Tiger: Morning, everyone! Today, I'm hosting a guest post about sharing your fiction with your students (or not!), courtesy of E.A. Rigg, author of the YA novel, Casey Barnes Eponymous. Here's a book synopsis, followed by the post!
"Three weeks into the school year, music junkie Casey Barnes gets a second chance with the mysterious ex-boyfriend whose name she has not even been able to say. In hopes of saving studentkind from the hell that is high school, Casey has been slipping song playlists to fellow students while working in the library. When she gets another chance with her ex, she schemes to win him back by giving him one of the lists. Her plan works, but not quite in the way she hopes, and she realizes that truly winning him back will be a lot harder than choosing some killer songs. Namely, she will need to get the attention of the whole school in a way no one has ever done before."
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"N-O. No. No no no. You cannot do that."
Thus said teacher friend Nicky when I mentioned I was considering telling students about my book.
"The old librarian," she continued, "Remember him? His daughter wrote a comic book based on MacBeth. He didn't even tell the kids to buy it. He just laid out a few copies in the library and they fined him five hundred bucks."
She went on to talk about two gym teachers who got married a few years back. They called in sick for two days prior to winter break so they could have extra time to honeymoon. Each got fined fifteen thousand dollars.
"Fifteen THOUSAND dollars. You cannot tell your students about your book," she said, "Cannot. Conflict of interest. They'll fine you until the cows come home."
I teach at a public high school in New York City. I released my first novel, a YA book called Casey Barnes Eponymous, last week. I worked on it for years and, since releasing it, have spent every non-working minute promoting it. But I cannot tell my students about it.
It was my husband's idea that I tell them. I wasn't sure it was such a hot one given that the main character is a punk who's obsessed with music, hates school, gives teachers attitude, and fantasizes about pot and sex. I had my doubts about pushing this character on kids whom I chastize for not punctuating sentences correctly. But my husband, a born businessman who sells TV shows for a living, countered that I should be getting their feedback on it. Using the indigenous species of my work world for a little old-fashioned marketing.
That was before we found out about the librarian and gym teachers.
I wonder if they, the Department of Education of New York City that is, and a real 'they' if ever there was one, will fine me if, say, a student of mine comes to find the book on his or her own, buys it, and puts two and two together that I wrote it. E.A. Rigg is not how they know me at work but they know enough. Will that get me in trouble? If so for how much? Who decides how much teachers in the city of New York get fined? There is a massive disparity between $500 and $15,000. Never mind the fact that neither of these offenses was even remotely a big deal and that, after all, these are professionals who have dedicated their careers to educating young people. The real question is, how much will my offense be worth to them?
And if and when it happens, do I get to tell my students about the book?
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Tiger: Thanks for the thoughtful post, E.A.! It's pretty crazy how far authors have to go to stay in the "safe zone" of not talking about their own work that they've worked so hard to craft.
For interested readers, you can find Casey Barnes Eponymous HERE at Smashwords. or check out @CaseyBarnesEpon on Twitter.
Guest Post: E.A. Rigg, author of "Casey Barnes Eponymous" Link Free Download
