when I get one, and benefit me in my career. Additionally this group provides me with a motivating factor to actually write my book again.

As for how I can strengthen the link between my actions and the expected outcomes, I don’t know that I can. I am a focused individual, everything I do I try to justify its worth against my ultimate goal or the things most important to me. I think before I leap all the time. Communicating those thoughts to someone else… well – I may need to work on that. I’ve never been in a situation where the ultimate goal of a group of people was a long term one, so I don’t know how to better communicate something like that.

Unprompted Entry: For my critique group I have been attempting to increase the amount of time that my group meets. Not physically, because that’s more time consuming, but online. I’ve suggested this because I feel that my group needs a little more communication in between group meetings. However, I’ve had the second attempt just recently and no one signed into Skype. I’ve no idea how to make this work better for my group. They all seem to agree that additional communication would be useful but as this is a voluntary thing, no one has to participate in any of it. I wonder if, as a leader I’m not asking my group the right questions. I wonder what tools I should be using for situations like these. Moreover, how do non-profit leaders deal with this type of situation? When all of your participants are volunteers, what can you do to ensure they are on board? I’ve thought about using the techniques of a transformational leader, but in reality, it’s not like they aren’t doing what they believe in. In my case, the group is meant as a support group, a gathering of people who read each other’s writing and makes suggestions, ask questions, and motivate each other to continue. That part of it is working, whether or not they show. So how do you motivate someone to attend a group, all the time, and be invested in it when its purpose is being met?

Unprompted Entry: In class we spoke about leadership qualities. The leadership quality not mentioned is authentic. I think people can see when you are being authentic to yourself and to them. No one wants to follow a leader who doesn’t care about his/her followers. Bill George dedicated his book to this concept and titled it “True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership”. The Leadership Center chose it for their book club earlier this year. It exemplifies this concept that people gravitate towards those who are genuine and who stay true to themselves and their beliefs. I know that I strive to do this every day. I want others to know that I respect them, for who they are, but I find that I have little tolerance for those who pretend to be things, such as being overly friendly to a coworker they don’t like. The reason I have little tolerance is because I find that these are the people who end up talking to others about the people they don’t like. I don’t think this is a professional practice, and I in my personal life I tend to simply keep my distance. They frustrate me, and in my opinion, I don’t need to bother with them. But I wonder if it’s simply a matter of them not knowing who they are. One cannot be authentic until you know exactly where you stand on matters and aren’t afraid to pose your opinion.

People have told me that I tend to be very self aware and always have been. I’m not sure if I believe this, I’ve had my trials, and I’ve had my moments where I look back and wonder what I thought I was doing and where my voice went. I’ve made mistakes in my assessment of people, trusted in the wrong kind, but I do tend to learn from my mistakes and I know that more than likely I won’t be easily fooled again. All of these things formed me into who I am however, and I am more true to myself now simply because of these trials. I don’t want to go through those experiences again and I will always help those who find themselves in those predicaments. I strive to be authentic in every aspect of my life, and encourage others to find their voices.

In my leadership development plan the first year, I stated that I wanted to be a leader who inspires others to be like her. It’s still a goal of mine and I suspect that it always will be.

Are You Listening?

Since moving to NY, NJ technically, I have had to deal with the issue of what to do during the train rides to and from the city. It’s a 40 minute ride, most of time longer, if you miss a train or it goes slower than normal. My saving grace for a while at least came in the form of an audio book, which I received from the BEA – you know – the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. It’s the signed copy that I talked about obtaining in embarrassment in an earlier post.

It has been my lifesaver… at least it was until my computer broke and had to be sent off for repairs. You see, having no music device such as an iPod, I’ve had to get a little creative. Since the audio book allows me transfer the MP3 files to my phone, I was using these files for my listening pleasure on the trains.

My point, I’ve learned that I like audio books. They actually have a purpose; previously I thought – maybe not. This one experience has made me consider that perhaps I should invest in others. For my travel anyway. My motion sickness won’t allow much else.

Because of this new consideration and my general lack of knowledge about the popularity of this product, I decided to do some research.

I was very interested to know that the Audio Publishers Association (APA) states that “the audiobook customer is a frequent book reader who sees audiobooks as a way to "read" more while pursuing other lifestyle activities.” That kinda sounds like me. They go on to say that, the average customer is 30+, well educated, with a higher income compared with non-listeners. Well – ok that’s not me. Not yet anyway. The APA also states that audiobooks are mainly used while travelling. Hmm. I somewhat knew that – but only because I discovered it for myself through my train experience. Audiobooks are in need of marketing a little yes?

My general sense is that audioooks are simply not marketed at all except by the companies that  make only audiobooks. I know there are plenty of publishers who have their toes in the water with this one, but with the future of print in question and the onslaught of e-books, I’m surprised that more aren’t doing ... well … more to promote what is already at hand. I couldn’t find hard numbers but my research seems to suggest a growing popularity of this market, much like e-books. However, since it’s been around longer the percentage of market share is higher than that of e-books. Once again, I have no hard numbers to back this up. It’s pure conjecture because I can’t actually afford to pay for the market research on this particular topic.

Anyway, I guess I’ll end this post with other fun facts on audiobooks: Unabridged is more popular than bridged. YA is the fastest-growing segment of the market. Fiction is greater than Non fiction.

I could throw some actual numbers at you but that could be boring. I’ve listed my research sites; go check it out if you’re interested.

http://www.audiopub.org/faq.asp
http://www.audiopub.org/2009SalesSurveyRelease.pdf

Plagiarism

On August 1 of this year, (2010) Trip Gabriel wrote an article for the New York Times, “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age”. It describes an event that is happening all over America in several universities – plagiarism. Basically, what’s happening is this: when writing papers students are copying and pasting from the net and passing it off on their own because they think it has no author. Mr. Trip Gabriel believed this is the result of growing up in a digital age. Well … I grew up in a digital age and I know the meaning of the word plagiarism.

pla•gia•rism [pley-juh-riz-uh m, -jee-uh-riz-]

–noun

1. the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.

2. something used and represented in this manner.

(Taken from Dictionary.com)

The key word that Trip focus’ on is author. According to him students don’t see an author and they think it’s common knowledge. So they just take paragraphs from sources like Wikipedia and pass it as their own. The biggest thing that gets my goat, there are teachers/professors that are justifying these actions. “Well, the idea of authorship is changing… blah blah blah”. No it’s not.

An author has a right to his/her ideas and should be given credit for it. Yes, things are absolutely going ever more digital but do I think that just because someone doesn’t list an author means there isn’t one?

I don’t really think I need to answer that for you.

I’ve been hearing a lot about changes that are being excepted into today society. Things like text speak. Younger generations are writing in anagrams rather than in full sentences. Things like LOL, BRB, and more. I’ve listed the simplest here, but they get more complicated. A young cousin of mine seems to go out of her way to misspell words with the exact same number of letters as if she were writing them correctly. I thought the point of text speak was to make it easier to write a text message. You know… that tiny computer screen on your phone which has a limit of 160 characters and a minuscule keyboard?

To some degree, these things need to be accepted. It’s how languages grow and change. But there has to be a line somewhere. Perhaps it comes down to our education system – like always. Schools in Florida don’t even teach grammar anymore. And I’m sure there are many other states that are the same. So, if they aren’t teaching grammar … then what else aren’t they teaching? Plagiarism perhaps?

Maybe it’s time for the definition of the word plagiarism to be changed or at least an addition made…

3. If you didn’t write it then it’s not yours

It’s that simple.

Hey look I sited my sources! How hard it that???

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=1

 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Plagiarism

The Moment of Truth

I had the whole thing mapped out in my head; my blog announcement of my move to NY despite a lack of job. A scary and exciting prospect that has me leaving many loved ones behind. I had the explanation of why and how I could afford to do this and the confident ending that stated, “I’m not the type of girl who turns away from my fears. And while this move is scary there are so many adventures and experiences to look forward to, so I will step onto that plane with confidence and looking towards my future”.

Which is exactly what I did.

Yeah… that’s right… did.

I got off the plane to Long Island (2 hours of driving away from where I need to be – thanks free ticket touting step-dad) with two giant suitcases and a handful of things at 3:55PM yesterday. Of course, even a 2 hour drive tuned into a 5 hour journey with traffic and dinner in the mix. My explanation for the move is simple; I needed to do it. I have a far better chance of getting interviews and meeting the right people here in NY than down in Orlando, FL. The how: I have a free plane ticket and a friend who needs someone to pay half the rent. I was going to drive up in my original plans, after the realization that the move was possible, but some people talked me out of that. So all I have with me is two giant suitcases full of clothes and small knickknacks.


I’m going to be living on a air mattress for a little while and looking for an interim job as well as a start to my career. If I’m lucky, maybe I can get an unpaid internship during the day and work somewhere part time at night. If I’m super lucky, I’ll get the perfect entry-level career starter right off the bat and be exactly where I need to be. Right place. Right time.

It certainly seems like even taking this small step forward towards this place has opened up a few avenues that weren’t previously available already. Like the unpaid internship option. Even the process of getting from MacArthur Airport to Jersey City (where I’ll be living) opened up some new contacts. Apparently, I have more friends than I thought up here. Friends of friends and contacts of people I know have been flowing in since I made the decision to move. It seems that everyone I know knows someone up here and they’ve all offered to help me out.

The experience is a humbling one.

The next step is to settle in then start the search.

The Importance of Gratitude

This entire week I have been sending out Thank You notes to the people I met at the BEA, regardless if they will help to advance my career. Everyone, from who I received a business card, was very forthcoming with information and seemed genuinely willing to help or at least speak to me.

For example, I met a woman named Monique Duncan. She created a book about fruits “D is for Dragon Fruit” and as the name implies there’s a different fruit for each letter of the alphabet. What was wonderful about this book is that the fruit weren’t the everyday fruits that we are used to seeing here in America. The title caught my eye because I recently discovered Dragon Fruit for myself. And instead of going into my 30-second introduction, I started to share some of my experiences from Vietnam with many of the fruits she described in her book. Eventually we got onto the topic of publication and she told me that she started her own publishing business. Right now, they are very small, only she and one other I believe. But I was very impressed. So, while going through my thank you emails I very much included her. Wishing her all the best in her future endeavors and hoping that we have an opportunity to speak again.

And that’s how they are pretty much going. I’ve heard back from a few offering unpaid internship opportunities, which I would absolutely love to be able to do. The experience would be worth it, if I had the money. I know that an internship would very nearly solidify my foot in the door. But at this moment in time, I am sorry to say, it would leave me destitute.

(The picture: Homeless - sometimes you get to watch it happen)

Step Three - Day Three

I had done most of my hand kissing on day two so I wasn’t particularly concerned with obtaining more business cards on day three; however, contacts were made nonetheless. I was also able to restrain myself from collecting another 25 pounds of books, although I did collected enough for one more medium size flat rate box which my very good friend Deb will be sending on its way shortly.

The plan was to research all the smaller companies that I may not have visited the day before who worked on children’s books and introduce myself. There weren’t many. So I made another round throughout the convention and stopped to talk to anyone with children books.

One company simply looked like a ton of fun. I had noticed them the day before but the booth was so busy I passed by, not wanting to interrupt money making with networking. Both days they had a character from their books there (i.e. a man in costume). On the first day, Vordak the Incomprehensible was there. I totally should have gotten his picture and autograph. His book has been extremely entertaining as well as informative. Not many “How to Grow Up and Rule the World” books can boast that powerful combination.

The other set of contacts I made were actually by accident. I was in a line for… well – it didn’t matter. In general, if there was a line there, you got into it. Which is exactly how we started talking.

“What’s this line for?”

“No idea. I think it’s an author signing? Two books are scheduled to be released in 20 minutes.”

“Sounds like the perfect reason to get in line. Hey did you know that if you stared up at the ceiling people would stop and stare with you?”

Okay. So that last part might have come in later on in the conversation but we did discuss it. And I was very tempted to do it too.

So we started talking about all kinds of things. We had a big group of people chatting about what we did for a living, sightseeing adventures, past BEA conferences. Apparently, the more of these you go to, the less you take home… yeah right.

It turns out two of the girls I was talking with are not only bloggers (who, I found out, could get in FREE to the event! Where was the promotion code for that one?? Thanks a lot customer service!) but they also worked at a digital romance novel publishing house that just happened to be opening a young adult division soon. We ended up waiting there for much longer than 20 minutes so I was able to make friends. It was cool.

On the author side; I met Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. He signed an audio book copy of his new book that delves into the Egyptian gods and goddesses. I wanted to be the first one there; partially because I intended to leave afterwards. Well, I was the first, and the people working at the booth made sure he knew it too. I was so embarrassed… when they started calling people up, I nearly lost my voice. I wasn’t particularly star struck, even though I am a fan of his works. I just couldn’t believe they told him that I was there at least 15 minutes before the line had begun to form. I was able to get out my name, but as soon as I had that CD I turned tail and nearly ran out of there.

The funny thing is, if given the chance, I would have told him myself. But there’s something embarrassing about it when someone else does the talking. :/

Step Three - Day Two

Kissing Hands and Shaking Babies.

I’m kidding! There were no babies.

The exhibition area opened up on the second day. I had no idea what I was in for. I immediately went in towards the Harper Collins booth which was full past the brim with people. I was looking for the one person who contacted me from my inquiries through the BEA website. I didn’t find her until later that day, in the middle of a small crisis, but I made it a point to thank her directly for her help. I think it’s important to do that with anyone who is willing to do any little thing to help you.

So other than that I simply went around to every major booth and told my little 30 second bio. I’m a recent graduate student from Florida looking to get into the publishing business because I know this is where I want to be. So I’m just up here trying to network and get to know a little more about it. Would it be alright if I left you my card?

This would generally be followed up with some questions from the person like, what area are you looking to get into? Or advice such as, we have lots of internship possibilities available on our website and that may be the best option for you right now.

I plan to look into those, but as I need a way to sustain my life, I will only be able to take the paid ones.

I spoke to several companies, both big and small. Do I think my business cards will make it to the right people? No idea. But I know I got many thumbs up from people who truly thought this was the best strategy for me to go with at this stage as well as a few who wanted me to keep them updated on my search. The next strategy will consist of me contacting them all and establishing a real network. One company did ask me to send my resume their way as soon as I could so that they could send it to their HR department. So, I must have impressed someone.

Meanwhile, as I’m smoozing, I also have the great pleasure of collecting free swag along the way. I increased my library 2 fold, no exaggeration. At the end of day one, I had 25 pounds of books. I know this because I had to ship them back. I used three of those medium sized flat rate boxes. At one point in the middle of the day I was forced to check two of the bags, which were also being giving out, full of books because I simply couldn’t carry them anymore. I had no idea they gave these books out. I will next year, and I will be prepared.

After 16 months of graduate school with very few breaks between classes and very little money to buy the books I’m interested in, this was a dream come true. I was like a kid in a candy store; picking up any book that caught my eye. What made it even better though were the authors. There were authors of all different genres there ready to sign and give out their books to whoever wanted them. I soon found out that many of the people there were bloggers, so I suspect since many of these books were not released to the public yet, this is also how books get reviewed.

The best moment of day was Adam Gidwitz, a second grade teacher from NY who wants to teach the kids of today that fairy tales, the original ones, are not for sissies. I was in the Penguin booth waiting for the second book of a series that I have been dying to read and Adam was there taking books from a box. I assumed that he worked there and started chatting it up. Low and behold, he was the author of the book he was distributing, “A Tale Dark and Grimm”. It’s about Hansel and Gretel making their way through the original Grimm fairy tales. I was surprised and a bit embarrassed that I had mistaken him. Not that I knew him from anything, this is his first novel, but I had been getting good at reading people’s nametags throughout the day; but I was tired when I met Adam.

So I said to him, “Since you’re here… would you mind?” and I held out the book I had already swiped from the box when he wasn’t looking. He said sure. I had him sign it to my nephew, who may be a little young for the material, but he will grow.

Monkey see, monkey do.

All it took was one person to see him signing the book for me and a line formed. So he sat at the table where we were chatting and signed every one of the books in that box. In fact, he eventually grabbed some personal copies from his bag so that he could finish the line. I don’t feel guilty. He said that before today he hadn’t signed any of his books before so it was an interesting experience. He said he was honored. I would be too.

He spent a few more moments discussing my book with me before getting up and leaving and I waited for my final book before heading off to the post office. It was a good way to end the day I thought.

7X20X21

There was one big idea that I neglected to mention from the first day. This was the 7X20X21. The purpose of the numbers: 7 speakers, 20 slides maximum, with only 21 seconds per slide. I’ve separated this one because it actually had some pretty new ideas in regards to the publishing industry.

The first speaker was Jennifer Egan. She showed us a chapter of her book using PowerPoint. It was an interesting concept, and I must admit that the dialogue and the different ways she chose to show us this dialogue, worked well. It was the other elements of her story that didn’t work well. Without the speech, the PowerPoint meant nothing. Now, there are many ways to set up a Power Point presentation, as learned in Grad School. But in this case, since the point of the presentation was to show a chapter of a book, one shouldn’t have needed to hear the speech along with it. So in all, it was a very interesting concept, but not one that worked perfectly. Still, there was promise there.

The second was Ed Nawatka who talked about teaching literature backwards. Currently, schools teach works like Shakespeare to students before teaching the works that are more fun and interesting to our time. Ed suggested that first we get students interested in reading, teach them to love the written word first, and then move up to Shakespeare where you can teach students to analyze his work, showing the tools and similar storylines along the way. I thought this would be a great exercise in teaching. I know that for me the analyzing and understanding of Shakespeare took a long time. Had I understood then how many stories are based on works from the past great authors, I think I would have understood those classics better. It’s difficult to analyze a story when you’re not sure what it’s about. Start simple, start with what you know.

The third speaker was Jacob Lewis who is the creator of figment.com. His speech told of a phenomenon in Japan called cell phone novels. These novels are quite literately written on cell phones by young girls who send piece by piece to their friends until they have a full and complete story. These stories then become viral with a website such as Figment.com where these girls can publish, share, or work on their stories. It challenges the intimacy of publishers in the US compared to those in Japan. It reminds me very much of when I was in high school. We didn’t have the technology of today so my friends still received page and after page of my story on paper. My friend Diana still recalls the assembly line formation we used to sit in. I was at the head writing and as soon as I completed a page I’d send it down the line and as each friend finished reading it, they would pass it along to the next. Even now I wonder, am I too old to try this cell phone novel thing out now? Maybe.

The fourth speaker was Nick Bilton who spoke primarily of technochondrea – the fear of technology. He discussed the next generation and how they simply won’t have the same fear as the older generations about privacy and e-books. As I said in the previous post, there was a noticeable gap between generational comfort levels with social media, so I thought this speech was very enlightening towards the old-fashioned publishers in the crowd. However, he brought up one topic that I have to wonder, is it really a good thing? He said we are becoming an acronym society. Nick states that the new generation who write things such as the following are simply developing a new form of narrative…

DEEZ YUNG FOLKS PUT THEY EVERY MOOD, EVERY THOUGHT,JUST..EVERYTHING ON (FB).... LMBO LUV U... ITT...I SAY...LOL

((Taken from a friend’s FaceBook page and abbreviated. I have no idea what this is saying at the end.))

Apparently, this type of narrative development has been around for generations and its how languages change and develop. He showed us a slide with some formal, proper names of things compared to what we call them now. None of which I thought to write down at the time. So, I can see his point in how the language has developed. But has no one thought this is going too far? I mean, we don’t even teach proper grammar in schools anymore. The FCAT is only concerned with reading comprehension and vocabulary. Does anyone in middle or high school know how to point out the subject of a sentence anymore? Is it still important to know? Was it ever?

Justin Taylor and Eva Talmadge were the fifth and sixth speakers. They were partners in a new book that called for pictures of literary tattoos. So, naturally their slides were of pictures. They called it physical literature and they showed some very interesting quotes or pictures etched forever into people’s bodies. However, beyond that there wasn’t much to say. They were the worst pair of speakers at the conference. It was as if they just said, let’s just go up there and wing it. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what they did too.

Clay Shirkey finished the seven speakers with a very interesting history lesson. Apparently the printing press was created by the Catholic church in order to create more “indulgences” which where basically “get out of hell free cards” for sinners. With one of these indulgences, you could commit any sin and it wouldn’t count against your immortal soul. They created it in order to command a better hold on the people. However, after indulgences, bibles were the next thing to be printed. And with the wide spread knowledge that brought, (you know… literacy) people began to think for themselves rather than rely on the church to do their thinking for them. This allowed for the Protestant revolution, blah, blah, etc. His point was that “abundance breaks more things than managing scarcity.” Basic supply and demand issues; Low supply = high demand; High supply = low demand.

He was cautioning the creation of e-books through publishers. Questioning how long these companies will have a future if everything is too readily available online; but at the same time, trying to get them to understand that people will find a way to upload the copies themselves. So, publishers need to come up with a way to manage things quickly.

He was also trying to sell his “reading is sexy” t-shirts. I want one.

Overall, this was one of the most informative and creative lectures I’ve been too in a long time. It presented ideas to think about while showing the audience new trends in the industry.

Step Three - Day One

I made it to the BEA. Unfortunately, the exhibits weren’t open on day one. So it was dedicated to lectures and forums. They call them the “Big Ideas at BEA”

The first of the big ideas is titled “Bringing your authors to the Social Media Party… and Getting them to Stay”. A lot of this was about what one company did to integrate both their employees and their authors to social media. There was a vast difference in experience with social media present in the room. I have always known that there was a technological gap between generations, but in my personal life, I saw little of it. Today brought it home in a big way. The largest concern for many of the publishers and authors in the room was to know if social media sites really had an impact on sales. I got the general feeling that the majority of them saw social media as a pick one and go with it rather than being a part of every site out there.

I’ll be the first to admit that being a part of every social media site can be tedious, but if you are trying to build yourself as a brand (which is now known as being a “brandividual” apparently) you must do so everywhere. One woman complained about all the people commenting on the newsfeed that she didn’t know; information overload is what the speaker called it, I call it marketing. If you have finally reached the point where you have more people you don’t know than do, when trying to sell a book through a social media like facebook, I say you’ve done your job. Everything starts with personal networks. When it branches out, that’s the beginning of a market.

The second big idea was very similar to the first. This one was titled “Building Online Reader Communities with an eye on ROI”. It was a forum that, basically, reinforced everything from this first panel using people who are involved in social media. For example, an author there spoke about her experiences with social media. This one didn’t seem to focus on the mainstream social media though. This one focused on publishing social media that I didn’t know existed. The most interesting thing done here however, was the use of a twitter feed during the panel. So if you commented or asked a question... it showed up on the big screen next to the panel. Nifty to be sure.

Then I had lunch. Yum.

At 12:30 I went to my last big idea “I’ll never pay over $9.99 for E-Books! And similar Lies”. This one was the most… eh. The speaker, Michael Norris, Senior Analyst for Simba Information, made some very pretty graphs and spoke of several extensive surveys that I simply don’t all together trust. First off, his graphs and figures never considered free e-books. Granted, he was surveying the amount of people who “bought" e-books (9% in 2009; 8% in 2008) but that didn’t count in the number of people who invested in some sort of e-Reader be it Kindle, Nook, or iPad. In fact, according to him the “device won’t stay around long enough to make an impact”. With the exception of the iPad, he might be right about that. The iPad offers so much more than a simple e-Reader that it really isn’t worth buying a Kindle or Nook for this one functionality when you can put the money towards other devices that do so much more.

But to say that people would be willing to pay more than $9.99 a book…

I don’t know… I’d have to use some MBA tools of analysis for that one. But off the top of my head, I would think that with the threat of substitutes so high, why would someone choose to pay more for an e-book than what they can get it for on the shelf? Also, wouldn't you want to continue to increase the use of e-books rather than discourage it?

All in all though, that was the first day. There was a key note interview with Barbara Streisand that was insightful towards her character, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t truly important towards my purposes here.

There were more big ideas throughout the length of the conference, but this day was the only one in which people attended them. Once the exhibitor rooms opened, no one left there. You would've missed too much.

Picture Books

I made a trip to Barnes and Nobles. The kids section in particular. I wanted to have a look at some of the picture books, to get a better feel for them. When I read children’s books, I usually stick with the ones that have more words and fewer pictures. Currently I’ll be looking into getting the entire series of the Guardians of Ga’hoole. It’ll be released as a movie soon; I’d like to have it read before then. Of course, money may be an issue, we’ll see.

Anyway, back to picture books. Three stood out to me for various reasons though I read many. Let me tell you about why I found them special.

The first was “Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. What I particularly liked about this book was that it used cookies as a way of teaching about love concepts such as adoration, respect, protection, etc. For example, "Edearment means, come here, my sugar, my cookie, my sweet" (Amazon.com 'Look Inside' function provided this example). However, I will say that I thought some of the concepts were a little advanced for a toddler to understand. But then they are supposed to absorb things like this better than adults do. Another aspect of the book that I liked was that it also encouraged interaction with parents through a sugar cookie recipe at the end.

One of the other things I liked about it is that it didn’t rhyme. I understand that children learn better through repetition of similar sounds and patterns. But to be honest, I almost feel like it’s simply been done and over done. So none of the books I’m describing has anything to do with rhyme.

The next book was “Not a Box” by Antoinette Portis. This is my favorite. I will own this one. The book depicts a young rabbit sitting in a box on the first page. The text simply states “why are you in a box?”. Turning the page, you read “It’s not a box” and the young rabbit is now sitting in the box surrounded by red lines that reveal a racecar. The entire story goes back and forth, about whether or not the box is a box. This story absolutely touched my heart. It’s a celebration of the imagination of children. Additionally, the cover of the book was made out of cardboard, so I must give props to the creative team on this one. I loved it.

The third and final picture book I took notice of was “Pink me Up” by Charise Mericle Harper. This one also depicted a young rabbit, but in this case, it was a girl from a large family of boys who was meant to go on a “pink-nic” with her mother but ends up having to go with her dad. First, the title sounded so much like “Pick me up” that when I saw this book on the shelf I chuckled and said “ok”. However, what I like most about this book are the pictures. Without the pictures, the text wouldn’t be as much fun. For example, the author doesn’t tell you that she’s the only girl in the family, she shows you with a family portrait. I laughed aloud with this one. It was adorable. The only criticism is that it’s specifically geared towards girls.

Now I know boys are harder to write for because they don’t like reading, but I like picture books that celebrate childhood rather than putting genders in a box. Am I doing just that saying that a boy won’t enjoy this book? Maybe.

Okay, probably.

But the main character is a girl, she thinks only girls can wear pink, and while she comes to understand that boys sometimes like pink too, I can’t see how it would appeal to them since the only male in the story is the dad. I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into this but it certainly seems like they wrote this one for the girls.

Is that a bad thing, no. I just wonder where the boy books are. I know I said it’s difficult. I did acknowledge that. I just wonder what it is about reading that boys don’t like? A curious case that has yet to be solved by the greatest minds in literature. I doubt I’ll have too much luck with it.

Why Children/Young Adult Books

I am very interested in the publishing business. I’m looking to get my foot in the door somewhere where my skills and talents can be translated into a career. However, I would very much like to work with children and young adult books. When I told someone this, I was asked why.

My automatic response to that question is that young adult literature is what I write. My books, while complex and convoluted are essentially about a young girl who ends a war in another magical world. At the end of the series, she’s 25 years old, but she begins her journey at 16. She struggles to find herself, to find love, to deal with pain and loss, and to simply live. It’s a high fantasy epic which I hope can be purchased in every bookstore out there one day. Of course, it needs to be finished then published first, but that’s a minor detail.

The truth is. I like children and young adult books. I like reading them, they’re quick and easy, and they remind me of where I came from. I wasn’t always a fast reader, or a good one. But I developed that. Every chance I got, I bought books and bookmarks (because that’s what kids do. They buy the fancy, holographic, find-the-picture bookmarks) from the Scholastic book fairs. I still have some of those – both the books and the bookmarks. I still haven’t read some those – the books only this time. I bought too many for me to read every year, I kept my favorite books and the ones I still intend to read. But those book fairs helped to shape me into an avid reader. I rarely go anywhere now without a book in my hand.

But that’s not the only reason why I want to work with the books that the kids of today will be reading.

So here’s the list of why:

1. You’ve heard it. I like them.

2. My parents, specifically my dad. When I was young, every night before I went to bed, my parents read to me. I don’t know how many times I fell asleep to the sound of my dad’s voice, but I do remember that sound. Even now, the memory of his voice rumbles through my chest as he reads the words and acts out the voices for each character of some unknown tale. How many children received what I had? How many children do so now?

3. My sister, who is mentally handicapped and will never develop mentally beyond that of a five year old. She can’t read. She probably never will. But if you put a picture book in front of her, she’ll tell you a story. She’ll “read” it to you. I love that childhood imagination. And it reminds me to keep it alive in myself. I want to help bring that out in others. I want to be a part of someone’s adventure, even if they don’t know I was involved.

4. Me. I’m a big kid. There are certain areas of my life in which I have always felt above my years in responsibility and maturity. I attribute these aspects of my personality to having a sister who is mentally retarded. In many respects, I had to grow up a little faster than everyone else because I had to protect her from bullies, babysit for my parents, and care for her when my parents weren’t able to (which admittedly wasn’t often). I don’t mind though, this helps me immensely in the business world because I have a strong sense of my responsibilities and I’ve always taken them seriously. One of my last bosses wrote the following recommendation, taken from my LinkedIn page: “I am very pleased to recommend Lisa Wicks, as her work has been exemplary, on time, often delivered prior to tight deadlines, and with the maturity and quality of a professional many years ahead of Lisa's position.” But my weakness is cartoons. I love to watch the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. They make me laugh. Phineas and Ferb is pretty ingenious; example below. So I feel like I have a connection with kids.

I may be 25 years old, but when my nieces and nephew come by, guess whom they’re playing with. I’m usually up for a game on the Wii, or my PS2, or even a game like Uno, Parcheesi, or Apples to Apples. Last time my niece Samantha came over to spend the night we spent a couple hours reading "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". We only got through maybe half a chapter, but we were reading aloud and had to check the definition of several words (for her benefit, not mine obviously). But I did this because I liked that book and quite frankly, reading was always an adventure for me and I want so much for her to feel that way about reading as well. I would love for all kids to feel that way about reading.

But how does one say all of this when answering that question on the street? “Well, there are many parts to this, here let me read you off a list.”

Step Two - In Progress

My last few posts have been about actions. I took some today.

My intention was to cold call my top publishing houses who would be attending the BEA. But before I picked up the phone, I thought about what I would say. More than likely, I would be directed to customer service, to whom I would say: Hi, I’m Lisa. I’m looking to speak to someone who will be at the Book Expo on May 23rd. Can you direct me to them?

Then once they directed me, I would say a little something like: Hello, my name is Lisa. I’m a recent MBA graduate who will be attending the Book Expo and I was hoping to be able to meet with you...

Don’t just me too harshly; these are simplistic for a reason and just a starting point anyway. But I saw a flaw in them, in the whole plan really. That flaw… I didn’t know whom I was looking for and I wasn’t positive the customer service would either. So I searched around.

On the BEA website, there is a list of exhibitors at the event. This list is really just a catalog of every publisher who will be there and some details about what that company publishes. However, the BEA has a program that allows you to plan your trip ahead of time; the BEA Show Planner. Enormously helpful. Using this feature, I can filter out the types of publishing houses I don’t need. Therefore, I chose to look at only the publishing houses that worked with children and young adult books, as this is where I, ideally, would like to enter into the industry. Once this list was generated, I could click on a box next to the name and send that company to my personal BEA plan. The other nifty feature, and most important to the story, I can email the people who are going to be there, so long as they are in my planner.

Now, this planner still doesn’t give me a name for the person who will be representing the company. But there are other ways to begin an email than dear so-and-so. It’s more formal, and much more professional to write dear so-and-so. But, I was operating on the idea that I’m simply asking for some advice, a chance to get their points of view on the subject, what they might be looking for in an entry level position candidate. A semi-informal topic anyway, so I gave it a shot. I told them I was a recent MBA graduate, I told them that I was interested in the publishing industry and I told them why I was interested in the publishing industry. I said that the current market changes make the publishing industry turbulent and challenging right now and because of its challenging nature, this would be a wonderful industry to get into.

Someone replied.

Now, don’t get too excited. This person replied saying that she wasn’t in charge of the children books department and couldn’t help me in that capacity. However, she was willing to send my resume along to HR if I could send her a copy. I did so, thanking her not only for her time and consideration, but also for her speedy reply. She emailed me once more with the name of the HR contact who I will be able to follow up with next week.

But that’s not all.

I also received an out of office email from another company, which stated the name of someone else to contact within the company while they were out. I haven’t “spoken” with anyone from that company just yet, but I have the names of two more people who I can follow-up with at a later date.

So things are moving. Or at least beginning to head in the right direction. Additionally, on that list created by the BEA, there are publishing houses I’ve not heard of before, I very much aim to look into those more now that I have a place to begin.

The Future of Publishing

I'm still new to blogging so I've been trying to get this video posted for a month. I know I'm supposed to be super tech savvy and they have a help feature and blah blah blah. I didn't look it up and had I really thought about it I would've figured it out.

Back to the video. It's my favorite, because it really says the truth of where the business is going and how many of us readers and those who, in general, love everything to do with books, feel on the subject of publishing. If you only watched a little of this and didn't bother with the whole thing, you won't agree with this statement. Watch it all. It's worth it.

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com