School of Business Dean Presents Workshop on ‘Book Publishing’ at Califest 2020

“Motivation: How to (Self-) Publish from Home” was the topic of Dr. Joan Marques’ recent workshop at the annual Caribbean Literary Festival (CALIFEST). CALIFEST celebrates the spirit and cultural heritage of the Caribbean and its people, and brings an awareness to the literary contributions of the Caribbean community in Southern California.

Representing her home country of Suriname, which is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr. Marques addressed different publishing options. She shared valuable lessons learned over the past 16 years of publishing books, and explored the paths of self-publishing versus traditional publishing, thereby evaluating the most important pros and cons of each. Dr. Marques, who has published 31 books so far, reviewed several traditional publishing methods, and discussed some popular self-publishing avenues. She further emphasized some foundational preparatory steps aspiring authors should consider in order to enhance their choices. ​The presentation can be viewed here.