The Benefits of Blogging and why I write for MedRounds

The benefits of blogging in this Information Age will help organizations in numerous ways, such as recruiting talent, forming collaborations, and communicating to the world why the organization exists. In the days before the Internet, information was purchased in the form of books, magazines, seminars, and newspapers. The Internet has allowed individuals and experts from every industry to publish directly on the Internet. As the collective knowledge of the world grows, we will be able to accomplish great things together.

There are many non-profit organizations that do great things like fund medical research, rescue families from natural disasters, or provide scholarships to students. I stumbled on a non-profit blog exchange that was formed to help promote these non-profit entities, and volunteered to write about MedRounds Publications and another blog site.

I volunteered without realizing that the non-profit blog exchange is for non-profit organizations. I wrote Emily who organized this event and apologize because MedRounds is a for-profit entity. However, I wrote back to Emily stating that MedRounds is a for-profit entity with a non-profit mind set in its inner core. Emily felt that our blogs will be useful for those interested in the medical field.

When I launched MedRounds, I envisioned a future where my kids could log into a library of textbooks, media, and books without paying costly fees. The current books available in medicine are in the orders of costing hundreds of dollars each. Even though the authors who wrote these books are essential to the survival of these major publishers, less than $5 per $100 book is returned back to the authors for their contributions. While academic professors struggle with NIH grant cuts and begging for money to do research, the industry has little interest to protect the financial future of academia.

In the old days, before the Internet allowed free exchange of information, we needed publishers to distribute, ship, sell, and market books and textbooks. The publishers, however, do provide a necessary archiving of collections and services to help with copy editing. In medicine and science, however, the publishers offer little more than spelling and grammar check because the content is often beyond the scope of understanding of the copy editors. It is the senior editor of a textbook, who is usually an established academic scientist or physician, that makes sure the content is reliable and current. The individual authors who contribute chapters are rarely compensated financially, yet they are driven to publish because of their innate desire to educate and contribute their knowledge.

MedRounds was first going to be formed as a non-profit organization, however, I wanted to run and guide the company. Because of the red tape associated with the non-profit organization, I decided to seek board members for a for-profit publishing company that will give back to academic communities and be advocates for authors. I also felt that stocks and ownership in a company will motivate and recruit individuals essential to MedRounds survival.

At MedRounds, we are publishing our books and information freely using the same Blogger engine that drives this article. We are planning to launch new peer-review journals in areas that do not currently have journals. Everything on MedRounds will be FREE and for public access.

How will we make money? We ask corporate America to pay for this material via their advertising budgets. As MedRounds fill its archive with information for world-wide access, we will nickle and dime the revenue from advertisers, sponsors, and through donations. We will pay authors before we pay the MedRounds executives. Even though MedRounds has over ten people involved, every one is donating their time to further our mission of producing reliable educational material for all. For instance, I am not receiving any salary for my work with MedRounds because I already have my day job as a physician.

In addition, most people do not like reading a 350 page book on their computer. MedRounds will offer its books in the form of downloads to portable devices, print-on-demand books, and CD-ROM/DVD for those who want a physical product. These products will be cheaper than current books and materials from traditional publishers. Our model is similar to Shareware. You can sample the book online which is completely FREE and OPEN; however, if you like it, then consider buying the book in a physical form or purchase from our Amazon.com store where MedRounds receives 5-10% commission from Amazon.

Why can't authors publish on their own website? They can and I encourage it. But for those who want to get exposure, it is wise to publish in a collection of works so that the flow of traffic is high enough to allow readers to find the work. For instance, an article published on Yahoo! draws greater traffic to it then an article published on no-name-website.com

Will you make enough money to support your mission? I believe we can. The pharmaceutical industry allocates half of their operating budget to marketing. Most scientists and physicians are hesitant, however, to take money directly because then their written work is perceived as 'bought' or 'tainted'. If MedRounds publishes the work because of its quality and contribution to medicine and science, then the work is pure from industry influence. However, MedRounds will be the agent to promote the work for corporate sponsorships and advertisers. This clears up some of the conflict of interest. All advertisers will be clearly marked on this site to separate editorial material from advertising so that our content is not influenced by commercial entities. MedRounds will share with the author, 50-50, all advertising revenue generated from their work in addition to royalties earned through the sale of the work in physical form. When authors made nothing or little before, authors now have the ability to generate revenues from their work, and if the author(s) write a successful book, then I believe the revenue generated may exceed the royalties received from traditional publishers.

When books are priced at $200 book and they don't sell, the publisher retires the title as an out-of-print book. This can happen in a matter of 2 years for titles with limited appeal. On the other hand, electronic books on MedRounds will be available as FREE HTML books as long as this corporation survives. The time to print in electronic publishing is also light years faster than paper textbooks. Medicine and science are rapidly evolving. With traditional publishing, a textbook may require 1-2 years before it is available in print; unfortunately, these textbooks are out-dated while hot-off the press.

As long as academic authors trust MedRounds to be their advocate and the team leading MedRounds Publications consists of academic leaders, then authors will publish with us. If we bring value to the world by opening a FREE library of current, reliable scientific and medical material, then we can then generate monies through other quality services and products. If the larger publishing companies do the same, then we have also won, because the goal is to build academic libraries to help educate every one who wants to learn.

Why are you so excited about MedRounds? As a physician, I am a healer. As an academic, I want to contribute to education. As a Christian, I want to go on medical missions. When physicians go to other countries, often these countries are hungry for information. Because the price of textbooks are more than the average salary of their citizen's average monthly earnings, textbooks are luxury items. This is wrong. Textbooks, books, and information are essential resources to help society educate people and teach them how to be self-sufficient. If MedRounds succeeds, then the world will benefit from the wealth of information that we have accumulated as a society. While we are still for-profit, our intentions are largely non-profit, which makes us a viable competitor in this highly, competitive publishing industry.

How can I help? If you want to write a book, then please e-mail me. If you work for a company who may want to advertise on MedRounds, then please send me a note. If you would like to help financially, please purchase something from our Amazon.com store, tell people about MedRounds, and visit the advertisers' links on our site if you see something that interests you.

Also, visit the non-profit blog exchange and support their mission.