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ErieBlogs.com Q&A: William Vitanyi
Posted by Mike on December 13, 2007
Local author William Vitanyi Jr. (though he also goes by the much-cooler Bayla) is appearing at the Borders in the Millcreek Mall Pavilion on December 15 from 1 to 3 p.m., where he will be signing copies of his new book, The Office Guide to Office Wellness, as well as leading a writing and publishing workshop.
Several of his models will be on hand to demonstrate animal-inspired techniques designed to alleviate office maladies. The live demonstrations will show office workers how to deal with a wide variety of office ailments, such as Cooler Phobia, Office Decoration Anxiety, and Menu Dyslexia.
Publishers Weekly describes the book as:
Cube farmer Vitanyi enlisted a hundred coworkers and students at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania to help him realize his vision: a spoof of corporate wellness programs. The result is a slim book packed with regular Joes and Janes in outlandish poses inspired by animals, “because animals have wisdom.”
It really is very funny, especially if you’re a cube-dweller. Bayla was nice enough to answer a few questions.
ErieBlogs.com: Where did you get your ideas for the book?
EB: Was it harder or easier writing a non-fiction book? Granted this new book isn’t all non-fiction…
B: Writing a non-fiction book is definitely harder than reading one.
B: Oh. Easier. I’ve done both. Definitely easier.
EB: How long a process was it from idea to completed book?
B: That’s really two questions. To shoot the photos and write the text, including research, took about six months. To lay out the book interior, work with a cover designer, obtain ISBN numbers, hire a printer, and do all the rest of the publishing tasks took another five or six months. To produce and publish The Official Guide to Office Wellness I created a publishing company, Bayla Publishing, so all of that was on me. It was a big job, but I loved it. Actually, the task will continue as long as the book is alive.
EB: I read you needed to get the OK from your bosses. How did that go and what were their reactions?
B: I had to proceed backwards, a bit. I work at a university, and I wanted to ask local staff and students to volunteer to be in the book, but I wanted to be aboveboard about it. So I asked my department head to broach the idea with the university president. To more fully explain the idea I created a website, anticipating approval. So before there was a project there was a website about the project, then there was permission, then there were office workers in drawers, so to speak.
EB: How did you recruit volunteers? Was it hard to find people to participate?
B: Once permission was granted to solicit volunteers, I sent out emails informing the local community about the project. The website came in very handy at this point, because it was a rather difficult project to accurately describe in a simple email. Think about it—would you volunteer to be in a book demonstrating animal-inspired techniques to do—anything? The website showed that it was a fun project that office workers could relate to. Often when I visited an office to photograph a volunteer I would acquire several new volunteers. I guess the novelty of seeing their coworker posing for photos on top of their desk or filing cabinet piqued their interest, and in time I found the one hundred volunteers that I needed.
EB: The book is currently the 50th most popular title in the Injury Prevention category at Amazon. How awesome is that?
B: Not only awesome, but quite symmetrical. Half of the book probably causes injuries, while the other half probably treats them. This represents a fifty per cent ratio no matter how you look at it, and fifty is half of one hundred—the number of photos in the book. That’s some algorithm.
Posted by Mike at December 13, 2007 4:54 PM
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