With the close of Borders, it has become evident that electronic publishing is in and print is out. For those who prefer the smell of ink and paper, this is devastating news. Perhaps the physical aspect of holding a book versus holding a tablet is more romantic? Or maybe it’s the nostalgia of shelving books in alphabetical order. After all, when finished, the print book gets placed on a shelf to collect dust. While some will never pick up a tablet and will forever insist on a hard copy, the forests of the world are rejoicing.  So are trash dumps. Yes, many books are recycled to friends and family, but others do end up taking up space in dumps. Score one for the environment with eBooks!

If you are a first-time author with a terrific novel, you will be faced with the decision of print or eBook.  Last I checked it cost around $800-$1000 to publish a print novel. But that’s not all. Many publishing companies also demand a royalty agreement. Why in the world should you pay one penny to a publishing company to whom you have already paid for printing expenses? It simply doesn’t make sense.

Last December 26, the Los Angeles Times ran an article by Alex Pham called “Book publishers see their role as gatekeepers shrink.” http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gatekeepers-20101226,0,7119214.story. In effect, some authors are looking forward to their publishing contract to expire, so they can electronically publish with Kindle. Why? They will make a much bigger commission. At Kindle authors earn a 70% commission per sale.  For me the decision was easy.

I published my first novel as an eBook. I couldn’t justify the expense to create a print book that I expected only friends and relatives to purchase. So I began by reading up on it from Kindle’s Direct Publishing site (KDP). Start with the first link, “Getting Started & FAQs.” Then read the forums that are applicable. I posted on the forums and got help really quickly. I even got hold of a live person from Kindle when I needed to. Here’s the link: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin.

If you don’t have time, there are companies that do eBook Conversions. One I highly recommend is Booknook.biz http://booknook.biz/. I found them through the Kindle forums. I had gotten extremely frustrated with uploading my book cover. I was concerned about the way my book was displaying and Hitch explained that books display differently depending the device or computer being used. It was a concept I had never thought of!  She didn’t charge me and emailed me later to see how it went.  She sends out a monthly newsletter that is full of helpful information.  A million thumbs up for Hitch!

So you decide, print or eBook. In case you haven’t checked out my eBook, you can get a free sample on my webpage http://www.ginaladinsky.com or my Face book author’s page at http://www.facebook.com/editprofile.php?sk=contact#!/pages/Gina-Ladinskys-Author-Page/147005248709226?sk=wall

By the way, the only thing it cost me to publish my eBook was my time and $200 to create a “Doing Business As.”

Stay tuned for more info on eBook publishing.

Teaching writing at various community colleges in Los Angeles for the past ten years has taught me that there are too few students who really understand how to read for college. Sadly, most students come into freshman composition, a university level reading and writing course, extremely unprepared. Oh, they can read the words. They can stare at the page for long enough, but they walk away from the reading with very little.  They will scan the reading and vaguely answer some reading analysis questions, but most do not really consider the reading in a manner that involves critical thinking where they actually interact with the content.

The rude awakening comes when students realize that in order analyze a reading, they must read it more than once, and, worse, they must take notes and ask questions. When the analysis paper is assigned, some students will demonstrate their lack of willingness to dig in and read as their essays will contain erroneous information from the reading such as incorrect names or circumstances. In other cases, students won’t quite understand what the paper should be about as they have not fully digested the reading in the first place.  On the other hand, students whose homework reflects a concentrated effort at deciphering through the reading consistently demonstrate effective essays.

By the end of the semester, the students who have performed poorly will excuse themselves by saying they simply don’t have the time needed for the class.  They have work and family and can’t be expected read more than once. Or worse, they will blame the teacher. Yet, this same population of students attend college feeling they are deserving of the degree that is promised after a certain number of units are earned. And they expect that they will also be awarded the new, sparking career that goes along with the degree. After all, this is America and everyone is entitled to an education.