Arts and Humanities Commons^™

An Industry-Standard Profit And Loss Statement For Book Publishing Professionals In The United States, Jackie Krantz

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Title profit and loss statements (P&Ls) in book publishing are valuable predictive tools for newly acquired titles. They inform the press on how money will be moving through the press in relation to the book’s production, revealing the book’s estimated value and level of profit. However, there is no industry-standard template. This lack of a template makes it difficult for new industry professionals to learn about P&Ls; prevents knowledge of one press’s P&L from being transferrable throughout the industry; and causes smaller presses to potentially neglect this useful tool due to the steep learning curve. The solution is to create …

The Satisfaction Clause In Publishing Agreements: A Case Study Of Its Purpose, Controversy, And Future, Maliea Ruby

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

This research paper examines the satisfaction clause included in publishing contracts, the reason for controversy surrounding it, and what the future may look like for it. This is accomplished by looking at the history of the clause, how it functions in publishing contracts, and three major court cases centered around it. The satisfaction clause allows a client seeking a job done to determine whether the work is satisfactory to them. Much of the time these contracts are written to favor the client, part of the reason for its controversial status. In the context of publishing, the satisfaction clause is important …

Reactions To Latinx Children’S Picture Books From Indie Presses: An Analysis Of Online Consumer Reviews, Karina L. Agbisit

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

This study analyzed online consumer reviews of children's picture books published by three small, independent presses focused on providing representation of Latinx people and culture. Reviews showed an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the use of bilingual text. Reactions to the use of illustrations support research indicating a preference for bright, colorful images. Additional themes that emerged in reviews include the timeliness of a bilingual book about expressing feelings in the first year of the Covid pandemic; the importance of personal connections to expressions of culture and traditions in the text; the pros and cons of using photographs instead of illustrations; …

Examining The Discovery Behaviors Of Comics Consumers, Tara Mccarron

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

The comics consumer base is big and it’s only getting bigger. And yet, very little research has been done on the consumer behavior of comics reads. In order to broaden the accessibility to comics consumer research, this paper examined the discovery behavior of 56 survey participants. The survey included questions pertaining to demographics, frequency of comics consumed, genres of comics consumed, formats used to consume comics, and methods used to discover comics. Due to limited scope, this paper focused solely on format preferences, discovery preferences, and the most-popular genre preferences. Based on this research, graphic novels remained the preferred format …

Struggling To Thrive: Nyc Publishing Salaries In The Age Of Inflation & Implications For Diversifying The Publishing Workforce, Em Villaverde

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

This research delves into the conundrum of New York City’s publishing sector, where passion drives more than profit. This paper reviews the impact of inflation and rising living costs on entry-level book publishing roles within NYC, unraveling the implications for diversity within the industry.

The central question investigates how the combination of inflation and living expenses influences the feasibility of jump-starting a publishing career in one of the most expensive cities—and the largest publishing hub—in the US. The study spotlights not only barriers to entering the industry but also the exacerbated challenges faced by BIPOC professionals.
The research zooms in …

Metadata Decentralized: An Examination Of Folksonomy In Book Publishing, Dani Tellvik

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Classification of materials as multifaceted and complex as books is fraught with competing needs and idiosyncratic forms of expression and organization. A publisher’s primary goal is to position their books in a way that will attract readers who find value in the books. Book Industry Standards and Communication (BISAC) codes, the list of industry-approved subject headings, are essential to a book’s metadata for North American publishers. They are used to strike the balance so that a book blends in to an established category while also standing out as a particularly compelling of unique expression or the chosen classification.

Building A Humanities-Focused Creative Industries Minor At Portland State University, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

"Building a Humanities-Centered Creative Industries Minor at Portland State University" is a presentation made by Kathi Inman Berens representing collective work by Berens, Dr. Rachel Noorda and Dr. Susan Kirtley (all of Portland State; see slide 2). Identifies opportunities for a humanities-focused minor in creative industries instruction in the U.S., using Ooligan Press of the PSU Book Publishing Master's program as a curricular model of experiential learning.

You Need This: Global Fast Fashion, Environment, And Consumption Culture, Alexandra Lamm

Student Work

In looking at how global production of clothing has increased and shifted, we see the impacts in places like workers rights, environmental issues and cultural consumption. Although vastly different, through examination we will see how all are intrinsically linked. We have reached a truly global economy, and even when threatened with negative consequences of mass consumption in our daily lives, the road to actual change in the fashion industry becomes harder in time due to our dependency on the industry as a whole.

The Many Moving Parts Behind Brandon Sanderson’S Record-Breaking Kickstarter Campaign, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

The creation and fulfillment of Sanderson’s Kickstarter relies on a crack team managing massive amounts of data as well as all aspects of production. Sanderson had been running a multi-million-dollar, mid-sized publishing company well before his March 1, 2022 Kickstarter shot north of $28 million in two weeks, making it the biggest campaign—for now—in Kickstarter history.

Publishing In The Pacific Northwest, Kathi Inman Berens, Rachel Noorda, Nathalie Op De Beeck

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Overview of how 11 Pacific Northwest booksellers survived Covid, and continue to thrive after pandemic lockdowns have lifted. After many consumers shifted to online book buying, what techniques are these book stores using to attract and keep customers?

Book Readers Who Are Buccaneers And Buyers, Rachel Noorda, Kathi Inman Berens, Chris Kenneally

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

These readers buy, subscribe to, and borrow books at higher rates than the general population. They engage at higher rates in fan fiction and discover new authors across multiple media, including streaming movies and television. These readers are also pirates.

Immersive Media and Books 2020 is the first study to capture data expressly about how people engage with books, video games, film, and TV. The final report focuses sharply on reader behavior across a wide range of demographic groups, based on surveys conducted before and during the pandemic.

Co-authors Dr. Rachel Noorda and Dr. Kathi Inman Berens probe especially for …

What Compels Millennial Parents To Buy Books For Their Children?, Emma Wolf

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Millennials (those born between 1981-1996) make up the largest generation in U.S. history, and due to their relatively recent entrance into parenthood, there is little preexisting information available about their purchasing habits, which differ greatly from those of previous generations (McGee). Now that millennials are becoming parents, companies targeting the children of this generation—including those in the book publishing industry—would benefit from a better understanding of how and why this demographic chooses products; this paper focuses on how they buy books for their children. Through academic research and a survey of 150 participants, several indicators were discovered regarding how millennial …

Woman Turned Warrior: An Analysis On The Strong Female Character Trope And The Influence It Has On Gender Stereotypes Through The Use Of Back Cover Copy, Alexandria Gonzales

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

This research paper analyzes the language of young adult fantasy back cover copy and how the language is used within the Strong Female Character trope that is often found in fantasy fiction. The paper also looks at the influence this trope has on perpetuating gender stereotypes. This was done through the use of content analysis—word frequency, gendered word analysis, and thematic coding. Gendered word analysis provides qualitative evidence for the presence of gendered language in back cover descriptions, while word frequency and thematic coding provide additional context. The research found that there is a bias toward portraying women characters with …

Ooligan Press: Building And Sustaining A Feminist Digital Humanities Lab At A R-2, Kathi Inman Berens, Abbey Gaterud, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

How can practitioners outside of R-1s afford to build a DH lab? How to connect a lab’s output to the communities it serves? This essay is a case study of Ooligan Press, a student-run trade press housed within a R-2, teaching-intensive university. Two elements make Ooligan Press distinctive as a DH lab. First, Ooligan is a not-for-profit business folded into a Master’s program in Book Publishing. Profits from sale of Ooligan Press books sustain the lab, which would collapse if its books were steadily unprofitable. Second, the essay uses the DH feminism “M.E.A.L.S.” framework to explain how Ooligan's horizontal management …

A Major Motion Picture Or Just A Picture? An Analysis In Movie Tie-Ins Vs. Original Cover Art, Vivian Nguyen

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

It has been believed that the needs of consumers who are primarily readers versus moviegoers greatly differ; those who are readers are more likely to purchase a book that features the original cover art, while those who are mostly moviegoers gravitate toward movie tie-in covers. This paper examines the accuracy behind that belief by calculating the number of book sales from NPD BookScan, as well as collecting survey data from participants across all reading activity levels.

Analysis revealed that though there is a slight difference in amount of preference based on reading group, overall participants overwhelmingly preferred the original cover …

Pottermore, A Case Study: What Publishers Can Learn About Developing Interactive Transmedia In The Post-Web Age, Megan Crayne

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

15 years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling’s magical world would be transformed into an interactive, playable website called simply Pottermore. It included all the elements that dominate successful interactive transmedia: exclusive narrative content that brought readers into the storyworld, spaces for members to create and build virtual communities, interactive gameplay, and additional forms of transmedia available for purchase. Then in 2015, Pottermore Publishing launched a major redesign of Pottermore in the face of declining eBook and audiobook sales.

By comparing and contrasting the three versions of Pottermore (Old, New, and now Wizarding …

Diversity In Ya: A Look At How Book Description Language Talks About Race, Brittney Finato

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

When exploring young adult literature, it is specifically important to research racial diversity because it can help show particular stereotypes, biases, and tropes that may be used in YA overall. This helps inform current issues or excellencies in the canon and leads to broader discussions about the importance of racial, and other, diversity in books generally. By developing methods to isolate racially diverse books in YA, extracting specific language from their Goodreads copy, and talking broadly about overall themes, I will analyze the types of language that book descriptions use when talking about race, if they do at all.

How To Edit Controversial Texts, Nicholas M. Shea

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

In a time where political tensions are at an all-time high, this paper examines the role of editors when faced with potentially controversial works—whether it’s a manuscript with a few minor offensive elements or a manuscript with an overarching provocative theme. The responsibilities of developmental editors and copyeditors are evaluated to find a common interest, prior to delving into the intricacies of editing a polemical text. Topics include: What constitutes a controversial work, and who decides? How do the roles of developmental editors and copyeditors relate to audience? How can editors remain neutral? How can editors use their neutral positioning …

Trends In Marketing For Books On Animal Rights, Gloria H. Mulvihill

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Though many of us have heard the mantra that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, marketers in book publishing bank on the fact that people do and will continue to buy and read books based not only on content, but its aesthetic appeal. This essay will examine the top four marketing trends that can be observed on the Amazon listings for books published on animal rights within the last ten years, specifically relating to titles, cover design, and the intended audience. From graphic adaptations of animals to traditional textbook approaches and animal photography, publishers are striving to evoke …

The Role Of Ethics Online And Among Social Media Designers, Meredith James

School of Art + Design Faculty Publications and Presentations

As communication designers, our roles have changed greatly with the technological advancements of the Internet and social media. With these vastly changing roles are equal (and often problematic) demands on designers to act as ethical interventionists. In specific, designers are more and more frequently finding themselves in roles of arbitration and decision-making surrounding ethical concerns. Such decisions span everything from what is to be considered “allowable content” (breastfeeding, for example) to deciding how our devices respond to crisis (Miner, et al., 2016). I intend to present several case studies of designers placed in authority positions centered around ethics and new …

525,600 Minutes: How Do You Measure Cultural Diversity In Oregon Trade Publishing?, Alyssa Gnall

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

In this paper I will explore the ongoing conversation about the state of diversity in the publishing industry, the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a bastion of diversity relative to New York City, and whether and how the economic concept of cultural diversity can be useful to publishers committed to increasing diversity in their lists or amongst their staff. Generally speaking, the term “diversity” refers to the social choice to be inclusive of everyone regardless of race, sex, class or economic status, etc. In this paper, I will also refer to the economic concept of cultural diversity. In publishing, …

Dismantling The Gate, Crossing The Threshold: The Promise Of Producerly Paratexts In Building An Innovative, Responsive, And Representative Book Industry, Dory Athey

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Aisha Saeed was the first to use the hashtag that would fuel what was (and continues to be) arguably the first digital campaign to speak loudly and directly to publishers and booksellers about the mis-and underrepresentation of nonwhite, differently abled, and queer populations in young adult and children’s literature. Though Saeed’s original tweet received only eleven retweets and seven likes, two years later, the #WeNeedDiverseBooks hashtag is now just a piece of the larger organization that generated more than 333,000 dollars in 2014 (its first year as an organization) and continues to promote large-scale programming in schools, organize festivals, award …

Elevating The Translator: Next Steps In Promoting International Literature, Olenka Burgess

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Enthusiastic readers both inside and outside the publishing industry have lamented the paucity of international literature translated into English. Despite the widely held belief that translated literature doesn’t sell, small presses and literary organizations have emerged over the past decade to take the lead in advocating for more translated literature and more recognition for those who, despite the near impossibility of making a living from their craft alone, continue to spill unfathomable hours into the pursuit of literary translation. In response to this advocacy, media coverage of translated literature has grown considerably, and it is increasingly common to see translations …

How To Be In Charge (And Make Authors Do What You Tell Them): An Examination Of Editorial Authority In Letters Written By Trade Fiction And Nonfiction Editors, Emily Goldman

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

This paper will introduce and discuss the ways in which six different editors of trade fiction establish their own authority as editors in their developmental letters to their authors. These particular editors edit a wide range of genres, such as literary fiction, adult fantasy and science fiction, middle grade fiction, short story collections, memoirs, and nonfiction. Some are (or have been) editors for big New York publishing houses, and others are part of small, independent presses. One editor is currently a literary agent, and another does freelance editing in addition to working at a publishing house. All six of them …

Anarchism In Book Publishing: An Exploration Of Business And Ethics, Alexis M. Woodcock

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

The term anarchist business may seem like an oxymoron to some. In fact, the misconception that anarchism precludes any organization at all is rampant, regardless of participation in capitalism. The fact remains that there are anarchist businesses all over, from restaurants to bookstores to record labels, engaging in capitalism while simultaneously opposing it. Publishing is an area of particular interest, with a number of explicitly anarchist presses actually thriving. How do they reconcile their businesses with their ideals? Does their work contradict their ideologies?

Foreign Word Alert, Foreign Word Alert: Rethinking Editorial Approaches To The Italicization Of Foreign Terms, Katey Trnka

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Several style guides dictate that foreign words in running text be set in italics, but those individuals concerned with marginalization are questioning this rule in increasing numbers. With an eye to authorial intent and inclusiveness, is it time to do away with this stylistic dictum wholesale, or are there valid reasons for keeping this convention in play?

Publishing Puzzles: Some Implications Of Literary Diffculty For The Editor, Brendan Brown

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

The specter of literary difficulty is at bottom the very same as, or a primary aspect of, that which has dogged and driven textual scholars and literary theorists, linguists and philosophers of language, educators, legislators, theologians, and aesthetes—in short, “professional readers” of all stripes—from time immemorial. As such, it carries with it a bevy of unknowns, questions thus far neither satisfactorily answered nor, in many cases, even fully and properly articulated. This likely has a great deal to do with the fact that the term difficulty is and has historically been applied in a variety of senses to a radically …

We’Ll Want It When We Say We Want It: How The Market Speaks To The Publishing Industry Via Crowdfunding, And Why Publishers Should Listen, Alan Scott Holley

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

With its utilization of an environment as fluid and innovative as the internet, it’s no wonder that the digital revolution is an ongoing phenomenon that is reinvigorated time and time again with no signs of slowing down. As advanced digital technologies and practices are rolled out by developers and embraced by consumers, commercial companies are thrust headlong into a necessitated showing of adaptability, progressiveness, and up-to-the-minute technological fluency. For the publishing industry, these expectations have been met with a slow yet relatively steady adherence—an understandable reaction considering how so many digital innovations appeared at the time to have the express …

This Is Your Brain On Editing: How Digital Tools Affect The Cognitive Processes Behind Copyediting, Megan Doyle

Book Publishing Final Research Paper

Copyediting is an important mechanic in developing content, and it has many functions to do so, including mechanical editing, correlating parts, language editing, content editing, permissions, and typecoding. In recent years, copyediting has almost exclusively become a task that is done by digital means, using computers and software to complete via track changes, callout queries, and typing. Although publishing professionals in recent years have shown a trend toward younger age demographics, a significant portion of them are “digital immigrants” using digital technology to do their daily jobs. In order to study digital technology’s effects on copyediting, I analyzed the cognitive …

Changes In Tone, Setting, And Publisher: Indigenous Literatures Of Australia And New Zealand From The 1980s To Today, Per Henningsgaard

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines four novels written since 1980 by two Aboriginal Australian authors and two Maori authors. Two of the four novels were written near the beginning of this period and feature settings that are contemporary with their publication; The Day of the Dog by Aboriginal Australian author Archie Weller was published in 1981, while Once Were Warriors by Maori author Alan Duff was published in 1990. The other two novels (That Deadman Dance by Aboriginal Australian author Kim Scott and The Trowenna Sea by Maori author Witi Ihimaera) are works of historical fiction written in the last decade. The …