Core Courses

WR 560: INTRODUCTION TO BOOK PUBLISHING

The business of art. The art of business. This overview of how books are discovered, contracted, developed, financed, edited, designed, produced, marketed, and sold in a changing marketplace will give students a generalist's perspective and understanding of the industry.

WR 561: BOOK EDITING

Publishing employs an astonishing range of editorial roles, from editor-in-chief to acquisitions editor, production editor, and copyeditor. Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry require different talents and skills. Responsibilities to authorial voice are paramount, but editors, especially in small presses, frequently are involved in the economic desicions that determine a book's fate.

WR 562: BOOK DESIGN AND PRODUCTION

Book design is more than a graphic art. You may not tell a book by its cover, but you sell it by the effect of right design. Designers and production managers understand the media of publication and the relative economics of each one. From organizing the flow of production to specifying the appropriate type and interior design, this course considers the impact of design, the economics of building a book, and the interrelationship of book designers with the rest of the publishing team.

WR 563: BOOK MARKETING AND PROMOTION

Marketing and distribution are the final acts of publishing, although they actually begin witht the acquisition of a manuscript. Good book marketing begins when a manuscript comes under consideration and ends when the book is no longer actively sold. In this course, students learn how to find, research, and reach the markets for a book, exploring the different ways books can be promoted and sold and learning to determine the best approaches to each market.

WR 564: BOOKSELLING

Bookselling completes the cycle. In many ways, it is a mirror of the publishing process, requiring an understanding of editorial focus, markets, audience, product quality, finance, and business practives. Bookselling is more than simply clerking-much more. In a rapidly changing book world, the role of bookseller is adapting quickly. Knowledgable booksellers understand both literature and commerce. They serve as frontline defenders of intellectual freedom and cultural diversity, and they are the final link in the relationship between author, publisher, and reader.

WR 510: PUBLISHING STUDIO/LAB

Except for a difference in credit hours, these are the same: work in one or more workgroups at Ooligan Press. Organized around publishing's divisions of labor, it is in these workgroups that Ooligan's actual publishing takes place. Manuscripts are acquired in the acquisitions workgroup, then progress through editing, design and production, and marketing workgroups. Publishing Studio requires sixteen hours per week (4 credits) while Publishing Lab requires four (1 credit).

Sample Electives

We constantly stive to develop classes that add to students' Understanding of and proficiency in publishing. The Classes listed below are just a few of the electives offered by the publishing program.

CHILDREN'S BOOK PUBLISHING

Successful publication of children's books requires a specialized understanding of audience, presentation, design, and marketing. This class covers the basics and is great for writers, editors, publishers, and those who just love children's books.

ONLINE MAGAZINES

This class explores the impact of today's online publishing technologies on the literary arts, attempting to see into the future of digital literary magazines by exploring the theoretical as well as the practical.

ADVANCED BOOK EDITING

Advanced book editing is run on the principle that practice makes perfect. Starting where the core Book Editing class left off, students in Advanced Editing take on more projects to hone their skills in grammar, punctuation, usage, and style.

ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE BOOK

Dig into the history of the book and its relationship to the development of ideas, publishing, and bookselling with one of the Northwest's premier antiquarian book dealers and fine letterpress printers. Great readings, wonderful field trips, and challenging papers await you.