Artificial intelligence (AI) has been present in our lives for the past few years now. You can find it on social media, writing tools, and even in search engines. Its ever-looming presence begs the question: are we going to lose our jobs to AI?
One of the most important parts of the acquisitions process for a publisher is determining if a manuscript they are considering is likely to sell enough copies to make financial sense to publish. One of the ways publishers can determine audience interest is finding comparative titles, or comp titles. While a winning set of comp titles isn’t the secret to getting a book deal, understanding their function in publishing and having a few solid options will help any author seeking publication position their book effectively.
If you are a book publisher, perhaps I’ve just described a truly basic, almost banal aspect of your work life. If you are a planner who has ever been under the inertiatic weight of a public agency, perhaps you can see why I am so fascinated with Ooligan Press.
Thanks to the efforts of a brave few who are working to demystify the profession, learning the secret of comic book publishing has never been easier. These are among the best manuals for learning the industry; from editing to writing, art direction to professional direction, these five resources are invaluable to the aspiring comic book publisher.
November is National Picture Book Month! Although Ooligan Press does not publish picture books, we are conscious of the important benefits they have for children, such as increasing language comprehension and social-emotional development. So to honor the occasion, we will be highlighting eleven independent presses that publish a wide range of picture books for the kids in your life to enjoy.
It’s Saturday night in Portland. I’m sitting at a small table decorated with garlands of marigolds and small tea cups. Sweet incense mixes with the last breath of a candle. A wash of red light covers the room. Around a rectangular table, eight other people I have never met sit listening as once-local author Nick Jaina alternates between reading from his book Spektrum and winding melodies through the room with his guitar and voice.
Ooligan Press is a student-run trade press that operates in conjunction with the book publishing master’s program at Portland State University. Those of us inclined to bite off a bit more work operate as project managers (those who manage the publication of a book project) and department managers (those who run the various departments within the press). As copy chief it is my responsibility to oversee and edit all the copy that goes through the press.
When it comes to publishing, there’s quite a bit that goes on behind the scenes, unseen even by other people in the industry. Literary (or book) scouting is a very specific niche of the industry that often gets overlooked—even as a publishing student, it wasn’t until I got a job with a scouting agency that I fully started to understand what the job actually entails. Over the past few months, I’ve gotten an inside look into the world of scouting and the impact that scouts have on an international level. So, in the spirit of more transparency in the industry, here’s a quick run-down on scouting.
Marketing plans are a foundational document that make sure the entire process of publishing a book is cohesive, intentional, and appropriate to the audience and the goals of the book. The marketing plan is referenced in almost every other stage of the publishing process, so we have to be careful and put a lot of thought into the decisions we make because mistakes could cascade throughout the process and cause problems later.
A university press is, generally speaking, a publishing company that is housed inside an academic institution. In contrast to the “Big Five” multinational corporations in publishing, university presses are nonprofit and mission centered, although not always small.