Week 7

For a few weeks ago:

The 2009 Catalog is nearly finished. I've gone through and proofed it again after getting it back from the designer, again. It went through several drafts as seeing something can be very different than discussing it and other possibilities earlier in the drafting process. This go-round, I was just quickly reading through, making sure nothing was missed, and checking the ISBNs, cover images, and prices against their listings on the FIT website. I found a few mistakes, but not many. One thing, which ended up serving as an "in-service" (a meeeting in an organization to teach the members, here myself, of that organization something new), that I found was an ISBN was listed very differently on the website than what it was in the catalog and from the other books listed in the catalog. When I asked Matt and then Val to find out which one was correct, we found that the listing on the website was the incorrect one.

This set off a learning experience for me as to how to purchase ISBNs and how to register books online (which is a tremendous improvement from the old "paper" days). Apparently, ISBNs are generally purchased by publishing companies in bulk, up to hundreds at a time. This way, the books they put out have ISBNs different from each other by only a digit or three. That helps the publishers stay organized and helps me when proofreading ISBNs as i can memorize about nine or ten of the series and just focus on the last few digits.

Though the work for my internship has been primarily copyediting and proofreading, it has been instances like that just described that have taught me the most. Matt, Val, and the other folks at FIT have done a wonderful job of introducing me to the whole production process. I have seen articles and books develop from the earliest stages. I have seen and participated in the communication of changes suggested, changes necessary, and changes necessary that the authors keep changing back. Now I have learned how to register a book with the library of congress and have even learned what the "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page is (it is a leftover from publishing using plates, where all the printer had to do was cover a digit to show that this was the second printing, third printing, etc.).