Meet the Summer Faculty

As we get ready for the start of summer classes, the NYU MS in Publishing: Digital & Print Media program is pleased to welcome three new media experts joining our faculty of leading industry practitioners. Yes, the new members know their subjects, but they also have some pretty cool interests outside school! Read on to learn about some new faces in the classroom this summer… and their passion for sushi, saxophones, and more.

Hyperion and The Chew: Recipe for Synergy Success

M.S. in Publishing students, including blogger Elizabeth Forrest (back row, middle), pose with: (front row, far left) Hyperion’s Bryan Christian, Elisabeth Dyssegaard, and Mindy Stockfield; (middle row, fourth-sixth from left) Ellen Archer, Hyperion’s President and Publisher; Harriet Abraham, ABC’s VP for Daytime Programming Operations; and Hyperion’s Meg Morse-Schindler.

Delicious donuts (red velvet, French toast, and cookies and cream, anyone?), dancing along with Carla Hall (a chef with cool moves), and learning how to clap and laugh on command as a TV audience member: these were just some of the treats in store for M.S. in Publishing: Digital & Print Media students during a visit to the set of The Chew. We were also given the opportunity after the taping of the hit ABC daytime talk show to meet with the producers and members of the team from Hyperion, who published the bestselling companion cookbook, The Chew: Food. Life. Fun.

Job-Hunting Handbook: What the HR Experts Say

M.S. in Publishing students get career tips from Stacy Berliner (back, left) and Sara Patterson (back, right).

Publishing is a tight-knit community, and for those seeking their first positions in the industry, it can be tough to break in. Luckily, last week, students in NYU’s M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media program had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion moderated by the program’s director, Andrea Chambers, and featuring two senior human resources executives in the publishing industry. Sara Patterson, Head of Talent Management for Condé Nast, and Stacy Berliner, Director of Human Resources at Random House, shared their insights, key networking tips, and job-hunting techniques crucial for snagging that publishing dream job.

Meet the Spring Faculty: New Faces and Surprising Facts

We know you have been waiting for this, so here’s our annual introduction to the new faculty members teaching during the spring semester at NYU’s M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media program. Their interests are far-reaching, from expertise in mystery, science fiction and horror publishing to tablet and app creation. Our talented teachers can help students understand worlds ranging from Apple to analytics, consumer marketing to social media marketing, fiction to finance, metadata to magazine editing, video to new views of the future of media. Read on for profiles of the latest publishing executives to join our roster of media leaders in the classroom. Plus, you will learn a few fun facts about what our faculty members do in their time away from teaching:

Digital Book World 2013: Change and Cooperation

NYU M.S. in Publishing students David Stuzin, Nicole Estrin, Michelle Cashman, Pam Majumdar, and Lorna Field volunteer at Digital Book World.

During a Digital Book World 2013 panel discussion so crowded that some attendees sat on the floor, Matt MacInnis, Founder and CEO of the interactive book company Inkling, made a particularly perceptive comment: “It’s a miracle that the book was a thing the whole world agreed on.” That is, up until recently, it is fair to say that “the book” as we know it has retained the same static, linear structure across various nations and fields of study since the invention of the printing press 500 years ago. Going forward, MacInnis continued, “It’s not gonna be one monolithic thing serving the med. school book and serving the novel.”

Eats and Feats at Every Day with Rachael Ray

Tracey Seaman (right) talks to students in the Every Day with Rachael Ray test kitchen.

The delectable aroma of herbs, spices, and Mexican cooking greeted M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media students as they arrived at the test kitchens of Every Day with Rachael Ray for an industry visit. Naturally, at a food magazine, the test kitchen is key–and the perfect place to start our tour! Christine Guilfoyle, the magazine’s Group Publisher, who graciously set up the student visit, explained that a goal of Every Day with Rachael Ray is to help readers understand the everyday practices of good cooking.

Pop Culture Publishing: Liars, Werewolves, and Mockingjays

Moderator Justin Chanda, Vice President & Publisher, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, and Margaret K. McElderry Books

A sea of familiar faces greeted attendees of the thirteenth NYU Media Talk, sponsored by the NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing Digital & Print Media. Sure, students and faculty filled a jam-packed Rosenthal Pavilion at the Kimmel Center, but what instantly got the crowd buzzing were the displays of book cover blow-ups featuring today’s most beloved characters of young adult fiction, including Bella Swan, Sebastian Verlac, and Emily Fields. The latest NYU Media Talk was titled “Pop Culture Publishing: Young Adult Megahits,” and everyone in attendance wanted the answer to one particular question: “What is the secret sauce to producing hits like Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments, or Pretty Little Liars?” Indeed, as young adult books continue to transcend their traditional audience and shape a new generation of readers (including plenty of adults!), the publishing industry is actively trying to understand how and why children’s books succeed in acquiring their blockbuster-level status.

Frankfurt Adventure: Three Views of the Fair

Volunteering at international book fairs has become a tradition at the NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing. Here’s an inside look at the Frankfurt Book Fair from three students who recently traveled to Germany to put their publishing knowledge to work…and came home with some insightful impressions reported in Publishers Weekly.

Connections, Chance, and Content Deck the Halls

Frankfurt Diaries

Oct 26, 2012

Monica Odom, KeriLee Horan, and Julia Blyumkin at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Last year, students in the Master’s program in Publishing: Digital and Print Media at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies were volunteers at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair—and shared their thoughts with Publishers Weekly. This year, the destination for three different student volunteers was the Frankfurt Book Fair, thanks to generous support from the Oscar Dystel Research Fellowship Fund and literary agent Jane Dystel. Student volunteers Julia Blyumkin, a freelance writer and designer; KeriLee Horan, digital production editor at Commonweal magazine, and Monica Odom, literary assistant, Liza Dawson Associates, discovered that three themes emerged: the value of the personal connection; a certain serendipity that was mentioned time and again; and, finally, a call from conference speakers to return to the basic fundamentals of a good story.

To read the full story, please click here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/Frankfurt-Book-Fair/article/54529-connections-chance-and-content-deck-the-halls.html.

App-titude for Apps

Radhika Nayak and Chris Sanborn at an NYU Center for Publishing moderated conversation.

How do you produce a successful app? And what is a successful app, anyway? These were some of the questions asked recently at the moderated conversation on “The Art of the App” sponsored by students and alumni of the NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing. The event featured Radhika Nayak, Vice President for Product at Simon & Schuster, and Chris Sanborn, Founder and President of Sanborn Media Factory, a 30-person interactive agency that produces digital campaigns and products for companies such as Condé Nast and Hearst. Both panelists were asked to give the publishing industry a grade in terms of their app creation to date. Nayak, who has deep experience in building user-centered product strategies for websites and mobile applications, gave book publishing “about a C,” saying that publishers seem to be stuck on the idea of long-form content, and that they think of apps as nothing more than marketing tools for books, which is not what an app really is. 

Networking? Here’s How With YPG and Ed2010

Young to Publishing’s Sara Sargent and Ed2010′s Chandra Turner

One of the greatest perks of being a student in the M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media program at NYU-SCPS is the industry events we are frequently invited to attend. I was delighted to be able to go to a brown-bag lunch with speakers Chandra Turner, Executive Editor of Parents magazine and founder and president of Ed2010, and Sara Sargent, Assistant Editor, Balzer+Bray (an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books) and the chair of the Young to Publishing Group (YPG) Planning Committee. [YPG is part of The Association of American Publishers (AAP), which has more than 300 publishing organizations as its members.] Both speakers offered valuable insights on how to break into the industry, as well as all the opportunities for entry-level publishing professionals to connect with each other. The lunch was informative, interesting, and a great opportunity to listen to the wisdom of people who have gone through exactly what we are going through now as we attempt to get a foot in the door of publishing. And they have come out on top!