It may seem strange that students in an accounting class would be working with authors, but that is indeed how 21 EMBA students, some of whom are pictured on Stetson Today‘s front page, who participated in Accounting 522 – Accounting and Managerial Decision Making served six authors, four of whom are professors and staff at Stetson.

Traditionally, the class would look toward the study of published cases, yet Associate Professor of Accounting Valrie Chambers, Ph.D., decided to use a more practical and creative approach. “We have added a realism, a less hypothetical look, more critical thinking and problem solving skills,” she explained.

Groups of three to four students were paired with each author, who was asked to evaluate his/her book’s current marketing plan, and it was then up to the students to develop an additional marketing plan aside from the publisher’s plan.

Chambers expected students to answer questions such as, “If the author is to invest $1,000 to promote his/her book, what is the return on investment, depending on how many books would be sold?” Students needed to develop a complete accounting including cost of goods sold, breakeven point, etc. The student groups talked extensively about the financial consequences of the marketing plan.

Gerri Bauer, who works in Stetson University Marketing, appreciated the assistance from students Sarah Culver, Cristiane Gandin and Yoshi Takamura (pictured above), who focused on her Catholic historical romance novel, At Home in Persimmon Hollow. The novel was published in July 2015 as the first in a series, with the second one scheduled for publication in March.

“I gained from the marketing and financial expertise applied by graduate-level students to my book’s promotional plan and the students benefited from interaction with a real-world client,” Bauer explained. “We discussed budgeting and marketing goals, etc. Since I was in DeLand and the class is based at Stetson’s Celebration campus, we used Skype and email as our communication tools, which worked beautifully.”

Chris Ferguson, associate professor and co-chair of Stetson’s Department of Psychology, has written his historical fiction Suicide Kings, and Mark Powell’s The Sheltering is literary fiction. Powell is associate professor of English. English Professor Mary Pollock’s series Storytelling Apes, a non-fiction book, is based in the zoology genre, while Steve Kahler’s self-published The Bell Tolls Again and the upcoming Incessant are in the action/historical fiction genre. Charles Keller Burns, Jr. self-published his Ham and Eggs series for children and is currently working on a travelogue about towns in Europe that disappeared during World War II.

While most authors excel in writing, many are less astute at promoting and marketing their work. “Authors now have more skills they didn’t have before working with our students to increase sales to meet their goals,” said Chambers. “This real life project allows students to both learn and serve small business/authors to help them achieve their business goals in a way that standard published cases do not.”

by Mary M. McCambridge