The Role of the Editorial Director - yorku.ca Web viewQuizzes will test students’ knowledge of the assigned readings and the content of lectures, presentations, ... What really makes

The Role of the Editorial Director

Preliminary version, May 2017

AP/WRIT 3004 3.0 (N) Books and Bookmaking in the 21st Century (Winter 2018)

Thursdays 2:30 5:30

Room: HNE 103

Instructor: Geoffrey Huck, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Instructors website: http://www.yorku.ca/ghuck/

Syllabus and Workshop Manual

Contents: p.

1. General description1

2. Learning objectives1

3. Texts2

4. Course requirements2

5. Tip for getting a good grade2

6. Readings2

7. Brief description of workshops3

8. Presentations4

9. Quizzes4

10 Rubrics4

11. Computers & phones in class5

12. Attendance5

13. Teamwork6

14. Re-evaluations6

15. Extensions7

16. E-mail etiquette7

17. Important course info7

18. Resources for editing & design8

19. Schedule9

20. Scenario: Lion Cub Books10

21. Preparing a memo11

22. Role of the Editorial Director12

23. Role of the Production Director13

24. Role of the Marketing Director14

25. Role of the Business Director15

26. Book economics18

27. Notes on editorial worksheet19

28. Notes on production worksheet20

29. Notes on marketing worksheet21

30. Notes on business worksheet22

31. Sample memos & templates24

Sample editorial memo25

Sample production memo27

Editorial worksheet28

Production worksheet29

Marketing worksheet30

Business worksheet32

1. General description: This course surveys the process of publishing a book from the evaluation of manuscript through the printing, marketing, and distribution of the final product. The structure and function of the organizational units of a typical publishing company including acquisitions, editorial, production, art & design, rights & contracts, marketing, sales, customer service, fulfillment, and the business office are examined. The focus is on both printed and electronic books, and attention is paid to technological developments that are changing not only how books are produced but also what constitutes a book, how it is written by writers, and how it is purchased, accessed, and read by consumers. Students participate in workshops in which they assume the roles of key personnel in a publishing company, Lion Cub Books, and learn how publishing decisions are made. Classes include lectures, discussion, and simulations.

This course is a prerequisite for AP/WRIT 4004 6.0 (Y) Book Publishing Practicum. Together, these courses constitute a sequence that culminates in the publication of a real book through Leaping Lion Books in the second year of the sequence (see http://www.yorku.ca/llbooks). Students in AP/WRIT 3004 prepare for the publishing roles they will assume in AP/WRIT 4721.

2. Learning objectives:

1. Understand the organization of the book publishing industry

2. Understand the organization of the typical book publishing company and the roles played by key personnel.

3. Understand the forces that continue to shape the industry and are likely to drive demand in the market now and in the near future.

4. Understand the technological context in which changes in the book industry are occurring

5. Understand the substantive editorial contributions that publishers make to the content of the books they publish

6. Understand the significant design, production, and marketing decisions that publishers make that affect the way books are received, perceived, and sought out by readers

7. Understand why publishers make the decisions they make concerning the content, design, format, price, and distribution of the books they publish

3. Texts:

Required:

John B. Thompson, Merchants of Culture: The Publishing Business in the 21st Century, 2nd Edition (2012, Polity Press)

Two manuscripts available on Moodle (containing Workshop Texts 1 & 2)

Recommended:

The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition (2010, University of Chicago Press). (Note that all York students should have access to the electronic version of the Chicago Manual of Style through their library account, so its not necessary to buy this book for this course.)

4. Course requirements: Grades are based on two quizzes (20% each, total 40%), two workshop memos (25% each, total 50%), class participation (9%), and a presentation (1%).

5. Tip for getting a good grade in this class: This should be an enjoyable course if you come to class, participate regularly and avidly, and do all the assignments on time and as directed. Read this syllabus carefully and often most of what you need to know about how the course operates is here.

Please note that because an important purpose of this course is to prepare students for AP/WRIT 4004 6.0 Book Publishing Practicum, and because that preparation depends on learning through workshops about some of the complex decisions that publishing a quality book requires, it must be rigidly organized. Following the instructions in this syllabus closely should allow you to develop the knowledge you will need in order to successfully publish the manuscripts assigned in the Practicum in the allotted time during the 2018-19 academic year.

6. Readings: The Thompson book is designed to give you an introduction to the publishing world and the background knowledge youll need to make intelligent decisions in the workshops as well to prepare you for the Practicum. The two workshop texts are required reading for the workshops. Obviously, intimate knowledge of the workshop texts is necessary if you are to contribute meaningfully to a satisfactory publishing plan for them. All team members should have read at least the first third of the manuscript for the first workshop, the second third for the second workshop, and the final third for the third workshop. However, it would be beneficial for the editorial and marketing directors to have read and digested as much of the complete manuscript as possible for the first workshop.

7. Brief description of workshop assignments: For each of the two assigned workshop texts, the class will be divided into teams representing the operating directors of a hypothetical publisher, Lion Cub Books. Although there will be a number of teams, for the purposes of the exercise each team is to assume that its members make up the entirety of Lion Cub Books and that there are no other teams or members of Lion Cub Books outside that team. The object for each team will be to come up with an integrated and persuasive publishing plan for the designated manuscript. This means that the team will have to submit plans for allocating the budget and for editing, producing, and marketing the book, with each operating director responsible for his or her area of operation. Indeed, each student will submit a business memorandum along with a worksheet and possibly other materials as explained below for each of the two workshop exercises.

For the first publishing simulation, all students will work on Text 1 in their assigned teams. As indicated above, there will be three class workshops devoted to that text. For the second simulation, new teams will be arranged to work on Text 2, and again there will be three workshops. Each student should have the opportunity to fill the role of two different director positions (i.e., a different one for each text) by the end of the course.

For each text, each team will have an assigned budget that may be augmented by special fund-raising activities. When a team reaches agreement on a comprehensive book plan, each member is to prepare a written memorandum to the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of Lion Cub Books (in this case, the course director), arguing for the portion of the proposed book plan in his or her area of responsibility. That is, the Editorial Director will be proposing an editorial plan, the Production Director will be proposing a production plan, and so on.

An important part of each workshop exercise is determining how to allocate scarce resources so they have the maximum impact on the success of the book. Each director will estimate the costs of her/his particular plan on a preliminary worksheet that is to be distributed to his/her other team members and a final worksheet, when agreement is reached among all members on the final publishing plan, to the course director along with the memorandum.

For the assignments concerning Workshop Text 2, each director will have added responsibilities, as explained in the instruction section below

It should be emphasized that, for the purposes of the two memos and worksheets, each director must work together with the other team members to produce a persuasive, integrated total bookplan. Each directors memo must be consistent with her or his teammates memos and all of the teams memos must together make for a coordinated and comprehensive plan. You must complete your work in your team on time as prescribed in a schedule determined by the Business Director. If one or more of the team members is late in circulating her or his worksheet to the other members of the team, then that hurts the whole team, and the offending members grade will be appropriately lowered. Moreover, if the directors cant work together, that reflects poorly on each of them individually, and notice will be taken of that in grading. Each team, of course, is also competing directly with the other teams. The teams will be ranked according to the persuasiveness of their plans and that will figure into each students final grade.

8. Presentations: During class on March 30, the members of each team will be scheduled to provide the class with an oral presentation of the