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George Paasewe – Independent Publishing in Academia

Nonfiction Authors Association Podcast | November 2, 2022

“Find that problem and present a solution to it. And that’s how you make your work stand out more than any other publication out there.”
-George Paasewe

George Paasewe - Independent Publishing in Academia

About George Paasewe

George Paasewe is an educator, entrepreneur, author, and public speaker. Professionally, George is a sociology and career development professor at Bryant & Stratton College in Wawatosa, Wisconsin. As an author, George has published two children’s books, Lyla’s World and One Day, I Will Become an Alpha and the best-selling How Black College Students Learn Code-Switching, which he re-released as a second edition in March 2022. As an entrepreneur, George is the founder of Educare Publications, a book publishing company that integrates publishing inside the classroom and workplace setting to diversify classroom libraries, provide financial support, and to  help change the world and make it a place where every child can see themselves in a book and help to diversify the publishing industry.

Nonfiction Authors Podcast: George Paasewe

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Show Notes

Links

In this episode…

  • The definition of code switching and how it is taught/learned.
  • The positives and negatives of creating your own publishing company.
  • How academic authors can market their book.
  • Why it’s important to share your expertise with the academic world.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the interview series for the Nonfiction Authors Association. Today’s session is with George Paasewe and we will be talking about independent publishing in academia. I’m Carla King, your host, and I’m happy to have you with us today. This interview will last only 30 minutes and you can find the replay on our Nonfiction Authors Association website and social media platforms including YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

And now I’d like to introduce our guest.

George Paasewe is an educator, entrepreneur, author, and public speaker. Professionally, George is a sociology and career development professor at Bryant & Stratton College in Wawatosa, Wisconsin. As an author, George has published two children’s books, Lyla’s World and One Day, I Will Become an Alpha and the best-selling How Black College Students Learn Code-Switching, which he re-released as a second edition in March 2022. As an entrepreneur, George is the founder of Educare Publications, a book publishing company that integrates publishing inside the classroom and workplace setting to diversify classroom libraries, provide financial support, and to  help change the world and make it a place where every child can see themselves in a book and help to diversify the publishing industry.

Hi, George, welcome to the podcast.

George Paasewe 1:12

Hey, Carla. Thanks for having me.

Carla King 1:14

So glad to have you here. I think it’s fair to say you have got a mission. Could you just quickly–before we start with the publishing stuff–describe that mission, the concept of code switching, and then we’ll dive into how you create an independent press, and you’re speaking tour and marketing and all that juicy publishing author stuff.

George Paasewe 1:35

Yeah, so I’m definitely on a mission. And my mission right now is to share with the nation–as far as higher education institutions–on this concept of code switching. So what code switching is–it’s the practice of one adjusting their style of speech, appearance, behavior, or expression, towards a particular context or situation. Code switching is something that we all do naturally as human beings–how we navigate informal and formal settings. Consider the way that you communicate–express yourself–when you’re around family and friends. You’ll more than likely communicate more casually, may use some jargon or profanity. Or in contrast, compare how you carry yourself, express yourself,  when you’re in the professional setting, or at work, or around your boss, or at a fancy restaurant, right? That style–the speech, appearance, and behavior–will transition to that formal one. So that’s essentially what code switching is.

And the work that I do is more diversity, equity, and inclusion focused, because I did a research study back in 2015 on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. And this research was through the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. My research was an institutional review. Board approved the research, so I did the research in 2015. And at the time, I chose code switching because I noticed myself code switching on campus. I noticed myself changing the way that I dressed, and my attire, when I got around certain faculty, certain staff, and certain peers. So I was interested to see–how were my fellow students of color experiencing code switching? Or some challenges that they were having, and so much more [while] navigating this predominantly white space–what was going on. And so, that really sparked my interest in doing this research on code switching.

So while doing the research–and before I got to research–while researching what other researchers had done on this concept, I recognized that there was a gap within the scientific literature. A lot of people talk about what code switching is, gender differences in code switching, and so much more, but no one actually talked about–how is this thing actually learned? So once I identified that gap, I decided to address it with my research study.

And so the research that I did was on how black college students learn to code switch. And through that, I found that code switching is learned through three main ways. Anyone can actually learn this concept–it’s one, first learned through instruction. This happens at a very young age–[they are] either taught by their parent, or guardian, on how to navigate sort of spaces. The second is–code switching is learned through observation–so actually observing this either social group that you want to pretty much code switch to, or interact with, you observe. We take mental notes on how they interact, how they communicate, how they dress, and then you go ahead and implement that. And the final third step is–code switching is learned through interaction. So actually interacting with someone–seeing what is understood, seeing what is not, and just pretty much making adjustments. So that’s pretty much where this inspiration came about.

And right now I’m full time–I’m an entrepreneur. And I facilitate diversity, equity, inclusion training to colleges and universities nationwide. And with my book, How Black College Students Learn Code Switching, the title came about–of course, my research participants were black college students, so I used that data to make a more general scope of how code switching is learned. And I go through talking about the adverse effects of code switching, and so much more. And lastly, when it comes to code switching, where my work is really focused is that–first we learned that code switching is a natural thing; it’s a human thing. Through my research, I learned that there’s an extra layer of burden placed on people of color to code switch.  Code switching seems like a requirement for them, because most times their expression–their hair, their dress–aren’t accepted in certain spaces that are really conducive to their success. And to avoid negative stereotypes, or negative perceptions, or whatnot, people of color are code switching.

And with my second edition of this book, it gets deeper. It gets to the point where we’re like, ‘Okay, people of color are recognizing they know how to code switch, but they come to find out that code switching isn’t enough to overcome racism.’ They’re code switching, but they’re still experiencing racism. Like, ‘Okay, I’ve changed my style of speech, I’ve changed my style of attire–how I dress. I probably straighten my hair–did all these things to be more palatable for someone, but it still isn’t enough to overcome this.’ And so this is where my work is –more the focus with like, ‘Okay, listen, people are code switching, but it isn’t enough.’ And I share strategies on what students can do to foster really safe, inclusive spaces, where they are encouraging and supporting both their staff and students to show up as their true authentic self.

Because there’s importance in being authentic and who you are. And there’s correlation to having higher work morale, being more invested in what you do, and feeling like you belong and included. So that’s pretty much the work that I do there in a spoonful.

Carla King  7:30

That’s great. Wow–so many questions come up for me. I want to get to a few questions about creating the independent press. But first of all, that’s sort of the beauty of being your own publisher, isn’t it? You can just say, ‘Okay, I want a second edition. I’ve learned more,’ especially when you’re an academic, and you’re doing formal research and all that. When did you decide to create the second edition of the book? Or did you always know you’re going to be? And do you see a third, and fourth, and fifth one coming in the future?

George Paasewe  8:07

Yeah, that’s an awesome question. So for me, the second edition idea came within my second year of the launch of this book. So it was 2021. I launched the first edition in 2020. And 2021–as I’ve been traveling, I’ve been getting a lot of feedback, and people want to learn more about this concept. And that led me to publish the second edition. And so right now, this book is being utilized at 34 different higher education institutions nationwide. And I’m so proud that it’s literally in every single region of the United States. Some colleges are utilizing this text for the DI (diversity/inclusion) work. And once I start seeing how many people are gravitating towards what I’m doing–because the work I’m doing with DI, with code switching, you don’t see that often at all. When it comes to DI work, I’m talking about unconscious biases, microaggressions, all that other stuff. But it’s a new topic that’s being shared. And I’ve seen a lot of institutions like, ‘Hey, how can we book you? How can we get this resource rendered to our institution?’ I’m like, ‘Hm, there’s value in this, and how can I make this book even more valuable? Not just for students, but more for faculty, staff, and students.’

So that’s my inspiration behind that. Because the first edition just talked about more of my research methodology–going through the research, what I found, and things of that sort. And then a second edition gets way more DI focused on the institution space, and I’m sharing these practices on how they can foster these spaces for both their staff and students of color.

Carla King 9:53

Well, it sounds like the book is very successful. I’m wondering why academic press wouldn’t pick it up–or did you even approach an academic press? Was it your plan to create your own publishing company all along?

George Paasewe 10:08

Yeah–so for me, not going the traditional route and finding academic press–I didn’t want to for several reasons. One, I wanted this to be in my hands as soon as possible. So that was one reason. And I knew exactly my target audience–I knew that my target audience would have been higher education institutions. That was the second reason. So I knew exactly who to target, and how to target. And then a third reason was that I wanted to maximize 100% of the profits, right? So I’m like, ‘The self publishing route was the way to go, where I can check all of those three things at once.’

Carla King 10:50

So what surprised you about–or did anything surprise you about creating an independent press?

George Paasewe 10:58

So some surprises and challenges–I would say creating my own publishing company. Nothing really surprised me, because I leveraged knowledge and information. And what I mean by that is–I reached out to other publishing companies and presses, and asked–and some of them were open to share how the operations were, open to share how their journey was from starting this thing, and building up. So I had some, I would say, mentors, who were already in this field. So I was just leveraging their knowledge, leveraging their information, leveraging their expertise and years in this. And they were so awesome. Whatever questions I had, I just asked them about it, and then they were really open to sharing it–really giving me the blueprint for it.

But some challenges that I pretty much found, or surprises. I would say, with the company right now–with Educare, the whole purpose of Educare, why I found Educare was–there’s a couple reasons. One, I wanted to bridge the diversity gap within the self publishing industry. And two, I wanted this platform to be a platform to introduce young, aspiring authors to the whole publishing realm. So at Educare, we implement our services into classroom and workplace settings. So what this looks like is–we are targeting high school and college students, and also, working professionals. We’re coming in and teaching them how to write and publish a book. So it’s a 15 week course, or program, where, by the end of the program, the students and these professionals will have their short story book in their hands by that 15th week. And the program is called Educare. The Creative Writing Publishing Program, as well.

Carla King 12:44

I want to talk about the marketing a little bit. Because I know some academic authors and academic presses, and marketing a book is pretty tough. So, did you create a marketing plan? I know your book is in how many different academic institutions? It’s offered in the bookstore?

George Paasewe 13:17

It’s at 34 different institutions, and it’s not in the bookstores. It’s more in whatever departments need that, or requested my services or the book for their program.

Carla King 13:30

So how did you reach out to them? Was it cold calls? Or did you already have a network?

George Paasewe 13:35

Yeah. So my whole marketing plan with this–so I knew this book, I knew the exact target audience would be higher education institutions. And my marketing plan was really, really aggressive. So first I did a statewide search. So I started statewide–started with–I live in Wisconsin. I started looking at all institutions in Wisconsin. And then I had to find which department I believe my text could be of value to. So I went through and pretty much listed all the departments. And some of the departments are diversity, equity, inclusion departments, multicultural departments, sociology departments, communication departments, right? And first and second year experiences, and the sixth one was residential life.

So it’s six departments that I reach out to every single college that I’m doing my outreach. And what this looks like is through emails–so I find the contact person–email or contact number. So shoot an email. And then after the email, let’s say a week or two goes by–then I follow up with a phone call. So that’s really been my marketing approach to getting my books in these institutions, and in the hands of students and staff. It’s through email, phone call and outreach.

I got to go by statewide, and then I’m now branching out from the Midwest and East Coast, West Coast and all that fun stuff. So that’s pretty much my market is–I am a marketing team, so I’ve done all this on my own, without any marketing experts or anything like that. But right now we’re going to expand, and we’re going to hire some marketing team to come in now to really get this book even further.

Carla King 15:30

That is a lot of work. And I think a lot of authors–especially when you’ve written something that’s your passion project, and that’s taken up all your energy, and now you’ve got to market it. And also, maybe you have to start your own publishing company. That’s a lot. What are the trade offs? Is this cutting into your writing time? Or–your goals are very much entrapreneurial, it seems like, in academic. Or are you looking toward writing more? What is the balance there?

George Paasewe 16:07

So for me–I’m more on the entrepreneur side of things. In my authorship work, I found a deep passion for children’s books. So that’s why I’m going to continue writing. And for this nonfiction text, it was almost a one time thing done, but it was this research that I did, that I expanded from the research. But right now it’s really just more tapping in. Now this book, and the publishing platform, all now is under the umbrella–this entrepreneur scape. So the book selling, the publishing company are now all under my entrepreneur experiences as well.

Carla King 16:56

It sounds like you have a big travel schedule–you’re actually traveling to different universities in the US.

George Paasewe 17:06

My schedule is really, really busy. Most recently, I was out in Washington. Two weeks ago, I facilitated a training out there. And before that I was in New Jersey. But coming up, I have some work with Michigan Tech University. And Jackson State in Mississippi. Those are the two engagements I have coming up for this October. Busy.

Carla King 17:39

Busy and on the road, which is kind of new after the whole pandemic shutdown, and all of that–must be nice. So Educare–it sounds like you have a growing company here with a mission? Are you looking for other authors? Or is it a company that invites people in to learn. Or are you becoming a learning center?

George Paasewe 18:08

For me, it’s all of the above. So Educare is a platform for my books, it is a platform where we’re educating other aspiring authors on how to write and publish their book. We have a program called the Self Publishing Academy, where we’re taking whoever is interested in turning publishing dreams into reality. Teaching them how to write, the process of it, and the process of how to self publish. And this is through both. We have two ecourses. One is how to write a traditional book–nonfiction book. And then the other one is how to write a children’s book. And we do this, again, through our Ecourses, called the Self Publishing Academy.

And we’re also inviting and welcoming other published authors to use our platform as an additional online bookstore for them, where people can come purchase their books, and we can distribute it as well. So we also have our distribution services as well with Educare. But the biggest thing of Educare again, as I mentioned, is we’re here to serve. We’re here on a mission, and the mission is to diversify the publishing industry. And by diversify, I’m not just talking about race. I’m talking about gender, ethnicity, disability, religion–all you can think about, right? I want this to be a really diverse platform, where it’s consistent, where there’s diverse authors in the realms I just mentioned.

We’re also giving back–we’re giving back in many ways. We have the Elevate Diverse Voices Scholarship and Grant, So what this looks like–we have programs where we offer scholarships to college students, who are aspiring to be authors one day. And for the scholarship–it’s an essay form. We have an essay question, and whoever is interested, if a college student is interested, they will just write this essay, submit it with the application. And last semester’s theme was–why is it important to feel seen when writing? So it’s an essay themed scholarship.

And then also, we offer grants to self publishing authors. So this grant–it can be used for whatever publishers need–whether it’s books, whether it’s for marketing, what have you. But it’s really to help, because we know how it is– publishing a book is expensive, it’s expensive. But with a self publisher, you do all the heavy lifting. So we recognize that it comes to some expenses, and we’re here to provide that financial need as well. Our next program we do–it’s called Educare Publications in the Classroom. So this is a program initiative where we are diversifying classroom libraries. So we donate books to low income and rural schools across the nation. Last year, we donated 300 books. And this year, we have a goal of 1000 books to donate. So what this looks like is–our goal is to find books written by diverse authors. And again, diverse authors, for me–people of color, women, you name it. Different religions–whatever it is, it’s important for children to see themselves in books. And so that’s one of the other programs that we offer.

But then, the last program we offer is the Creative Writing Publishing Program. And that’s where we’re integrating our services into classroom and workplace settings. But overall, that’s pretty much the motto of Educare, our mission, our goal and who we are looking to attract.

Carla King 22:03

Are you doing all this all by yourself? You must have some help.

George Paasewe 22:07

I’m a one man team right now. So I’m doing this all by myself. And this is why I am an entrepreneur full time. So I can get both my speaking engagement business and Educare at the proper attention, focus, and care it needs to take it to the next level. But it’s just me doing all this. Right now, for Educare, one of our goals is–we’re hiring people on–we’re looking for an editorial staff, we’re looking for some illustrators, we’re looking for some book sale associates. So the goal is to expand and grow our team as the years come.

Carla King 22:45

Well, it sounds like you need help, and soon. Because it’s beautiful. I’m looking at the website–can you tell us where to find the website, and your books? And where are you on social media, as well?

George Paasewe 24:02

So for Educare, you can find us at Educarepublications.com. The book–all my books are there as well. I have two college fundraiser books. So I want to explain a little bit what these books are about. So I have two daughters. The oldest is about to turn three next month, and the youngest just turned one last week. And I thought it was so cool– for their first birthday, I’m like, ‘How can I make their first birthday so special, so unique?’ And it hit me–first, write a book for them. But on the birthday, instead of a standard birthday party, it’s gonna be a book signing event for them. And all the proceeds go towards their college fund. So on there, you can find the two college fundraisers–please, please support that. The books can be found on that website as well. You can also find us on social media–on both Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at Educare Publications.

Carla King 24:02

And are you more on Instagram, or Twitter, or Facebook? Which one are you on?

George Paasewe 24:08

Instagram.

Carla King 24:10

And I’m looking at these books, and when I saw these before we talked I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what a great idea– to write a book for your kids and use it for their college fund.’ It’s just brilliant. You’re given a million people ideas now. But I know you said that you really have a passion for writing children’s books. You’re gonna write more, right?

George Paasewe 24:33

Yeah, so I’ve recently published one. Another one–it was in May of 2022, so this year. And it’s called One Day I Will Become An Alpha. It’s on my website as well. So this book is the first children’s book about my fraternity. I’m part of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. Again, when you’re writing a book, you need to know the target audience–who it is. And I’m tapping into my fraternity. And if this book is really–I was kind of afraid that this book was going to outshine How Black College Students Learn Code Switching, which is kind of doing that–with book sales and exceeding what [How Black Students Learn Code Switching] did. But yeah, that’s my third children’s book. That’s my third one. I’ll definitely publish more.

Carla King 25:28

Yeah, right? Publish more and get more help. I’m gonna be looking at your platform, with interest for the years to come. And I’m glad I caught you now, so we could learn about it early. Is there any last advice, or inspiration that you want to share with aspiring academic authors, publishers, independent presses?

George Paasewe 25:49

Yeah, especially for aspiring authors in academia. I would say that, to consider the self publishing route, it is so much easier to get your work in your hands. Of course, there’s some pros and cons with both traditional and self-publishing. But those in academia– you can literally use his book. Let’s say, whatever you’re teaching, there’s no core content on that particular subject. You can be the one to contribute it, and you can use it in your classroom with your students. It’s super, super awesome. And my last advice before I get out of here is–when it comes to people–when they jump into this entrepreneur, this authorship space–is to chase problems. Not money, right? Especially being a book author. The average book sale is about 100 copies, right? Just super low and sad to me. But knowing that–make sure you’re getting into this space to solve problems. Solving problems looks like finding limitations, finding gaps within whatever space it is that you’re writing about. Find that problem, present a solution to it, and that’s how you make your piece–your work–stand out more than any other publication out there.

Carla King 27:07

Right. Great advice, George. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

George Paasewe 27:11

Awesome. Carla, thank you so much for having me.

Carla King 27:14

And thank you to our listeners for joining us today and every week. For a list of guests and topics just check our schedule on the site, use your favorite search engine, or better yet, sign up for our mailing list at NonfictionAuthorsAssociation.com.

Quotes from our guest

‘There’s importance in being authentic and who you are. And there’s correlation to having higher work morale, being more invested in what you do, and feeling like you belong and included.’

‘We’re here on a mission, and the mission is to diversify the publishing industry. And by diversify, I’m not just talking about race, I’m talking about gender, ethnicity, disability, religion, all you can think about.’ 

‘When it comes to people–when they jump into this entrepreneur, this authorship space–is to chase problems. Not money, right? Especially being a book author. The average book sale is about 100 copies, right? Just super low and sad to me. But knowing that–make sure you’re getting into this space to solve problems. Solving problems looks like finding limitations, finding gaps within whatever space it is that you’re writing about. Find that problem, present a solution to it, and that’s how you make your piece–your work–stand out more than any other publication out there.’

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