MyEbook : Virtually Publish Your Book and Sell It

What is it?
"MyEbook is designed to completely change the way that new books are published on the internet" ("Myebook -," 2009). MyEbook allows for the creation, publishing, and sharing of online books. It is built on top of a social networking application which allows users to join "communities" (e.g. Facebook groups) in order to spread word about their recently published eBook. With MyEbook, anyone can upload or create from scratch simple or complex page designs and covers. Publishing is as simple as the click of a single button, and users can create as many publications as they want. Best of all - it's entirely FREE! Regardless of personal or corporate publications, users can upload, create, and publish novels, childrens books, magazines, comics, photo albums, leaflets, brochures, and instruction manuals. Want something interactive? No problem! Users are able to even embed or link to videos, audio, documents, images, and flash files to make their books fully interactive. MyEbook is available for free at http://www.myebook.com/

Literacy and Technology?
"Publishing student writing encourages the reluctant writer, strengthens students' self-confidence, rewards interest, and promotes a positive attitude toward literature. What do an Olympic competitor and a successful writer have in common? Practice! Lots and lots of practice. Both people need to learn skills and master a form. Talent is important, but practice creates the solid base that allows that talent to soar. Like athletes, writers learn by doing. Good writing requires the same kind of dedicated practice that athletes put in. Young writers often lack the support they need to practice writing and develop their talent to the fullest, though. They find it hard to receive validation for their work. Feedback provided in English class might not produce the same sense of self-worth that being published produces. Many schools lack adequate facilities to publish students' work, however" (Chaika, 2005). MyEbook provides a fantastic opportunity for students to create, publish, and share their work with an audience other than their student peers and classroom teacher. Students can share their work with members of their community as well as members of the MyEbook community, many of which are professional authors! Offering students this type of opportunity would allow them the validation and motivation teachers hope to instill in their students.


More ideas?
Students can improve literacy skills by working with a variety of literary genres on a single topic to be published as a multi-genre research paper at the end of the course on MyEbook. "Multigenre research paper is an alternative to the traditional five paragraph essay commonly used in secondary education. It emphasizes the use of multiple genres to represent a given research topic. With this type of project, students are expected to research their given topic and then present the information they gathered using a variety of genres, with an emphasis on writing and composition. The genres created to represent the topic can be put together through the creation of a theme and bracketed by an introduction and conclusion. This creates a unified research paper that avoids the structure of a traditional five paragraph essay" ("Multigenre research paper," 2011). This type of writing project was first described by Tom Romano in his 1995 book Writing With Passion: Life Stories, Multiple Genres and later expanded upon in his 2000 book Blending Genre, Altering Style: Writing Multigenre Papers.

Publishing student work is not only restricted to the English Language Arts classroom. Many other content areas can foster student literacy and writing within their own subject areas. Inspiring Teachers provides a wonderful list of tips and ideas for publishing student work in a variety of content areas, including English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Math, Art, and Physical Education ("Tips - publishing," 2011). Tips - Publishing Student Work

References

Chaika, G. (2005). Encourage student writing -- publish on the web!. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech042.shtml

Multigenre research paper. (2011). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multigenre_research_paper

MyEbook. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.myebook.com/

Myebook - literary publishing e-commerce site. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.appappeal.com/app/myebook/

Tips - publishing student work. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.inspiringteachers.com/classroom_resources/tips/curriculum_and_instruction/publishing_student_work.html