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Dr. Horace Batson Discusses His New Book ‘Student’s Guide to Starting Your Career and Earning Money’ And Working With Timothy Wright

Photo Credit – Dr. Horace Batson

Dr. Horace Batson is a trained Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist. He specializes in medical psychology and behavior management for individuals with self-injurious and violent behavior. For 10 years Drs. Horace Batson and his partner, Dr. Merny Schwartz ran a national healthcare consulting business – specializing in medical counseling for patients on dialysis.Dr. Horace Batson is the CEO of Welstar Publications, LLC. His organization has distributed more than 50 motivational, “how-to” and otherworldly books. Dr. Horace Batson has counseled to IBM, AT&T, Bell Labs, The Chase Manhattan Bank, Hospitals, and other benefit and not-revenue driven organizations. Educator Horace Batson has been teaching psychology at numerous private and CUNY universities for more than 20 years.

His clients have included: IBM, AT&T Information System, Channel 13, and other non-profit organizations. He is a full-time professor in the Department of Language and Literature at Touro College in New York and served as adjunct professor in the English Department in the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). Gary is Executive Producer of Phoenix Arts Inc., (formerly Mount Vernon Theatre Company a non-profit performing arts company. Gary Batson has written and produced for the stage at the Negro Ensemble Company, Frederick Douglas Creative Arts Center/Bud Schulberg Watts writers Workshop/La MaMas, Dramatic Risk, Strawberry One-Act Festival and Samuel French One-Act Festival. He is presently writer in residence at WCT collaborative theater (Westchester Collaborative Theater). His plays include Point of View, Richard, Ill Winds, FIRE, CODES, and Olive Branch.

Let’s face it! As a student, you go to school to get the required education so you can get better-paying jobs in your newly chosen career. You invest both time and money in the pursuit of your dreams. You have been trained to think that you can’t earn money in your field until you have completed years of study, which adds up to thousands of dollars. of was all too true, until now

The easy-to-follow approach in this book shows you how to discover your true passion and talents, leveraging them to earn money and live the life you’ve always wanted, all while you are still in school.

“It is my honor to commend Dr. Horace Batson and Dr. Gary Batson for writing this groundbreaking and game-changing book – “Student’s Guide To Starting Your Career And Earning Money Before You Get Your Degree.”

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Batson about his new book “Student’s Guide To Starting Your Career And Earning Money Before You Get Your Degree.” I asked him why he thought he and Gary Batson this would be the right time to release this student guide. Also, we talked about what it was like working with Timothy Wright before he passed away a year after his car crash that took the life of his wife and grandson.  He is also currently working on a book with Maxine Jones, a founding member of the girl group En Vogue. The Full interview with Dr. Batson can be seen below.

What was the inspiration behind you and Gary Batson building Welstar Publications, LLC?

We started in the 1980s, inspired by our early training in the church. Even though it was not clear at the time, but our first interaction with publishing came from the ministry. I am a Clinical Physiologist by trade, and I have a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and at one point I was trying to find a location to hold one of my stress management workshops. One of the pastors in the neighborhood Reverend Curtis Gatewood suggested we use his church. We held the stress management program there, and we were successful. After we finished the program, he said, ‘I know many other ministers that would like to have services such as yours,’ and he gave me their names.
So, I started going into all the churches in the Harlem area, and I realized there were scores of churches in the other surrounding areas in New York City. In fact, from that interaction, I concluded that I would not be able to speak to all the ministers and thought about creating a document or publication to address their needs. That was the beginning of the book released a few years ago called ‘Everything you ever needed to know to overcome stress’ It was a compilation of stories, but advice from the local ministry and what they thought were the best techniques to relieve stress. We started releasing books in that area because we realized it presented a significant challenge to clergy who spoke their sermons every week but had no way to capture them. So, writing books was the logical way to achieve that goal.

Photo Credit -Welstar Publications, LLC

What inspired Gary Batson and yourself to write ‘Students Guide to Starting Your Career and Earning Money Before You Get Your Degree’?

We are both professors, businessman, and in an academic environment every day, we were also students at some point in our lives. One thing that students are concerned with is getting A’s and secondly trying to find a career that will help generate income. We have seen that by in large educators have been doing our students a disservice by creating a lot of mumble jumble about how it is essential to get a degree in their field. We decided to create a guide on how to be professional as you are becoming knowledgeable in your area.
There are two different steps you can get a Ph.D. or Masters, but how do conceptualize yourself during the process. You think of yourself as someone in your field before you get your degree. We wanted to help our readers package themselves the right way to earn money in their area of choice. People are currently not doing this, and they think that you must obtain their four degrees to make this happen.

Both Gary and yourself have 30 plus years of expertise as the psychologist, communications experts, and business leaders. Why do you feel this is the best time to release this guide?
I think that it is always a good time and the political climate is such, that businesses are probably benefiting more than the average human being. Regarding the current administration, I feel that it is an excellent time for people to be thinking about businesses at this point. I’m not sure how long this will last, but from the work of the previous administration, it’s a good time. Once you start looking for handouts, it becomes a slippery slope, and we are looking to help others start their own businesses. Seeing yourself as a product, a brand, a business entity, and there are more jobs that you can think of them on a piece of paper. We want people to get into the concept of looking for a job, but to start creating jobs again.

How do you feel about the world press the book has received?

I think the whole concept has been incredible. When we speak to students & administration, they are looking at the bulletin board looking for employment based on the dollar amount as opposed to what fits their skill set. We see that there is a need to help to educate the public who are looking to make a living, and how they can take advantage of their field of choice.
They are looking at the number of years that goes with pursuing a career in their field. For example, a psychology degree you can do a lot with a BA. There are limited opportunities even with a master’s degree and access with a Ph.D. if you do not know how to package yourself properly. It took me eight years to get a Ph.D., literally with my training in laboratories and seeing patients, but before that my father was a barber. I learned more about business and life from my father as a barber than I did as a psychology student. That concept is what has kept me financially solvent. Not my knowledge in psychology, but I have been able to package myself to be stable in the economic system.

There is rumor there is about 30k in preorders already can you talk about that with us?

Since working with my partner Thomas Edwards, unlike other products that we released in the past, we had booked for the vanity publishing industry. You know how that works you write your book and publish it and sell it, but that is a limited market. We now have a collaborative strategic alliance with Thomas Edwards who’s the former Regional Manager of KLM DISTRIBUTION / SONY RED for over 15 years, who’s now the CEO of KEY 2 LIFE MEDIA GROUP a very well-respected Entertainment, Marketing, and Consulting company and have access to a wide range of marketing tools that we have not been exposed to before. So, what makes this unlike any other we have released in the past is we have a strong advertorial muscle that was not available before this partnership.

What was it like working with Timothy Wright in the last days he was here with us?

Tireless and I do not know when he slept. He would call us all hours of the day with new information that he wanted to tell. His book was a compilation of the back stories of various artists he worked with in the Gospel Genre. We had stories with him and Rev. Al Sharpton and how he became Timothy Wright. He was about five years old, and he never had any formal lessons and did not know how to play the piano. The congregation that he was a member of prayed for him. They touched his hand, and the next thing he knew was he was playing the piano. That is the story he told me, and I had no reason to doubt it. So, all his stories are magical and had this energy, and somehow in 2008, there was a sense of urgency to do this book.

He was pressing me to do it as quick as possible and wanted us to print a half a million copy. I replied a half a million copies are a lot of copies let’s do ten thousand copies and he was very eager, and I did not know why. We finished the book in 2008, and he was promoting it but passed away a year after a car crash. His car was hit by a drunk driver driving 80 miles an hour on the wrong highway with no lights on killing his wife, grandson and paralyzing him. His interaction with us led in a different direction upon his passing, and it has been because now specialize in writing books on celebrities.

In your opinion what was your favorite part of the creative process?

The introduction and the energy that he brought to the table. His book ’Who is really on the Lords Side’ is not just one of his hits songs, but it is a comment about who is really on the Lord’s side. Instruction into his family, ministry, energy, and the experience were like he passed a mantle to us. As we thought in a sense at the time, we were not working with celebrities. He said that since you are working with me, you will be headed in an entirely different direction. So, he introduced us to the idea of music ministry, and entertainers that is the biggest inspiration for me from Timothy Write.

What was the time frame it took to finish Timothy Wright’s book, and will the album being released have all original music or classic hits?

The album that we found in the studio contains original material with at least one artist collaboration and includes six singles on the cd. This project took us about six months straight nonstop because of who we work with we can get books done quickly. If they’re not serious, it tends to make longer, but Timothy was very motivated by calling us, emailing, and meeting us in person. He was a man on a mission.

You are also working with founding member Maxine Jones of En Vogue on her biography. Can you tell us what that was like and when can we expect it to be released?

I am always fascinated with being able to hear the backstories that have helped shape the celebrity. We only see the glamorous side, but we do not see what they must go through to become successful. What was it about Maxine that helped her launch En Vogue to be one of the most famous women’s groups, to sell over 50 million CDs in the 90s. It took hard work and we did not get the chance to see how they interacted with other entertainers and performers. It is another insight into the music industry where there is a glamorous side, but there is also a dark side. Biographies allow us the opportunity to learn why female entertainers are labeled divas and how that conclusion is formed or not depending on who it is.

What intrigued you the most during the process of working with Maxine?
Her honesty and sincerity even with all that she was going through with the separation of the group En Vogue. As well as the behind the scenes drama with the bankruptcy, despite all that, she is still moving forward. Not just her but other performers years ago had a certain amount of time to make their mark in the industry, but now that is not the case. There is still an interest in the old school acts which allows them to generate income from their hit records, whether it is merchandise sells, concerts, etc. The book will be called a ‘Dummies Guide to Girl Groups Top Ten What Not to Do.’ The book will address questions that the public needs to know about the industry and what to look for and stay away from.

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Orginally Posted on The Hype Magazine.

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Written by Landon Buford

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