A New Writing & Publishing Education Model

At the University of Baltimore the Creative Writing and Publishing Arts masters program not only incorporates publishing oriented classes into the curriculum but culminates in a publication of, “poetry, fiction, essay, or memoir, that the [students] not only write[s], but also design, and produce. “ The stated goal of the program is to produce graduates that can live a life of writing but are also “strong candidates for careers in teaching and publishing.” At the University of Melbourne the stated goal of the Masters in Creative Writing, Publishing, and Editing, is to, “demonstrate[s] the links and shared skills between writer, editor and publisher as well as between fiction and non-fiction writing.”
Both of these schools have created programs that fundamentally benefit writers. Over the course of a career a writer is likely going to learn many important facts about the publishing industry, but how much easier would it be to get started if a writer to had a more all-encompassing understanding of the business to begin with? At universities that have both a creative writing program and publishing program it makes sense for them to start working closer together. Writers should take several publishing classes; have the opportunity to participate in any publishing labs, and to intern at local presses. At universities that have creative writing programs but no publishing programs it would benefit the student if the school began to incorporate publishing oriented classes in to the program of study. For a writer to have the chance to study book publishing gives that writer a better understanding of the industry that he is trying to enter and a better understanding of his role in that industry.