the great lost art of publishing
i want to publish children's books. and i don't mean i want to go the way of Jamie Lee Curis or Madonna and write cloying, sickly-sweet, nauseating kids fiction books. i mean i want to design and print real educational children's books like i used to. no more of this "ancillary-this" or "curriculum-that." no "what does the sales team think" bullshit. nothing but an author, an editor, a designer and a printer. one book at a time. no flash cards, no posters, no state standards. no teacher's editions, student editions, black line masters.
kids have been reading since the dawning of the written word. i don't understand why publishers have made it so fucking complicated to teach kids to read. you know how to teach a kid to read? READ THEM A FUCKING BOOK. every day. every night. all the time. buy them books to read. take them to the library. it's so damn easy and we make it so hard, with state standards, state adoptions, leveled-readers, decodable books. i learned about the kn- sound by having someone READ IT TO ME. you don't need to devote an entire TE chapter to it.
the only thing that holds me back from this is the ability to sell them and make money. i could publish all i want right at this moment... i know how to do it from start to finished book. but who would sell them and not tell me "oh, can you make that font on the cover pink instead of green?" anyone out there?
and how would i pay them? could i get a grant to make reading and publishing easier? all of the business models make me want to puke. i'm not out to grow 400% in two years. i need five people at most in the beginning. maybe 10 in the next 5 years. i do not want to acquire any larger publishers, nor do i want to be bought out by a larger publisher. i want to page layout for kids that doesn't require rubrics or graphs. remember pictures? i haven't designed with full color photos in 5 years. unless you count marketing pieces, which i don't. there is nothing educational about marketing.
anyone who is reading this probably knows why i feel like this. i am trying to relive my first job. maybe some people think i'm trying to relive my mid-20s. but it's more about getting back to the basics of reading. having good, decent books to read to kids. that kids would want to read. and i'm tired of applying to companies that either aren't hiring or don't want me. National Geographic? yes, i would LOVE to work for them. their Evanston office is more editorial than design. oh, and a lot of publishers are sending design overseas. you know what? i'd rather go broke paying local designers $10 a page than to ship my stuff overseas to save a few bucks and spend 90% of my time trying to tell them how to do a damn decent job.
i just want a job i enjoy again. i enjoyed learning while i worked. that happened to some extent at ALA, but i don't really have any applicable reason to use MARC records or how to catalog my reference department.
another thing i would avoid like the plague is this constant need to have interactive bullshit online. the only thing that would be online is the catalog. and maybe some web sites that have to do with the subject at hand. no ereaders, no leap frog, no interactive anything. pick up the book, turn the page. that's how one should interact with a book.
the printed page is becoming obsolete. maybe i shouldn't invest in a dying medium. or maybe by doing this, we can keep it alive.
where do i begin?
if you were a kid, what kind of books would YOU like to read?
kids have been reading since the dawning of the written word. i don't understand why publishers have made it so fucking complicated to teach kids to read. you know how to teach a kid to read? READ THEM A FUCKING BOOK. every day. every night. all the time. buy them books to read. take them to the library. it's so damn easy and we make it so hard, with state standards, state adoptions, leveled-readers, decodable books. i learned about the kn- sound by having someone READ IT TO ME. you don't need to devote an entire TE chapter to it.
the only thing that holds me back from this is the ability to sell them and make money. i could publish all i want right at this moment... i know how to do it from start to finished book. but who would sell them and not tell me "oh, can you make that font on the cover pink instead of green?" anyone out there?
and how would i pay them? could i get a grant to make reading and publishing easier? all of the business models make me want to puke. i'm not out to grow 400% in two years. i need five people at most in the beginning. maybe 10 in the next 5 years. i do not want to acquire any larger publishers, nor do i want to be bought out by a larger publisher. i want to page layout for kids that doesn't require rubrics or graphs. remember pictures? i haven't designed with full color photos in 5 years. unless you count marketing pieces, which i don't. there is nothing educational about marketing.
anyone who is reading this probably knows why i feel like this. i am trying to relive my first job. maybe some people think i'm trying to relive my mid-20s. but it's more about getting back to the basics of reading. having good, decent books to read to kids. that kids would want to read. and i'm tired of applying to companies that either aren't hiring or don't want me. National Geographic? yes, i would LOVE to work for them. their Evanston office is more editorial than design. oh, and a lot of publishers are sending design overseas. you know what? i'd rather go broke paying local designers $10 a page than to ship my stuff overseas to save a few bucks and spend 90% of my time trying to tell them how to do a damn decent job.
i just want a job i enjoy again. i enjoyed learning while i worked. that happened to some extent at ALA, but i don't really have any applicable reason to use MARC records or how to catalog my reference department.
another thing i would avoid like the plague is this constant need to have interactive bullshit online. the only thing that would be online is the catalog. and maybe some web sites that have to do with the subject at hand. no ereaders, no leap frog, no interactive anything. pick up the book, turn the page. that's how one should interact with a book.
the printed page is becoming obsolete. maybe i shouldn't invest in a dying medium. or maybe by doing this, we can keep it alive.
where do i begin?
if you were a kid, what kind of books would YOU like to read?
posted by mikraas at 2:54 PM
2 Comments:
I liked reading the abridged, modern English versions of the Greek myths that I found in my brother's Great Books set. I just liked the simple stories like Narcissus looking at himself in a pool, or Persephone disappearing into the underworld once a year only to return to make the world bloom again in the spring.
I don't think books are going to die. We're not all going to run out and get Kindles, nor are we going to have USB ports installed in our cerebral cortexes. TV didn't eliminate radio or the movies, and the internet didn't eliminate TV, though they are all going to have to change and the older technologies will probably have reduced roles. Some media have all but disappeared--cassettes, CB radio, LP records--but I don't think books will be among these--not any time soon. They're just too damn useful, and they don't need electricity, logins, monthly subscriptions, access to a 3G network, or a battery charger. You just read 'em.
I think back on that time period a lot as well. And you are right, it's not about reliving our mid-20s -- it's about that awesome time in our lives when we had a job we enjoyed AND believed in. *sigh* I miss it, too.
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