The BlogCast team behind the Beyond the Walls Anthology have started a BlogCast diary, explaining the process of publishing an anthology, as well as the hard work needed in order to hold a finished copy in their hands.
Date: 11/2/20
Dear Diary,
Over the last two weeks, York St John’s current second year students have been exposed to the action-packed module of Publishing, Production and Performance; introducing them to the world of publishing.
The first week was an introduction to the module where in which the purpose was revealed: to create the latest instalment of Beyond the Walls, 2020 edition. From then on, the three teams were established, and the students chose their desired team, ready to take on the tasks ahead.
Over the rest of the first week and into the second week, each team had discussed their specific goals and the collective goals of all groups where they would need to coincide with one another. All the teams were able to decide on sub-teams to be able to bring more focus to the project. During the first week, the Editing Team created a poll to choose theme to make it fair on everyone; the results came down to three choices. It was in the second week where the Editing Team announced the theme for this year’s edition; Contemporary Change. Now the official work could begin!
With the announcement of the theme, the BlogCast and Marketing Teams could begin marketing and raising awareness of the book. This will be through blog posts, podcasts and the social media pages that the Marketing Team will co-create. The Editing team could begin the call for submissions, which began on the 8thof February, and will end on the 6th of March.
Week three was the week everything was set in stone and the ball started rolling. The leader of the Editing Team made the decision to extend the call for submissions to the literature, art and drama departments. Their strategy for the editing process once all the submissions are in, is to have a one week turnaround to choose which submissions will be moving forward to publication where the editors will work in pairs to ensure a more thorough edit.
The Marketing Team came up with ten events that will be commencing during the Literature festival which includes a Harry Potter quiz; this alone will draw people to the festival. Over the next few days, the Marketing Team plan to promote the festival using social media outlets and various promotional outlets through the university. They will be following a marketing plan that involves marketing two events per week up until and throughout the festival.
The Blog and Podcast team also began their strategizing processes. Like the other two teams, the BlogCast team also split themselves into two sub-teams so that there was more focus. Both sub-teams began to delegate specific roles within the groups so that it would be fair, and everyone can put effort into the project. Both sub-teams began to discuss what pieces would be posted on both platforms, which were pieces on; the theme, on the Literature festival, on the progress of the module and the teams etc. The podcast team in particular have the challenge of finding the equipment for both the podcast and the video that will be created during the Student Showcase. They have also brainstormed what they would be discussing during the podcasts and when they would be posted. The showcase was also discussed, but no final decisions have been made as of yet.
As the module goes on, everything will be finalised and lead to a fantastic event that all students will be proud of!
Until next time,
The BlogCast Team!