A Skateboard with brakes on Kickstarter

The Brakeboard, a revolutionary skateboard braking system, has been launched on crowdfunding web site Kickstarter.

The inventor of a revolutionary skateboard braking system has launched a project for funding on crowdfunding web site Kickstarter.

Ben Newman, the product’s designer, has won several awards for business innovation and inventiveness with Brakeboard, a braking system for longboard skateboards. Located in the rear axle and operated by a pedal mounted on the surface of the deck, the brake allows ridersto undertake steep hills and control speed without having to slide or put hands or feet on the ground.

The brake can be retrofitted to any longboard deck and used with wheels of the riders’ choice. Popular with commuters and students negotiating their university campus, the brake adds a new dimension to longboarding. The brake also broadens the target market to include younger and older riders.

Although North America is the biggest market, early adopters from around the world have embraced the product with enthusiasm. Longboarders from Europe, South Africa, Asia, Oceania and Russia are riding Brakeboards.

Until now, funded by family and friends, Newman seeks support through the crowd-funding website, Kickstarter. Additional funding will enable further product development, including testing new braking materials for those who undertake high speed down-hill riding. Also included is an easily removable pedal for when the rider wishes to perform freestyle tricks.

Kickstarter has brought much-needed financial backing to many innovative products. There are a range of rewards for pledges made to Brakeboard LLC, from a simple recognition on the product’s website through to a custom designed “Funded on Kickstarter” drop-through deck fitted with the latest edition braking mechanism.

The Kickstarter project has commenced 19th August 2013 and runs for 30 days.

Media Contact:
Ben Newman
ben@brakeboard.com
(619) 330-9690

SpareFoot Analysis Reveals America’s 20 Fastest-Growing College Towns

AUSTIN, TX—Raleigh, North Carolina, home to North Carolina State University, is America’s Fastest-Growing College Town, according to a new data analysis from SpareFoot, the online marketplace for self-storage.

To rank America’s Fastest-Growing College Towns, SpareFoot compared the 2000 and 2010 populations of college towns. Raleigh topped the 20-town list, with population growth of 46 percent from 2000 to 2010.

SpareFoot selected only those towns with a main campus of a public four-year university and a residential population of at least 20,000. The analysis did not include cities like Atlanta because although they’re home to major universities, their economies are more diversified than those of traditional college towns.

“College towns are so appealing because they combine the charm and livability of a small city with the sophistication and amenities of a much larger metropolitan area,” population researcher Bert Sperling, founder of BestPlaces.net, told SpareFoot.com. “Cities with colleges and universities are healthier financially, because the local school provides a stable economic base when recessions hit. In fact, enrollment often increases when the job market tightens.”

For more information about America’s Fastest-Growing College Towns, visit http://blog.sparefoot.com/3998-fastest-growing-college-towns.

Here is SpareFoot’s complete list of America’s Fastest-Growing College Towns.

1. Raleigh, North Carolina
Major campus: North Carolina State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 46.29 percent

2. College Station, Texas
Major campus: Texas A&M University
2000-10 population growth rate: 38.25 percent

3. Las Cruces, New Mexico
Major campus: New Mexico State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 31.44 percent

4. Gainesville, Florida
Major campus: University of Florida
2000-10 population growth rate: 30.29 percent

5. San Marcos, Texas
Major campus: Texas State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 29.25 percent

6. Columbia, Missouri
Major campus: University of Missouri
2000-10 population growth rate: 28.36 percent

7. Fayetteville, Arkansas
Major campus: University of Arkansas
2000-10 population growth rate: 26.76 percent

8. Flagstaff, Arizona
Major campus: Northern Arizona University
2000-10 population growth rate: 24.53 percent

9. Auburn, Alabama
Major campus: Auburn University
2000-10 population growth rate: 24.18 percent

10. College Park, Maryland
Major campus: University of Maryland
2000-10 population growth rate: 23.34 percent

11. Fort Collins, Colorado
Major campus: Colorado State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 21.35 percent

12. Pullman, Washington
Major campus: Washington State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 20.77 percent

13. Tallahassee, Florida
Major campus: Florida State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 20.42 percent

14. Austin, Texas
Major campus: University of Texas
2000-10 growth rate: 20.38 percent

15. Champaign, Illinois
Major campus: University of Illinois
2000-10 population growth rate: 20.05 percent

16. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Major campus: University of North Carolina
2000-10 population growth rate: 17.49 percent

17. Stillwater, Oklahoma
Major campus: Oklahoma State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 16.95 percent

18. Manhattan, Kansas
Major campus: Kansas State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 16.62 percent

19. Fargo, North Dakota
Major campus: North Dakota State University
2000-10 population growth rate: 16.5 percent

20. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Major campus: University of Alabama
2000-10 population growth rate: 16.12 percent

About SpareFoot

SpareFoot makes renting self-storage easy. Our free marketplace lets customers find and reserve storage units online. We have the largest inventory of storage units in the U.S., with a network of more than 6,500 facilities ranging from mom-and-pop to publicly traded REIT. We reach millions of people who need storage through exclusive partnerships with brands like SelfStorage.com, Apartments.com and Penske Truck Rental. The Austin Business Journal named SpareFoot the Best Place to Work in Central Texas for 2013.

For more information, visit www.sparefoot.com.

Contact:
Newton O’Neill Communications
Lisa O’Neill, 512-494-6178
lisa@newtononeill.com

Equals6 launches Top Talent Scholarship Crowdfunding for student members

Equals6 members can now create and promote their own scholarship campaigns via Equals6, the online community where students compete for scholarships, make valuable connections and discover exciting career possibilities.

Halifax, NS, Canada, July 22, 2013 – Recognizing that many students today face serious financial roadblocks to education, Equals6 today launched a new crowdfunding service to help its members pay for school. Students can now create online scholarship campaigns at equals6.com that include contribution levels as low as $10 and rewards for campaign backers. Students can easily promote their campaigns through Equals6 and social networks.

Equals6 has awarded more than $40,000 in scholarships to students across North America since 2010 and will be contributing a $50 bonus to successfully funded campaigns. The company will send net proceeds from the campaign directly to the student’s school thereby ensuring that contributions are used for academic costs.

“Our new scholarship crowdfunding service fits perfectly with our mission to help students succeed,” said Andy Osburn, CEO of Equals6. “With student debt and loan defaults hitting record levels, it’s clear that the student loan model is broken. Students are looking for creative ways to pay for school and we are excited about the potential for our Top Talent Scholarship Crowdfunding to fill that void. It takes a lot for today’s student to make it and Equals6 is there every step of the way, from scholarships through to networking and getting hired.”

According to Equals6 member Evan Phinney, Top Talent Scholarship Crowdfunding is just one of the benefits of the website. “As a part of the Equals6 online community I have already seen the academic, networking and career benefits of membership. I’m excited about this new crowdfunding service and look forward to launching my own scholarship,” said Phinney, a student at Acadia University.

About Equals6:
Equals6 is the online community where students compete for exclusive scholarships, make valuable connections and discover exciting career possibilities.Equals6 also serves as a social meeting place where students form groups, share ideas and hold lively discussions. As a social recruiting platform for student talent, Equals6 partners with select employers to provide its student members with career opportunities. The company has offices in Halifax, Canada and Boston.

Contact:
Jeremy Bernard
jeremyb@equals6.com
(403) 678-8513

GRADE MY SPACE OFFERS COLLEGE STUDENTS INTERACTIVE PLATFORM FOR CAMPUS LIVING

UNION, NEW JERSEY, July 16, 2013–Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has launched

Grade My Space^SM, an interactive website to help students get an inside look at housing options on college campuses across North America. Offering students a fun community to connect, the student friendly resource gives users the capability to share ideas, designs, comments and provide inside scoop on campus living and more.

With a rating system of A to F, Grade My Space gives students a platform to share their living experiences with others by posting reviews, sharing photos and assigning grades to their residence halls. Grade My Space also allows users to catch up on campus trends and exchange tips on surviving college living from local students.

Listed under each school is contact, housing information and guidelines to help prepare students on what to bring and not bring to that specific campus. Students can submit new colleges and dorm rooms to the site if they have not been previously included.

Additionally, students can enter for a chance to win one of twelve monthly $1,000 shopping sprees awarded in the form of a Bed Bath & Beyond® Gift Card. Students can both enter the sweepstakes and register to use Grade My Space by visiting http://bedbathbeyond.promo.eprize.com/grademyspace. One winner is selected monthly.

Grade My Space was founded in the spring of 2013 and is powered by Bed Bath & Beyond. The website can be found at www.grademyspace.com. The official Facebook page for Grade My Space is www.facebook.com/GradeMySpace and the Twitter username is @GradeMySpace.

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Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the “Company”) operates a chain of retail stores under the names of Bed Bath & Beyond, World Market, Cost Plus World Market, Christmas Tree Shops, andThat!, Harmon, Harmon Face Values and buybuy BABY. The Company is also a partner in a joint venture which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath & Beyond. Through its retail stores, the Company sells a wide assortment of domestics merchandise and home furnishings. Domestics merchandise includes categories such as bed linens and related items, bath items and kitchen textiles. Home furnishings include categories such as kitchen and tabletop items, fine tabletop, basic housewares, general home furnishings, consumables and certain juvenile products. Additionally, the Company includes Linen Holdings, a distributor of a variety of textile products, amenities and other goods to institutional customers in the hospitality, cruise line, food service, health care and other industries. As of June 1, 2013, the Company had a total of 1,478 stores, including 1,008 Bed Bath & Beyond stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada, 266 stores under the names of World Market or Cost Plus World Market, 83 buybuy BABY stores, 73 stores under the names of Christmas Tree Shops or andThat!, and 48 stores under the names of Harmon or Harmon Face Values. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. are traded on NASDAQ under the symbol “BBBY” and are included in the Standard and Poor’s 500 and Global 1200 Indices and the NASDAQ-100 Index. The Company is counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes 2000.

For more information contact:
Jessica Joyce, Public Relations
(908) 613-5461
Jessica.Joyce@bedbath.com

Leah Drill, Public Relations
(908) 613-5312
Leah.Drill@bedbath.com

ACTOR GARY BUSEY DELIVERS COMMENCEMENT SPEECH TO TOP ONLINE UNIVERSITIES

Malibu, CA – June 13, 2013 – Academy Award nominee and Celebrity Apprentice alum Gary Busey’s new web series THE BUSEY ZONE delivers life lessons and insights from Mr. Busey’s years of experience in life and the spotlight.

The latest episode of THE BUSEY ZONE features Gary’s heartfelt commencement speech to online universities. Millions of students graduate from online universities each year without a commencement speaker, so Busey decided to step in and “pay honor and tribute” to the online university classes of 2013.

Busey, whose alma mater is in Chickasha, Oklahoma, delivered his speech to University of Phoenix, Capella University, and Walden University, as well as lesser-known Pomparola Online Dental College.

Busey shares with University of Phoenix students his experience taking “three pills from a pharmacy in Phoenix” that made the desert to “turn into a Salvador Dalî painting,” and advises Capella graduates, “Don’t do things that are dumb, don’t do things that are stupid, don’t do things that will get you in trouble, do something that’ll make you good.”

Watch Gary Busey’s speech here:

http://blip.tv/thebuseyzone/commencement-speech-to-online-universities-6602342

To watch the rest of THE BUSEY ZONE series, go here:
http://blip.tv/thebuseyzone/

Contact: info@buseyzone.com (323) 798-4097

Mark My Media announces the ALPHASEAL® Recruiting Database

For Immediate Release

STAMFORD, CT (June 4, 2013, 2013) Today, Mark My Media, a firm which produces league tables for the financial services industry, announced the creation of a new recruiting database, allowing finance industry employers access to the profiles of top candidates in the United States. This database is the first of its kind, populated with recent graduates and students currently enrolled in college and graduate programs, and providing users a way to search for talent based on skills that have been tested in live market conditions.

The candidates in the recruiting database are top performers in the 2012-2013 Institutional Investor All-America Student Analyst Competition; a program for undergraduate and graduate students in finance to test their mettle against like-minded participants from around the United States to develop the best simulated stock portfolio. 700 students from 35 colleges and universities competed and the winners were published in Institutional Investor Magazine’s May 2013 edition. Performance was graded quantitatively on multiple factors to determine the winners in seven different industry sectors as well as in a general category. Now, the database allows these vetted and financially experienced students an opportunity to searched and contacted by The Wall Street firms in search of top performers.

John Power, CEO of Mark My Media, describes the recruiting database as “a unique opportunity for employers to know in advance what to expect from incoming talent at the entry level. For too long, the conventional wisdom has been that making mistakes in recruiting is just a cost of doing business.”

In the competition, Schools whose students performed particularly well included a number of MBA programs from well-known financial schools such as UC Berkeley’s Haas School, Cornell University’s Johnson School and Fordham’s Gabelli School. Undergraduate programs that stood out included CUNY/Baruch’s Zicklin School, Drexel University and University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School. Schools such as Florida International University and Loyola Marymount University were well-represented by students from both undergraduate and graduate programs. The candidates used a wide variety of strategies, including fundamental analysis of individual companies, technical analysis, algorithmic models, and macro strategies that were executed through the use of ETFs.

The competition was powered by Mark My Media’s ALPHASEAL® investing platform; a cloud-based simulator that provides each trader with a personal portfolio, tracking the equity value, the net asset value, and profits and losses on a daily basis and imposing the same mark-to-market discipline that Wall Street and money management firms use to measure performance. By tracking their own performance, students at colleges large and small can provide would-be employers with an objective measurement of their investment acumen.

Jason Tong, who was the #3 ranked analyst in the Energy, Power and Utilities sector, said: “Alphaseal provided an exciting experience to compete with other students all around the country while I was a senior at Baruch. The platform provided feedback mechanisms that helped me to reduce risk, for example by measuring short alpha, which is a metric that’s unavailable in other trading simulators, but commonplace in a professional setting.” Mr. Tong is currently employed as an analyst at JP Morgan.
Employers and recruiters will have full transparency into the relevant statistics for all winning competitors, including the details of their winning sector portfolios and their current employment status and availability.

About Mark my Media
Mark My Media, based in Stamford, Connecticut, produces league tables for the financial services industry and has a sophisticated software platform to track portfolios. The company’s ALPHASEAL® offering helps business students bridge the gap between what is taught in the classroom and what is expected on the trading floor by giving them a tool to track stock performance along similar metrics as those used by investment professionals. Mark My Media treats data as a precious asset and allows system-users to warehouse their data on our own hardware, an SAS-70 certified environment accessible via the cloud. For additional information on the company please visit www.markmymedia.com.

Media Contact for Mark My Media

Jackie Zupsic
212-885-0590
Jackie.Zupsic@hkstrategies.com

CISabroad Offers Multi-Country Summer Study Abroad Programs in Europe

For students looking for a bit more travel with their European study abroad program, CISabroad provides a unique way to visit several countries throughout the course of a summer. The study abroad organization’s set of multi-country summer study abroad programs, the Discover Europe! Summer Series, allows students to spend time in as little as two or as many as four countries in a six to 10 week period. Students will be able to immerse themselves in the cultures of countries such as France, Spain, Italy, England, Ireland and Scotland, while studying subjects like art, film, history, literature, and language. Highlights of some of the programs include touring through scenic countrysides, experiencing the nightlife of thriving cities like London, Barcelona and Paris; studying the works of some of the most influential artists in history, and getting the rare opportunity to spend an extended period of time in several very different European hotspots.

“The European Experience [Ireland, Scotland, England, and Spain] is absolutely the best way to experience multiple countries during the summer,” said Stacey C., a previous Discover Europe! participant in the European Experience program. “You meet new people when you arrive and you can stay friends and most of them throughout the whole experience along with meeting new people along the way. There’re so many excursions that you get to go on and a lot of free time to explore at your own leisure. It is truly amazing to explore all the cultures of these countries, learning and taking your classroom outside by having hands-on learning. It is a great opportunity to have. There are so many historic monuments, museums and famous sights to see and you can pretty much visit it all.”

The Discover Europe! Summer Series offers eight unique programs, each of which revolves around a certain theme that aligns with the locations visited:

Summer in the British Isles: Ireland, Scotland, and England
- Travel through the Irish and Scottish countryside and study in the heart of London.
- 9 credits in 6 weeks

European Experience: Ireland, Scotland, England, and Spain
-After your adventure in the British Isles (this is an extension to the program above), spend a month in Spain learning Spanish and losing yourself in the vibrancy of Barcelona!
-15 credits in 10 weeks

The Grand Tour: Rome, Florence, Paris and London
-Learn and live art as you follow in the footsteps of the Masters, on this modern day version of the original study abroad program for the elite of European society.
-15 credits in 9 weeks

Film and Art Spectacular: London and Paris
-Explore and experiment with art, cinema, and film in two world-class capitals.
-12 credits in 8 weeks

Gaudi to Monet: Barcelona and Paris
-Focus on the languages and cultures that gave rise to some of the most influential artists the world has ever known.
-12 credits in 8 weeks

Heart of the Renaissance: Rome, Florence and Paris
-Live in these Renaissance cities and learn about their art and history through the eyes of the Masters.
-9 credits in 8 weeks

Mediterranean Culture: Rome and Barcelona
-Learn how the past influences modern life in these important cultural centers and their surrounding towns.
-12 or 15 credits in 8 weeks

City Expeditions: London and Barcelona
-Get immersed in these world-class cities through coursework and excursions that bring the classroom to the city.
-12 or 15 credits in 8 weeks

In order to showcase each of these unique and engaging multi-country summer study abroad programs, CISabroad has created a Discover Europe! Summer Email Series. These emails include detailed information about each of the eight programs, student blogs from CISabroad participants who are currently enjoying their time abroad, program videos that include interviews with current students and faculty; and application deadline reminders.

In keeping with their commitment to make studying abroad as affordable as possible, CISabroad is also running a Discover Europe for Yourself Sweepstakes, offering a $500 discount to one of the Discover Europe Summer Email Series subscribers. For details and a chance to save $500, please visit the Discover Europe for Yourself Sweepstakes page.

About CISabroad:

CISabroad is a study abroad organization committed to providing affordability, support, cultural immersion and academic relevance to its study abroad and intern abroad participants. CISabroad offers summer, semester, May Term, January Term study and intern abroad programs in 19 different countries around the world. You’re going places with CISabroad! For more information, please visit www.cisabroad.com.

Sheryl Sandberg to Graduates: You Are the Hope for a More Equal Future

What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid? – Lean In

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAxQXZbhyvM]

By the time they graduate from college, more men than women see themselves as leaders. Lean In asked women to answer the question: What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Join the conversation: ifuwerentafraid.tumblr.com.

Congratulations, graduates, on this exciting occasion!

I join so many others in celebrating and applauding the hard work and perseverance that earned you your degree. And since no one accomplishes anything all alone, we also congratulate the people who nurtured you along the way—family, friends, and faculty. They share in the pride and joy of your achievements.

If your graduating class is anything like mine, some of your classmates have already pinpointed a path to the future, while others may not even know where to begin. Still, no matter what route you choose personally, I am writing to appeal to you to take on a critically important cause that will improve the lives of all: building a more equal world.

A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half our homes. I believe that this would be a better world. The laws of economics and studies of diversity tell us that if we tapped the entire pool of human resources and talent, our collective performance would improve. And studies of home life tell us that families where housework and childcare are shared evenly have happier parents and better outcomes for their children.

Over the past four years, you probably haven’t given much thought to gender inequality. When I graduated from college in 1991—and yes, I realize this was the year that most of you were born—I never thought about it either. My classmates and I believed that the feminists of the 1960s and 1970s had done the hard work of achieving equal opportunity for women. Now all we had to do was seize those opportunities.

But more than 20 years later, we are nowhere near equality for women. In the November 2012 election, women won more congressional seats than ever before, bringing them up to a (non-whopping) 18 percent. A mere 21 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women and the percentage of women in executive roles in corporate America has barely budged over the past decade. The gap is even worse for women of color, who hold just 4 percent of top corporate jobs and 5 percent of congressional seats. This means that when it comes to making the decisions that most affect us all, women’s voices are not heard equally.

The gender biases in our society have already started to affect the way you view yourselves. Millennial women are less likely than their male peers to characterize themselves as “self-confident” and “leaders.” This may be one of the reasons that at the top fifty colleges, despite women comprising more than half of the student population, less than a third of student government presidents are women.

These lowered expectations extend into the workplace. For example, female college students have lower pay expectations than their male peers. Just a few years out of college, more men than women aspire to reach managerial levels. And even before women enter the workforce, they are often worrying about balancing future careers and families.

This generation can make the difference. It won’t be easy. It begins by admitting that we have a problem and committing to solve it.

Women need to believe in themselves, raise their hands, sit at the table, take risks, and support each other. They need to overcome their fears. Men need to support women, too, encouraging female peers in the workplace and doing their share in their homes. If women lean in to their careers and men lean in to treating women as true equals, together, you can end these biases and break down both the external and internal barriers that hold women back.

Let’s keep talking about these issues. Let’s start encouraging women to lead in whatever field they choose. And let’s all—men and women–support women as they do it. You can turn the promise of equality into true equality.

You are the hope for a brighter future.

Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and the author of Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Join the conversation at LeanIn.org and ifuwerentafraid.tumblr.com.

STUDENT DEBT IS THE TERRIFYING VILLAIN IN SHORT HORROR FILM

The anxiety recent graduates experience when confronting their loans reappears in “The Red” with advice and tools on how to manage it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOSTON – Now that graduation has arrived, students around the country are about to be hit with their student loans for the very first time. A campaign by American Student Assistance™ (ASA) just launched to help students and recent graduates manage these loans. Through a short, psychological thriller film, The Red spins a story about the anxieties of being in debt and the relief that comes from facing them. The Red is part of a multi-media campaign created by ad agency SS+K to compel and empower young people to take control of their debt on a practical, day-to-day level.

The Red also introduces SALT™, a free, nonprofit resource created by ASA™ to help students and graduates better manage their loans and enter the real world on more solid financial footing. When signing up for SALT, they can enter for a chance to win $10,000 to pay for college or pay back their loans at FaceTheRed.com.

Nearing a trillion dollars, student debt affects nearly 15 million Americans under the age of 30. Few students and recent graduates even know what they owe – and they aren’t actively seeking advice on what to do about it.

“It isn’t easy to get young people who feel panicked about their debts to do something about it,” said Sue Burton from ASA. “To connect meaningfully with them, we produced something very entertaining that acknowledges how frightening it can be, yet portrays their own power and offers a path out of the nightmare.”

In “The Red”, which premiered in theaters across the country and launched nationally online at FaceTheRed.com, a 20-something girl is terrorized by ominous red smoke. The smoke follows her at every turn, mirroring the suffocating financial strain of a post-college world. No matter how hard she tries, she realizes that there’s no avoiding The Red. The only option is to face it.

“The Red” was directed by the Borderline Films trio of Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin and Josh Mond — the critically acclaimed filmmakers behind the thrillers “Martha Marcy May Marlene” and “Simon Killer.” The filmmakers know firsthand the horror of mounting student debts and the paralyzing fear that it can create. “We know exactly how scary it is to owe a ton of money for school and have no clue how to pay it back,” said Mr. Campos. “This is a story we related to. The feeling of ‘The Red’ made sense. And we embraced the opportunity to work on this project.”

“The Red” premiered in Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C. – focusing on cities with a large student population and high percentage of young people with student debt. Beyond the film, a main focus of the campaign is to bring information and resources to students and recent grads through platforms and mediums that they already consume and trust. The campaign includes multiple content partnerships with millennial-focused media outlets like The Onion, BuzzFeed, College Humor and MTV.

About SALT & ASA: SALT is a free educational resource that provides simple, smart, personalized ways for college students and recent graduates to take control of their student debt and manage their finances. With a combination of helpful tools, tailored information, and unbiased expertise, SALT helps young people borrow less, borrow smart and repay their loans in a way that works for them. SALT was created by American Student Assistance, a nonprofit organization with 50+ years experience helping people make better decisions about financing their education and repaying student loans.

About SS+K: SS+K is the marketing/advertising agency that produced the most-discussed video of the 2012 presidential campaign, “Your First Time,” featuring Lena Dunham, and the award-winning “The Most Honest City” initiative for Honest Tea. SS+K helped GM introduce the Volt, and with Pfizer created the “Get Old” campaign. Current clients include VW, the College Board, Wells Fargo, Travelers, Kraft Foods and Fwd.us, the organization launched by Mark Zuckerberg and other technology leaders to promote immigration and education reform. In 2004, working with Nike, SS+K introduced the iconic yellow Livestrong wristband. Founded in 1993, SS+K is partially owned by the Hollywood agency CAA.

Get Published, No Experience Necessary

Publishers Call Out For The Next Bestsellers

By NICHOLAS MILANES
Originally Published in the Fordham Observer
Blog Editor
Published: May 1, 2013

As final exams draw near, easily distracted as the collegiate mind with summer approaching, we have all asked ourselves what to do this summer. Here’s an idea: why not write a book?

Besides being a great way to fill the gap of time between Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, it’s a great opportunity, since publishers like HarperCollins are actively seeking young college-age authors. New Adult Fiction is making waves; HarperCollins wants to help young authors make a splash.

New Adult Fiction is an emerging genre centered on college-age protagonists and characters. While plenty of us enjoy Young Adult (YA) novels like “The Hunger Games,” there’s no denying that as high school shrinks smaller and smaller in our horizon, we all crave something that hits a little closer to home.

“YA has always been really popular, and New Adult is actually a much wider world than YA,” said Tessa Woodward, editor at Avon Books, a HarperCollins imprint. “High school is a very enclosed space—you know, it’s just high school. But once you have these kids get out into the world, there’s such a broader range of things that they can experience. The younger writers aren’t afraid of having crazy emotional backstories for their characters.”

The New Adult Genre is free from the constraints of many long-established genres, but has roots in the “Twilight” franchise, which pushed the boundaries of sexual subject matter within YA novels and led to “Fifty Shades of Grey”—a trilogy whose success lies in its sexual frankness.

“YA is what we call a ‘closed door,’” Pamela Spengler-Jaffee said, director of publicity at Avon. “There might be something happening, but you don’t know, because of the readership of YA, and the rules of YA. For the most part, if they’re having any sort of relations, writers don’t write about it.”

Even if the story you want to write doesn’t involve whips and/or chains, a college-age story is likely to be a little less “Degrassi” and a little more “Girls”. New Adult presents an opportunity for writers to tell stories that are raw and real.

This is not to say a New Adult writer is constrained to college matters. “They’re not all set in colleges; it’s just that age group,” Lucia Macro said, vice president and executive editor at Avon. “Some of them have those situations that deal with college or university, but some of them do not; a lot of protagonists are forced into certain circumstances.” Many New Adult protagonists must skip college and live in the real world. New Adult authors are no strangers to confrontational subjects such as rape and unwanted pregnancy.

New Adult is not only a new genre, but a new form of community. Digital publishing is the lifeblood of the pioneering New Adult author, and blogs are the heart. “There are super readers on Goodreads,” Spengler-Jaffee said. “One is this woman named Maryse. She has a well-followed blog—when she recommends a new adult book, all of a sudden, 500 people put it on their shelves to be read. She’s like the Oprah of New Adult. She’s hosting a New Adult reader festival next month—the Orlando Book Bash. There’s a whole slew of authors confirmed to attend.”

The potential audience is growing alongside the genre. New Adult authors have been self-publishing online, on blogs and dedicated websites where fans can easily access them. Publishing houses are now beginning to distribute New Adult novels in the e-book format, making it quicker, cheaper and easier to get an author’s work in the hands of readers everywhere. A growing number of readers find themselves more willing to pay five dollars to download a book to their phone or e-reader than they are to shell out twenty-some dollars for a hardback.

The possibilities are endless for innovative stories and for publishing opportunities. You no longer need prior publishing experience in order to be published. “People are writing who aren’t necessarily taking creative writing classes. They’re not necessarily learning all of the rules of, ‘well, this is what a story should be,’” and there’s a lot more freedom in that. They say, ‘this is what I want to read, so I’m gonna write it down.’” There’s no better time than now to jot down those ideas that have bounced around in your head for so long. “It’s frontier era here. It’s exciting.”

Aspiring authors, send your submissions to Tessa Woodward, at tessa.woodward@harpercollins.com, or submit directly online at www.avonimpulse.com.

UWIRE

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