Are you concerned that a
college degree is unaffordable for your children or grand children?
Does the prospect of mountains of student loan debt taken out by
starry-eyed young adults who want to believe that somehow the loans
will not haunt their financial health in their near-term future
concern you?
Here's a tip. Move to
Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the sooner the better. In 2005 it was
announced that all graduates of the Kalamazoo school system and are
eligible to attend college will have their tuition paid for by the
Kalamazoo
Promise. Even
students who transfer into the school system as high school freshman
qualify for 65% support. A group of anonymous donors fund the
program, and so far has spent over $20 million on higher education
for 3,831 students.
Former Kalamazoo schools
superintendent Janice M. Brown (the only person that communicates
directly with the donors) said the
long term goal is to boost Kalamazoo's economy, which like many
Midwestern cities in the 21st
century faced a loss of industry and a resiliently stagnant economy.
And nine years later, by
any criteria, the Kalamazoo Promise works.
I thought of the Promise
today when I read another article about Kalamazoo in the Detroit Free
Press entitled Kalamazoo
Quietly Emerging as a Literary Hotspot. I expected an exaggerated
puff-piece written by the Chamber of Commerce, but it seems like
there is actually a modest expanded literary presence in the city
with the funny name.
I don't expect that anyone
from the Iowa Writers
Program in Iowa City will turn green with envy, but a rebirth of
arts and culture in any small Midwestern town has surely drawn some
attention from cities with underfunded libraries and those watching
area youth migrate away from their hometown.
Might the Kalamazoo
Promise and this mini-Renaissance that Kalamazoo is experiencing be
related? Maybe, maybe not. But any city that goes all in to support
its young adults pursuing their higher educations is bound to reap
some rewards down the line and what could be better than adding
writers, poets, and teachers to a community many thought could have
been sucked into the black-hole vortex of shrinking employment
opportunities and population loss that many formerly prosperous
Michigan towns still face.
Vook
Offers Ebook Sales Reports
Vook
has announced a new sales reporting service that can track
daily sales and issue a monthly report
for all of your ebook titles. There's no charge for the service.
Leveling
the Playing Field
The
closing of a Barnes and Noble in my boyhood hometown spotlights the
uneven application of tax laws. How is it fair that one
retailer selling a product collects sales tax on it (all the
while paying state and local property and business taxes) while
another retailer selling the same product doesn't?
What's
a Fair Ebook Royalty? 25% or 50%?
Since
most publishing costs associated with book production don't apply to
ebook distribution, some authors
will not allow their work to be sold as an ebook for 25%
royalties.
Conservative Book Bubble Bursts
Books
written by conservative politicians, pundits, and researchers have
been on a tear for the last fifteen years, but it
appears the party is ending. Sales figures show a saturated
market that only attracts
readers to books by famous, successful authors, usually elected
officials.
Branded Print Magazines Are Growing
The
print and bind industry has seen entire markets disappear in the past
fifteen years. Now corporations are discovering that producing
their own ink and paper magazine can be cost effective.
These publications build brand loyalty stronger than pixel marketing
or placing ads in consumer magazines.
Printing
Isn't a Growing Business, So...
Kathie
Gillespie, owner of A&B Printing in Las Vegas NV realized her
business (and industry) weren't growing so she's transforming her
shop to enter a business that does: growing
and selling medical marijuana.
If her permits and inspections pass muster, she will operate the
first legal dispensary in Southern Nevada.
If
you live in Michigan you are either a Yooper, if you live “above”
the Mackinac Bridge in the Upper Peninsula, or a Troll if you live
“beneath” the bridge. Having strong Yooper roots, I'm pleased to
see that Merriam-Webster
has conceded that “Yooper” is indeed a word.
Garamond
Saves
Not
only is Garamond a beautiful font
for books, apparently it can save you money if you use an ink jet
printer because it
seems to use less ink. If federal, state and local governments
used it, it's estimated it would save taxpayers $400 million each
year.
On
Being a Successful Writer
While
ignoring prominent exceptions to the rule, (think Walt
Whitman and Charles
Dickens ) perhaps the most important trait shared by successful
writers is to
be born and raised in a wealthy family. Unfortunately, poverty
has again become the norm for many writers.
Day
One Seeking Submissions
When
Amazon's digital only literary journal Day
One
debuted last October it did not solicit submissions, the plan being
to troll
MFA programs for content.
Day One has just announced that it
is seeking submissions.
As of now, there
are no guidelines,
just this: dayone-submissions@amazon.com.
Is
White Bright?
Selecting
an appropriate text stock for your book can be confusing,. There is
shade, brightness, opacity, bulk, finish and whiteness to consider.
We can help decipher all the various paper properties to help you in
your paper selection, much like this
explanation of the
difference between whiteness and brightness.
Digital
Shortfall
A
decade or more ago we were awash in digital fervor, imagining all the
possibilities that e-everything seemed to offer. In more sober
moments, someone would look up and ask, “But how do we make money
on it?” Apparently that
remains the question.
Unbelievable
The
Harvard University library houses over 15 million books, but three
share a bizarre distinction;
they're bound in human skin,
the newest as recently as 1880.
Final
Thought
“If
I'm engrossed in a book, I have to rearrange my thoughts before I can
mingle with other people, because otherwise they might think I was
strange.” Anne
Frank - The
Diary of a Young Girl
