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I cannot believe it is my last week at Beaufort! In my first blog post I wrote about wanting to discover the type of book that I enjoy most, and finishing books even if I am not a fan of them from the start. While the later is proving to be more difficult, I definitely think I took a step in the right direction and did some experimenting with different genres this summer.

Memoirs, unless written by Bill Bryson or David Sedaris and filled with laugh out loud jokes, have never been a section of the bookstore I had felt inclined to explore. This summer however, I worked on creating media contact lists for our author Jennifer Pharr Davis’ book tour centered around Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph. About two weeks ago I decided, that after spending so much of my internship promoting Jen’s unbelievable hiking memoir, and of course after meeting her and her beautiful daughter Charley at BEA, that I should read Called Again. Being obsessive about reading books in order, this required reading Becoming Odyssa first.

Let me tell you, if you haven’t read either of these books, especially as a young female, you are missing out!  Picture a 5-foot tall female who can’t run more than 3 miles without having an asthma attack, attracts mosquitoes like it’s her job, and loves curling up in a blanket, on the couch with a cup of hot tea more than anything else.  Now picture this person actually contemplating hiking the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, all 2,180 miles, as a thru-hiker. If Jen’s books can move my lazy self – with my far from athletic stature – to even consider a day hike, much less a four month journey, then she has quite possibly performed a miracle.

All jokes aside, both books give a beautiful look at her journeys through the Appalachian Trail, their expected hardships, and their unexpected joys – all of which will make the reader wish they had been right alongside Jen for the experience.

I came into my internship at Beaufort with expectations of learning about the publishing industry, both from the publicity side and the editorial side. While I’ve learned so much more than I could have imagined about the industry, it also allowed me to determine my answer to the popular question “What is your favorite kind of book to read?”  I no longer feel pressured to have a distinct genre in mind, but can take pride in my answer: I like a little bit of everything, and am still exploring my options.

At my last day here at Beaufort I am reflecting on what a great experience this has been.  I have learned more about publishing than I could ever imagine, and I am now an expert mailer! Although some tasks may have been quite mundane, I have a new appreciation for and perspective on how labor intensive the publication of books is. This is a detail oriented industry.  No matter how many “passes” are done on a book, there is always something that someone will want to change—perfection is something to strive for, but not to achieve.

I am thrilled that I was given the opportunity to take a dip into the publicity area of publishing (writing pitch letters is fun!) and it was something I had zero experience in.  However, one of my favorite moments of this internship was meeting a foreign rights representative. She told me one thing that has since become embossed into my mind: people who are passionate about publishing can never stay too far away from books, and most of them are convinced that if they do anything else, they will fail.  I can honestly say that this internship has allowed me to become enthralled by an industry that is driven by passion. On that note, when I leave here today, I will not say “good bye” to my fellow associates, but “see you later!”

To new interns and to people who think they may have an interest in publishing: jump in head first! You won’t regret the experience, and the knowledge that you will gain is invaluable.  

-ElizaBEAU                        

As an intern, the Book Expo of America is, initially, hugely overwhelming.

 The colossal floor of the Javits Center is lined with booths from publishing house giants to independent booksellers, and hundreds of people are busily making connections and shilling books. By the second day, it all falls into place, and I moved easily through the aisles, pausing to scoop up the best complimentary tote bags, sample snacks from cookbook writers, and even getting to speak to authors!  The variety of writers was one of  my favorite aspects of the expo—I was able to talk at length with fledgling authors signing their first book, and catch starry-eyed glimpses of famous authors as well. Or, in the case of Internet sensation Grumpy Cat, a famous cat with a book due in the fall. 

BEA is a great opportunity to get people interested in Beaufort books, and as an intern one of my chief assignments was to publicize our author’s book signings. One of our most popular authors was certainly Jennifer Pharr Davis, shown here with her lovely and well-behaved baby Charlotte. Called Again is an engaging memoir about a record-breaking hike on the Appalacian Trail—Jen was walking an average 47 miles a day!

Another Beaufort favorite was Jeff Alt’s Get Your Kids Hiking—BEA has a tons of kids books, so as a result there were lots of children’s librarians, booksellers, as well as excited parents and kids who wanted to meet Jeff and receive a signed copy of the book. Get Your Kids Hiking is especially timely now, with school letting out for the summer and kids often leaning more towards Super Smash Brothers than getting outside.

The carnival aspect of BEA is also fun—there were Lego sculptures and balloon animals and people dressed as pirates and fairies, sprinkling glitter on enchanted passersby. While the days were long–most exhibitors arrived by 8 in the morning and stayed until 5—there’s an absolute sense of camaraderie to be surrounded by so many book-loving people. The sheer scope of the expo was also reassuring: if you want to write, publish, or just read books, there is certainly a place for you at BEA.

Here it is: my last day interning at Beaufort Books. It’s been a surprisingly quick five months, and I’m definitely going to miss my thrice-weekly trip into Manhattan. Last week was my first-ever BEA, and it was absolutely the best ending to the best internship.

I went into this internship with very few expectations, and a very little knowledge of the publishing world. I knew I liked books, and I liked reading, and publishers made books, so that sounded fun; but I had no idea of the breadth of work that turned an idea in someone’s head into a completed book on a bookstore shelf. Now I do. And I’ve managed, in my small part, to contribute to that process.

I walk out now, having met and talked to authors, proofread manuscripts, helped arrange blog tours, cultivated relationships with reviewers and bookstores, learned publishing lingo, messengered books and press kits all over the city, and even designed my first book cover. I’ve experienced BEA in all its footsore, backbreaking, lack-of-sleep, starry-eyed wonder. And, what’s more, I still want to work in publishing.

Even with all the unexpected and sometimes monotonous tasks, the plethora of papercuts, and the long commute (where, let’s be honest, I got a lot of reading done), I would not have given up this internship for the world. I’ve gotten such a better understanding of the publishing industry and the place I want to have in it, and I’ve picked up and honed the skills I’ll need in my future career. I’ve met a lot of great people, interns and professionals alike, and hope to run into them all again someday, preferably when we’re all high-level publishing executives who have single-handedly courted a dozen best-selling and award-winning authors apiece.

So to Beaufort, I say so long, and thanks for all the fish.

-Placebeau

P.S. Incidentally… anybody in the market for an Assistant Editor? *winkwinknudgenudge*

Hello! I’m Theresa, a new intern here at Beaufort, henceforth known as  Beau Soleil. I feel my moniker is appropriate for two reasons–beautiful sun, for a summer intern–and it’s also a coy nod to my other job at an oyster bar–Beau Soleil is, of course, a boutique oyster from Canada.  But anyway! Back to books!

A used bookstore in my neighborhood in Brooklyn has some vintage copies of my favorite books–not expensive first editions of classics, but hardcovers from the 70s with fantastic covers

It’s hard to justify buying a copy of a book I already own–but the delicately frayed jackets, the charmingly dated font, that old book smell–and how nice they would look displayed on my bookshelves! (Once I have bookshelves, I mean–my library is currently supported by a wire kitchen rack.)

While you really don’t need more than one copy of a book,  a beloved book  is hard to say no to–especially if the cover is unique, ancient, or foreign. New covers on classic books, while fun, don’t have the same thrill as unearthing a dusty relic with crumbling pages, last read decades ago. And especially treasured are old books gifted to you by someone you love–a book of my grandmother’s whose title frightened me my entire childhood (The Naked and the Dead), or my father’s copy of War and Peace from college, with his notes scratched in the margins.

So sometimes buying books is no longer just about reading them–they are for collecting, to remind yourself of earlier days and people from your past, for displaying as art objects, in lieu of wallpaper–

But yes, mostly for reading.

Do not worry, I am not the six-year-old beauty pageant diva “Honey Boo Boo,” I am just one of the humble new interns at Beaufort! While Honey Beau Beau will be my pen-name for the summer here in New York, my real name is Emily and I am a junior from Elon University. While The Big Apple is a drastic change from North Carolina, where I spend most of the year at school, my humble abode for the summer is just an hour away in New Jersey.

There is one thing that Honey Boo Boo and I do have in common, and that is our diva-like tendencies. Honey Boo Boo is a diva when it comes to beauty pageants; I, Honey Beau Beau, however, am more of a diva when it comes to books. If a book doesn’t draw my attention within the first chapter, I will put it down. My shelves are filled with half-started books, that I refuse to get rid of because “maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood,” or “that is more of a beach read and less of a before-bed read; I’ll take it to the beach next time I go.”

From a family of book-worms, each with a distinct reading preference, this diva has felt a pressure to answer the age old question: “What is your favorite kind of book?”  While I could tell you my grandfathers answer to that question would be crime and mystery novels, my mother’s: fantasy, my grandmother: historical-fiction, and my father: anything that can manage to make him laugh out loud, I have always struggled with deciding on my favorite genre. Making decisions is hard enough for me, but decisions about books – even tougher!

So with this in mind I have set two goals for myself this summer:

1. To stop being such a book snob, to shake free of my Honey Boo Boo tendencies and to give those seemingly slow-reads a fighting chance.
2. To try and find an answer to the age-old question: “What is your favorite kind of book?”

Forthcoming Beaufort author Patricia Sexton writes about her love affair with New York City, and how difficult it was to finally leave in her latest blog post.

As a native New Yorker, I fully understand how simultaneously exciting and disheartening it can sometimes be to live in the city that never sleeps. You’re surrounded by visible proof of the best and the worst humanity has to offer: glittering marvels of modern engineering, museums and galleries on seemingly every street, and five star restaurants offering cuisine from every corner of the globe versus homelessness and poverty, crime, and air pollution. Sometimes, I’m tempted to pack everything and move far, far away.

Forthcoming Beaufort author Patricia Sexton did just that. In her upcoming memoir, LIVE From Mongolia!, she talks about her decision to leave a Wall Street career to follow her dream of becoming a news anchor in Mongolia. In her latest blog post, she discusses how difficult her decision to leave New York City “for good” was, and what helped her make the final push to go. Check out this, and the rest of her blog, here.

-Placebeau

Forthcoming Beaufort author Patricia Sexton is campaigning to raise funds for her documentary project, The Reindeer People: A Dream’s Last Chance.

The Reindeer People is the story of a mother, her daughter, and two very unusual dreams. A tale of love and loss, survival and death, a Mongolian mother and daughter face nearly insurmountable obstacles to pursue what’s most important to them. And in the end, what’s important to them just may save the fabric of an entire culture.

A few years ago, in the north of Mongolia, in one of the most remote inhabited regions on our planet, a Mongolian mother had to make a choice. She had to choose between letting her young daughter pursue her dream, or pursuing her own. As a parent, she knew what she had to do. So, along with her daughter and husband, they moved the family to the Mongolian capital. This would have devastating consequences: poverty, sickness, and even her husband’s murder (he’d left home only to earn enough money to buy his daughter an outfit and was robbed and murdered). Eventually, the daughter achieved her dream, and the mother had never been more proud. But it also got her to thinking – about that old dream she’d left behind all those years ago. Could she pursue it? Was she willing to return to her homeland and all that she’d left behind?

This summer, the mother will return to her home in the Taiga to pursue her old dream to teach Tuva, the native language there. Tuva is spoken by a very small community of Reindeer Herders, and without a teacher to support it, the language will fade away. Without language, the community itself is in danger of fading away too. It’s the mother’s dream to go home and fight this, to save the very fabric of her culture.

Won’t you help us tell her story?

Find out more about Patricia, her team, and how you can help on their indiegogo page here.

-Placebeau

Some of you may know that yesterday, March 4^th, was National Grammar Day — a day dedicated to speaking well, writing well, and being generally grammar conscience. For those of us in book publishing, National Grammar Day is everyday – no exceptions. Seriously, I find myself thinking about grammar so much throughout the course of the day that I often over-think even the most basic grammatical situations and end up confusing myself.  However, it’s nice to know that there’s a day dedicated to making sure the rest of the world is taking grammar as seriously as we do.  It’s a day to say to people, “You may think you know English but you don’t!” or, “You think you understand comma splices and hyphens? Well, guess what? You don’t!” Even if March 4^th is just a day to remember not to say “aint,” it still begs us to take a minute to reflect on the complex system that is the English language and how we interpret it.

Even as a person whose brain-space is taken up with grammar for 90% of my day, I still make common grammar mistakes. For example, I still often have to think twice about ‘effect’ vs. ‘affect’ and I have a tendency to use the word ‘literally’ a tad liberally (although there’s a fun article about this on Galleycat today).  Whether it’s further vs. farther, lay vs. lie, or drunk vs. drank, there are always those little grammar mistakes that I’m sure all of us are guilty of having made at one time or another – and let’s not even talk about punctuation. Are you aware that there are no less than three types of dashes and that each one has a unique purpose? Granted that unless you’re a writer, editor, or someone who prepares press material for a living there’s hardly ever any reason to dwell on these grammatical nuances in the day-to-day.

Luckily, if you’re the type of person who is concerned with this kind of thing, help is available and you can become the kind of person who uses correct grammar everyday, not just on March 4^th. Consider a grammar book, like our very own Beaufort Book The Big Ten of Grammar by William B. Bradshaw, PhD which is subtitled Identifying and Fixing the Ten Most Frequent Grammatical Errors. In this book, Dr. Bradshaw discusses the ten most frequent grammatical errors and how we can learn to a) be conscious of them and b) correct them.  It’s basically a condensed version of all the chapters in the Chicago Manual that I flip to at least once a day which is really handy because Dr. Bradshaw’s book is small and light enough to bring around with me or stash in my desk and the Table of Contents makes it really easy to find what I’m looking for quickly.

What are your favorite grammar/style books? I’d love to know about any other resources you guys use to keep your grammar in check. Do you find grammar important, and if so, to what degree?  What about this debate over the Oxford comma? How could one little punctuation mark have caused so much controversy? Well, whether you’re the type of person who cares about this kind of thing or not, Happy National Grammar Day! Because everyone needs an excuse to celebrate a random day in March….

Madame Beauvary