Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties 2011-2012 Essay

Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties 2011-2012 - Essay Example Behaviourism with emotional and behavioural difficulties Introduction This critical review is about ‘Behaviourism’ and its role in learning while helping students having behavioural and emotional complications. In the first section Behaviourism is defined and its background discussed in detail. Then the role of Behaviourism in teaching and the point of view of different groups regarding its importance in applying for removing the SEBD issues in classrooms. At the very end in conclusion, a brief overview has been given for its improvisation in Saudi Arabian schools to improve the teaching methods and techniques and entails a new policy for SEBD students. More importantly the research question has been given at the end aroused from this review. Background John B. Watson, initially brought in ‘behaviourism’ into examination in the year 1912, which minted the word ‘behaviourism’. In 1938, this study was further preceded by B. F. Skinner who proposed that ‘learning’ can be determined as a discernible change. Afterwards, Ralph Tyler then made use viewpoints from behaviourism, in 1949, to direct lesson design. Behaviourism, merely deals with altering the behaviour by honouring demanded actions and penalizing or neglecting unwanted activities. Behaviour theorists determined ‘learning’ as nothing beyond the attainment of a novel behaviour. ‘Behaviour Modification’, a teaching framework was formulated through the previously identified research works and findings (Alberto and Troutman, 1995). The fundamentals of the behaviourist theory go back to the philosopher Aristotle (Black, 1995). This theory illustrates that the learning of behaviors could be assessed and noticed. It identifies the brain as a "black box" as the reaction to any stimulant can be detected quantitatively, entirely neglecting the likelihood of intellections happening in the brain. Skinner, Pavlov, Thorndike and Watson are the most famous behaviourists who played significant role in developing this theory. B.F Skinner was a psychologist who put forward this theory of Behaviourism. He believed that behaviour is controlled by cause and effect and it has got nothing to do with mind or reasoning. Behaviourism is considered as conditioning or training introduced by Pavlov, a Russian psychologist. The classical conditioning was formulated by Ivan Pavlov, a physiologist of Russian origin. It may be referred as, ‘A sort of learning, established by linkage of a classified stimulant unable to commonly evoke peculiar reactions on some other stimulant having the ability to evoke a desired reaction (Feldman, Papalia and Olds, 2007). The above mentioned description inculcates that the fundamental elements in this type of conditioning is the term linkage, depicting that the simultaneous occurrence of two distinct stimulants frequently will lead to the development of linkage in them.. For example if a student faces continuously a problem in his/her English language class in the shape of unfriendly teacher, unmanageable questions, and a great deal of home assignments may create an undesired perception in his/her brain about the instructor (Murdick and Petch-Hogan, 1996; Schloss and Smith, 1994). Classical conditioning was discovered by Pavlov by accident. Originally, he wanted to study the role of salivation in digestion. He measured that when given meat, how much saliva dogs produce. After a few days in the experiment, Pavlov noticed that the dogs in his laboratory started salivating when the lab attendant entered the room with the meat dish, before meat was placed in their mouth. This aroused Pavlov’s curiosity and he pursued the issue with more experiments. For example, he sounded a bell just before presenting his dogs with food. Before obtaining food, various times, following the sound of the ringing bell, the dogs were observed to start salivating as shortly as the bell started to ring. In other word, in reaction to a novel stimulant (the

The Cask of Amontillado Essay Example for Free

The Cask of Amontillado Essay In Edgar Allan Poe’s horrific tale of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† readers witness a journey of two people wondering through an underground graveyard leading to a tragic and twisted end. Most readers assume that the character of Montresor is a male figure. All of the actions of Montresor, throughout the course of the story, are full capabilities of a woman. It could be possible that our two characters had a love affair before our gruesome tale plays out. Let us say that Montresor is a mistress of Fortunado. He insults her in front of another man, couple, or lover publicly; as it is never said what the insult is specifically. Upon this insult Montresor, our female character, is so enraged with adrenaline and emotion that she plots a plan to show Fortunado that she is a force to be reckoned with. While the adrenaline pulses through her veins she disassembles the wall with ease and preps it for the demise of the unsuspecting enemy. As most have heard or witnessed in everyday life, powerful surges of adrenaline can cause people to do tasks they normally would have no strength to accomplish. As she lures our ironically unfortunate Fortunado through the musty, damp tunnel of underground, she taunts him. Or could this be her feminine compassion coming to the surface of the reality that is to be Fortunado’s fate? As she continues to suggest turning around on the journey, she comforts him and his cold as though she could be having second thoughts. Montresor has a compassionate heart and conscious. A man would rarely show these traits. Finally, she has him right where she wants the insulting character. The taste of revenge returns. She remembers why she has brought our victim to his bone chilling demise. She replays the time or countless times that Fortunado has insulted her publicly and she shows him what he deserves. Bone by bone, she finds pleasurable satisfaction in her plan. As the saying goes, â€Å"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned†.

computer Fields :: essays research papers

Duaane B. Carrington Jr.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mr. Cattell Rough Draft  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11/7/01 Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For my term paper the field I chose was computers. I chose this field because I love computers and it s a field on the rise. When doing my research about computers, I tried to stay focused on a few different types of fields. I did this because I thought that doing every different type of field would not help me chose the right field for me. Computers is such a big field that it was almost no problem picking a couple of computer fields to talk about in my term paper. Preparation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When doing some research I found out some ways to prepare yourself for the field of computers. First you should have good study habits and take a lot of notes during class. It would help you if you had a laptop so you can do some of your work in your dormitory instead of using the computer lab on the school campus (Cobb, interview). If you know nothing about the field that you are doing, then you should narrow down your classes, and take a side class that will help you prepare for your field. Since there are so many mathematic problems dealing with computers you should be well rounded with math in high school (Cobb, interview). If you are not good with math, then you should try to do anything possible to try and improve your math capabilities. Opportunities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many opportunities with the field of computers. A lot of jobs are offered to college students during their time in college. Some jobs offer the student so much money that they could live off of that if they were to leave college at that moment in time ( ex.35,000). Some job offers in different fields of computers are vast, but some are very hard make it in. You should pick a field that nobody really knows about make sure it has good pay. General   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I found out that having someone who majored or knows something in the field of computers that you are in, you will need them if you have to ask them a question about something in your field that you can’t answer. There is a high demand for computer experts in certain fields, because a big or small corporation might need someone in that area to help them become successful (Cobb, interview). There is a lot of programming in computers.

The Morning Of The Dolphins :: essays research papers

Taryn awoke to the buzzing of the alarm beside her bed. As her eyes adjusted to the morning light, she saw the tacky flowered wallpaper and smelled that smell of a room that had been cleaned thousands of times with the same Lysol cleaner. At first she couldn’t recollect where she was. After a few moments, Taryn remembered, she was at the Seaside Hotel. Her mother, father, and she had arrived at the little lived in hotel the night before after a 4-hour plane ride from Connecticut. Taryn loved Florida. She loved the heat, the sun, and, most of all, the ocean. The sound of Taryn’s mother’s voice brought her out of her sleepiness. â€Å"Taryn! For god’s sake, get up. You are on vacation, a good child would definitely be up and showered and ready to go by now,† Taryn sighed at this remark. All through her child hood she had listened to that same phrase â€Å"a good child would†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It was just one of her mother’s ways to get her motivated, but it never worked. â€Å"I’m going, I’m going. What is the rush anyway? I thought dad said we weren’t doing anything special, we were just going to be spontaneous today?† Taryn replied with a smirk. Her father always tried to make their family vacations more exciting, but it NEVER worked out. â€Å"You’ll see.† Her mother said, with one of her own little smirks. â€Å"Now get out of bed!!!† With a melodramatic sigh Taryn rolled over the side of the bed and drudged into the bathroom for a shower. She wondered to herself what her mom was up to. It was probably nothing, as usual. Taryn shoved the idea out of her mind and finished her shower and changed. Her dad walked into the hotel room as Taryn was brushing her long brown hair. â€Å"You ready yet kid?† he asked. He had a look on his face like he was up to something. â€Å"Okay! Tell me what is going on!† she shrieked with impatience. â€Å"Just get in the car and enjoy the ride,† he said, the look growing stronger. Taryn eagerly but cautiously obliged, throwing looks of curiosity at her father as they walked down the hall and got into the car. Her mother was already waiting, doing her makeup in the visor mirror. Taryn received another mischievous glance from her mother as she buckled her seatbelt. They drove for about 15 minutes, looking out at the glistening gulf water. The Morning Of The Dolphins :: essays research papers Taryn awoke to the buzzing of the alarm beside her bed. As her eyes adjusted to the morning light, she saw the tacky flowered wallpaper and smelled that smell of a room that had been cleaned thousands of times with the same Lysol cleaner. At first she couldn’t recollect where she was. After a few moments, Taryn remembered, she was at the Seaside Hotel. Her mother, father, and she had arrived at the little lived in hotel the night before after a 4-hour plane ride from Connecticut. Taryn loved Florida. She loved the heat, the sun, and, most of all, the ocean. The sound of Taryn’s mother’s voice brought her out of her sleepiness. â€Å"Taryn! For god’s sake, get up. You are on vacation, a good child would definitely be up and showered and ready to go by now,† Taryn sighed at this remark. All through her child hood she had listened to that same phrase â€Å"a good child would†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It was just one of her mother’s ways to get her motivated, but it never worked. â€Å"I’m going, I’m going. What is the rush anyway? I thought dad said we weren’t doing anything special, we were just going to be spontaneous today?† Taryn replied with a smirk. Her father always tried to make their family vacations more exciting, but it NEVER worked out. â€Å"You’ll see.† Her mother said, with one of her own little smirks. â€Å"Now get out of bed!!!† With a melodramatic sigh Taryn rolled over the side of the bed and drudged into the bathroom for a shower. She wondered to herself what her mom was up to. It was probably nothing, as usual. Taryn shoved the idea out of her mind and finished her shower and changed. Her dad walked into the hotel room as Taryn was brushing her long brown hair. â€Å"You ready yet kid?† he asked. He had a look on his face like he was up to something. â€Å"Okay! Tell me what is going on!† she shrieked with impatience. â€Å"Just get in the car and enjoy the ride,† he said, the look growing stronger. Taryn eagerly but cautiously obliged, throwing looks of curiosity at her father as they walked down the hall and got into the car. Her mother was already waiting, doing her makeup in the visor mirror. Taryn received another mischievous glance from her mother as she buckled her seatbelt. They drove for about 15 minutes, looking out at the glistening gulf water.

Reaction time Essay

Back crawl is different to most strokes because you cannot see where you are going. I know that the skill backstroke is a weakness of my performance because my coach informs me that I have a weak leg kick action. If your leg kick is weak it can make your body position fall slightly diagonally into the water. He tells me I need to bend my knees more and flex my ankles when kicking. My arm action provides most of the power, as my arms make circling actions as they move in and out of the water. Overall the arm action is good but I need to reach and stretch more into every stroke. Also I drop my head forwards into the water and don’t hold it back enough. This can make my body position sink, therefore I need to lift my hips up and make sure my head is looking up instead of down, consequently the overall efficiency would be improved. Also as a part of my backstroke technique, my backstroke tumble turns are a weakness in my performance. I know this because I have had video analysis and it shows that sometimes I do to many arm pulls into the turn on my front, where as your only supposed to do one. Therefore my arm action is too soon, and I need to do less front arm pulls. In the somersault part of the tumble turn, the overall rotation is not fast enough, because my body position isn’t in a tight enough tuck shape. I need to kick harder with my legs so that I rotate and flip faster. When I glide off the wall in a streamline position my butterfly leg action is weak, therefore I don’t get enough distance underwater and sometimes I don’t even reach the flags. The overall efficiency of the tumble turn is slow and not fluent. Strategy/Tactic Weaknesses: Building up through out a 800m/ Long-distance race. When I swim long distance races I find it hard to increase my pace through out the race therefore a maintain the same speed. I know this tactic is a weakness in my performance because I know am more of a sprint/middle distance swimmer, and also I prefer to take part in these events.  Components of Fitness Weaknesses:  The component of fitness speed is a weakness in my performance because it is proven that in fitness testing I have scored only average. In swimming speed is the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movements, example a sprint start of the diving blocks. You need speed more when your swimming sprint races example 50m ,100m races. There is a significant degree of technique when trying to build up speed. It’s all about a mix of breathing, arm and feet movements, but you must have good muscle force behind before you can increase your speed. There is the fact that some people are just born with an ability to go faster than others. Whilst you can train faster you might never be as fast as your training partner, as they may have a different muscle composition that they’ve inherited. This will in itself help them go faster. So speed is most important in sprint races and starts. Another weakness in my performance is the fitness component, reaction time. Reaction time is being able to respond quickly to a stimulus. It important in many sports though it can be measured. Simple reaction time is the time taken between a stimulus and movement e.g., sprint start off a diving block. For example at the start of a swimming race the official signals a gun or a type of noise that indicates you to start the race, you have to respond quickly to this. Therefore reaction time is essential at the start of a race. I know that reaction time is a weakness in my performance because it is proven that in fitness testing a have scored below average. So when I combine my reaction time in swimming to the start of a race, I am slower at reacting to the starters gun. Therefore this is something I need to improve on.

Yanomamo Tribe Essays - Yanomami, Hei T Bebi, Hedu K Misi, War

Yanomamo Tribe Essays - Yanomami, Hei T Bebi, Hedu K Misi, War Yanomamo Tribe The Yanomamo My name is Eric Dunning and this is my proposal to go and study the Yanomamo tribe in the rain forests of Brazil. I have compiled a historical outline of the Yanomamo tribe and some of their religion and culture, ranging from marital status to the type of food they eat. I have chosen this tribe because according to many anthropologists the Yanomamo are perhaps the last culture to have come in contact with the modern world. The Yanomamo people of Central Brazil are one of the oldest examples of the classic pre-Columbian forest footmen. The Yanomamo live in almost complete seclusion in the Amazon rain forests of South America. The Yanomamo live in small bands or tribes and live in round communal huts called shabonos, which are actually made up of individual living quarters. The Yanomamo language consists of a variety of dialect, but no real written language. Clothes are minimal, and much of their daily life revolves around gardening, hunting, gathering, making crafts and visiting with one another. These small tribes hold their men in high ranks. Chiefs are always men who are held responsible for the general knowledge and safety of the group's women. The men are able to beat their wives if they feel the need to and are able to marry more than one woman at a time. This loose form of polygamy is a way of increasing the population of the tribe. Yanomamo people rely heavily on a system of political alliances based upon relationship. As part of that system, they have incorporated a complex feasting and trading system into their culture. One of these methods of forming political alliances is feasting. Feasting is when one village invites another village for a feast or dinner. During the feast there is a lot of social activity. The Yanomamo dance and mingle with each other along with eating a different variety of foods. The only catch is the other village must reciprocate a feast by one village. This feast is more like an American dinner party in which members of family or social group invite others to attend. A feast however can be dangerous and or fatal for those who attend. The Yanomamo can be very conniving and deceiving. They pretend to be loyal friends and invite the other village for a feast. The other very village very trustfully attends the feast not knowing that this might be their last meal. After the feast when the guests are helplessly resting in their hammocks they are attack ed and brutally beaten to death. The Yanomamo live in a constant state of warfare with other tribes and even within their own groups. Marriages are often arranged according to performances of one's relatives in battles. Ideal marriages are thought to consist of cross cousin marriages and the males of the family and the religious leaders of the tribe perform all marriages. In addition to their strong kinship ties, political alliances and thirst for revenge, the Yanomamo have a detailed religion, based on the use of hallucinogenic drugs and the telling of mythical tales. The religious beliefs of the Yanomamo are quite complex. According to Yanomamo wise men, there are four levels of reality. Through them, the Yanomamo believe that things tend to fall or descend downward to a lower layer is demonstrated. The uppermost layer of the four is thought to be pristine and tender. It is called duku ka misi and the Yanomamo believe that many things originated in this area. This layer does not play much of a role in the everyday life of the Yanomamo. It is considered to be just there, once having some vague function. The next layer down is called hedu ka misi and is known as the sky layer. The top surface is supposedly invisible, but is believed to be similar to earth. It has trees, gardens, villages, animals, plants and most importantly, the souls of the deceased. These souls are said to be similar to mortals because they garden, eat and sleep. Everything that exists on earth is said to have a counterpart on this level. The bottom surface of the layer is said to be what the Yanomamo on earth actually see:

The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview

The Distance Between Me And My Readers - A Bob Mayer Interview â€Å"The distance between me and my readers is the internet† An interview with Bob Mayer How can indie authors use eBooks to their full advantage, creatively exploiting their potential to be adapted over time and linked to an author’s whole output?Bob Mayer is a New York Times Bestselling Author who is not afraid to explore the incredible new opportunities available to authors. With 60 books published - both traditionally published and indie-published - Bob has sold over four million books. He and is also a leadership speaker and consultant, coaching authors on many aspects of writing and publishing. He is also CEO of Cool Gus Publishing and his latest book Time Patrol has just come out. On top of all that, he is the only West Point Graduate and Former Green Beret we’ve ever had the pleasure of interviewing! We talk about his work as a hybrid author, his marketing techniques, and Italian book covers†¦ It’s really great to be interviewing Bob this afternoon - a New York Times bestselling author, writing coach, who also writes a lot about publishing and self-publishing. Firstly Bob, it’d be great to start with your writing course Write on the River, how is it going?I’ve been doing writing workshops for a number of years - I used to hold small intimate workshops and various bed and breakfasts. After my wife and I moved to the Tennessee River, we got a nice big house, so a couple of times a year we bring four writers into the weekend, working with them on their books. The weekend after this  I’ve got four people coming down.So you work with them on all sorts of things, structure and character development, that type of thing?I change it for every group because every group is a little different. I’ve had number one New York Times bestsellers here - usually it’s published authors with some experience, but occasionally I’ve had a new auth or. We usually spend a lot of time on the ‘idea and conflict lock’ and a lot of time talking about the business, because so many things are up in flux right now.Many authors - even established authors - are wondering right now, â€Å"should I become a hybrid author?†, â€Å"should I keep traditionally publishing?†, â€Å"should I self-publish?† One of our authors came down here for the weekend and she’s publishing with Cool Gus, so she’s become a hybrid author.You are a hybrid author who has published a number of different ways, could you tell us a bit more about that?I was published in New York for 42 books - Random House, St Martins - many big houses. Then I went self-publishing as I had a huge backlist to which I owned the rights and formed my own publishing company Cool Gus.I knew from the very beginning what I wanted was to sign with 47 North, Amazon’s Science Fiction imprint. The main reason I did that was because of their marketing capabilities. They have tremendous power to market you on their site. So I’ve got a book we’re going to publish May 5th. I’ve got a book coming back from 47 North that’s due out in August, so I alternate writing science-fiction for amazon and thrillers for my own company.What is it specifically about their marketing that interested you?They have reach: they call it ‘merchandising’. They really know who the readers are and have huge databases. They know everyone who has bought one of their previous books and send them an email. They also do pricing - in the UK they have a ‘book for a pound’ - they pick a number of titles and promote those. There is a huge difference sales-wise when you use any of these platforms - whether Amazon, Apple or Audible ACX - they give you some ‘merchandising’ and your sales can skyrocket.Yes, we’ve found with many authors that email lists are really helpful, because you ar e talking to an engaged audience, and that it’s worth slowly building them upYes, we don’t send many newsletters out because we feel many people are bombarded by them, but we are focusing on building our list this year. The other thing we have is a private Facebook group called ‘The A-team’: we’ve got about 30 people in there. These are people who really like my books. It’s a small intimate group where we chat about what I’m writing. If you can get a core of about 40-50 readers who talk about you and promote you, that’s huge. The book - Time Patrol (Area 51: The Nightstalkers Book 4) - just came out yesterday and I’ve already got a handful of reviews, mainly because of those types of people.I like the idea of nurturing a small but dedicated small fan group. They are the one’s you can have a personal connection to.The most important thing is readers. I’ve got a huge Twitter following, but I don’t reall y think it sells books; I don’t think a huge Facebook following sells books - although these things aren’t bad of course. The distance between me and my readers is the internet. I can communicate with them and respond to every email I get or every mention on Twitter. I think that’s key.There’s lot of resistance in the publishing industry to change - I think that’s because so much of it doesn’t change: it’s always going to be about great content and writing. But, of course, things are changing: are there any new developments that are interesting to you?Subscription is big. A lot of people are complaining about Kindle Unlimited for sales dropping, but Kindle Unlimited occurred at the same time as the content flood hit the eBook market - there’s just so much content out there and that’s not going away.We don’t fight those things. Yesterday we got a cheque from Draft2Digital and the Scribd subscription service. We use those things; we use Kindle Unlimited. I broke one of my non-fiction books into 15 shorts, dedicated totally to Kindle Unlimited. I think writers waste a lot of time tilting at windmills they can’t change. They need to look at the publishing landscape and use everything out there to the best of their abilities.Yes, and I think they could anticipate change a lot more than they actually do.Ha! Yea, although I don’t think anyone could tell you where we’re going to be a year from now. It does always come back to good content though. The good thing is that I think if you write a good book, that’s a big part of it and then you do have to get out there and reach the readers. The readers have to know the book exists.You’ve said in the past that this is the moment in publishing you are most excited to be a part of because the author has control.Absolutely! What I’m doing right now didn’t exist ten years ago. Ten years ago I would hold the rig ht to 50 books and be able to do absolutely nothing with them. I wouldn’t be able to sell them to anybody - I couldn’t get them in the bookstore. Now, they are in virtual bookstores, I can sell them to readers. One of our saying is â€Å"If you haven’t read it, it’s not backlist†. I was reading my first book from 1991 and I realised to someone reading it now, it’s a brand new book.One of the interesting things right now is how publishing is relating to other media. People talk about how it is conflicting of complementing other media - cable TV, movies, games, etc - but do you think also that a lot of writers could learn about how they market these media?I see writers say â€Å"go kill your TV†, but my wife and I watch a lot of TV and the writing is fantastic. Marketing-wise, if you look at what Netflix did with the Kevin Spacey show, where they released it all on the same day, I think that’s something to think about.People want instant gratification now. It used to be that in traditional publishing, I have to give a book a year, but I had to write under three pen names because they would not allow me to publish more than a book a year. Now, you cannot publish fast enough, or write fast enough to keep up with demand from readers!Yes, maybe you could experiment publishing lots at once, gaining a core reader group, then change your strategy, slow down or create anticipation.Yes one thing we’re doing is we’re putting out a book every three months this year and what I’m doing personally is I’m racking my books together. I just had a book come out yesterday that loops back to my early Atlantic series, so what I’m doing is connecting the dots over 25 years of books.At the end of the book, I say â€Å"if you want to know more about this character, go to this series†, â€Å"if you want to know more about this world, go to this series†. I think that gives readers mor e options to go through the back story.Now your books are always out there - they don’t grow old, so you can create these links in ways which weren’t previously possible.One thing I often talk about in my business is that an eBook is not like a print book: it’s very, very different. It’s organic. It’s changing. We have so many titles that when we bring out a new one, we have to go into the back and change all the links in it, we have to change the metadata.Yesterday my new book came out and is called Time Patrol and I asked my business partner, â€Å"by the way, do these books have another subgenre on Amazon of ‘time travel’, because this is actually another best seller list!† and she’d already taken care of that. So it’s just constant change, and I think it’s caught traditional publishers a little by surprise, because they are used to the ‘fire and forget’ method. They published a book and itâ €™s out there, it’s never going to change. An eBook changes constantly. I’m not talking the content - although you can do that - I’m talking all the things around it: the cover the endman, the metadata, so it’s a constant churning of things.Have you experimented with changing covers?Oh yea! We’ve changed covers. Actually, you often have to change covers, like on Amazon, where there are certain promotional things you can’t get into if you have things like a gun on the cover. I totally understand, because people complain, but you have to change the image and remove the gun, simply to get in these marketing programs!I think it’s endlessly fascinating how in different countries, different covers just work and different ones just don’t work. I think you can learn a lot about individual countries by the book covers they like!I was in a book store in Italy where it was always a scantily-clad woman on the cover with an atomic blast in the background and there was no woman in a bikini in the book! They just stick it there because that’s what sells.So much of indie publishing seems to require a certain kind of author: entrepreneurial and someone who can effectively manage their own business. Do you think that may change? Do you think it could incorporate other types of writers who are perhaps not entrepreneurial, but who still want control and the best of indie-publishing?Well, that’s a little what we do at Cool Gus. A handful of authors we work with just want to write, yet they want the freedom, so we take care of all the things for them, but we give them final say. So they don’t have to get caught up in the actual doing of it, but we’ll say, â€Å"What do you want on your cover?† - and they get the final say on that, cover copy, everything! So I think that’s a different business model.And so that they have a team to help themYes, I think it’s really hard to do it all well. There are people that do it, but it’s much easier to send someone an email and say â€Å"Please take care of this†.Where do you think agents may fit in the future?I think agents are evolving. Kristen Nelson who works with Hugh Howey is an example of an agent that’s really changed the way she looks at things. And I actually think traditional publishing is not going to die: it’s evolving and they are learning, changing and adapting. I’m querying agents right now because I need help with foreign rights. I can’t really travel to the London Book Fair, for example, so I need an agent to take care of those things for me.I think the reason publishing is so interesting is because it is a very complex industry and there are so many different things to be doing. What are you thinking about experimenting with in the next couple of years?It’s more about the creative part. I’ve been doing it so long, that what I realise is that I can produce better books faster and the market is there for it. I have so many series going, and at the same time I put a few experimental things out there. And I don’t have to sit there and worry, will my agent like it, will my editor like it, will my publisher like it, will the sales force think they can sell it? All I’ve got to care about is ‘will the readers like it?’ I don’t think that’s going to change: that I like. I can directly reach my readers and either they can hit that buy button or not, and that tells me if it’s working or not.That’s a really great message to send to our readers. Thanks so much for your time Bob!Follow @Bob_Mayer and @ReedsyHQ on TwitterDo you think too many authors waste time fighting things they can’t change? Where do you see agents fitting in in the future? Leave us your thoughts, or any question you have for Bob, in the comments below!