UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

Publishing Studies

Head of Discipline
Ms Colleen Dawson

Administrator: Mrs Merle Govind
Tel no: (011) 717-4140
Fax no: (011) 717-4149

About the BA Honours in Publishing Studies:
Publishing Studies is offered as a postgraduate program in the School of Literature and Language Studies. The aim of this professionally oriented course is to prepare graduate students for a career in book publishing. The 6 modules of the course are: the Publishing environment, Copy-editing & proofreading, Sales and marketing, Commissioning & finance of new book lists, Production & design (assessed with Commissioning), Publishing management & Finance.

At the end of the course the candidate will:

have developed an informed perspective on contemporary publishing issues in South Africa and throughout the world, and apply this knowledge within specific publishing contexts.
have sufficient skills in practical areas such as copy-editing, design, production, sales and marketing to become a useful junior member of a publishing organisation in a very short time.
achieve a thorough understanding of the publishing process and all the players and subsidiary processes involved.
evaluate and make publishing proposals, bearing in mind market potential, financial viability and production requirements.
be able to develop a marketing plan for a book.
identify and analyse issues affecting the business and management operations of a book publishing company.
build critical, analytic and evaluative skills in communication, teamwork, project management and technology.
relate legislative and copyright issues to the practices of publishing.

The changes happening throughout the publishing and media industries with increasing electronic and digital means of information dissemination are discussed thoroughly, with relation to copyright, marketing, production and management issues.

Requirements:

BA Honours in Publishing Studies is suitable for graduates of almost any discipline. Acceptance to the course is the normal requirements for any Honours course at Wits, plus an entrance test which confirms the students English language and basic numeracy skills.

Assessment in all modules of the course is through research assignments. There are no exams. Each module except Production & Design contributes 20% to the overall grade for the course. Production & Design is assessed with the Commissioning & Finance module.

Students are required to have a basic working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel for doing assignments, and have continuous regular access to internet and email. Courses in these programmes are available through CNS.

Students may choose a 1 year full time or 2 year part time option. Lectures normally take place from 4-6 pm on weekday afternoons.

The programme:

Module 1: The publishing environment, AFRT4024

Lecturer: Colleen Dawson, Publishing consultant and science textbook writer

This module covers the historical, social and cultural contexts of book publishing, to complement the more practical learning about the physical, financial, editing and marketing processes involved in publishing.

In this module we look at the main players and the main trends in publishing in South Africa and the world, explore key concepts like intellectual property, consider the role of the publisher, look at the educational and economic background to publishing in SA, and explore critical ethical, social and cultural issues related to publishing. The student learns where to look up information about the book trade, and how the trade is formally organised.

Ongoing changes in the electronic and digital environments, and the legal and publishing implications are discussed.

The role of booksellers and the relationship between publishers and booksellers is included to expand students understanding of the publishing environment. How to work in teams is covered as part of the students professions development.

Module 2: Proofreading and Copy-editing in English, AFRT4014

Lecturer: Isabelle Delvare, freelance managing and copy editor

1. Proofreading practice

At the conclusion of this course you will be able to:

identify the various points at which proofreading is required during the manuscript and book production stages
identify the different types and levels of proofreading typically needed at various stages of book production
read proofs against previous stage to ensure that

- corrections have been accurately set
- errors overlooked during the editing process are attended to
- the text is stylistically consistent
- typography and layout are consistent
- word-breaks are appropriate at the various stages.
mark alterations to text and layout clearly and accurately, using widely used proofreading marks in the correct colours
collate editor s and author s alterations to text and layout, to produce a single set of proofs
identify outstanding queries and take appropriate action to resolve them
bring unresolved problems to the attention of the appropriate individuals clearly, concisely and in good time
calculate the design implications of alterations
ensure that alterations are practicable in terms of all production processes, the budget and the schedule
assess a proofreading brief and negotiate any changes necessary
communicate effectively with authors, commissioning editors, other copy editors and typesetters if required to do so.

2. Preparing a book for production

At the conclusion of the course you will be able to:

copy-edit a variety of texts (e.g. an academic text, fiction, general non-fiction, school textbooks for learners at different levels of schooling, a newsletter, a technical manual, an insert for a pharmaceutical drug) in English
assess a variety of texts to establish editorial parameters, with special emphasis on the logical organisation and the level of text
reach informed decisions regarding the relative rights and needs of authors, readers and publishers in different contexts
assess an editing brief, negotiate necessary changes and adhere to the final brief
draw up an author s queries list that is useful and tactful
understand and apply the basic principles of editing for accessibility, especially for readers whose first language is not English
understand the function of, and assess, a publisher s House Style
understand the function of, and use, a style sheet
begin to edit on screen.

Module 3: Sales and marketing, AFRT4021

Lecturer: Chris Reinders, The African Moon Press

Marketing is broadly used to describe the belief that the customer is of prime importance in business, and that success in publishing comes from anticipating the needs of the market. This is very much the principle assumed to underlie this course.

Marketing refers to a range of techniques including not just selling and advertising but also market research, product development, pricing, promotion, merchandising, direct mail, public relations, etc. Selling is and remains a very important part of marketing. In publishing terms, selling tends to refer to the actual work done by sales representatives who call on customers in person or call them by phone. In publishing, ?marketing? is often the term used to refer to all sales-related activities not handled specifically by sales representatives.

The course has three themes: Marketing Concepts, Marketing Books in South Africa, and Effective Copywriting.

Marketing is an important subject not only for students who are thinking of following a sales career, but to everyone in publishing.

Module 4: Commissioning & Finance, AFRT4007

Lecturers: Bridget Impey & Maggie Davey, Jacana Media

This module will be run as 2 interacting strands: commissioning & finance for commissioning. A commissioning editor pulls together all the strands of publishing, particularly an understanding of the publishing environment and how marketing takes place within that environment, to form the backdrop for the most important decision a publisher faces: What books to publish. The commissioning editor (sometimes called a publisher) plans ideas for books, and turns ideas into marketable reality. They commission authors to help turn the ideas into reality. Commissioning therefore refers to development of new titles by a deliberate process, as opposed to simply assessing unsolicited manuscripts coming in from authors. Most books are commissioned works, and commissioning is the central and probably the most important activity taking place in a publishing house.

A publisher must be able to cost and price a book correctly. To do this, he or she must be able to do feasibility studies, cost and price estimates, ratio analysis, etc. and be able to create ?What if?" scenarios.

Knowledge of Excel is a prerequisite for this course.

Module 5: Design and Production, AFRT4010

Lecturers: various

Design refers to the planning or drawing, whether on paper or on a computer, of a product before it is manufactured. Book design specifically refers to the general packaging or format of the book, typography and layout. The purpose of design is to make the book attractive to readers and easy to use.

Production in general refers to the making or manufacturing of goods for sale. In a publishing environment production refers to the manufacturing of books, and includes typesetting, proofing, colour repro, paper, print and bind. It deals with not only with manufacturing processes but also obtaining and comparing quotations, scheduling a book production programme, etc.

Design and production are treated here as one unit, although they are sometimes handled by separate people in a company. In many cases a company will have specialised departments dealing with design and production. The purpose of this course is to give the candidate enough of a basic grounding in the subject to enable him or her to:

handle basic production work on his or her own
have enough understanding of the process to enable him or her to brief design and production people, and check that the brief is carried out.

This module is assessed in combination with the Commissioning & Finance module.

Module 6: Publishing management and finance, AFRT4011

Lecturer: Colleen Dawson

Management refers to the running or directing of a business. Publishing houses require the same management techniques and skills as any other company. This course makes no effort to cover management as a subject in detail. It only concentrates on those aspects that a new entrant into the publishing industry needs to understand. There is inevitably considerable overlap between this section and others such as commissioning and sales and marketing. In many ways management is merely all these aspects writ large: where an individual commissioning editor needs to look at the cost implications of one title at a time, a manager needs to look at the implications of the whole list. And so on.

A publisher needs to have a firm grasp of the basics of management accounting, and must be able to understand and interpret balance sheets and income statements. He or she must understand the imperatives of profit and cash flow, and understand that as publisher his or her performance will primarily be measured against certain accounting standards. Flowing from profitability calculations on individual titles, the publisher must also be able to do budgets on entire publishing programmes, medium and long-term forecasts and learn to measure actual performance against forecast.

The course covers the following topics: