Writer, publisher, writing, publishing

As I quickly approach the end of my time in the publishing program at Portland State University I have just a few more hurdles before I can call myself a graduate. First, I need to pass the two classes that I am taking this term. Second, write a final essay and finally, defend my portfolio in front of my graduate committee. The topic that I have been assigned for my graduate essay is: What can publishing programs do that creative programs can't? Discuss the value to creative writers of an education in publishing.

Like many people who end up in the publishing industry, I am a writer. I discovered the program and was immediately attracted to the idea of going into publishing (or at least studying it) because I believed that as I continue to find myself as a writer it could only benefit me to understand the business of publishing. Like many outside of the publishing industry I didn't know a whole lot about the book biz. The extent of my knowledge began an ended with the notion of an editor. "Of course I would be a great editor," I thought. Yet, I had no real understanding of what that meant. And I certainly had no concept of the process of acquisitions, marketing, design, or publicity.

It is because of the time that I have spent in the publishing program that I now have a real understanding of how the industry works as a whole (at least in theory.) I have a sense of the of publishing history dating back to Gutenberg's printing press in the 13th century. I've learned how t he internet is changing the industry today as much as the printing press did over five hundred years ago. I have learned about the many different stages that go into the publishing of a book and hopefully I have learned how I can better market and present myself and my writing to both publishers and the public at large.

What do you writer's in publishing think?

The Fun Part of Marketing

When a press is getting ready to publish a book there are a lot of things that have to happen. One of those things happens to be writing the back cover copy that will be one of the things that may sale the book. So, I though it would be fun to share a little bit of that process. The first thing that needs to happen is that the manuscript should be read. I'm sure for a lot of marketers actually reading about what you are trying to sale isn't always possible. Fortunately for me, as a student, I had the time to read Lincoln's Daughter. So, then the task is how best to sum up the book and hopefully get people to buy it. Here is what I started off with for the back copy of the book:

The year is 1964 and Sarah, the only daughter of Abraham Lincoln, is ready to meet her father.

On a trip to New Salem, IL, Will Studebaker finds himself trapped in a blizzard. He wakes up in 1833, where he soon comes face to face with Abraham Lincoln, the subject of his life’s work. In Lincoln’s Daughter, the final volume of the Lincoln Out of Time trilogy, author Tony Wolk weaves together the story of Lincoln’s life as a young man with the story of a daughter searching for her fathers.

After coming up with my version of the copy it's time to meet with the marketing and editing team and, uh, "get their opinion" of it. Not always a fun process, but necessary none the less. Finally, after what seems like an eternity of the group debating it, tearing it apart, and generally finishing off any of your beliefs that you're a decent writer, it's all put back together again. Here is the final version of the text that is on the back cover of Lincoln's Daughter.

It's 1964 And Abraham Lincoln's daughter, Sarah, daydreams about meeting her father. Mer mother, Joan, met Lincoln nine years earlier when he was transported to 1950s Evanston, Illinois, from his own time and place for a day. When Sarah's stepfather, Will, a Lincoln scholar, doesn't return home from an overnight trip, Sarah and her mother have no way of knowing that he has gone back in time to 1833 in the same, mysterious way Lincoln came forward in time. The two grow more and more nervous while waiting for him to come home. A stranger's phone call and the discovery of an abandoned car will push daughter, mother, and their old dog, Rusty, away from home in search of Sarah's stepfather.

Sarah's journey has just begun.

Macmillan's Site Tromps Random House's

As I perused many different publishers websites I though about the various audiences they are trying to reach: readers, booksellers, authors, journalist, teachers, librarians, and those looking for publishing jobs. I looked at many different types and sizes of publishing houses: from small to large and from literary to religious. In the end, there were two sites that stuck out to me for different reasons. Let's start with the good one first.

I came to the Macmillan site via one of their imprints TOR books. I found this site because I wanted to look into the publisher of one of my favorite author's Charles de Lint. As I looked over the TOR site I discovered that they were an imprint of Macmillan and so I quikly moved over to their site. The thing that I liked right away were the drop down categories at the top of the page: books, authors, publishers, services. Right away there is easy access to the different books catagories, all of the author's that they publish in any of their imprints, all of the different imprints, and information for teachers, booksellers, and librarians. On the page itself is informatipn about a featured books, news and press releases, a book trailer, author tours and events, information for book clubs, and much more. Then if you just link to one of their imprints, such as TOR/Forge books, you find even more specific genre focused information: more book trailers, podcast, reading group guides, and links to their Facebook, Myspace and Twitter pages.
All in all I would have to say that they are doing a pretty good job covering most all of their bases over at Macmillan.

On the other hand, the Random House website left a lot to be desired. Though they try to appeal to many of the same audiences the organization of the site is just not as accessible. The top of the page does have drop down categories for books, authors, features, and newsletters and alerts, but the majority of links to specific information is found scattered throughout the sidebars and at the very bottom of the page. Additionally, there are no links to any imprints, only one book trailer, and too much moving around to see the things that were interesting to me. Fianlly, this may be a little nit-picky, but when I went to the book categories and look under gay and lesbian titles there were none listed. I found a drop down which allowed me to look through past months, and did find some titles, but honestly I found it to me a little silly to have a category without having a single title listed. Overall, I think that Random House needs to reorganize their website to make it more user friendly.