"'Atlas Shrugged' Changed My Life"

I wrote this piece about my first encounter with Atlas Shrugged as an editorial commentary some years ago, in The New Individualist. Now it has been reposted online.

Some of you might find this bit of autobiography amusing.

Reform the Ph.D. diploma mill

Higher education has been undergoing its own "bubble," with billions in cash (often governmental cash) inflating the number of graduates -- and their expectations of doing well in the job market. But economic reality is sobering for many who spend years getting advanced degrees, only to find that they can't get jobs in their fields when they graduate.

From Nature:

The system of PhD education in the United States and many other countries is broken and unsustainable, and needs to be reconceived. In many fields, it creates only a cruel fantasy of future employment that promotes the self-interest of faculty members at the expense of students. The reality is that there are very few jobs for people who might have spent up to 12 years on their degrees. . . .

"Higher education in the United States has long been the envy of the world, but that is changing. The technologies that have transformed financial markets and the publishing, news and entertainment industries are now disrupting the education system. In the coming years, growing global competition for the multibillion-dollar education market will increase the pressure on US universities, just when public and private funding is decreasing."

I take special note of the sentence, "The technologies that have transformed financial markets and the publishing, news and entertainment industries are now disrupting the education system." Yes, indeed. Campuses may eventually become analogous to "big box" chain bookstores: relics of an earlier day, before a good education could be delivered electronically.

And more here, where this passage stood out: "Finally, it may be time to encourage some young people to forgo graduate education and enter the workforce. Some companies actually prefer to hire recent college graduates—or even undergraduates—because they believe that PhD students are not well-prepared for real-world jobs."

Duh.

"Are You Dense?"

Joe Konrath, the Pied Piper of self-publishing, asks this question of those authors who still defend traditional ("legacy") publishing houses and dismiss self-publishing. And he answers it here, in a passionate and persuasive defense of the self-publishing revolution.

If you are a writer, and you wonder what is all the recent fuss concerning self-publishing ebooks, rather than seeking a traditional agent and publisher, then Joe is the guy you should read -- and this blog post is a great place to begin. After you do, check previous posts on his blog; they're eye-openers.

For similar reasons, two other must-read blogs for authors are Robin Sullivan's "Write to Publish," and Dean Wesley Smith's. They'll introduce you to an amazing and exciting new world for authors.