Module: PUB6101-20 Children’s Publishing

Credit Value: 20

Module Tutor: Samantha Stewart

Module Tutor Contact Details: s.stewart2@bathspa.ac.uk

1. Brief description and aims of module:

This module will introduce you to the children's publishing industry, roles, processes and market. Children's publishing is a vibrant and growing global market and notable for its sales holding up in print. Around 10,000 new children's titles are publishing in the UK each year and the market is worth around £337 million p.a. in the UK.

You will have the opportunity to develop skills in editorial, design, commissioning images, understanding audience (children and adults). You will learn about the different elements of print publishing and production techniques carried out in children’s publishing. Specialist workshops will allow you to develop new hand-making, book-binding and creative print skills and knowledge in real-life contexts, and will enable you to produce a well-presented, relevant portfolio of imaginative and varied work.

You will be introduced to different types of publishing and recent developments within the industry. This module will offer the opportunity to examine children’s books in the context of large conglomerates as well as smaller, independent publishers. We will look at the global market for children's books, especially picturebooks and the variety of creative visual approaches that are popular in different countries, e.g. books by publishers such as Corraini Edizione (Italy), editions MeMo (France), Topipittori (Italy), Pato Logico (Portugal), Planeta Tangerina (Portugal), One Stroke (Japan), Les Trois Ourses (France). The ethical dimension of creating and publishing books for children will be examined, as will difficult themes such as death and violence.

This module will provide you with specialist experience and knowledge, and a relevant portfolio with which to apply for graduate roles in the children’s book industry.

2. Outline syllabus: 

• History of children's picturebooks and contemporary industry

• The editor’s role in book creation (e.g. commissioning, concept development)

• The designer's role in book creation (e.g. commissioning illustrations, layouts)

• Audience (adults and children)

• Sequential narrative and imaginative storytelling

• Project R&D

• How to create prototypes and sample material to present ideas

3. Teaching and learning activities: 

This module will be taught through mini lectures and creative workshops, with demos and support from specialist Publishing technical demonstrators and talks from leading publishers in this area.

This module is project-based. You will gain experience by taking part in discussions and in giving presentations. You will have access to our industry-standard Publishing Lab with a wide range of digital publishing software, photography studio space, and digital making tools.

Resources such as the Bath Children's Literature Festival, research trips to bookshops and The Ladevèze Collection (comprising entries to the V&A Illustration Awards) housed at Bath Spa University Library, will be utilised on this module.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Essay (1,500 words)

• % Weighting: 30

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: CW

• Description: Portfolio (equivalent of 3,500 words)

• % Weighting: 70