Day 14
Today was an exciting day—I was
finally able to experience what it is like to be present when an editor has
decided to acquire a book! This afternoon, Julie came over to my desk and asked
me if I would like to try my hand at creating a book proposal. Not only that,
but I also had to fill out a terms sheet and put the correct monetary figures
into an Excel graph to see what the overall investments and returns would likely
be estimated with the book being the type that it is. A book proposal form is
pretty basic—at least the ones at Charlesbridge are. On it, I typed in the name
of the book, the names of the author and illustrator, and year the book will
likely come out. Also on the proposal is a description of the book, the
editor’s vision for the book, the editor’s reason for publishing, and more
nitty-gritty information like what kind of book it is, who it’s for and how it
will be formatted, what the competition is likely to be, the reasons for why it’s
marketable, and what the author’s history is. For all of this, it was my job to
look at past book proposals for books similar to the one being acquired, and
once I had an idea of what should be said, take a go at doing it myself.
Initially, looking at the form and
the spaces where paragraphs written by me would have to go (knowing that what I
wrote would be seen by not just Julie, but also Yolanda and various others
(including the publisher)), I was terrified. The book being acquired is similar
in length and structure to Grin and Bear
It. Grin and Bear It appeared to
have a fairly enthusiastic description that was to the point. I tried my best
to mimic the enthusiasm (not difficult since the book is quite good—believe
me—I’ve read it), but later on, found out I had to be more careful with my
character and subject placement in a sentence as it can make the book appear
that one character is the focus when really another character is the main one
in the story. Also I learned to be more specific and to remove more
umbrella-like statements. For the paragraph about the vision of the book, I
looked to Julie’s emails for guidance. Seeing what she’d written as far as
critiques or praises about the book helped me to form a couple statements I
thought pretty well summed up her ideas. I did the same for the section titled
“Reason for Publishing.”
When it came to the more technical
items on the list, I opened up Google for some research. The book being
acquired is a book about two friends and their adventures together. I looked up
books using Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book websites, trying to find
books that would fit the same market as this new novel. I found four titles I
thought might be comparable. I then wrote brief plot synopsis of each book, and
put down the publisher and year of publication. In “Selling Points” I once
again looked to Grin and Bear It.
Later, I learned that there must be a thoughtful order to the points (I
know—no-brainer but I’m new at this), so if an author is well known, it is good
to mention his or her name in the first bullet-point. If the author is not as
well known, the name mentioning can be left to the last bullet if at all. I
learned to ignore the role of the parents and to focus on the kids. I also
learned not to mention the story’s moral as that can sound didactic. As Harold
Underdown says in his book, The Complete
Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books, an author should be subtle
about the “moral” of his or her book. If there is a lesson to be learned, it
can be taught through the actions taken by the characters in the book. It is
very rare when a publisher wants an author to just spell out the moral.
As for the terms sheet and graph,
these mostly required guidance from the term sheet for Grin and Bear It. It’s so strange to know how much authors are
paid, what their payments rely upon after the initial payment, and what percent
of each book sold (depending on if it is hardcover or softcover) goes to the
author. I felt like I was doing a lot of guessing, but since Julie was looking
it over, I didn’t feel too pressured.
Overall, it was an extraordinarily
fascination lesson, and beyond that, I am so excited that I got to be here to
find out that a book was being acquired!
Today I also was able to conduct an
informational interview with Karen. It was great learning about her path to
Charlesbridge, her thoughts on what makes a valuable editor, and her
recommendations for when I begin to apply for jobs in publishing. She also
looked over my questions that I will be taking to New York, and helped me to
organize them into “themed” lists. I was so grateful for her help.
Day 15
Today I received Julie’s edits on
the book proposal form and terms sheet. After doing those, I had a meeting with
Connie, who is the Managing Editor at Charlesbridge. Essentially she is the one
who keeps the wheels, nuts, and bolts well-oiled so that production goes
smoothly and on-schedule. It’s tough to keep four lists of books organized when
editors, designers, and marketers are in the process of working on multiple
lists at a time. It would be impossible to remember what books are being
copy-edited, what books are with illustrators, what books have been signed off
on, what books have jacket sketches, etc. without a calendar. Connie works to
keep the schedule up-to-date, and runs the production meetings every other
week. She also deals with reprints, accepts or rejects proofs and ozalids, acts
as a liaison between departments, preps eBooks, and creates/edits forms. She
was kind enough to do an informational interview with me, and I found her work
fascinating.
Day 16
I’m headed to the Big Apple! And
I’m meeting with all sorts of publishing folks for informational interviews! I
brought my resumé in and Karen kindly looked it over and edited it for me. As it
turns out, Karen is the resumé pro, and if I may say so, my resumé now looks
pretty swanky and awesome. After she so kindly turned my resumé into a
professional work of art, I worked on slush. It was hard to concentrate though
with thoughts of going to New York flipping around in my head.
Today we also had an editorial
meeting but it was later in the day. One of the other interns, Paige, was able
to come since it was in the afternoon, and so it was interesting to hear about
her work in customer service where she also interns.
At the end of the day, we also had
a team meeting where we got to watch videos for Pip Pig Returns and Little
Pig Joins the Band. The two books are being marketed together and the DVD
features them being read aloud Reading
Rainbow style. It was fun to watch.
Day 17
I feel I should mention the New
York trip as it was just as much a part of this interning process as being at
Charlesbridge. My trip was exciting and surprising. When I wasn’t interviewing,
I was able to take advantage of seeing the city for the first time, and that
meant seeing Broadway, taking in Times Square at night, going to the Met, and
taking a ferry past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. While I enjoyed
these ventures, however, the interviews were the most inspiring part of the
trip. While in New York I was able to interview with employees from Roaring
Brook, Putnam, and Workman. I also got to sit down briefly with Harold
Underdown, a past Editorial Director of Charlesbridge, which was equally
exciting. Most of the people I met with were editors of some kind (either associate
or assistant), though one person worked in International Marketing. I learned a
great deal from my interviews and have so many more ideas running through my
mind now about what to expect, what the process will be like, what others’
experiences have been, and more. I was able to talk about some of my favorite
books such as Water for Elephants, Mudbound, Millions of Cats, and Al
Capone Does My Shirts with people who had actually helped out/are helping
out now with those projects. I also got to talk about a recently published
manuscript of which I’ve only read the beginning, with the editorial assistant
who helped work on the book. It was incredible hearing about the process and
what she got to do throughout to bring the book to publication. All in all, I am
so grateful to every person who agreed to meet with me and who patiently sat
for and answered my questions.
As for what I did today, First
thing in the morning, I had my informational interview with Julie. Although
she’s been my mentor and guide for the past two months, it was great to be able
to sit down with her and ask the questions I haven’t had the chance to ask
before. Learning about her work and having her explain the total book
publishing process in more depth was so incredibly interesting and helpful. I
was also able to ask her advice on some things.
After the meeting, I got caught up
on slush (there was a lot of it over the weekend). One of the manuscripts was
from a child, and since Charlesbridge doesn’t publish youth submissions, I wrote
her an encouraging letter and sent along a list of publishers that would be
able to help her. It was cool reading her story though—hearing what kind of
stories a kid wants to read is the best way to know what should be published, I
think.
Today I also worked on verifying
facts for a manuscript in the process of being published. Fact-checking is such
an integral part of writing and editing—I find it exciting, but then again, I’m
a history minor.
Day 18
Today’s task was officially the
coolest thing Julie’s allowed me to do during my internship. Today I was given
the job of writing flap copies for three soon-to-be-published manuscripts. For
those unaware of what a flap copy is, a flap copy is what is written on the
inside flaps of the books when you open it up to read a short plot synopsis.
It’s also what’s at the back of the book to tell you a short paragraph about
the author and possibly the illustrator. I can’t tell you how excited I was—
how incredible it felt to be given such a task. Over and over in my head I couldn’t
help thinking about how when the book was published, if Julie and Yolanda liked
what I’d written, the only other writing inside the book aside from the story
would be what is written by me on the inside flaps. It’s a fantastic feeling.
Since my last day is tomorrow, I probably won’t know until the books come out a
year from now, just how much of my flap copy attempts made it into the final
books, but I’m going to let myself dream for now that I’ve done an incredible
job—a job worthy of going inside the books.
In order to write effective flap
copies, I looked at other books the author had written, reading those as well
as their own flap copies to get a feel for how it should sound. This method was
especially helpful with Saint Saëns:
Danse Macabre, as this is the author’s eighth book in the musical series,
and her writing is easy to get excited about. If you’re ever looking for
enlightening and creative picture books about famous composers, I highly
recommend the series by Anna Harwell Celenza. I was wowed by her ability to
combine fact with story-telling to weave a book that can level with a child
while still being informative. As someone who has sang in many choirs, I also loved
reading more about the composers whose pieces I’ve sang, and enjoyed getting to
know them on an almost personal level. It has actually changed the way I see
those composers— and and in a good way.
For the other two novels, I looked
at similar styles of books and tried to gauge what were the most important
factors of their flap copies. I noticed that many middle grade novels use
quotes to suck the reader in and make them want to continue reading. After
reading the two pieces for which I was to write the flap collies, I scoured the
pages for the quotes I’d found most impactful and eye-catching. For all three
books, I also did some research on the authors to try and put together a draft
of the information in the “About the Author” sections.
The most challenging part of the
day took place when it came time for me to write the flap copy for the third
book given to me. This was a book that asked me to step out of my comfort zone
as it was one I would not normally have picked up at a library. This book was
much darker than my typical reading list. As I read it, I found myself dealing with
a churning stomach. While the writing was well done, and the topic fascinating,
I was entirely sucked in by the circumstances within the book and the highly
unpleasant topic. As one point I went to Julie’s office and had a discussion
with her about the book. I wanted to get her advice on who I should be looking
to target in the flap copy. How should I go about promoting a book I didn’t
like? Julie could tell I was upset by the book and she was kind enough to ask
if I wanted to stop. I told her no. Even though I didn’t like the book, I felt
it was important to have the experience. I realized as I was talking to her
that this likely wouldn’t be the last time I’d have to work on a book I didn’t
enjoy, and Julie confirmed that. Part of being an editor is putting personal
feelings aside, recognizing that not everyone is going to agree with you, and
you need to think about the other readers out there. I finished the book and
wrote the flap copy. Interestingly enough, I think it turned out fairly decent.
Day 19
Sadly, today was my last day at
Charlesbridge. I cannot express how mind-blowing this internship has been, nor
can I contain my enthusiasm for what I have learned and been able to
accomplish. It has been a truly wonderful and unique experience in which I have
made measurable growth, and I feel undyingly grateful to every single employee
at Charlesbridge as absolutely everyone here has been so kind, welcoming, and
patient. I have had the most unforgettable internship experience, and am so
thankful.
As for what I did on my last day of
work, things were pretty mellow. I revised a rejection letter, worked on slush,
and attempted to remove my folder from the computer (I say ‘attempted’ because
I was not successful. Figuring out Macs is a skill I have not yet fully
mastered). During work, Julie also sat down with Page and I and went over
Charlesbridge’s book acquisition contract. Learning about the legality of
acquisition was both important and interesting. I’m glad I was able to learn
about contracts before leaving.
After work, Julie kindly took me to
dinner where we feasted on some delicious appetizers and chatted about
outside-work things. It was a wonderful way to end my time at Charlesbridge.
Next week I will be able to bring my parents in so they can see where I’ve been
working, as they are coming here to Boston for a visit. When I bring them in, I
will be able to say my final goodbyes which I am dreading… hopefully no
waterworks will be present.
Final Thoughts…
Well, this is it. For those who
have been following my blog, thank you. I am ever as much a hopeful writer as a
hopeful someday-editor. I hope the next time I am on a publisher’s website, it
will be as an employee, and then another adventure will begin.
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