Showing posts with label Frankfurt Book Fair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frankfurt Book Fair. Show all posts
Friday, 18 October 2013
The Last Page
Editorial intern Andrew is just finishing off his last day of a six-week placement. Here he shares his final thoughts...
The end is nigh – and much more peaceful than the beginning. After the mania that surrounds the build up to Frankfurt Book Fair, the calm that followed was surprisingly eerie. It was great to see the day-to-day pace of everything and know that somewhere over the sea the true publishing storm was raging and I could help out from a relatively safe distance.
Having, cut, stuck, coloured and cross-worded to my heart’s content, the last few weeks have now introduced me to creative meetings, proofreading, research, submissions and the post–room.
The team have been great at allowing me to be involved in all elements of their work and it was fantastic to sit in and hear the feedback from the fair.
It’s exciting to know I’ve had a sneak peek at what is to come (I won’t spoil it for anyone, but trust me, young readers won’t be disappointed). There will be a part of me excited to see them begin to appear on the shelves, knowing not only their quality, but also the hard work that has gone into creating them, and each book will be tinged with the happy memory of having been a part of it.
Friday, 13 September 2013
Intern-al Workings of Publishing
In the run-up to the Frankfurt Book Fair, Templar's editorial department recruited brilliantly helpful Andrew to help out. Here are his thoughts...
Starting an internship at Templar felt a lot like the first day of school. Polishing my shoes, combing my hair, not quite knowing what to expect and worrying if the bigger boys would steal my dinner money (they didn’t, they’re all lovely… and I brought a packed lunch just in case. Smart.).
As it turned out, working at Templar is EXACTLY like school, in a good way. So far this week I have cut out shapes, completed crosswords, created collages, checked my times tables and attended ‘show and tell’ – next week I’ll bring my hamster – but all of it is relevant to crafting great books for kids of all ages.
Joining Templar in the lead-up to Frankfurt Book Fair means that ideas have to be tested, lots of proofs need to be read and massive deadlines charge towards us like surprisingly large hippos (which this week – as part of my ‘work’ – I learned can run at 30mph!).
It makes for an exciting time and a great opportunity for me to learn all elements of the publishing world, but most importantly I’ve learned that all those years at primary school REALLY paid off. Not just the boring bits. There are great jobs out there for everyone, no matter what your favourite lesson was.
Starting an internship at Templar felt a lot like the first day of school. Polishing my shoes, combing my hair, not quite knowing what to expect and worrying if the bigger boys would steal my dinner money (they didn’t, they’re all lovely… and I brought a packed lunch just in case. Smart.).
As it turned out, working at Templar is EXACTLY like school, in a good way. So far this week I have cut out shapes, completed crosswords, created collages, checked my times tables and attended ‘show and tell’ – next week I’ll bring my hamster – but all of it is relevant to crafting great books for kids of all ages.
Joining Templar in the lead-up to Frankfurt Book Fair means that ideas have to be tested, lots of proofs need to be read and massive deadlines charge towards us like surprisingly large hippos (which this week – as part of my ‘work’ – I learned can run at 30mph!).
It makes for an exciting time and a great opportunity for me to learn all elements of the publishing world, but most importantly I’ve learned that all those years at primary school REALLY paid off. Not just the boring bits. There are great jobs out there for everyone, no matter what your favourite lesson was.
Frankfurt Book Fair: behind-the-scenes
Team Templar thought it might be time to give you a bit of an insight into what the editorial department do – and where better to start than with the work we do to prepare for a book fair?
Part of my job as Junior Editor is to co-ordinate the editorial push towards each fair, so right now it's all-systems-go for the Frankfurt Book Fair taking place in early October. This is the world's biggest book fair, and it's a valuable opportunity for Templar's sales team and creative director to meet foreign publishers to discuss buying and selling book rights.
As such, there's a massive in-house effort to prepare the best possible material for our sales team so they can shout about the brilliant books we're producing – nothing makes us happier than when we know the hard work of our talented authors and illustrators is being enjoyed by children around the world.
Preparation begins months beforehand, as we start to tie down the list of titles that we'll be taking to sell. If the books are already underway, then all that's left to do is to carry on putting it together – but if it's a new project, then development work by authors and illustrators needs to start, editors put together book plans, production controllers start discussing prices with printers and designers start thinking about cover designs.
At the end of August, things really start to hot up. I build a document known as 'Frankfurt in 5 Minutes', in which editors cram their books' specification, content, schedule, RRP, publication date and cover into a tiny entry. About 200 books go to the fair, and we arm our sales team with as much information as possible in just 20 A4 pages.
That document is invaluable to sales team when they're out at the fair, but it's also used in-house during 'Show and Tells'. Here, the creative, production and sales teams all squeeze into the boardroom for day-long meetings in which editors and designers show the sales guys the amazing books we're developing. Hearing about the books straight from the people who are putting them together means that the sales team go away fired with enthusiasm, knowing why we decided each book was so brilliant it needed to be published.
I also ensure the editors are busy producing advance information sheets, known as 'AIs'. These A4 sheets are sent out to prospective foreign publishers, as well as bookshops in the UK, to tell them all about our upcoming programme. They're filled with details about the books, the authors and illustrators, how they can order and what the books look like. Last book fair, we created 208 AIs in four weeks – phew.
After hundreds of AIs, tens of file uploads to iPads, 3 Show & Tells, and one lorry filled with our sales material, we wave farewell to the sales team and head to the pub! However, at the moment, that feels like a distant dream. Yesterday was our first Show & Tell for this fair, and it went really well. Still, there are two more to go, 150 AIs left to create and about half of 'Frankfurt in 5 Minutes' still to go. In that case, I best be off...
Part of my job as Junior Editor is to co-ordinate the editorial push towards each fair, so right now it's all-systems-go for the Frankfurt Book Fair taking place in early October. This is the world's biggest book fair, and it's a valuable opportunity for Templar's sales team and creative director to meet foreign publishers to discuss buying and selling book rights.
Meetings at last year's Frankfurt Book Fair
As such, there's a massive in-house effort to prepare the best possible material for our sales team so they can shout about the brilliant books we're producing – nothing makes us happier than when we know the hard work of our talented authors and illustrators is being enjoyed by children around the world.
Preparation begins months beforehand, as we start to tie down the list of titles that we'll be taking to sell. If the books are already underway, then all that's left to do is to carry on putting it together – but if it's a new project, then development work by authors and illustrators needs to start, editors put together book plans, production controllers start discussing prices with printers and designers start thinking about cover designs.
At the end of August, things really start to hot up. I build a document known as 'Frankfurt in 5 Minutes', in which editors cram their books' specification, content, schedule, RRP, publication date and cover into a tiny entry. About 200 books go to the fair, and we arm our sales team with as much information as possible in just 20 A4 pages.
'Fair in 5' documents going back years...
That document is invaluable to sales team when they're out at the fair, but it's also used in-house during 'Show and Tells'. Here, the creative, production and sales teams all squeeze into the boardroom for day-long meetings in which editors and designers show the sales guys the amazing books we're developing. Hearing about the books straight from the people who are putting them together means that the sales team go away fired with enthusiasm, knowing why we decided each book was so brilliant it needed to be published.
I also ensure the editors are busy producing advance information sheets, known as 'AIs'. These A4 sheets are sent out to prospective foreign publishers, as well as bookshops in the UK, to tell them all about our upcoming programme. They're filled with details about the books, the authors and illustrators, how they can order and what the books look like. Last book fair, we created 208 AIs in four weeks – phew.
Hard at work on AIs
After hundreds of AIs, tens of file uploads to iPads, 3 Show & Tells, and one lorry filled with our sales material, we wave farewell to the sales team and head to the pub! However, at the moment, that feels like a distant dream. Yesterday was our first Show & Tell for this fair, and it went really well. Still, there are two more to go, 150 AIs left to create and about half of 'Frankfurt in 5 Minutes' still to go. In that case, I best be off...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)