Selection of Works from ENG 506: TPC
This is a selection of work from my current TPC course.
Author Branding: TPC in the Digital Era
With the advent of Amazon publishing, self-publishing became a reality instead of the dream it often had previously been due to expense. However, as publishing has changed in the past couple of decades, so too has the author’s role. Not only is this for self-published (or often called ‘Indie’ or “independent’) authors, but it also holds true for many traditionally published authors. Authors now must market themselves widely, on various platforms, through multiple mediums.
Author branding functions as a form of technical and professional communication for authors. Writing is a profession which requires vast branding and audience engagement. Author Branding covers everything from color schemes, social media posts, websites, newsletters, and more. Nailing it early can be key to gathering your audience to you and helping them recognize your work and voice.
Limited research has been done on how author branding falls into technical and professional communication theory and practice. An author must consider the ethical implications of anything they post or refer/respond to. They also have to consider the rhetorical implications: how does this post make readers feel, does the visual imply what the author wants, does the language and tone hit the right market, etc. How can TPC inform and improve an author’s ability to reach their audience, while considering the norms, ethics, and ever-changing technology?
(For full work, see below)
Genre Presentation: Book Reports
So, Should I Read That Book?
We’ve all been there; standing with a book (or two, or three) and trying to decide whether we wish to buy one. What do many of us do? Turn to the book reviews. There are many avenues one can use for this: general reader reviews (like Goodreads, Amazon, or blogs), videos and social media (Instagram and Tiktok, etc.) or to the more famous, professional versions (Kirkus, New York Times, The Washington Post). This paper will focus on the more professional versions of book reviews, how they affect authors and sales, and what one may expect from them.
What should a book review include? Generally, the list is as follows: Title of the book, Name of the Author, Publisher, and perhaps other specifications such as page count. A tag line is always a great edition. From there, it may include a short summary or the blurb, and finally the overall opinion of the reviewer (Walters). You might include the author’s own short bio and where to find them/social media tags at the end of the review as well (but never tag them to your review on social media). Some conventional reviewers and readers prefer to avoid as many spoilers as possible, so it may be wise to include a spoiler tag if there is something you must mention. In that same vein, many include tropes and genres for each book. It may also be relevant to have a content warning. Last but not least, your overall recommendation about whether others should read the book.
(For PPT that references the full report, see below. For a video presentation, see here.)
Critical Reading Response
We did a serious of Critical Reading Responses in this course over various topics and articles. The below one is about Professional Practice.
Selection of Work - Teaching
I have made many videos for my classes and those can be seen here.
Below are some PowerPoints and other items or projects that I have made for my courses.
Email Etiquette PowerPoint
This is built to go along with a quiz on Email Etiquette, and therefore has more information/different style than I would use to present in front of class. However, for students to personally review, it works really well.
Plagiarism Lesson
This is presented in my face to face classes, and also used online to go along with a quiz.
MBTI Worksheet
I go over the MBTI Possible results, and students guess where they fall in each category. Then, students take a personality assessment, and this fill this out as they read about their results.
Give Yourself An A Letter
This is an assignment I give students within the first two weeks of class. We watch a snippet of this Video in class, then go over formatting in Microsoft Word. I've included the instructions and the example I wrote.
Email About Issues In Class
Professional Development
Below are presentations I have developed and given for various events/conferences/etc.
AI's Good Side
I presented this for KCTCS Virtual Conference.
Be A Model: Share You With Your Students
This presentation was given for the Education Summit by Course Hero in 2024. It is how to be your authentic self with your students, to encourage open conversation.
Selection of Work - Author Life
As an author, I spend a fair amount of time creating images on Canva for social media use, or videos for the same. I also must spend time creating book launches, managing pages, and planning content.
Instagram is probably my main focus as an author. Here you can see my recent campaign going into my cover reveal for Fangs & Follies - book 3.
I also have consistent coloring, branding, and fonts generally used throughout my posts. My main colors are purple, blue and pink, as well as black.
I share pictures of my life, as well as outfits. I also share updates on my author life - such as the fact that my book was restocked at a local bookstore.
Newsletter
Newsletters are a huge deal for collecting information (that won't disappear with a platform). Again, it matches my overall branding.
You can find my past newsletters here. Below is what it looks like with past newsletters also posted as a blog, and the ability to subscribe. My website has a link to this, as well as my social media.
Other items
Other items are part of TPC for authors, such as email, discord, other social media, flyers, etc.