WHAT’S WRONG WITH PUT-DOWNS IN THE CLASSROOM AND WORKPLACE?

PUT-DOWNS
Ya gotta love ‘em. Most everybody does it. The put-down may be the most ubiquitous form of humor. Everywhere we look, from Leno to Conan (Where ever you are!) to Letterman, to images of professionals on sitcoms, to colleagues, and even to our closest friends and our families, the put-down is inescapable.

Check out the regular insults spewed by Dr. Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie) at his colleagues, boss, associates, and patients on House. Lawyer Denny Crane (played by William Shatner) on the now defunct, but great, TV series Boston Legal was just as insensitive in his put-downs of racial and religious groups and people with physical disabilities.

DISPARAGEMENT HUMOR: Tendentious or disparagement humor belittles an individual or group that has been victimized, or that has suffered some misfortune or act of aggression. Sometimes it is rather harmless in the context of kidding around or teasing; at other times it can be mean, cruel, and hurtful, albeit a powerful weapon for verbal abuse. Freud believed this to be an important function of humor, allowing people to express aggressive and hostile feelings in a “socially acceptable” manner. There is even research evidence that people enjoy put-downs more when they have negative attitudes toward the victim.

Although there may be a time and a place for put-down humor, such as in those over-advertised videos of Friar’s Club Celebrity Roasts emceed by the late Dean Martin and others, the classroom is definitely not the place. Even recent versions of those roasts have become mean-spirited, profane, and vulgar.

HIGHER EDUCATION EXAMPLES: In higher education as elsewhere, the perpetrator is usually in a superior position in the organizational food chain compared to the victim. Since the victim, which is often the student, administrative assistant, TA, RA, or lower rank colleague, is already in a vulnerable position, the put-down by a lofty faculty member or dean can be devastating. This behavior is part of the bullying mentality and incivility in the workplace that is on the rise.

In the classroom and department, a faculty put-down may be followed by the words, “I was just joking” or “I was only kidding.” This is the typical “redeeming” strategy to get the faculty member off the hook for the direct hit (aka put-down insult). It never does redeem and never will. Anyone who does that should be reprimanded.

SPECIFIC TARGETS TO AVOID: I suggest you avoid the following specific targets of put-downs in all forms of media in the classroom and workplace:

• Popular, entertainment, or political personalities
• Race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, gender, religion, or sexual orientation
• Physical characteristics (e.g., fat, thin, short, tall, blonde, pregnant, bald, or all of the preceding)
• Physical disabilities or handicaps
• Mental handicaps or illnesses

Also, don’t even think about these put-downs of your students, administrative assistant, TA, RA, and colleagues.

ALTERNATIVE HUMOR: Creating humor that builds your students up rather than tearing them down is not easy. However, yielding to the temptation to tear down can produce the negative consequences described previously.

Are you having fun yet? Next topic is sarcasm, which is almost as much fun as put-downs. What do you think about these issues? Have you had experiences you would like to share? Please comment.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC

Book Proposals, Rejection Rates, and Financial Compensation of Authors: Trade vs Academic Publishers

Today there are 100s of publishing houses. In fact, some of them use “house” in their names. After the previous bloggorino, you should have some inkling on whether you need a trade or academic publisher. Let’s probe these options in a little more detail.


TRADE PUBLISHING

Commercial trade publishers, such as Random House, For-Sale House, and Fore-Closed House, require only a detailed prospectus of your planned book to make an initial decision. I recommend checking individual publisher prospectus requirements.


The biggest problem is that most of these publishers rarely consider unsolicited manuscripts, unless your name is Tom Wolfe or you wear white suits. You need to hire a literary agent or secret agent to promote your submission. (Note: If Jack Bauer wasn’t preparing episodes for the spring season of 24, he would be an ideal choice to persuade a publisher to publish your masterpiece, if ya know what I mean. Wink. Wink.) Rejection rates are typically greater than 90% (kinda like the best journals). If you’re not Stephen King or Dave Barry, find another band. If the publisher is interested in your work, it will request a more detailed or extensive “treatment” of the content.



In general, if your book is accepted and published, you will receive a “book advance,” in lieu of royalties, which is one lump sum to be determined by the publisher. If you’re a newbie unknown writer, that amount is usually less than $1 mill. That’s it. There are no regular life-long royalty payments. Instead of the advance, some publishers may offer a royalty of 10-15% of net sales until the book is dead.



ACADEMIC PUBLISHING



Commercial academic publishers, such as John Wiley and His Sons---Jossey Bass, Cliffs Notes, and Betty Crocker (Can you believe that John named 1 of his sons Betty?), and university presses, which are covered in lots of ivy on high towers, typically require a brief prospectus, including a content outline and a couple of sample chapters. Check individual publisher prospectus requirements. Rejection rates with these publishers are also extremely high with the exact percentage locked in a vault somewhere in Langley, VA.



Once your book proposal is accepted, you can negotiate a royalty, which is typically in the range mentioned above. Sometimes publishers will consider a graduated scale, such as 10% for up to 2000 copies sold, 12.5% for 2001-3500, and 15% above 3500. These escalating rates encourage the author to promote his or her book to receive the higher rates. The publishers usually only have to sell a few hundred books to cover all production, printing, and distribution costs. They’re already riding the gravy train while you continue to market your book. (Marketing will be covered in a future blog.)



I hope these options help to clarify where you need to direct your publishing efforts. The next blog will address one of the most popular choices for trade books and most dissed and evil option for academic books: self-publishing (aka “vanity publishing”). Keep on writing.
Please comment on your publishing experiences and any of the above.


COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC