After being welcomed to Ballantine by Publisher Judith Curr, they spent the day making books. First they wrote really good stories, and then editors helped them make them even better. They signed contracts with Ballantine that paid them a quarter for each book. Then they made copies of their stories to give to the copyediting department, which checked the stories for grammar and spelling, and the copywriting department, which wrote the descriptions that go on the backs of the books. The girls drew cover art for their books.
After that it was time for lunch. At 2:00 everyone got together again to work on pictures to go inside their books, and then there was a presentation on contracts and copyright law by Random House's Chief Legal Counsel. Next, the girls worked on their press release. Meanwhile, the books had been typeset on the computer and copyedited, and the copyediting changes had been added in. The copy department had written very good cover copy describing each book and had given it to the art department, which was busy taking the cover copy and the girls' artwork and making beautiful covers out of them.
When the covers were done, the printed pages were put together with the interior artwork and placed inside the covers, then stapled together. The books were finished! And they were great. Everyone had a good time.
Use the links below to find out more about the girls who wrote the books and the way the book-publishing workshop went. You can also read the stories and the press release, and contract, too.
Special thanks to:
Editors Jenni Smith, Elizabeth Zack, and Randy Ladenheim-Gil
Mark Rifkin and the copyediting department
Grant Neumann and the copy department
Ruth Ross and the art department cover designers
Margaret Sanborn and Eleanor Lang in the Publicity department
Judith Curr and Diana Frost
And the typesetters!
Organizers: Christine Levis and Ellen Key Harris