Ah, Halloween.

One of the best things about Halloween at Capstone Fiction is that we're visited by our favorite characters. Today, Cow (from the upcoming Snack Time for Cow), Pecos Bill, and the Incredible Rockhead stopped by.

Photo shoot!

This morning, Kay (art director), Emily (graphic designer), Ali (associate editor), and I traveled deep into the Warehouse District of Minneapolis for a photo shoot. The photos in question were for our Monica books (which feature Monica Murray, the best friend of Claudia Cristina Cortez).

Our model, Devyn, was fantastic. She's thirteen, just like Monica, and fit the part perfectly. She wasn't afraid to do silly stuff like toss pom-poms in the air or pretend to punch the camera, and she has a gorgeous smile.

All told, there were about 600 photos taken by the amazing people at Delaney Photography. We narrowed that down to a hundred that we liked. (Devyn is amazingly photogenic--it was hard to choose!) Four of the photos will end up on book covers and be on shelves in August.

Here's Devyn posing for one shot.



And here's one of the shots we loved.




Thanks, Devyn and Delaney—now Monica has a face!

Hello Genius!

Say hello to Hello Genius, our new line of board books for toddlers.



Featuring perfect topics for kids 0-4 (tooth-brushing, toilet learning, mealtime manners, and bathtime), these four new books were under many Stone Arch staffers' Christmas trees this past holiday.

As the parent of a 17-month-old boy, I know half of what I look for in a book for my son is something that appeals to me, too. After all, if it's a favorite, I might be reading it fifteen times in a row. These books are great for that. The text is fun, the illustrations are adorable, the colors are exciting—you're not going to be bored while you're reading these books to your child, and you won't roll your eyes internally when they look at you with those puppy-dog eyes and beg for another read. Really.

Here are a couple of our toddlers (Raini and Sofia) enjoying the Hello Genius books.

Goodbye, Joan

This week, the staff of Stone Arch Books and Picture Window Fiction says goodbye to our fearless leader, Joan Berge.

Joan is leaving the company after fourteen years to explore new interests and opportunities. She started working for Capstone Publishers very early on, working at Capstone Press and then working on the launch of both Picture Window Books and Compass Point Books. For the last five years, she’s been the head of our fiction division.

We’re really going to miss Joan around here: her sense of humor, her no-nonsense attitude, her belief in all of us. Joan has always pushed us to not just produce good books, but to create the best books we can—and then some. Her questions, eye, and care are responsible for so much of Capstone Fiction’s success and for the quality of both the books we publish and the workplace where we spend our days.We’ll miss you, Joan. Don’t be a stranger.

Excuses, exclusives...

Here's the reason I haven't been doing much blogging. (Go ahead and click that link if you want to skip to the good stuff.)

A couple months ago, I was basically done with my work for Spring 2010. I was blissfully contracting away for Spring 2011, in fact. But then we decided to do something a little crazy: throw a rush book in the mix. We wanted a book about the H1N1 pandemic, in our usual Stone Arch style: something different, something interesting, something cool and fresh.

Thus, Finn Reeder, Flu Fighter, was born.


Finn Reeder thought it was just a dumb assignment when a sub told his English class that they had to start keeping a journal. Little did he know that his journal would turn into the record of a major flu pandemic.

Somehow, he survives infection. As their class size dwindles, Finn and his friend Amy face down the school bully, draw comics, catch the principal ordering pizza, and even manage to study once in a while. And when finally, Finn is the lone student remaining in school, he manages to win—and lose—the most intense game of solo dodge ball ever.

By the time the month is over, he’s made it through the epidemic, gotten vaccinated, and might even have found himself a girlfriend if he plays his cards right.

I quickly contracted an author, drew up a concept and outline, and we were off. The author, Eric Stevens, wrote the book in about two weeks. Kay Fraser, one of our uber-talented art directors, took the concept and ran with it, creating an awesome cover in the blink of an eye. Once the manuscript was edited, Kay and I worked together to mock up the illustration suggestions, and she spent a couple of weekends holed up in her cubicle, illustrating the entire book in full color. Just as some comparison, it usually takes us between 6 months and a year to complete a book, from concept to finished copies. In this case, it's about six weeks. We really wanted to respond to the pandemic and get this book out there ASAP.

Coolest of all, you can download this book for free, in PDF form, for a limited time from our website. You can also sign up for a special 10 percent discount off the hardcover book. The download will be free online until January 1, when the printed book is available for purchase.

I'm really proud of the team effort that created this book. It takes a lot of people to make one book, especially in such a short period of time. Here's a list, but I'm sure I'm forgetting someone: our president, Joan Berge; Michael Dahl, our editorial director; Heather Kindseth, our creative director; Shannon Zigmund, our marketing manager; Krista Monyhan, head of our planning department; proofreaders Ali Deering (product planning intern), Sean Tulien (associate editor), and Donnie Lemke (senior editor); web marketing manager Michaela DeLong; production specialist Michelle Biedschied; production manager Blake Hoena; technology project manager Jeff Ruley. And Kay and me.

I hope you love it as much as we do. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

More soon,
Beth

And not to be outdone...

...here's Stone Arch Books art director Bob Lentz as The Price Is Right host Drew Carey with the Plinko game.
So far today, the highest score received was 30,500. Not too shabby!

Happy Halloween!

The winner of our company costume contest this year? None other than our very own Katie Woo.

Check out marketing coordinator Kendra Sticha, dressed up like everyone's favorite little girl. (I especially love the tank top--adorable!)



Too cute, Kendra!

Happy Halloween, everyone!
More soon,
Beth

Attack of the red folders

Everyone here at Capstone Fiction has one big fear: a giant stack of red folders appearing on his or her desk. Ask any of us what gives us nightmares, and it's these oversized plastic folders.

At the beginning of the season, red folders are kind of fun: they're new, shiny, empty. Like new notebooks at the start of the school year, the red folders are full of potential and promise. They're ready to do their duty. The edited manuscript slides neatly in and it's sent on its way through the production process.

But then new routing slips are attached. The folders get fingerprinty. Sketches and concepts and ideas are shoved inside.

By the end of the season (hint: like right now), it's a rare day when you come to work and don't have at least one folder waiting on your chair. The other day, Michael (our editorial director) went home early because he had eighteen red folders he had to get through before the next day. He needed to be able to focus on them (and he wouldn't admit it, but I bet he was afraid of getting more red folders before the day was through!).

Sometimes the red folders fight back. They hide. They disappear. We have editors in two locations, and sometimes the red folders simply slip away somewhere between our offices.

In general, I find it's best to try to respect the red envelopes: treat them how you'd like to be treated. Deal with them quickly and kindly and send them on their way. (Maybe the DMV could take some notes.)

After all, the sooner you pass them along, the sooner you can make room on your desk for the next batch.

The power of the internet

Wow. The readership of this blog has suddenly doubled, ever since I posted on Twitter that we were looking for authors for a fun new middle-grade project. So, hi, new readers--please stick around, add us to your feed-readers, comment away, make suggestions, whatever.

After I twittered that we needed some new authors, the SAB Twitter account suddenly got about 50 new followers. It's been fun discovering these people--writers, mostly. And my email and the Stone Arch Books submissions email have been inundated with messages from writers looking for work. So much so that I haven't even gotten through all of them yet! (So if you sent something and haven't heard from me, don't despair!)

I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about submissions to Stone Arch. We have submission info on our website, but based on the amount of snail mail and full manuscripts we receive, I think some people aren't even aware that information is there.

So, here's a quick and dirty guide to submitting to Stone Arch/Picture Window.

* Don't send full manuscripts. Right now (and I'll let you know if this changes) we rarely purchase unsolicited manuscripts unless they are part of a completed 4- or 6-book series. In that case, send only the first few chapters of one manuscript.

* Have a desire to work for hire. That means we'll hire you to create a manuscript based on our specs. You'll need to be flexible, fast, professional, and creative, and in return, we'll be fun to work with; together we'll create great books.

* Send a writing sample. It should be fiction, and you should know what reader it will appeal to -- kindergarten kids? Middle-schoolers? Do your research.

* Email your submission to author.sub@stonearchbooks.com unless otherwise directed. I prefer samples that are pasted into the email, since it's easier for printing. (Please note that if you have already sent a submission, no need to resend.)

* Know that we only guarantee that we'll respond to samples that are right for us, unless they've been specifically requested by an editor or are sent by an agent. We get so many submissions that it's impossible to respond to each one.

I hope that gives insight into what we need. If you have a question, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll respond ASAP!

Katie Woo!

Greetings from the design cube! Today I get to share with you my most favorite little character and series of books, Katie Woo. Katie is special for many reasons-she's got the sass, spunk and curiosity that makes her a great, relatable character for children.

Katie Woo is an amazing series to be working on, and my favorite part of the project (it's very difficult to pick just one!) was helping to create her outfit and look. In the beginning I had some ideas-she had to have glasses, and she must look like she picked out her own clothes to wear. From there, I let the illustrator concept how she saw Katie in her head. There were revisions of course, until we came to a version that everyone was happy with. Below is the evolution of Katie Woo:

Round 1: While cute, we were looking for something a little more funky and colorful.

Round 2: Much closer to what we had envisioned. However, we still felt like she needed something to make her 

stand out.

Round 3: Perfection! We love everything, from the cowboy boots to the turquoise glasses. She's done!

As I type this, the next set of Katie books for Spring 2010 is in the works. It was important that her look evolve a bit, something new for the new season, but still very Katie Woo. Stay tuned!

Katie has been out in the world for about a month now and people already have great things to say about her, for example:

"I stumbled across the new series, Katie Woo by Fran Manushkin, published by Picture Window Books/Capstone Books. It has me pumped!!! Kids already love Junie B. Jones for her fun and enthusiasm - I think Katie Woo has all that AND will appeal to younger kids." From In The Pages Blog, please check out the entire article!

With Fran Manushkin's excellent stories and Tammie Lyon's fabulous illustrations, Katie Woo is bound for success. I hope young readers everywhere will love her as much as I do, and that these books will spark their interest in reading that turns into a lifelong love, like Ramona Quimby did for me when I was young.

More soon!

Emily

Superman, meet the kid who saved you.

What better way to cap off a whirlwind of press and excitement than by meeting Superman himself? Our own Joan Berge and Michael Dahl are in New York today, and they're touring the DC Comics offices with our contest winner Hakeem Bennett and his hero, Mr. Brown.

Hakeem and his hero, Matthew Brown. If you look closely, you can see seeing-eye-dog extraordinaire Stanley next to Mr. Brown!

And Stone Arch Books' editorial director and author Michael Dahl couldn't resist getting in on the fun, too! (Those of us who work closely with Michael would expect nothing less.)

Muffins!

Never let it be said that interns don't win.

Our intrepid, fearless, indefatigable intern, Ali, entered the Little Debbie Intern Hero contest and was featured today as one of their winners. (They called us a bookstore, but we won't split hairs with people sending us muffins.)

At last!

Yesterday, I talked about the pleasure of a blank page. Today, I sing the praises of the ink-soaked, printed, and bound page--the finished, hot-off-the-presses book.


There's probably no greater reward when working in book publishing (except, of course, hearing the reaction a kid has to the book) than receiving the finished books I've been working on for months or even years. The crisp feel of the spine opening for the first time, the warm, familiar smell of the inked pages. I've looked at the words and pictures a million times before, of course, but for the first time, it's pure enjoyment--I'm not looking for typos or making sure the art matches the text or critiquing the typeface used for the title or fixing bad breaks or deleting extra spaces between sentences. I'm just a reader, experiencing the book the same way all its future readers will experiencing it. I get to enjoy it. To turn the pages.


We're already deep into work on our Spring '10 list--my desk is littered with manuscripts and printed-out indesign layouts and sketches for illustrations. The books that are now being printed and sold, the Fall '09 list, seems pretty far away. And, we often complain, there's never a chance to stop and appreciate and look back on a season of completed books--except for a few minutes when the first finished copies land on my desk. Then, for a few minutes, I'm a reader again, not an editor. I work in book publishing for a lot of reasons--helping kids, spreading literacy, etc. It's easy to forget, immersed in the ins and outs of work, that the main reason I have this job is that I love books. The finished copies never fail to remind me.

Happily,
Beth

(PS: This series, the Field Trip Mysteries, will be available on our website soon.)

Appreciating the blank page

It's been pretty quiet around here lately, but not for lack of work. The designers are all swamped, getting covers ready to present for approval today. We're working on 80 new books for Spring '10, including seven or eight new series. So the design staff has been in a flurry of concepting and designing.

In the meantime, editorial work continues apace, at least for this editor. I'm actually done with the initial editorial work for the Spring '10 list, so I've been focusing on Fall '10. There are some REALLY fun books coming in our next few seasons. One series I'm especially excited about is a spin-off from our wildly successful Claudia Cristina Cortez series. The new set will focus on Claudia's best friend, Monica. Also written by Diana G. Gallagher, the new books follow Monica through middle school and introduce some new characters to the Pine Tree Middle School universe.

I've only edited two manuscripts so far, and the series designer and I have yet to meet to talk concepts for the interior. So right now, the books are really a blank slate--we've got the story, but the package could go any of a number of ways. It's exciting. I love working on an established series--it's like hanging out with old friends--but new series have so much potential, so much opportunity. I love the blank page (so to speak--the page is full of words!).

Now I'm going to get back to Monica. Enjoy your Wednesdays. I hope you all get your own blank pages today!




More soon!
--Beth

"Let There Be Lightbulbs!"

Like most authors, I’m a packrat. I hoard old journals and notebooks, out-of-date atlases, out-of-print magazines (remember Omni?), crinkled newspaper clippings, and phrases I copied from books back when my handwriting was better. I came across this line the other day from Osbert Sitwell’s 1949 autobiographical Laughter in the Next Room. He describes the “permanent stain of blue or purple ink on the inner side of the middle finger of my right hand.” Up until the advent of the computer keyboard, this was the distinguishing mark of the professional writer. Our high-tech society has cleaned up our writing spaces and created another challenge: Lighting.

There are so many choices now -- backlighting, overhead lighting, side lighting, ambient, indirect. Here in the Stone Arch Books office, every editor and designer has his or her own individual preference. Here’s a small random sampling:

Sean (Billy Blaster): No overhead lighting. Has spillover from another editor’s light. Also, uses a retro looking desk lamp perched high above his keyboard.

Hilary (Robot & Rico): She inhabits the darkest cubicle! One lone 40-watt bulb burns in front of a 3-foot high face of Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Emily (Katie Woo): Lots of lighting! But she hates fluorescent lights, so the building manager removed one tube from each overhead fixture above her space. Their radiance is softened by the glow of a small lamp.

Brann (Zinc Alloy/DC Batman chapter books): Built-in desk lighting that he almost always turns off. Sometimes he turns on a standing lamp that is adorned with a golden Hello Kitty coin bank and an Indiana Jones-style fedora. Apparently, if you remove his lamp, poison darts shoot out of the walls.

Leaning tower of books

Here's what I found on my desk this morning.


You probably can't tell from the not-great-quality pic, but that's all 12 new Jake Maddox books for Fall 2009. Four copies each, to be checked to make sure all is in order before they're released. Oooh, exciting!!! While checking over these finished copies isn't my favorite job in the world (it takes a while!), it is so thrilling to see the fruits of many months of labor.

Plus, that new book smell? Intoxicating.

more soon--
Beth

Secrets of book publishing

I found something cool on my chair when I came in this morning--a big full-sheet proof from the press check that our art director, Bob, went on yesterday. I thought I'd show you what that looks like. (Excuse the not-great-quality cellphone photos, please!)


As you can tell, the sheet is printed with multiple book pages--all in all, the full sheet contains 32 pages, printed on the front and back (page 1 is on the flip side of page 2, and so forth).


After the sheet is printed, it's cut and arranged in the proper order and then bound with the other sections of the book. Obviously, my favorite stage is the finished book stage--but seeing these secret steps is one of the fun perks of being a book editor. This proof is from a new series I'm REALLY excited about--can't wait to show you more when we get the final books!

More soon!
Beth

It's Summer!

The beginning of June has always felt like the official start of summer to me. I know it doesn't really start till June 21, but June is the first summer month. Lots of schools are out and Summer Hours have begun here at Capstone Publishers.

Of course, since we're in Minnesota, the weather doesn't always cooperate...this doesn't look like summer to me!


Unlike the halcyon days of elementary school, things don't get a whole lot more relaxed around here in the summer. The other editors and designers and I are still finishing up the dribs and drabs of our Fall 2009 season--checking final proofs and approving final copies. (I want to talk about finished copies sometime soon--there is nothing as thrilling!) And I'm deep into work on our Spring 2010 season, editing manuscripts, writing cover copy, and working with design on cover and illustration ideas. Plus, manuscripts are starting to come in for Fall 2010 and I am even working with an author right now on a book that will be published in Spring 2011. We always joke that in publishing you can't keep track of what year it is.

As an administrative note, we're trying something new for a little while here at the SAB blog. I'll be joined by some of my colleagues in the design and marketing departments, as well as fellow editorial staff members. We'll be writing more specifically about what's going on in our days and what we're being inspired by. Today, my inspiration is the weather--it may feel like fall outside, but it's really spring--and I better get back to work on my Spring 2010 books...

more soon!
Beth

Make your own Green Team

Regular readers of this blog will remember posts about Kids Against Hunger, one of our We Are Heroes set. Another book in that set was The Green Team, focusing on a boy who chose to plant trees at his school. We have our own Green Team here at Capstone Publishers—the Green@Work committee. We don’t plant trees (yet!), but we are helping to keep our offices greener.

One of the Green@Work committee’s new initiatives in the Twin Cities office of Capstone Publishers is Organics Recycling. Organics recycling drastically reduces the trash—things that end up in landfills—coming out of this office. We’ve blogged before about the green initiatives here—we only print on recycled paper, for example (and the ink in our color printers is made from kelp!). Organics recycling will take that one step further. Anything fibrous can now be recycled in the Twin Cities office. That includes food scraps (even meat!), paper (including paper towels and napkins), coffee grounds, the boxes from microwavable meals, tea bags—the list goes on and on. By committing to organics recycling, we’ll reduce waste in this office by 70%. That’s pretty amazing.

We’ve been piloting the program for a few months, and it’s been very successful—we’ll kick off the full implementation this Wednesday, Earth Day. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day than to actively take a step toward keeping it green. This Earth Day, form your own Green Team!

Busy busy!

We’ve been busy (hence the lack of posts lately): Michael, Heather, and Joan were manning the booth at TLA, where they met with a ton of awesome librarians. Back at the ranch, the editorial and design staffs have been in the throes of finishing up our Fall 2009 books. About half of our 100 or so books for that season have been sent to the printer, and we’re already starting to see proofs (the last stage during which we can make changes).

While we’re all either flying across the country or spending lots of time at our desks, finishing up the season, we’ve all been thrilled to take some time out to enjoy the buzz about our Super Hero contest. (Check out our list of links, to the left.) I hear from the art department that the sketches for the book THE KID WHO SAVED SUPERMAN have just come in, and Bob, our art director, said he’s sure contest winner Hakeem is going to love seeing his likeness in the book.

We will be back soon with pics and a recap from TLA. In the meantime, check out the links and enjoy...and rest assured we’re busy making awesome books that’ll be available in less than four months!

(Administrative note: We’ve added some check boxes to each blog post. Please let us know what you think. We want this blog to provide what you’re looking for, so if you have additional comments or ideas, you can leave a comment or email me.)