Final Week: Day 3

The third day seems ok, if nothing else, it marks the halfway point. I started the day by making a couple of more showcards. This time it was meant to contain the jackets from all three of the author’s previous books and of course the one being published now. I took some blurry and generally crap pictures so I may try to post them. I more or less managed to spend three hours doing them at a very lazy pace.

After lunch I had to write another press release. It seems that the first and last week have been the most interesting and challenging. I find that strange but probably that is just me. The press release didn’t really take me too long but I don’t think that Emma has looked at it for corrections yet. She will probably do it on her own time to exercise control over me.

Having done the press release I did a bit of filing until the Mac was free and then went to work on my flyers. I finally got the specific information, so it was just a matter of playing with the jacket picture and title to make sure the right information is legible and jumps out. I showed them to Sara who recommended some additional information that should go on the flyers because the book jacket is not very indicative of the fact that this is actually a book. Additional information such as: Published by Ebury July 6th 2006, £10.99 Available at all good bookshops should be enough. This gave me some more time to play around (and stay away from filing.) Because it was decided that they should be send to professional printers we wanted them to be perfect.

The author this was being done for is Mark Thomas. He is meant to be hilarious and is very politically controversial. Having had some meaningful things to do today, I was more than happy to start a mail out for “Mr. Nice & Mrs. Marks: Adventures with Howard”. That leaves me two days from the end, a visit from my professor to see how the placement went but I am not quite sure how honest I should be with him. This remains to be seen.

Check out Mark Thomas’ homepage on the link below. A lot of it has been censored I think due to the nature of the content. But I think it would be worth trying to catch one of his shows or read the book.

http://www.mtcp.co.uk/

Final Week: Day 2

Another good day, or at least so it seemed. I used a free computer to finish my Press Release for the Time Out “Weekend Walks Near London”. When I finished I gave it to Emma to check but she didn’t have time to do so immediately. I then asked her if she had anything else for me to do, at which point she invited me to file some press cuttings. This is by far the worst job I have had to do up to this point. There are literally thousands of press cuttings lying around, probably waiting for interns like me to file away. Depressing. (Press cuttings are anything published in magazines, newspapers, etc. regarding a book or author published, in this case, by Ebury.) I don’t need to say that after about 30 minutes when Ed asked me to help him check some stock I was elated and helped him immediately.

I was even happier when I found out that the remaining order of “Salvation Creek” had come and that I could complete the mail out I had started last Friday. I never though it would reach that level. After that I got to make corrections to the Press Release that Emma managed to check and half the day seemed to have passed in a hurry.

After lunch I approached Ed concerning those flyers he had wanted me to make on Quark. He actually had time so we sat down together on the Mac. I am not too familiar with Macs yet, but I have used them once in University in a Quark crash course we had to take. Quark is an amazing program really. The kind of things you can do, combined with the overall functions of a Mac are nearly endless. The flyer concerned a book called “As Used on Nelson Mandela” by Mark Thomas and is one of those popular politics books that seem to dominate part of the consumer market nowadays. Pop-politics. It required making an attractive design and putting specific information (in this case for a special offer on it). Since we didn’t have all the info yet I just really played around with it and will hopefully get to finish it tomorrow.

Afterwards I was happy to do another mailout for Ed for a book entitled “Straight Up and Dirty”, which is in keeping with what seems to be the hottest genre in publishing. Ever since Belle de Hour: The Diary of a Call Girl was published, everybody has been more or less copying the idea. Following from that it is now becoming common to take popular blogs of women’s ‘sexual confessions and adventure stories’ and making them into books. Not much value in them other than money.

Press Release - An Excerpt

"Time Out Country Walks Near London"

The second volume of the Time Out Book of Country Walks has been fully revised and updated, featuring up to 30 walks within easy reach of London – taking you through glorious countryside, all on scenic footpaths with a minimum of road walking.

Walking Guide Highlights


Building on the success of the original book, with walks graded for difficulty and meticulous directions, this updated version is guaranteed to breathe life into the most jaded Londoner. Including anything from fun family strolls, strenuous up-hill hikes or romantic river routes, this guide has something for everyone. Explore the beautiful and pleasant greenery that is still prevalent in SE England, one of England’s highlights and great undiscovered tourist attractions; rich in history with pretty villages and full of natural beauty. Walk in the country and enjoy one of the best weekly workouts, offering a refreshing alternative to the local gym. Walking is also a great way to get out and socialize with old friends, or to meet new ones, both for locals and tourists looking to spend a cheap weekend away from a busy city life. Written and compiled by an eight year old self organised walking group, these walks are arranged every weekend all year-round, uniting a truly diverse group of Londoners.

Final Week: Day 1

A good start to the final week. Somewhat surprisingly it was in keeping with that unspoken universal law that good things come to those who wait (or a more pessimistic view that good things come too late and don’t last). I guess if it’s a universal law then it isn’t or shouldn’t really be surprising, but most things aren’t meant to make sense. Either way, I am not sure which point of view to take but perhaps the future will tell.

I started the day by trying to finish of a mailing I started on Friday for a book that’s coming out entitled “Salvation Creek”. There must easily have been over 100 copies. I ran out of books though and luckily Emma greeted me with a giant smile and a giant mail out that needed to be done. Judging by her expression I feel like I should be grateful to be able to do this. I should consider myself lucky to be in a position to stuff endless amounts of books into envelopes. No matter, I ended up mailing books until the early afternoon. Fortunately though, I also ran out of books for that mailing and after reading Publishing News extensively and checking my e-mail on a computer nearby that I had used for something briefly in the morning, I was told to write another Press Release. An excerpt from that will come out on the next blog.

I was also informed that The Times did a piece on my Fodor’s Guide to the Da Vinci Code based on the press release I had written in my first week. That was mildly and an excerpt is posted below.

The Times Saturday April 22, 2006

The World This Week

“Veni, Vinci”

‘You’ve read the book, seen the court case and got the popcorn on standby for the movie, released next month. Now there’s the travel guide of the film of the novel. Fodor’s Da Vinci Code Companion (£9.99) explores the locations and landmarks in the book, and provides maps, tips and activities for those following the Da Vinci trail. Alternatively, you could put a paper bag over your head and try to avoid the hype. Good luck.’

Jacket Meeting

It started with a briefing about books to be published next year March. In other words they were recently acquired and being pitched to the rest of the company. One was a book combining elements of poker with body language. Examples of other books on poker published by competing companies were shown to the designer and general ideas for the kind of jacket design that was wanted were discussed. The designer will come with some ideas in the next few weeks and they will then be discussed. Due to a key accounts meeting being held this Friday, some of these books, which are lead titles should be as close to being finished as possible. Close to being finished here refers strictly to having a title and a finished jacket.

Some of the ideas that were pitched by the designer sparked some interesting debate concerning font, background colour, general theme, etc. Literally every detail, down to the smallest speck of colour can be immensely significant in the overall ‘feel’ the jacket gives off. The marketing, sales and production directors were there along with two of the publishing directors and the publicity manager, Caroline. Individual editors would then be the ones in charge of briefing their titles (like the poker book above) and this generally included explaining the title, explaining some proposed designs, ideas, etc.

To publish a successful book you don’t even really need to come up with a new idea. As a matter of fact, most successful books nowadays are the complete opposite of original. Part of taking of it is taking old ideas and making them sell and that is a skill more difficult then it seems, especially if you don’t want to plagiarise. “Commercialize the content”. A maternal guide book is discarding its orthodox jacket design of having the author on it, in favour of an illustrated chick-lit design. The reasoning behind this is that they are fashionable, trendy and basically sell a hell of a lot of copies. It is still considered risky though if the author is Gina Ford, the biggest name in parenting books.

The advantage of using the same designer is that initial instructions may be minimal, as he/she will have a pretty good idea of what is expected. On the other hand though jackets can sometimes be too similar and recognizable and “fresh hand” and new ideas may actually be the best option for certain books.

Week 4: A Bleak View

This week was only four days long and pretty much lacking any excitement whatsoever. It started, as far as I can remember, with me making some more god forsaken showcards and doing a hell of a lot more mail outs. There is always the odd little job to be done for the publicity director Sara, but this usually involves photocopying and mailing books as well.

The highlight was definitely the jacket meeting I was allowed to attend on wednesday (see next entry) but I don’t really understand why it took four weeks for me to finally be allowed to sit in on one of these meetings and why it is the only one I have gone to. As a partial optimist I should really just be that that I got to go at all, but I find that easier said than done.

On Friday I had to use Sara’s computer and log unto Media Disk to search for some specific people to mail them books. The great thing about sitting in Sara’s office is the view. It is incredible. One gets to see almost all of Bloomsbury, including of course, the beautiful British Museum with its circular glass roof and the reading room protruding from the centre like its core. More impressively though is the view of the Senate House (University of London). This is, of course, where George Orwell worked for the BBC and would later serve as the architectural inspiration behind his bleak ‘Ministry of Truth’ in his novel, 1984.

Anyways, other than the view, which I guess was pretty bleak as well; the week was thankfully coming to an end. With the final week just around the corner I should really be looking for jobs and revising for exams.

Week 3: Short and Sweet

This week was a lot shorter than originally foreseen. Due to some unexpected circumstances I had to go to the German embassy on thursday to have my passport renewed. It expires in less than a month. Since it was Good Friday the following day, the week was a glorious three days short.

If my memory proves me right I spent about 90% of those three days making more showcards; sometimes as many as 16 a day, only to spend the remaining time doing the usual mind numbing mail outs. It is good to do a crossword at the same time or read The Bookseller, but unfortunately my conscience generally tells me to sit there like a mindless, unconscious zombie, trying as hard as possible to wear a smile on my face.

I think a lot of people conceive of me as being scary or having some sort of unspoken superiority complex. Angry arrogance is another description people seem to associate with me. Doesn’t matter, don’t care. (Damn, maybe it is all true after all?)

Wednesday was quite interesting I have to say. I helped Julie from the marketing department complete her Excel spreadsheet of books to be submitted to The Bookseller Buyer’s Guide. The Buyer’s Guide is a supplement of the regular magazine that appears twice a year. It contains the highlights of the spring/autumn list for publishers, chosen by The Bookseller and based on a variety of factors like saleability, originality, etc. This entailed entering ‘Biblio’ database and once again looking up Title Information on specific books (about 50 of them). This information then had to be entered into Excel and included ISBN, price, publication date, author and a general description. I did it quite quickly and most of the book descriptions could be taken directly from the Title Information on the system. Julie did recommend changes but as time ran out and I don’t feel like giving them a second of my own free time she had to do it herself the next day.

This was in some paradoxical way probably the best week I had spent at Ebury.

M.M.

Week 2: The Life of an Intern

The second week is easy to summarize and doesn't deserve the detail of a daily analysis. I almost only work on what is referred to as "slots", which is looking through all newspapers (monday to sunday) and picking out anything that has the potential for author or book publicity. This could be the 60 second interview in the Metro, or any other celebrity snippet to be found in a newspaper. Potential for interviews, profiles, articles, reviews, etc. all has to be taken into account. Although it has been beneficial to learn about papers and specific journalists, it can feel very soul destroying when the only other thing to be done in between is mailing out hundreds of books, press releases and book jackets.

On friday I had to do something slightly different, which in this case felt incredibly exciting, only because it was that little bit of variety that can make all the difference in staying positive and resigning one's self to extreme cynicsm and pessimism. The task required that I make some show cards for a book called "The Hike" by Don Shaw, for his local library where he will be due to give a talk and sign his book. This involved taking big poster boards and putting all the neccessary information on it, such as the date, an attending fee, time, etc. I also had to find a creative way to use the jacket (front and back) to make the board look attractive and interesting. My visual creativity is usually non-existent but I guess as a reaction to course of the week I surprised myself. Maybe a stifling, boring, soul destroying environment really is the ultimate creative catalyst? Then again, maybe it is only the routine of the life of an intern.

M.M.

Day 5: The Beginning of the End

Today is the last day before I will be relocated to a new table without a computer. That means a lot of the same old thing I fear. Probably doing a lot of mail outs, photocopying and all the usual stuff associated with a placement. It remains to be seen.

Using the computer and the in-house database system I complete my Da Vinci Code mailing list. Once I compiled the list of about 120 addresses I print it out on the official press release paper. All this is of course after Caroline checked it and gave me some useful advice. Since there are no jackets to send out all there is to send is a photocopy of the jacket along with the Title Information sheet from the system written by the editors. Because Fodor's guides are written and produced in the U.S., there will be no proofs and proper jackets to mail out until a couple of weeks before publication. This doesn't really seem to be a problem though as Fodor's guides are aimed at more up-market people and can in a way guarantee to be sold by bookshops, as they don't really have to compete with Lonely Planet, Rough Guides or DK. They are a category of their own really, almost like Zagat guides.

Other than that there are random mail outs to be done throughout the day. A regular friday I guess and to be honest there isn't much to say. All in all I would have to say I have enjoyed the first week and look forward to next week. I doubt I can handle all the socializing and 'lovely voiced' phone conversations. Wait and see I guess and hope its not the beginning of the end.

M.M.

Day 4: Entering the UK

The routine continues. Separate and deliver the papers in the morning. Ideally try to alternate who gets what although most people don’t really seem to read them. I guess they don’t have the time. This doesn’t really take long and after this I get to work on my second mailing list. This one is also a Fodor’s guide but the mailing list needs to be a lot more specific. The title is “The Travelling Marathoner” and as the name suggests it is about marathon running and sightseeing (simultaneously?) in the United States. I cannot imagine that many people are waiting for this book but there is some crazy stuff out there. Loads of running, marathon and specifically American tourism magazines exist that I would have never imagined. I also did not send a press release to the normal travel editors or literary supplements, as it is important not to swamp someone regularly with everything you are going to publish. They will just disregard it in the end or even worse associate you with one of your weaker titles. God knows how many titles and press releases they are send every day.

The rest of the day was spent doing some random mailings and working on my Da Vinci Code mailing list. There are now two of my press releases going around the UK.

Day 3: Getting There

I continue dividing up the newspapers at the beginning of each morning. Caroline has taken some time in the morning to sit down properly with me and look over the Press Releases I have come up with. She likes them and tells me I have done a good job. I was worried that too much of the information had either come straight from her sample or the title information sheets but she seems to have thought that it was ok. (I made sure I couldn’t be done for plagiarism.)

The next thing that Caroline showed me was a program called Mediadisk, which is a database containing very in depth media information. From regional Scottish newspapers, to local radio programs, freelance journalist and broadsheet editors. This program is used to compile a mailing list and can be adapted depending on the book in question. It is therefore relatively simple to get into niche interests, as well as mainstream consumer ones. The program is impressive and I began making a mailing list for the press releases I made of the Fodor’s guides.

The normal amount of mail outs were done throughout the day, as well as odd favours for Sara like sending individual proof copies to specific individuals. I ended the day helping the editorial department out again. This time I was looking at three of the major picture libraries to find black and white illustrations for a book pitch that the illustrated book department is doing for Marks & Spencers. It was short term but unfortunately there wasn’t much out there. I can’t remember the actual names of the libraries but will try to find out for future reference.