Reading 5: Publishing Project Briefs

A Quick, Rough Timeline of Book Evolution: The Printing Press and the Internet changed Everything.

The Result: Digital books are now available for readers and companies are hyper aware of the marketing aspects of selling books.

Purpose of Books: To preserve, store, and promote information from a particular culture.

Two main elements: the implement (e.g. a pen) and the base material (e.g. paper)

Illustrating for the Modern Publishing Brief

The Main Function of a Book Cover: to stimulate sales by connecting with the potential audience by implying that this specific book is just for them.

How: 

• By attracting and intriguing the potential audience by connecting to their interests
• Factors: age, values, and tastes
• By implying an understanding of the content
• By making the book stand out among competition both face-up and spine-out
• By implying the genre of the book

The Creative Roles within a Publishing House:

• Publishing Director: responsible for purchasing manuscripts for the publishing house and coordinating a team of commissioning editors
• Commissioning Editor: works with agents and authors to acquire and shape new material
• Sales Director: responsible for sales strategy of the publishing house, including managing relationships with key sales accounts
• Marketing Director: develops pre-sale marketing campaigns for every book and coordinates their implementation across a broad range of media, as well ensuring the continued market presence of the tile through point-of sale and post-publication promotions
• Art Director: responsible for connecting book with its potential audience and communicating it's emotional promise, coordinating all visual information contained on its front, back, spine, and inside folios. Works closely with the marketing department and coordinates a team of book designers and picture researchers who work on a number of publications.
• Book Designer: responsible for overall design of a particular book, working on all typographical elements and, where necessary, locating an image (or images) within the design.
• Picture Editor (or Picture Researcher): works with art director and book designer and is responsible for the sourcing of images in and out of a book. This is creative role and requires lateral thinking to source potential imagery for a book cover; an extensive knowledge of online commercial collections, museum and gallery collections, and modern practice within the fine a applied arts; and considerable experience in terms of licensing agreements and charges for the use and reproduction of images.

Illustrating for the Modern Children's Book Brief:

Children's books are often large attractive objects that help children to learn about language and life, contain visual jokes, ad portray key aspects of a child's emotional life. Its illustrations amplify the words and help articulate aspects of life that can't be communicated with words. The story deals with a child's anxieties within a safe environment, and teaches life skills and aspects of what it means to be human.

Good children's books:

• Have a good story
• Have a strong, compelling central character (or characters)
• Are aware of their target age group
• No nudity
• Should flow well
• Have prominent main characters that are easy to identify and should look out at the reader
• Use animals a lot of the time as symbols and to avoid issues with depicting specific types of people
• Should focus on the characters an avoid visually competitive backgrounds
• Carefully consider the point of view and illustrate accordingly

Additional Creative Roles within Children's Book Publishing:

• Author: writes the story with a specific area in the market in mind. Works closely with the book's editor, and will be involved in discussion with the book designer and illustrator as the story moves through the design process from the roughs to the final layouts.
• Editor: works closely with the author and illustrator in shaping the content of the book.

Illustrating for the Modern Graphic Novel Brief:

The graphic novel has risen in prominence within the last 25 years. They are normally completely written and drawn (possibly designed as well) before the illustrator/writer seeks out a publisher and therefore is a large risk when it comes to investment of time and effort. It's looked at as more a pursuit of art than of money.

Publishing Illustration: Summary of the Procedure

1. Initial Research
2. Prospecting for Work
3. Securing the Commission
4. Starting the Work
5. Submitting the Brief
6. Producing the Final Artwork
7. Securing Payment