Stimulating Thinking for the Publish Stage

To publish is to share your inventions, creations and compositions. The term publish is used here in its most general sense, that is, to perform (dance, music, etc.) is to publish. You risk revealing yourself to others. But to venture such exposure is to become open to the manyfold return of the concern and interest of others. In this way, you grow. Further, you chance making a real contribution to others. It is through this important step that your culture, your society, grows and advances. Your publishing will need skills with managing and the five levels of questioning.

But the issue of thinking goes beyond learning and using these five levels. The Thinking Home Page addresses other significant issues.

If you have questions or suggestions about this file, contact me at the email address below.

Houghton@wcuvax1.wcu.edu

Managing

The assumption at this stage of the LEAP model is that you have learned to form your creation correctly, that you have used the different tools of your means of expression and that you have found others to give you feedback on this development. You are ready to move to the next level. To Publish, you must find the skills and means to formally present your work yourself, or you must find others, editors or other gatekeepers, that manage publication or performance opportunities. It is often presumed that self-published work is not of high as quality as that produced by others for the simple reason that you have not benefited from the feedback and advice of skilled publication or performance managers and those to whom they trust to review your work. Self-publishing is often stuck with the pejorative label of "vanity press." However, that is not necessarily so, as you can build your own network of reviewers and create your own quality control. So when do you self-publish and when do you use others? It is easier to use the existing formal systems of publication and performance than to invent your own. But, when speed is critical or the audience is very local (your classroom or friends), self-publishing is often preferred. When your work is in a new media, when your potential audience is very small, when you are on the cutting edge of new ideas (ideas which may be controversial), self-publishing may be the only means to share your work.

Self-Publish
Never have there been so many ways to self-publish as in the information age. They vary from the simple and quick (desktop publishing software to copy shop reproduced booklets, pamphlets, manuals) to the complex and more rigorous (computer and networked based email conferences, BBSs, Gopher and Web servers; desktop video and audiotape reproduction). However in addition to completing the ideas of the composition, a significant task in itself, you must take responsibility for your own quality control. Then you must master the means of formatting and reproduction, the equivalent of learning how to operate and manage your own printing press and shipping services.

Others Publish
Composing for publication or performance by others requires the leaping of two hurdles. The first hurdle is to compose with quality in your medium of choice. The second hurdle is to master the skills of communicating with editors (a term I will use in its most general sense to also stand for other performance managers for theatre, radio or television and more). It is this second hurdle that will be addressed here.

I have a colleague whose door proclaims, "your attitude, not your aptitude, sets your altitude." Establish the proper attitude to receive feedback from editors. Put yourself in their shoes. It is their goal in life to help others share their work. Their success depends on the quality of the work that they share. Up to 95% of submissions do not meet their requirements for quality. When they succeed, you have succeeded. When the composer is successful, so is the editor. Their criticism is of your creation, not your life. The time you have spent bringing your creation to a particular level of quality is your problem, not theirs. Be open-minded. Make changes. Re-submit.

With that attitude in mind, seek a venue, a publication, which appears likely to share your interests. Learn all you can about that publication's interests and requirements. Begin trying different means of communication with the editor and find the one they prefer: telephone, postal mail, electronic mail. Plan your communication carefully. Be very concise and clear. Finally, find one of the many publications and books on how to publish. In addition to such works on library shelves, many universities or colleges maintain writing centers with collections of such works and other very relevant advice.

Questioning

To Publish is to master a process. This process involves a range of thinking skills. Some of the questions you need to consider follow, providing an example of these fives types of thinking skills. Click underlined terms to retrieve explanation and examples of question formats involving that term.

Recall three strategies for dealing with criticism and rejection of your composition.
Can you analyze your creation by constructing a flowchart of its organization? If this is too difficult, perhaps you need to simplify it.
Make comparisons between your publication and others who have published on this topic.
For your next draft, what inferences can you make based on the criticism of the editor and peer reviewers?
Based on your reading of articles in the magazine or journal or web site, what criteria do the editors or webmasters use in evaluating their publications?

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