Light Reading
I am in the midst of preparing for the Denver Publishing Institute. The program only lasts 4 weeks, from July 12 to August 18. I was told early on to expect a package of pre-program assignments that would help me make the most of my month in Denver. About two weeks ago, I received a middling sized package full of papers, information, manuscripts and instructions.
My two largest chunks of work are for my workshops in Editing and Marketing. This makes sense- those two sections will command a significant portion of my class time. I can say this, weeks out... they do not fuck around. Here are my assignments for the Editing workshop:
Read- The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. This is filled with the advice anyone who had a half-decent English teacher has heard before.
-Editors on Editing edited by Gerald Gross. A book filled with essays helping writers understand what the editor does.
-An unpublished manuscript we will be using in our classes for practical editing work.
-The Chicago Manual of Style. This is the serious business. I have never before been asked to read an entire style guide, and I am both terrified and elated by the assignment. This is the kind of book that professionals use to do their job on a day to day basis, establishing standards for how a vast majority of the books we see in print get put together. An eyebleeding read, written entirely for reference and standardization without a single hint of humor or interest within a thousand pages of the cover.
Marketing is not as reading intensive... I just need to read a single manuscript and develop an advertising plan (1/2 page advertisement, full page press release). I have already done the bare minimum for my design class, and learned some new things about how we sell books that I had not known before bothering to look closely. It is difficult to pick out patterns when you are not being asked to look, sometimes.
Mixed in are all sorts of self-directed field trips to different kinds of bookstores, printing facilities, and the dark depths of Satan's left armpit. I have visited a chain store, and big box store, and am going to be dropping by some indy bookstores soon for comparison. I have some small hope that I can squeeze in a trip to an honest-to-god book printer before I leave.
Despite the quantity of work I have to do, I am finding it easier to make progress on the DPI work than the thesis. I think knowing there is a concrete reward for my labors helps, but I also hope my willingness to devote myself to this new work is a sign that Publishing is a good direction for me to go professionally. The main downside here is that I will get increasingly demanding of my writing, leading to endless spellchecking and revisions. What kind of editor leaves poor examples of the written word lying around for anyone to see? Ha!
The thesis work is getting put on the back-burner some as Denver gets closer, but I am still trying to make progress on it. Hopefully I can wrap it up fairly quickly when I get back, using real work as a motivation to finish up the old.
My two largest chunks of work are for my workshops in Editing and Marketing. This makes sense- those two sections will command a significant portion of my class time. I can say this, weeks out... they do not fuck around. Here are my assignments for the Editing workshop:
Read- The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. This is filled with the advice anyone who had a half-decent English teacher has heard before.
-Editors on Editing edited by Gerald Gross. A book filled with essays helping writers understand what the editor does.
-An unpublished manuscript we will be using in our classes for practical editing work.
-The Chicago Manual of Style. This is the serious business. I have never before been asked to read an entire style guide, and I am both terrified and elated by the assignment. This is the kind of book that professionals use to do their job on a day to day basis, establishing standards for how a vast majority of the books we see in print get put together. An eyebleeding read, written entirely for reference and standardization without a single hint of humor or interest within a thousand pages of the cover.
Marketing is not as reading intensive... I just need to read a single manuscript and develop an advertising plan (1/2 page advertisement, full page press release). I have already done the bare minimum for my design class, and learned some new things about how we sell books that I had not known before bothering to look closely. It is difficult to pick out patterns when you are not being asked to look, sometimes.
Mixed in are all sorts of self-directed field trips to different kinds of bookstores, printing facilities, and the dark depths of Satan's left armpit. I have visited a chain store, and big box store, and am going to be dropping by some indy bookstores soon for comparison. I have some small hope that I can squeeze in a trip to an honest-to-god book printer before I leave.
Despite the quantity of work I have to do, I am finding it easier to make progress on the DPI work than the thesis. I think knowing there is a concrete reward for my labors helps, but I also hope my willingness to devote myself to this new work is a sign that Publishing is a good direction for me to go professionally. The main downside here is that I will get increasingly demanding of my writing, leading to endless spellchecking and revisions. What kind of editor leaves poor examples of the written word lying around for anyone to see? Ha!
The thesis work is getting put on the back-burner some as Denver gets closer, but I am still trying to make progress on it. Hopefully I can wrap it up fairly quickly when I get back, using real work as a motivation to finish up the old.