Course Content and Faculty

The Publishing Institute features

• Workshop Sessions in editing and marketing
• Lecture/Teaching Sessions on a broad range of topics
• Special Sessions (including field trips)

All sessions are conducted by top professionals from the world of book publishing. During the last week of the Institute, Career Counseling and Guidance Sessions are offered. The daily schedule for the 2008 institute is now available (in Adobe Acrobat format) and will give you an idea of how we organize the four weeks.

Workshop Sessions
Not only do students learn what is involved in each of the particular processes below, they also have a chance to try their hands at actually performing the tasks they are hearing about in class. Students learn what they like doing — what they do well and develop a clear sense of their strengths and their career directions. Throughout the Workshop Sessions, lecturers and leaders provide explicit feedback and professional guidance.

Editing Workshop
Using an actual manuscript from a leading publisher, students learn editorial skills such as preparation of a reader's report, substantive manuscript editing, copy editing, and proofreading. Directed by Arnold Dolin, formerly senior vice president, Penguin USA, and associate publisher, Dutton/Signet, Gladys Topkis, formerly senior editor, Yale University Press and Karl Weber, president, Karl Weber Literary.

Marketing Workshop
Students receive practical experience in writing sales copy, including publicity releases and advertisements, and developing a total marketing plan, again using an actual manuscript from a leading publisher. Taught by Carl Lennertz, vice president, marketing/independent retailing, HarperCollins Publishers.

Lecture/Teaching Sessions
Supporting the "hands on" workshops are lecture and teaching sessions that give students a view of the various kinds of publishing. Leading executives, acknowledged as industry experts, explore a broad range of publishing issues. Here are the topics and faculty for 2008:

• Overview of Publishing (keynote address). Dominique Raccah, president and publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.
• The Role of the Editor/Acquisition of the Manuscript, Making the Publishing Decision.  Roger Scholl, editorial director, Currency and senior editor, Doubleday, both imprints of Doubleday Broadway/ Random House, Inc.
• The Role of the Literary Agent. James Hornfischer, Hornfischer Literary Management, discussing how agents work with authors in representing their books to editors.
• Editor/Author Relations. The process of "how a book is born" is demonstrated in a three-way discussion among Roger Scholl, editorial director, Currency and senior editor, Doubleday, both imprints of Doubleday Broadway/ Random House, Inc.; James Hornfischer, Hornfischer Literary Management; H. W. Brands, author of a forthcoming biography of FDR, Doubleday Broadway/ Random House, 2008.
• The Economics of Publishing. Robert Follett, president, Alpine Guild Inc., formerly chairman and president, Follett Book Company.
• University Press/Scholarly Publishing. John Drayton, director, University of Oklahoma Press, graduate of the Publishing Institute, 1979.
• E-books: An Overview. Chris Brown, reference librarian and coordinator for government documents, University of Denver.
• College Textbooks/Role of the College Sales Representative. Roth Wilkofsky, president, Longman Publishing; Reid Hester, director, college sales and marketing, Rowman and Littlefield Publishing, a 1995 graduate of the Publishing Institute.
• Production and Design. Rebecca Finkel, F+P Graphic Design.
• Copyediting and Proofreading. Alice Levine, freelance editor, formerly copy chief, Westview Press.
• Editing On-Line. Larry Borowsky, freelance editor.
• International Publishing. Ian Randle, president, Ian Randle Publishers, a 1980 graduate of the Publishing Institute.
• Legal Aspects of Publishing. Jon Tandler, Isaacson, Rosenbaum.
• The Role of the Sales Representative and Bookstore Buyer. Cathy Langer, book buyer, The Tattered Cover Book Store and David Waag, sales representative, Karel/ Dutton Group.
• Advertising and Promotion. Carolyn Schwartz, deputy director, creative marketing,  Bantam Dell Publishing Group, a division of Random House, and Kathleen Spinelli, principal, Brands-to-Books.
• Publicity. Scott Manning, president, Scott Manning and Associates.
• Wholesalers. Kent Freeman, president, Ingram Customer Systems, chief technology officer, Ingram Book Company.
• Marketing on the Internet. Peter McCarthy, director of consumer operations, Random House, Inc.
• Reference/Information Publishing in an Electronic Age.  Chris Nasso. publisher, Greenhaven Press, Lucent Books, Kidhaven Press, Thomson Gale.
• A Day with the Independent Publisher. A panel of experts from several small houses across the country. Among the 2008 panelists:

  • Karen Lotz, Candlewick Press, Cambridge, MA

  • Gary Groth, Fantagraphics, Seattle, WA

  • Marina Tristan, Arte Publico Press, Houston, TX

  • Esther Margolis, Newmarket Press, New York, NY

  • Chip Fleischer, Steerforth Press, Hanover, NH

  • Thomas Burke, Pomegranate Communications, Petaluma, CA

• Children's Book Publishing. Virginia Duncan, vice president, publisher, Greenwillow Books with commentary from the bookseller's point of view from Judy Bulow, children's book buyer, Tattered Cover Book Store
• How to Get a Job:  A Discussion on Resumes, Interviews, and Making the Connections. Susan Gordon, president, Lynne Palmer Recruitment Agency and  Robert Defendorf, human resources manager, Scholastic Inc.
• Roundtable of Publishing Institute Graduates, moderated by Elizabeth Geiser, director emerita, Publishing Institute. How they got their jobs, what they are doing now.
• A morning with Carolyn Reidy, president, Simon & Schuster, Inc., held at the beautiful Phipps Mansion, followed by awarding of certificates and a graduation luncheon.

Special Sessions
The curriculum is supplemented by special sessions and three field trips designed to give students an insider's view of the workings of a publishing house, production facilities and bookselling operations.

• Special Sessions on Career Development. During the last week there will be special sessions on resumes, interviewing techniques, making connections.  Each student will have an opportunity for a one-on-one mock interview with a seasoned publisher, and there will be just a few publishers from Colorado and other locales who will hold interviews for specific job openings. 
• Tour of Fulcrum Publishing, Inc., an exciting trade publisher with state-of-the-art production facilities in Golden, Colorado.
• Overview of Magazine Publishing. Kay Fuston, vice president and editor, Coastal Living magazine, Southern Progress Corporation, David Cator, eastern advertising manager, Coastal Living Magazine, Daniel Brogan, editor and publisher, 5280 Magazine and Marlene Blessing, editorial director, Beadwork, Stringing and Step by Step Beads magazines. This session is designed to give students a perspective on the magazine business. Although the Institute concentrates on book publishing, many P.I. graduates are working in the magazine field.