The University Press of North Georgia is proud to be a teaching press and is committed to providing NGCSU college students with real-life instructions and internship experience in a variety of different arenas of publishing. One of the ways this is accomplished is through the “Intro to Publishing” class offered by the English Department and taught by Dr. Bonnie Robinson, UPNG Director.
This past week, the students have focused on advertising and the role of publicists in book publishing. I remember that in this section of the class, my class had to make posters that could be displayed on other college campuses for The Basics of American Government. Thinking about how we (as college students) viewed textbooks was crucial and considering how to best target our age group as well as professors was vital. I have used the skills I learned in that class in other situations since and found this week of the class very helpful.
Corrin McDonald, a student in the current class, expressed similar sentiments:
This week’s publishing class featured quite a bit of interesting information. We began the week by working on an assignment in which we were required to view various advertisements found in book reviews, on the internet, and from any other sources we could find. By doing so, we were able to take a look at how the current book advertising world works; a lot of it, it seems, is focused on a combination of intriguing images, pictures of famous authors, and quotes which have praised the publication in question. Understanding how the current advertising world is marketing books is essential for getting into, and succeeding in, the publishing industry. Assignments such as this which allow us to examine the details of these ads helps prepare students like myself for a job in which we will be working with such advertisements. Regardless of your position in the midst of a company, knowledge about advertising – its trends and how it tries to reach audiences – equips you to have an advantage in the industry.
In addition to this, we also got the opportunity to read and ask questions about Publicists in the market and their function – something crucial to the publishing industry! Publicists (not marketers) are in charge of getting the word out about a book. Since publicists are so essential to sales, knowing the exact details of their jobs helps us get an understanding of their importance, especially in an evolving industry. Since self-publishing and print-on-demand technologies have come into the picture, the sheer volume of publications have made publicists become more important than ever in the effort to distinguish one book from another, whether it be a book that is published individually or through a company.
The knowledge gained this week about both advertising and publicists helped give me an inside view of two crucial parts of any publishing company. And this knowledge and understanding, I believe, will help set myself from others who have not had this opportunity.