There’s been a flurry of flaps at Targum. As a number of books head towards the final stages of production, I’ve felt like a chameleon, slipping into different skins in order to capture the tones of a variety of books.
I was particularly touched when writing the flap for Walking Mom Home by Miriam Millhauser Castle. Walking Mom Home is the poignant first-person account of a devoted daughter accompanying her mother through her final days. Rebbetzin Castle writes with clarity and honesty, and it’s an account anyone would find stirring.
While I pray for many long years together with my parents, her story touched me deeply. We need not wait until our parents are slipping from our grasp in order to treasure them. Why not lavish devotion and love upon the people who granted us the precious gift of life while they are hale and hearty? And then the reward will be not just a beautiful parting, but a wonderful living.
June 12th, 2008
We just had our first seminar. Dubbed the seminary seminar (try saying that quickly five times – it beats she sells seashells), it was for seminary girls who were wanted writing to be part of their future. The purpose was two-fold. Targum would get to know promising future authors and they’d get to know us.
We hosted about fifteen girls from five different sems. Each girl sent in a sample of her writing so we could get a feel for level, style, and genre. What a great collection of writing! It was exciting to see all this budding talent waiting to burst out on the frum literary scene.
At the seminar Esther and I covered a wide variety of topics. We spoke about different career possibilities in the field of writing, about various genres, and about specific writing skills that are important to master in any field. Then Esther led a writing exercise and the girls shared the pieces they’d written. Being true students, the girls took copious notes, and asked lots of excellent questions.
Years ago, I though I’d be a teacher. I loved the idea of imparting ideas and ideals to others. While that dream never went past a year of student teaching, it’s exciting to see that my job at Targum can include teaching as well. I’m hoping to see great things from some of those seminary participants in the not too distance future.
May 22nd, 2008
One of the jobs I’ve taken over as editorial directors is writing the flaps for new books. Flap, for the uninitiated, is publishing lingo for the back of the book. Yes, I know flap sounds like the inside of the paper jacket that some books have - I thought the same thing. But, no, that’s called book jacket front and book jacket back. Flap is not actually a flap at all, but the book back.
In any case, these flaps are pretty important. In fact, in a survey we conducted about two years ago among our loyal Horizons readers, we discovered that the number one influence in choosing a book was the flap text. Nearly every respondent rated it higher than title, cover design and even price. No pressure now. (more…)
April 13th, 2008
Amazing how different life looks from the other side of the desk.
It’s been six weeks since I joined Targum as the editorial director, six weeks since I’ve moved from thinking of myself primarily as a writer, to viewing myself (or at least trying to view myself) as an editor. It’s been a fascinating switch.
During my writer days books were magical things, the stuff of dreams and visions. In the writing world, books were the culmination of the lightning streak of a brilliant idea, countless hours manipulating tricky words and recalcitrant sentences, and endless rounds of revisions. They were a piece of ourselves. (more…)
March 18th, 2008