TeachingBooks.net Brings Bestselling Authors to Your Computer

Photo courtesy of Marcia Hansen Photographic Company

TeachingBooks.net founder Nick Glass has invited himself to the homes of many bestselling American and Canadian children's books authors, including Bryan Collier, Jack Gantos and Betsy Lewin.

Twenty have accepted his invitation, so Glass has traveled to California, New York, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, among other states, to meet with them.

During his visits, Glass tapes an interview with each writer or illustrator that he'll post on his Web site, a multimedia database for resources on children's literature. "I want to give every school, every library, and every resident a chance to meet them," he said.

He arrives on their doorsteps with a video camera, lighting equipment and copies of all of the writer's books.

"The first thing I do is ask for food," Glass joked. "Then we get to work."

His goal is to get enough material to produce a five-minute "movie" showcasing the talents of the writer or illustrator. "The movies are meant for educators to get them thinking about exciting ways to share books with their students," he said.

Glass first developed the idea for TeachingBooks.net when he was the events and promotions coordinator at Pooh's Corner Bookstore in Madison. There, he was responsible for bringing authors to the store for readings, book signings and other special events. "I thought it would be great if I could figure out a way to make these authors available to anyone," he said.

Glass, whose education background is in art history and educational policy, needed direction on how to start a business. He successfully applied for a grant from the state Department of Commerce, and took a few business classes. The grant also provided him with the ongoing support of a small-business expert who acted as a counselor.

By June 2001, Glass was ready to debut his Web site at the American Library Association's convention. Three months later, the site became available online.

TeachingBooks.net has thousands of resources on books for children ages pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Those resources include:

• Teacher guides for various book titles.
  
• Curriculum planning guides.
  
• Multimedia author programs.
  
• Original multimedia productions on A-list authors and illustrators.
  
• In-depth written interviews with authors and illustrators.
  
• Links to more than 800 authors' personal Web sites.
  
• Links to literature journals' Web sites.
  
• Links to booksellers.
  
• Lists of business that rent costumes of popular book characters.
  

Glass also sends his subscribers a customized e-newsletter, called "Eye-on-the-Web," that highlights new resources, depending on the information the subscriber provided during the registration process. For example, an educator who expressed interest in young adult science fiction will receive content about the subject in his or her "Eye-on-the-Web" e-mails.

TeachingBooks.net has been incorporated into the DPI's 2003-05 budget for Badgerlink, so the site's registration fee is waived for all Wisconsin residents.

Glass has done little advertising or marketing for TeachingBooks.net, but the site still sees heavy traffic. A year ago, an average of 59 people visited the site each day. Now, the average number of visitors has grown to 308 per day.

Glass attributes the site's success to word of mouth. He has been invited to speak about his Web site at many conferences, including WEAC's Convention, the Wisconsin State Reading Association Conference and the Department of Public Instruction's Literacy Conference. Glass said conference participants are so impressed with the site that they tell their friends to become subscribers.

"I haven't done a whole lot of marketing for the site because I wanted to focus on developing the technology, and wanted to see how people react to the site," he said. "So far, I've received a lot of positive feedback.

"One woman e-mailed me and said she'd been teaching for over 20 years, and that my site was the best resource she had ever seen," he said. "Another person e-mailed me and said that my session made the six-hour drive to WEAC's Convention worthwhile.

"That's exciting and rewarding. That's what I'm after."

Posted January 20, 2003