Researching the Process

Problem

Overview
Children’s nonfiction publishing is a large and booming business that has been around for many years. This genre of publishing normally sells to schools and libraries, which means the company is marketing to librarians, teachers, administrators, and sometimes even parents. The complication to this set-up is that these constituents are not the end-users—the students are.

There are many parts to a book series, and a great deal of research goes into each series well before it is even pitched to the editorial board and publishers. From what I have observed, there are four parts to the research: What is the competition? How will this series fit into curricula across the nation? How long of a commitment will the publishing house be able to make to this series? How will this be marketed to libraries and schools? From this information, I can begin to see what is important to editors and publishers. But there are questions underlying these seemingly simple inquiries:

–What is a successful book series, and how do we use this information to consistently create high-quality nonfiction literature for children?

– What aspects of the books are generated with the teachers/librarians in mind, and what parts are for the students?

–Furthermore, what aspects come to the fore when marketing?

In essence, this project will help me to understand what is more important—the students’ needs or the bottom line. Or can we balance the two to create a successful series? I hope to prove the latter.

Hopefully, this project will also help other editors and up-and-coming children’s writers learn how to balance the needs of all the users of a children’s nonfiction book series while maintaining the integrity of the content.

Implications
If I am able to create an outline that shows how to balance the needs of all users of a children’s nonfiction series, I may be able to help other editors streamline research and production, as they will be able to balance the needs of all the users without having to backtrack during production if one of the users’ needs suddenly outweighs the others.

Also, after creating the book series with all users’ needs balanced and all the required research outlined clearly, I would like to pitch this idea to several children’s nonfiction book publishers. Hopefully, the series will be accepted, and I could possibly become a freelance editor or writer for them. This project could potentially jump-start my career in book publishing, which is important to me indeed.

Research Question
How do we (children’s nonfiction editors) balance the needs of all the various constituents (parents, teachers, librarians, administrators, students) to produce a quality book series?

Background

Personal
As an editor who wishes to pursue a career specifically in children’s nonfiction, I have a vested interest in the outcomes of this study. After my brief experience in children’s book publishing this summer, I have come to realize the importance of this field—we are shaping the knowledge of children. It’s a big responsibility, though many editors may not realize this. This project may show these editors the importance of their work all the while helping them to create successful, meaningful book series.

Contextual Significance
After having spoken with many authors who are interested in breaking into the field of children’s nonfiction or fiction, I have come to realize the stigma that is associated with the genres. Many writers are concerned that their ideas are too small, or too large, or not right for the field. If I am able to help editors with this process, I may also help writers to put their fears at bay and attempt to get their ideas published.

There are many talented writers who care about children’s literature, but they are put-off by the reputation publishing has. If I am able to create an outline or rubric for writing nonfiction, more ideas may be published, which will also benefit our young people. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than that.

Methodology

Overview
A literature review will be conducted in order to establish this project in the larger context of academia, though from the little research I have done thus far I believe there is nothing specifically on this topic, which allows my project to take the lead in this research but also causes a decent amount of alarm regarding the compiling of a literature review.

On that note, I plan to use theories of user-centered design in order to look at the needs of the users and how they interact. Though there doesn’t seem to be any articles written specifically about user-centered design in regards to book publishing, I hope to use these theories to analyze the editing process in children’s book publishing.

In order to fully understand the process of planning a children’s nonfiction book series, I will be researching and designing a book series that I came up with during a brainstorming session this summer at Lerner Publishing Group. I will do the normal research for a book series, which includes the four questions I summarized in this statement’s overview. I will outline the titles of the books and perhaps the interior, including back matter. I do not plan on writing the books for this project, as time does not allow this sort of commitment, though if the series is picked up by a publisher, I hope to be writing the texts after that point.

Since planning a book series also forces me to look at the process from an author’s standpoint, I will also research what the publishing industry has told writers about getting published. I have already done some preliminary research on how to write and publish for children, and there is a great deal of resources out there on this topic. This information will help me to get into the mindset of the writer and understand their viewpoint on the users, though their focus may be mainly on the students’ needs.

In order to get a handle on book publishing from an editor’s point of view, I will be conducting several interviews with children’s nonfiction book editors. Because there is so little written on editing, especially children’s nonfiction editing, I hope these interviews, and possibly viewing a pitch session, will help to shed light on the editor’s vision of a book series.

Constraints
As an editor with a writing background, I understand that I am able to observe publishing from both viewpoints. This can be helpful but also harmful because I am apt to put the students’ needs first. I do not have much experience with marketing, so this may be a part of my research, as well. I know that publishers need to make money, and editors are an important part of that process, but I have not acquired much information about the marketing process. All that I know I observed this summer during my internship and that is a small view into a large world.

Also in that vein, I understand that much of my knowledge was gleaned from my experience during my internship this summer. It is difficult to separate what I know from this experience, but I hope it will help me to create more coherent and direct questions during interviews and while reading research. I just need to be aware that what I know may not be the norm for all publishing. The interviews with editors will hopefully produce more information on the process.

Deliverables
The final documents for this project will include a book proposal that can (and hopefully will be) pitched to children’s nonfiction publishers and an outline of users’ needs—how they are a part of the book series, and how to maintain the integrity of the success of the book while keeping all needs in check.