Have you ever wondered what goes into publishing a great book? Well, the Editing and Publishing Practicums at the University of Windsor, led by Marty Gervais, give students the opportunity to discover their full creative potential through the process of working on a real manuscript that will be published by Black Moss Press. I had the privilege of participating in last year’s practicums (read about my experience here!), so I wanted to highlight the amazing work the students are doing in this year’s class. The class is divided into two groups working on two manuscripts, and I had the opportunity to speak with one student from each group to chat about the books they’re working on and their experience in the practicum.
Ali Bazzi is a fourth year student in the English Honours program working on creating and designing the press kit for Christopher Lawrence Menard’s latest book of poetry at the end, beginnings. The collection represents the cycles of life: how when we lose something, we gain something in return — the beauty and distress of the balance that life brings. Additionally, Mya Bezaire is a second year student studying Honours Communication, Media, and Film working on the marketing and social media for Haiku poet Terry Ann Carter’s First I Fold the Mountain: A Love Letter to Books. Her collection centers around her personal life stories and the intimate emotions that accompany the highs and lows of life, cleverly expressed through the classic craft of bookmaking and paper art techniques.
Many students who take the course refer to the experience as incredibly rewarding, a sentiment echoed by both Ali and Mya. “Just being a part of the process is amazing. I’ve never felt more dedicated to something,” exclaims Ali, “Being a part of a team like this, who come in with a motivated mindset every single day, is just beautiful to me.” Mya also finds the beauty in being able to “further dive into my passion for marketing.” While she has plenty of experience in product marketing, she doesn’t have much experience marketing books, so the practicum has given her the chance to develop her skills.
Despite its many rewards, there are also certain challenges that come along with their hard work — namely, as Ali states, the workload. “Man, it’s a lot. This isn’t like any other class at all; this is a job, and deserves to be treated as such.” He claims it can be difficult dealing with the immense pressure: “Expectations are your best friend, and also, your worst enemy.” Moving beyond small issues to see the bigger picture is something Ali can see himself improving on in the future. Mya expresses some very specific challenges she’s faced so far: “Our biggest issue has been working with an author who lives in BC (and is 3 hours behind us), all during a pandemic…resulting in many email exchanges and zoom meetings, to get everything just right!” A more personal challenge for Mya was getting the social media pages up and running: “Our Instagram page was disabled not once, but twice during the first semester, which put us at a slight disadvantage in terms of building our following.” She was able to overcome these difficulties and “reach and engage with over 5,000 people with our content,” so all her hard work paid off.
At the end of the day, the practicums are university courses meant to teach students through practical experiences. Ali and Mya both claim to have learned and refined significant skills that they will take with them beyond this class. “Being someone who focuses on media and film, things like grammar, structure, and spelling have never been my greatest strong suit, and I tend to constantly find mistakes in my work,” says Mya, “However, with this course I have learned how important that is and why it shouldn’t be glossed over.” She has also strengthened her skills in “content creation for digital platforms, hashtag strategy implementations, and content scheduling.” A major skill Ali has learned is time management: “Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever used a planner before in my life, and now I write in it almost every day. It helps keep you organized, and reminds you what you have to do, and when you have to do it.” Used to doing things off the top of his head, Ali claims his newfound organization helps him be more consistent in his work.
Participating in the practicums can change your perspective about books and the book-making process. “I never really thought about how much went into a book,” Mya remarks, “The publishing practicum allows students to learn every single aspect of the bookmaking process and has really opened my eyes to the fact that getting a book out there is not just about writing it and putting it on a shelf, but there’s so much more work put into it.” Ali agrees that the practicum is an eye-opening experience, saying “it makes me appreciate the publishing process a lot more, and I totally feel respect for any Black Moss author who took the chance and allowed their book to be edited by a group of university students.”
It’s common for students to enrol in the courses based on the enthusiastic endorsements from their fellow classmates. When asked if he’d recommend the practicum to other University of Windsor students, Ali eagerly professed, “I’ve never had this much creative freedom in a University class before… Marty gives us a lot of room to create each design to the view that we imagine it. You will not find a course like this at any other institution in Canada.” Mya asserts that this course isn’t just for English majors, as she notes, “whether you are an English major or not, it teaches you about being in the workplace…you learn a variety of soft skills (such as communication, teamwork, organizational skills) and hard skills (InDesign, how to make press releases).” She also emphasizes that it looks great on a resume and you’re bound to make new friendships that will last a lifetime!
at the end, beginnings by Christopher Lawrence Menard and First I Fold the Mountain: A Love Letter to Books by Terry Ann Carter will both launch on April 6th 2022 through a venue at Korda Zone. It will be an exciting event you won’t want to miss!
To stay up to date and learn more about the two latest books from the practicum interns from? Black Moss Press, be sure to follow at the end, beginnings on Facebook and Instagram, and First I Fold the Mountain: A Love Letter to Books on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.