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Welcome to New York!

Friday, September 6th, 2019
Manhattan skyline, August 2019

Hello fellow book lovers!

I am the newest intern here at Beaufort Books & Spencer Hill Press! Over the next four months, you’ll be seeing periodic updates on the blog about my latest bookish adventures and NYC experiences. For this brief time as a blogger, I’ll be going full James Bond and using the alias of Captain Beaumerica (I am a Marvel fiend and cannot be stopped). I am so thrilled to share my thoughts, musings, and lessons learned with you all!

I think it is only appropriate that this first post serves as an introduction to myself. Below you’ll find a list of a few of my favorite things.

Favorite Book:

One thing to know about me? I will never lie to you. I have so many favorite books. I’m not a parent, but I imagine that choosing your favorite book is not unlike trying to choose your favorite child. For the sake of time and your sanity, I won’t list all my favorites, but here is my default:

Divergent by Veronica Roth – This book isn’t a groundbreaking novel with an ultra-diverse cast, nor is it an underrated gem that everyone will love, but as a lost middle schooler this book was exactly what I needed to read. It brought me comfort and guidance during that complicated time of adolescence. It was an influential book that shaped the rest of my school experience. I could talk for hours about the first book in this series and the injustice of the film adaptation, but instead I will just encourage you to read it for yourself. Come share in the heartache.

Favorite Movie:

This probably won’t come as a surprise, but I have several favorite movies… Here’s a few:

The Way Way Back – A coming-of-age story starring Steve Carrell and Toni Collette. This film is so heartwarming and emotional. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Truman Show – I love Jim Carey. He did a phenomenal job in this movie, but honestly, when does he not?

The Entire Marvel Cinematic Universe – Captain Marvel. Black Panther. Iron Man. Too many to name. I love them all with the passion of a thousand Suns.

Favorite Place:
In May of 2019, I spent two weeks in Southern Oregon and Northern California. They are easily my favorite places in the World. If I could hole up in the California Redwoods to write for the rest of my life, I absolutely would. These massive trees brought tears to my eyes and made me emotional in a way that I never thought trees could. I consider it a travesty that the Redwoods are not on the official Wonders of the World list.

Favorite Thing About NYC (so far):

The subway. I consider myself I great driver, but I highly dislike it. Not having to drive everyday is a blessing that I never want to lose. Also, the bookstores. So. Many. Bookstores.  

That’s it for now! I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about me! I am so excited to be a part of the Beaufort team and interact with you via Beaufort social media. Check back soon for more updates!

Your Favorite Hero,

Captain Beaumerica

This is a shared blog post for Beaufort Books and Spencer Hill Press.

Everyone Wants to be Published

Tuesday, September 13th, 2016

When you’re a publishing student, you face an annoying struggle from strangers. People think you can help them publish the book they wrote. “If I give you my manuscript, can you publish it?”

Um, no. First off, I’m still a grad student and do not work for a publisher, yet. Second off, just because I will work for a publisher one day doesn’t mean I can – or will – publish your work.

Let’s break down the acquisition process:

First you have to grab an editor’s interest, but if you simply submit your manuscript to an editor it will end up in the Slush pile, especially when it’s a big house like Simon & Schuster or HarperCollins. (If anyone’s familiar with the show Younger, you’ll know what the Slush pile means.) The only sure way to get an editor interested in your work is to get a literary agent. The literary agent will help you polish and improve your manuscript.

Younger

(Still from Younger, www.halopublishing.com/blog)

Having a literary agent is like having that cool friend who can get you into the VIP parties. The agent is connected to the editor in some way – college alums, former coworkers, BFFs, members of the same family in one way or another. So because of the agent’s connection to the editor, the editor is more willing to read a manuscript that was suggested and represented by this trustworthy source.

Next if the editor loves your manuscript and wants to publish it, he/she needs to rally support within the publishing house before the manuscript is pitched at a meeting with the publisher. The support may be from another editor or a coworker who works in the marketing or sales department. By getting backup, the manuscript has more of a fighting chance to be published by the house.

But it may not stop there. You could grab the attention of the publisher at the meeting, but they may want more people to read the manuscript and then discuss the manuscript’s possibility of life at the next meeting.

So with that said, if you know someone who works in publishing or is studying to make publishing a career, don’t say, “I have a manuscript. Can you publish it?” There are so many steps for the manuscript to be considered, and most likely the person you expect to publish your book, doesn’t possess the cosmic power to make you a published author.

–Peggy Ann, intern

Garth Williams: The Unsung Hero of my Childhood

Monday, June 20th, 2016

On June 3rd, The New Yorker published an article on Beaufort’s new biography of Garth Williams, the largely unknown hand behind the illustrations of many children’s classics. You might not know Williams’ name (I didn’t) but you undoubtedly know the stories he helped give us, including Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, and Little House on the Prairie. In Garth Williams, American Illustrator: A Life, Elizabeth K Wallace and James D. Wallace tackle what Williams himself struggled to do: to write the story of a life that spanned seven countries, four marriages, and several professions, but has remained undiscovered by the public.

gw 1

The New Yorker article highlights the depth of Williams’ commitment to the integrity and nuance of the stories he illustrated, and his desire to convey a sense of truth. In his rendering of Stuart Little, the article remarks, “Stuart was both mouselike and dapper, anthropomorphized in a way that expressed the dignity and absurdity of the human condition and the animal condition alike”. What more can we ask for from a glimpse of truth than dignity and absurdity?gw2

With animal characters serving as human analogues, Williams gave them life in a way that was never reductive; these characters felt real sorrow, real joy, and allowed us as readers to do the same. Even as children, we have keen eyes for cheap shots, and no young reader is going to be moved by some dopey, grinning caricature. “No way José,” they would think, “that mouse is nothing like me! He’s not real, he’s a dumb rodent meant to teach me to behave.” But in Williams’ subtle hands, the likes of Wilbur, Stuart, Charlotte, and countless others are transformed into complicated, achingly real characters that seem more like friends.gw3

Williams’ drawings elicit a nostalgia that spans generations—his art passed down from its original young audience to their eventual children, preserved in that special medium of the bedtime story. I found myself shockingly moved by the drawings presented in Garth Williams, American Illustrator: A Life; they catapulted me back to memories I hadn’t touched in years. “Oh man, he really was terrific,” I thought, wiping my eyes discreetly as I poured over the book’s images of Wilbur. I watched as my past sprung up to meet me, I saw history wink and skip, and found myself grateful to a man I had never known I cared for, grateful to a talent to whom I never knew I owed so much.

 

–Some Intern

Beau and Arrow – The Year of Living Biblically

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Last Wednesday I participated in a book club on AJ Jacobs’ The Year of Living Biblically. If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it, as it had me laughing out loud periodically. Jacobs is an experimental journalist who writes for Esquire, and in this book he goes on a year-long journey attempting to follow the Bible as literally as possible. Through his hilarious adventures, he learns about fundamentalism (both Jewish and Christian), his own religious heritage, and his spiritual life. Also, he dresses up in all white, grows a full beard, blows the shofar on street corners at the first day of every month and throws pebbles at adulterers. Entertainment!
Like all book clubs, tangents are always the most exciting part, because tangents form an opportunity for discussion beyond the scope of the novel, and into the participants’ basic  intellectual yearning to discuss personal opinions and issues. You have just gotten a small insight into my senior thesis, of which a substantial rough draft is due tomorrow morning. Thanks for letting me practice. Yes I do want to cry now.
Back to our tangents, they were really  great, and what was supposed to be an hour-long book club, became a too-good-to-stop, 3 hour book club. As a group of modern Orthodox Jews, we discussed the ritual life inherent in being an observant Jew, and what it all might amount to. We also tapped into spirituality, cherry-picking religion, oh, and our basic ideas about what type of life we think people should lead and why. Sound heavy? It is!
One important reason why I mention all this is because AJ Jacobs admits to constantly Googling himself and references thereof, and I think it would be pretty damn cool if he saw this post. It would most definitely rank high on my “famous connections” list. So AJ if you’re listening in, hi, I think you’re funny (very).
Oh, I almost forgot the most important thing! In an attempt to come as close as possible to having a slave, Jacobs picks up a non-paying intern who does all his dirty work for free. Turns out, since the book’s publication, that very intern wrote a book of his own (about Jerry Falwell), and it actually did pretty well. An intern turned famous? Clap clap clap.

Rachel Lily

From Our Beau House To Yours

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

As the new intern for Beaufort, my first creative task was to come up with a title for my posts on this blog. Of course I take this too seriously, it’s a lot of pressure, you know? It must be smart, witty, engaging, and  abound with intelligent literary references. After worrying about this for quite some time, I’ve come up with “From Our Beau House To Yours,” which fits, alas, none of the above criteria.

It does use part of Beaufort, and is french so at a cursory glance it seems I may be on the way to fulfilling “smart” or at least clever.  However, the second definition of beau is “dandy,” and the third “boyfriend,” so naturally I worry about the kind of message this might send. To continue, house seems fair, but I realized I don’t know the difference (if there is any) between publishing house and publishing company. Problem. Lastly, instead of an intelligent literary reference, beau house really (if we’re going to be honest) is a pun on Bauhaus, my favourite English cult punk band from the eighties.

I also thought of “Holding Down The ‘Fort,” but that implies way more responsibility and it is only my second day. Perhaps “Updates from the Fall Intern” is better, certainly safer, but (since someone else came up with it) I wouldn’t be an innovative intern for this innovative publishing company.

Regardless, I look forward to writing the next post, but mostly, I look forward to informing my one million plus readers on all-things-literary-and-cool in the coming months.

– Nikki-Lee