Why Don't More Health Care Textbook Publishers Blog?

You might think that publisher-operated blogs would be an ideal portal for providing clinical updates, addressing issues that concern their customers, and fostering a greater sense of community, and you'd be right.

But that hasn't really happened yet. As a group we have failed so far to recognize the potential of publisher-operated blogs as a means of communicating with our customers.

A few health care publishers currently make use of blogs, but there aren't many. Those that do use them are so far focusing primarily on announcing new products, not on providing new clinical information or on serving their market's needs.

For instance, editors at Jones & Bartlett Learning have been busy lately hosting blogs in nursing, allied health, medicine, and other content areas, and I applaud them for doing so. But mostly the posts promote products and services, though there is an occasional post about content-based webinars.

Pearson's Higher Education group runs a blog that focuses on issues in today's higher education, but I can find nothing focused on health care specifically.

Slack operates a major health care news portal called Healio, aimed at physicians and other health care professionals. The site offers numerous blogs, most available only on registration, which is free, but the blogs focus almost exclusively on physicians.

As far as I can determine, the following comprehensive health care publishers (as opposed to specialty publishers) offer no customer-focused blogs at all. (If I'm wrong, please advise and I'll update this post accordingly.)

• Cengage (Delmar Learning)
• Elsevier (Mosby, Saunders, and others)
• EMC-Paradigm
• Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Wiley

My own company, F.A. Davis, operates DrugGuide.Com and offers through it updates on new drugs, an endeavor I have nothing to do with but that I highly respect. But it's not a blog, really, but rather a collection of updated drug monographs.

And of course I write this blog for F.A. Davis, which focuses on writing, editing, and publishing in health care education. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

I believe we need to do more, much more, in the "blogosphere" to connect with our customers and serve their increasingly diverse needs.

So what say you, publishers o' health care? Let's get blogging!

When There's Too Much to Do to Write

My to-do list right now is absurd. I mean, really? All this in that short amount of time? And I'm supposed to write a blog too?

Aaaaargh!

That's where I am right now. Luckily I know how to get out of this utter mess with minimal stress. Here's what I do; maybe it will help you too.

#1 I clean my desk.

Seems simple but really, it works. I've got six books on my desk now that I've analyzing for competitive information. Off they go, into a pile on a table in my office. Yes, they're still in a pile, but they're off my desk, and for now, that's what counts.

I've got a bunch of papers all over the desk, papers I'll use to complete a task, so they're important. But they're not prioritized in any way. So...

#2 I prioritize.

I'll collect all the papers and put them in a pile. Then I'll go through them with an eye toward prioritization.

After I've prioritized the papers, I'll plunk them in a stack next to my computer. I've got higher priority items to complete before I hit this pile, but at least now I can see how big the pile is and can attack it the moment I finish those other critical tasks.

#3 I relax.

That's pretty much all you can do when you've got too much to do and write what you know you need to write.

Hey, wait a minute. I've just written a blog, my desk is reasonably clear, and I've got a clear idea of what to do next.

It worked!

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.



Here's an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

A Look Back at Popular Posts of 2011

Sometimes it's a good idea to refresh people's minds about your most popular blogs. I had that idea today, and this post is the result.

Enjoy!

Most commented on

• 2 Key Things Writers Need to Know About the Oxford Comma


• Will the iPad and Kindle Kill Traditional Textbooks?


• Confusing Commas


• 15 Most Misspelled Words


• 5 Tips for Keeping Your Writing Clean and Focused


• Commonly Misused Phrases


• Using Similes and Metaphors to Help Patients Learn

Most viewed

• How to Develop Strong Textbook Features


• How to Print Using Microsoft XPS Document Writer


• Using Similes and Metaphors to Help Patients Learn


• 3 Tips for Citing Sources in Non-Academic Writing


• 5 Tips for Writing a Vision Statement


• Difference between blogs, wikis, and Google Docs


• 5 Tips for Keeping Your Writing Clean and Focused


• How Much Will I Make from Authoring a Textbook for Allied Health?


• Tidbittles from an Editorial Mind


• How We Choose a Book Cover

My 2010 Blog in Review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health:



The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2010. That's about 6 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 56 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 71 posts. There were 90 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 2mb. That's about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was January 22nd with 361 views. The most popular post that day was Five Reasons Why Allied Health Faculty Should Use Social Media.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, en.wordpress.com, mail.yahoo.com, and WordPress Dashboard.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for andy mcphee, common confusables, metaphors in healthcare, ping pong, and use fewer words.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Five Reasons Why Allied Health Faculty Should Use Social Media December 2009

2

Using Similes and Metaphors to Help Patients Learn March 2010
3 comments

3

About Andy McPhee December 2009

4

Thank a “Born Teacher” Today June 2010

5

Will the iPad and Kindle Kill Traditional Textbooks? January 2010
9 comments

Difference between blogs, wikis, and Google Docs

If you've ever wondered how a blog differs from a wiki, or what the heck are Google Docs anyway, here's a quick-scan view of the differences: https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=ddnzwcn8_15g3jrbpdf

Thanks, Google!