The title of this blog is not a joke nor a flippant statement on my part. Being real is ever so important to one's work as a writer - and really to one's credibility whether they are a writer or not. Being real, not exaggerating oneself and presenting oneself as honest to the core is everything in the writing world. Absolutely everything. It's also everything in the world of education. I've been doing some editing for a man lately.  This man has a legitimate Ph.D, which he rightly earned. (Not all who claim to have a Ph.D have it legitimately. Many colleges, even local community colleges, reject claims of such a higher degree if they are not legitimate. More on this in a minute.) This man I'm editing for is a good writer, has a great handle on the English language and has some vital things to say. The problem is, he misrepresents his Ph.D by putting "Dr." in front of his name. While this may seem acceptable, the reason it is not is simple: the title ...

The other night in my Writer's Group meeting, one writer asked about a particular publishing house. I told him that it's a vanity press and they are best avoided.  A vanity press is a press which will print whatever you like, as long as you pay for it.  A vanity press does not market, edit or see to your best interest as a writer. I know a good number of people who have used a vanity press and it's been an uphill battle for them to have any success as a result.. The reasons are numerous, but the bottom line is, in the publishing world, using a vanity press is akin to getting your degree from a for-profit university.  Once you do that, no one in the education world will take you seriously, your "credentials" will not be listed and you might find it hard to get, or keep, a viable position. Likewise, once you use a vanity press, you will find that viable publishers don't take you seriously. Curiously, neither print on demand nor e-publishing fall into this...