A Brief Guide to Producing Learner Publications
Introduction
This brief guide is intended to provide practical advice for anyone who would like to make a learner produced publication. There are many ways to do this and how you go about it will depend on several variables. Who is it for? How many do you want to produce? Where will it be circulated?
In this guide we are looking at hints and tips on how to make a longer run publication involving designers and printers. The aim is to help you avoid the pitfalls that practitioners have encountered in the past.
It is perfectly possible, however, with a copy of Microsoft Publisher or another desktop publishing package, a quantity of decent quality paper and card, a double sided printer, a long reach stapler, a craft knife and cutting mat to produce short runs of pamphlets or magazines. Both approaches can be useful and fun, activities that will engage learners.
Planning
General Planning
Creating a publication can be a great stimulus for learning. The process can motivate people and provide points for discussion and research and open new avenues of learning. It can create opportunities for individuals to work purposively together and with professionals. The process of creating a publication can also tap in to previously unacknowledged skills and abilities in the learners.
For a learner publication to be successful planning is essential. Decide, with your group, what it is you want to produce – a booklet, a magazine or a book-sized anthology.
Try to keep an open mind about the details of the layout. Becoming fixated on a very specific outcome can lead to disappointment. Remember, some of the pleasures of creating a publication are the discoveries made during the process.
Find examples of the sort of thing you have in mind. Look at commercially produced material or publications made by other learner groups and start to ask questions:
· Is the format appropriate?
Is this the best way to say what you want to say? For example - if the publication is for news, make it look like a newspaper; if it is more literary, say poetry or short stories, a perfect bound book (that is one with a spine) may be more appropriate.
· Is the format affordable?
If your budget is limited (and it will be) what do you want to spend your money on - colour printing or paper quality, the binding or the cover?
· Is the format and design accessible to potential readers?
Consider what impact the font, font sizes and the layout will have on your readers. If you use local or dialect words will you need to include a glossary?
Seeing their work in print can be terrifically exciting and a great boost to the self esteem of a learner. It is for anyone, but this benefit is increased substantially if the learner understands how the publication might be used. Thinking about the readership before you start may seem like putting the cart before the horse but this process will encourage greater critical engagement in the process of writing and the production of the publication.
It is perfectly possible to create a publication by taking writing that learners have produced already but this will not have the same satisfactions and learning opportunities for the learners. Ideally start with a blank sheet and involve learners from the outset. Work out the restrictions (length, budget, subject etc.) and make sure learners are included in the decision making process. They will then feel greater engagement with and ownership of the project.
Agree on lengths of articles or poems or stories and other parameters early - this makes the editing process much easier. If you include participants in the decision making process, it is easier to keep the group on track as work progresses.
Once you have decided what sort of publication you want to create put together a timetable. The timetable needs to take into account every stage of production – this includes the editing and design part of the process.
Producing the text may seem like the biggest part of the job but the copy-editing and laying out of the material can take twice as long. Make sure you have people who can go through the publication for you with fresh eyes, reading and checking for mistakes that have become invisible to you.
Creative Writers and Workshops
Once you have established what the publication is to be about it may be possible to bring in a creative writing specialist to run workshops to stimulate ideas or point learners in unexpected directions.
It is possible that you have a relationship with an writer who can offer this service. If not the Scottish Book Trust has a database of writers at:
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning-and-inclusion/sbt-learning-and-inclusion-projects/live-literature
Design and Production
Printers and Designers
Some printers have design and print packages whereby you simply send them the text and images and they will produce a publication, to an agreed specification for one price. Councils often have their own design departments, which will deal directly with the printers so that you do not have to.
For the adult learner publications described on this site we used an independent designer and one printer. This allowed us to maintain consistency in the design standards and to keep control of the printing costs. If you have a local printers contact them and ask them for prices and advice.
A printer will also make blank copies using the paper weight and finishes you specify so that you can check what they will look like before you make a final decision. If you can establish a good relationship with the printer it may be possible for your group to visit the print works to see the processes involved in production.
If you are in a position to be able to work directly with a designer or artist this will also provide an opportunity to enhance the experience for learners. When engaging a designer or artist establish whether they are able to create print ready documents. You may have an artist in mind to help with illustration but remember, they are not the same as a designer.
If you do have a designer in you would like to work with they may be able to recommend a printer. Designers often have preferred printers with whom they have established and good working relationships. Know exactly what it is you want from your publication and the designer may also deal with the printer on your behalf.
It is worth spending money on a designer. Your publication will look better in the long run and they may even be able to save you money by offering suggestions.
Materials–Paper/Colour/Binding/Printing
The materials, the size of the print run, the printing method and the number of colours used will affect the cost of the publication.
Paper quality
Paper weight is measured in gsm (grams per square metre). Ordinary photocopier/printer paper is 80gsm while card is around 160gsm or heavier.
The heavier the paper - the higher the cost.
Papers also have coatings and finishes which will affect the price. Choice of finish also has implications for readers. As you will know shiny paper can cause difficulties for certain categories of reader. It may look good, particularly if you are using photographs, but it could hinder some readers ability to engage with the text.
Colour
Choices about whether to print in colour, or how much colour to use are important. They will not only affect the cost of the project but also its aesthetic appeal. Printing full colour throughout the publication may be restrictively pricey and often the temptation is to go for two colour printing to give a splash of colour to the pages.
If, however, the publication is mostly text it could make more sense to print the interior in black and white and spend more on the cover. A brightly coloured, attractively designed cover in a robust card can give the publication a greater initial appeal and make a potential reader more likely to pick it up.
Binding
There are a variety of ways to keep the pages of your publication together and once again this choice will govern the cost.
Saddle stitching uses wire staples. The product may not look like a commercial volume but it has the advantage that it is easier to lay flat and therefore easier to use for some readers. This method is cheaper but bear in mind that the pages must be in multiples of four and the format becomes impractical at about 80 pages.
Perfect bound books (books with a spine) look impressive but have are more expensive to produce. This will make your project look more like commercial publication but if this means you have to cut down on the colour it may not be as attractive to a reader.
Wire and spiral binding can be used if you want a specific effect and can be handy if you want to photocopy elements from the text.
Printing method
For very short runs of a publication (around a hundred, depending on page size) it may be economic to print digitally. Over this number it will probably be better to have it printed lithographically.
Illustrations
Apart from making publications look better illustrating them brings another dimension to the process.
If you cannot work directly with a designer it might still be possible to involve artists or photographers. It may be that the learners you are working with have skills or resources that they can bring to the production.
If your budget allows - do you have artists who you can involve in the project? Perhaps a local college would be interested in getting involved. Students from Edinburgh College of Art provided illustrations for some of the learner publications mentioned on the website. A whole year group submitted single illustrations for stories and the learners then chose which artists to work with. Students benefited from the realistic experience of pitching for work and the learners had their stories illustrated in an appropriate and satisfying way.
In another instance a member of an ESOL group turned out to be a superb artist and provided some illustrations for the publication. In further cases learners provided personal or family photographs or took photos themselves. Never be afraid to ask. It’s surprising what hidden talents you will find and new opportunities for learning associated with the publication process.
Copyright
One source of material is, of course the internet. This is, however, fraught with problems. The first is copyright. Even if you are using personal material it is necessary to get permission from the owner of the photo or illustration. The same applies to material on the internet. It is easy and tempting to download a photo and paste it into a document but you need to establish if it is copyright free.
If you want to use news photos (or stock images, as they are known) the best way to get them is through a web based agency such as Corbis or Getty. If the print run is fairly small and the book is only for educational use (as opposed to commercial) this may not be as expensive as you think. Some of the photos used in the learner publications already mentioned cost around 50 to 60 pounds each.
Image Quality
Make sure the quality of your images is good enough for printing. The size of the images from the stock agency was around 500 kilobytes (or KB or K). If you search images on Google you will see the size of the image under the results. It can be as little seven to fourteen KB. If you try to blow this up it will pixellate or blur.
The same applies to scanned image. When you scan an image you have the option of setting the resolution at which it is copied. The resolution is measured in dots per inch or dpi. The resolution needed for quality printing is 300 dpi. It is ESSENTIAL to check this BEFORE you send an image to the designer.
If the printing deadline is due it may not be possible to use the images you want. If you have any doubts ask someone with good IT skills to help you.
Editing
This cannot be stressed enough – in your schedule leave plenty of time editing and copy editing the publication. IT WILL TAKE LONGER THAN YOU THINK.
Editing the content can be done earlier in the process. If there is a possibility that the material may be contentious check on the ground rules set up with your group. This will save disappointment for learners if their work is deemed unsuitable for inclusion. If you have worked out the guidelines beforehand this should not be a problem.
Remember that making changes after the work has been laid out by the designer may cost money. Ensure that all text has been approved by someone with the authority to do so before it is sent off. The content will not change in the design process so check it thoroughly while it is still in a Word document.
This also applies to copy editing – that is checking the formatting, style and accuracy. If you do not have access to a professional sub-editor it is quite likely that you will miss typographic errors and spelling mistakes. You tend to read what you think should be there rather than what is there. Give the text to as many people as possible to read and again do this before it goes to the designer.
Designer’s proofs also have to be thoroughly proof read before it can be approved for printing but good planning and preparation will minimise how much these will need to be altered.