Author: Jordan Philo

Jordan Philo is an English major and intern with the Department of English.
May 1, 2023 English Corner Student Voices

CCU’s Master of Arts in Writing Students Gain Professional Experience

Pictured above, top row, left to right: Carissa Soukup, Kristina Gray, Kathryn Feazel-Kwiatkowski; front row left to right:, Dr. Kate Oestreich, Melanie Schlesser, Cameron Parker, Triniti Fisher, Lilith Yurkin (concealed), Jennifer Terry, and Catie Zimmer. 

If you’ve ever seen a TED Talk on YouTube, you’ve probably thought, “Hey, that’s really cool. All of these people came to support this speaker who seems to know a lot about this subject.” You might not know that academic conferences work a lot like TED talks, and students in the Master of Arts in Writing (MAW) program have recently had a chance to take to the professional stage with their work. 

Dr. Kate Oestreich, associate professor of English and coordinator of the MAW program, incorporated a focus on professionalization in her Principles of Editing and Publishing course this semester. After speaking with many current MAW students about the program, she realized that “in academia, we have artificial constraints set up where every student is working independently, and the only person they talk to or share their work with is the professor.” To address this issue, Oestreich incorporated collaboration into her classroom to build her students’ confidence and prepare them for the real-world situations they will face in their careers.

 With this in mind, Oestreich encouraged all her graduate students to apply for an academic conference to share their work with others in a professional setting and have the opportunity to network with others in the English community. While many of the students submitted to different conferences, five were accepted to speak at the 2023 Comparative Literature Conference on Digital Pasts and Futures; and one student, Morgan Phelps, even received funding to attend the conference in person at Long Beach, California.

MAW student Lilith Yurkin

By attending and presenting at academic conferences this semester, Coastal’s MAW students gained professional experience in ways the program has never seen before. MAW student Triniti Fisher explained how taking this graduate course exposed her to a new professional world. “Before this [class], I didn’t even know, honestly, how academic conferences worked or any of that,” said Fisher. “So, going through this process, seeing how it all works, has been really helpful.”

While all the students participating in the conferences chose their own topics, they all used the platform Collaborative Organization of Virtual Education (COVE) to access and annotate readings in an accessible way. One student, Kristina Gray, incorporated COVE in her paper by explaining how she plans to use it in her classroom as a high school English teacher, saying, “You can have the kids work together on looking at a map and a timeline and things like that. And, through it, there’s a lot of access to so many things.” Gray boasts about the inclusivity of COVE and the benefits of its use in the classroom.

Reflecting on the success rate of her students in this class, Dr. Oestreich expresses how proud she is. “I kept coaching them, being like, ‘You’re going to get turned down. It’s going to be okay. This is a safe space,’ said Dr. Orestreich. “And yet, here we are!”

Many students echoed this sentiment, stating their gratitude for such an opportunity.

MAW student Catie Zimmer expressed shock at getting accepted to the conference for which she applied, saying, “[It] was so crazy for me to, one, get an email saying, ‘Come speak at this conference across the ocean’ and, two, seeing them say, ‘We like what you have, and we want to hear it,’ which is something I never thought I would get from my academic writing.”

Oestreich added that building experience by presenting at conferences can go a long way in a job search. “It’s great to be adding something to your resume every year that will set you aside from the rest of the pack when you graduate,” said Dr. Oestreich. “You have got to get those publications and presentations on there.”

New and existing MAW students interested the editing and publishing field are encouraged to take this hands-on, collaborative course.

Senior English major Evelyn Scott co-authored this piece with Jordan Philo

April 26, 2023 English Corner Student Voices

Outstanding DCD Student of the Year: Leslie Shattuck

Leslie Shattuck, a senior Digital Culture and Design major at Coastal Carolina University, was voted 2023 DCD Student of the Year by department faculty. Shattuck grew up in a small town in New Hampshire. While she enjoyed being in a smaller community, she says, “it is also what encouraged me to branch out and come to Coastal. I wanted to push myself and see how I would thrive in a large, diverse environment like this.”

Shattuck shared that throughout her time here at Coastal, she was involved in organizations and clubs that catered to her major.

“My freshman year, I was very focused on academics and getting acclimated to college, but in my sophomore year, I was fortunate enough to get involved with the men’s club volleyball team,” said Shattuck. “Since then, I have been a manager for the team, made promotional videos for their social media, and taken photos at practices and tournaments.” Shattuck’s ability to blend her academic program with extracurricular work was a benefit in both realms.

Shattuck attributes much of her success as a DCD student to her professors, specifically Dr. Sarah Laiola and Dr. Anna Mukamal.

“[They] have been very supportive and encouraging to me during my time here. They are phenomenal professors who push me to be the best student and person I can be,” said Shattuck. “I’m very grateful to have known them and learned from both of them.”

Shattuck’s admiration is reciprocated by her professors. Dr. Laiola says Leslie was made for the DCD program and has an “eye for design,” especially when it comes to social media and digital platforms. 

Although school became overwhelming at times, Shattuck still pushed to find balance between academics and her personal life. “It’s been challenging, but very beneficial for me,” she said. Shattuck cites her extracurricular pursuits as a way to have fun and stay involved on campus, adding, “I would say that I also know myself very well, and allow myself to take breaks when I need them.”

Being selected for such a major award left Shattuck “very surprised and extremely grateful.” Although graduating college can throw you in many different directions and often leaves you wondering what’s next, Shattuck knows what she wants.

“I plan to go straight into the workforce: production.” 

Congratulations, Leslie!

English department interns Jordan Philo and Nyjah Asbury co-authored this story.

April 5, 2023 English Corner Student Voices

#BookTok Boosting Sales: Is TikTok Changing the World of Publishing?

#BookTok, a large sub-community on TikTok for book lovers who review, discuss, and promote their favorite, or least favorite, books, has taken the reading community by storm in recent years. On your most recent trip to your favorite bookstore, you may have noticed they even have shelves and displays dedicated to #BookTok recommendations. The English community has had many conversations about how technology is harmful to physical books; however, that discourse may be changing, as it’s estimated that 20 million printed books were sold in 2021 alone, solely due to #BookTok and the circulation of recommendations. In fact, the number of physical books purchased in 2021 was more than it’s ever been since 2004 (Bateman).

Authors and publishing companies have also been using #BookTok to promote their books to reach younger audiences and grow sales. For example, Colleen Hoover is now one of the most talked-about romance authors in the country due to #BookTok and its users recommending her novels. Hoover even created a TikTok account, featuring a video of her buying her mother a car with some of the money she has acquired from her recent fame. However, in recent weeks, another author has “gone viral” and it’s raised many questions, support, and criticism from publishers and authors alike.

Lloyd Devereuk Richard, a full-time lawyer, published a book in 2012 after spending 14 years writing it, only to garner little to no sales or support. When his daughter posted a 16-second TikTok sharing her father’s story with the world, however, it “blew up” with 10.8 million likes and 51 million views. Devereux Richard’s thriller novel, Stone Maidens, quickly hit records like the internet had never seen, reaching over 65,000 sales and hitting the No. 1 Amazon Bestsellers list in an instant (VanDerveer). The author quickly became a well-known persona in the #BookTok community, gathering support from millions of followers, one who commented: “Moments like this are why I stay on this app. The love & generosity from people is astounding. There is definitely more good than evil.” (@TSpin)

While this is a heartwarming and possibly tear-inducing story, it raises the question of how powerful social media promotions can be and how influence works in the reading community. I’m sure we’ve all been influenced to buy a book or two simply based on a friend’s recommendation, but how far can that encouragement go? Viewers of the Stone Maidens story aren’t the only ones to notice this change; publishing houses and companies have also started to advertise through social media to achieve high marketing status, but many have failed due to a lack of authenticity in the social media posts.

Professor Jason Ockert, a creative writer and published author at CCU, doesn’t currently use social media, as he has found it more detrimental to his life than beneficial. Ockert used Twitter in the past but found that it became a distraction to his creative writing process and drew him away from reading in his free time.

“I just know that for myself, it detracts from what I value the most, which is the creation in the process of working, doing the real work of battling the story.”

In his undergrad years, Ockert would submit his work to publishers and mail his creative writing to journals that he thought matched up with his writing style. Ockert emphasizes that his style of writing is what really caught people’s eye: “You become distinctive as a writer at the sentence level; it’s the discourse that allows you to be distinctive. Your sentences are the thing that will make you stand out from anybody else.” In times of ChatGPT and Open AI, the way a writer crafts their sentences is what can really set you apart from writers and robots alike.

Nowadays, many editors and agents want their writers to have a substantial number of followers on social media. Ockert said, “there’s a little bit of influence from the agent or from editors to promote [writing on social media].” This push to promote writing on social media can cause an increase in book sales, as we’ve seen from the statistics above. However, Ockert doesn’t measure his success or the value of his work by followers or likes; he measures it by the experience he is able to give his readers. Ockert suggested that writers who use social media need to find a balance between “trying something new” and “chasing down a trend” when sharing one’s work with the world, stating, “I do think that you should be aware of the pulse of what’s going on.”

In the face of AI writing and TikTok fame, Ockert believes in individual growth and strength, emphasizing the power of always having one or two people who believe in you and your writing ability. When deciding whether or not to continue his use of social media, Ockert asked himself, “Does it bring me joy, or does it extract from joy?”

While some do find joy in #BookTok as a space for conversing with others about their favorite stories, others find it grounded in physical interaction and print books. Whether you choose to enter into a career in publishing or writing, you get to make the decision for yourself whether social media interaction and promotions are right for you.

Works Cited:

Bateman, Kayleigh. “This Is How TikTok Helped Propel Book Sales to a Bestselling Year.” World Economic Forum, 11 Mar. 2022, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/03/tiktok-booktok-print-books-sales/. 

VanDerveer, Melanie. “’Stone Maidens’ Sells 65,000 Copies after Viral TikTok Video.” The Blast, 26 Feb. 2023, https://theblast.com/455907/after-decades-of-no-sales-stone-maidens-sells-65000-in-two-weeks-after-tiktok-video/. 

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