To: Dr. DePalma

From: Isabelle Terry

Subject: Retrospective Reflective Report 

Date: August 9, 2023

The purpose of the following document is to highlight, in detail, the work I completed during my internship as a Marketing and Publicity Assistant at the Baylor University Press. The document describes the Baylor University Press, my role and responsibilities, and my learning and growth through both my internship and my experience as a student in the Professional Writing and Rhetoric Program 

Description of Baylor University Press

Baylor University Press (BUP) is the academic publishing press of Baylor University. Its mission is “to foster scriptural, historical, and theological scholarship on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.” Each year BUP publishes around forty new titles. BUP is organized mainly in two different sections: production and publicity. The production side focuses on the acquisition and development of texts. The publicity side focuses on marketing the book. This includes creating email campaigns and social media posts as well as identifying and working with reviewers, university professors adopting books for their courses, and journals.

BUP has a small staff. In production, there is Dr. Dave Nelson, Cade Jarrell, and Jenny Hunt. Dr. Nelson is the Director of BUP and works in editorial and acquisitions. Cade works in editorial and acquisitions, and Jenny works in digital publishing. Michelle McCaig is the associate director and works in finance, operations, and rights management. David Aycock works on the publicity side, where he focuses on marketing, sales, publicity, and development. I worked under David as a Marketing and Publicity Assistant. As a Marketing and Publicity Assistant, my responsibilities included keeping an updated social media presence, creating email campaigns, corresponding with reviewers and academic journals, reading reviews, performing market research, fulfilling book review mailings, copyediting, and logging data into BUP’s database Allbooks. My position supported David’s role by taking on some of the more procedural tasks. This summer, there were typically four to five student interns aside from myself. I worked in the office from 9am to 1pm with David and Karlyn, the other Marketing and Publicity Assistant. 

Narrative of Writing Internship Activities

The following section highlights my responsibilities and the work I completed as a Marketing and Publicity Assistant at the Baylor University Press. The work is categorized as either Book Reviews, Marketing, Working with Professors, and Copyediting. If a sample of the work is included in this portfolio, the appendix it is located in is provided. 

Book Reviews 

Task: Fulfilling Review Requests

Description: Often, David would forward me an email requesting a review copy. I would first go to Allbooks, a powerful file database that BUP uses. Allbooks has information about each book the press has released or is working on publishing, including information about reviewers. If the reviewer is already in our database, I would add them to our review list. If the reviewer was not in our database, I would log their information. This information would include their mailing address, the journal/entity they were associated with, their title, and their role. After I logged their information, they would be in our database of reviewers. Once they are added to the review list, I would put in what day the book was sent out and what kind of mail was used to send the book. When reviews eventually come back, there is a section to log the day the review was received. 

After I log the information about who is receiving the book and how they are receiving it, I work on mailing the book. Occasionally books will be sent from the office via media mail or FedEx international, but often I put the reviewer's information into a spreadsheet which I send to Longleaf, a company that works with BUP to process, warehouse, and fill our book orders (see Appendix A). After this, I would email the reviewer a notice to let them know that the book they requested is on its way. If there were ever problems with the book being requested, I would consult David. Sometimes reviewers would request books that were not yet released. In that case, David would send them a pdf version. 

Task: Notifying Authors and Editors (see Appendix B)

Description: When BUP received a new review, my task was to notify the author and editors via email that there was a new review. Sometimes I did not have to do this as the author would email the review to the press, but if it was a review received directly from a journal or individual, I would notify the author and editors. 

Task: Logging Reviews 

Description: When BUP received a new review, my task was to log the review into the press drive, where we stored files related to books. I would then go to Allbooks and check that the reviewer was in the system. If they were not, I would add them and then read the review and find a positive blurb to log into the copyediting section of the Allbooks drive. 

Task: Identifying and Contacting Reviewers (see Appendix C)

Description: One of my tasks was to go to the websites of different review journals, find the contact information of the book review editor, create a list of emails, and then send an email notifying the review editors of an offer to review a book that BUP was publishing. 

Marketing

Task: Email Campaign (see Appendix D)

Description: One of my early projects was to create an email campaign using the platform mailchimp. The campaign included two emails that would be sent out to BUP’s subscribers highlighting books BUP was releasing in July. For this email campaign, I had to select review quotes to promote each book, and find the cover images, ISBN, price, discounted price, and measurements of each book. For all information except the cover images, I consulted Allbooks. I then organized the titles in the order that David requested.

Task: Market Research (see Appendix E)

Description: Throughout the summer I worked on market research for two titles. The first was The Gospel and Religious Freedom: Historical Studies in Evangelism and Political Engagement by David W. Bebbington. The second was Baptist and the Kingdom of God: Global Perspectives by T. Laine Scales and João B. Chaves. For each book, I researched schools listed on the websites of the Association of Theological Schools and Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. For each school, I would go through their faculty and find professors with research interests or teaching courses related to the topics of the books I was assigned. When I identified a faculty that may be interested in one of the books, I recorded their information in a spreadsheet. This information included what book I thought they would find interesting, their title, name, school, position, email, and my reasoning for why they would be interested. 

Task: Social Media Posts (see Appendix F)

Description: One of my responsibilities was to keep the BUP social media updated. To do this, I frequently posted to Facebook and Twitter. Often I was posting scheduled facebook posts that Karlyn had written, but I also had to write posts Facebook and Twitter posts myself. When I did this it was typically because we had a new book review or an author was featured on something. When I had to do this I found the image associated with the book the author had most recently released, read about the platform they were featured on, and then wrote a description for Facebook and Twitter. 

Working with Professors

Task: Exam Copy Request Fufillment (see Appendix G)

Description: When a professor requests an exam copy I use an email template to input their information and thank them for their interest in a book. The email contains instructions on how to access their book on redshelf, an online server we use to provide access to web pdfs of books. I then put their information into redshelf and provide them with 90 days of access to the text.

Task: Desk Copy Request Fufillment

Description: When a professor requests a desk copy of the book I first confirm that they are using the text as required reading in their class. BUP’s policy is to only send desk copies to professors that are using text as required reading. When the professor confirms this, I ask for their information, and add them to my Longleaf order spreadsheet using a different code than I would for a reviewer. I then email the professor and let them know the order has been placed. 

Copyediting

Task: Checking Catalog for Accuracy 

Description: My first copyediting task was to cross-check the information listed for each book with the information listed in Allbooks. This included the ISBN, the price, the release date, and the book's dimensions. I also read the writing in the catalog and suggested rewrites where I thought the wording was confusing. 

Task: Implementing Jenny’s Notes (see Appendix H)

Description: One of my copyediting tasks was implementing Jenny’s handwritten copyediting notes of the catalog as digital markups in Adobe Pro. This way, her notes could be easily checked by David and sent to the designers who print the final catalog. 

Task: Checking Catalog for Designer Requests (see Appendix H)

Description: When BUP received the catalog back from the designer, my job was to cross-check what they sent back with the revisions we requested. Often there are a few minor things the designer misses that we requested. I do this by marketing the notes made in the file as either implemented (green thumbs up) or rejected (red thumbs down). 

Task: Checking ad accuracy

Description: One of my copywriting tasks was to check an advertisement that David had made for accuracy. I cross-checked the information listed in the ad with Allbooks. This information included the ISBN, the price, the release date, and the book’s dimensions. 

Reflection and Analysis of Learning at Baylor University Press

I came to work with a good attitude and made an effort to talk to people in the office in order to develop positive work relationships. I think the work environment is a significant factor in determining how much a person enjoys their job. I am happy to say that I greatly enjoy working at the press. My fellow interns are friendly, and my supervisor and manager are helpful and encouraging. The staff at BUP invested in me as a student and checked in with me to ensure I was achieving my learning goals. This kind of environment helped me feel confident when working on new tasks because I knew that I could ask for clarification or help without adverse repercussions. Working in a positive environment also encouraged me to want to do good work. When working on tasks, I wrote with quality and attention to detail. Working at an academic press meant I often worked with people in academia. I had to keep my audience in mind and write in a way that was clear and free of errors. 

Writing Collaboratively 

I believe that my largest development as a writing professional came from learning how to work on writing in a collaborative manner. Although I had worked with others on writing before, it had always been in the context of peer review or tutoring. This meant I was giving feedback to one person rather than working on a piece of writing as a group. Although the process of copyediting can sometimes feel similar to peer review and tutoring, it is different as it feels less like I am giving feedback to a singular individual and more like I am giving feedback to a team. When I did copyediting, I was one person in a chain of people working on one text. I would put edits in, send it to another person, who sends it to someone else, and so on and eventually, it came back to me. The involvement of other people made me approach writing in a more organized manner. It reminded me more of the work I do in tutoring than in revising work independently. I learned that when I am doing work like copyediting, I have to think of myself as a team member who is doing writing tasks with others. Even though the project requires writing, thinking of it as a team project instead of something I am creating reminds me of my role as one part of a larger whole.

My internship has emphasized that the writing process is not only recursive when done individually but in collaborative contexts as well. When working on something individually, it is easy to keep track of your notes, changes, and ideas. You may reach out for feedback, but in general final decisions are your decisions. When working collaboratively, you have to make an extra effort to keep track of feedback, what stage of the process something is in, and who is working on it at the moment. I feel like there are a lot more recursive practices when you are going back and forth with a team to work on something. 

Additionally, a team means that final decisions are either done by what the majority thinks or by what the most qualified person thinks. This means there can be disagreements on what should be changed or what changes are most important. This also means the things that you think should be changed may not be what everyone agrees on and may not be implemented. These experiences have shown me that when approaching a writing project that is collaborative, a person must also think about how they approach teamwork. 

Writing in a Marketing Context

Working in a Marketing context has made me more aware of audience in terms of workplace writing. For example, when I am writing an email to communicate with a reviewer or professor, I am aware that I am representing BUP. This means I have to be aware of wording and grammar not only for reasons of professionalism but because I am representing BUP. If I am communicating on behalf of BUP, but I am phrasing things poorly, not taking time to read through things, or using poor grammar, it would undermine the legitimacy of the press. I am not only communicating with other writers who expect good writing but with professionals who work in academic institutions. Every interaction either helps market BUP in a positive light or a negative light. 

Increased audience awareness has been helpful when working on marketing and promotional materials. Before beginning my internship, I knew that marketing was done with a specific audience in mind. The audience was the consumer the product targeted. However, my experience with how the audience was thought of in marketing was that one’s audience was broad. For example, it could be “parents with young children,” “young professionals,” or “teenage girls.” I had thought that a broad audience was good in marketing because it meant a wider appeal and, therefore, more sales. 

In my internship, I learned that the audience one is marketing towards is not always broad. In academic publishing, the audience of a book can be incredibly niche. This changes the way that books are marketed. For example, the blurbs chosen from reviews to market a book are often along the lines of “For those interested in…” This is different from the reviews that market books for entertainment which often vaguely describe the book with adjectives. 

Attention to Detail

My internship has helped me further develop attention to detail in a writing context. My experience with copyediting has taught me how to work methodically through a large work and has made me more attuned to finding errors. My internship has also emphasized the importance of wording in professional correspondence. For example, when notifying an author of a review, we do not say “congratulations on the review” because the review may be very critical (see Appendix B). We simply say, “Please note…” Paying attention to simple things like this has made me think more about how things are phrased and the effect that it can have on an audience. 

Self-Evaluation of Internship at Baylor University Press

My broader goals for my internship were to increase my understanding of the editing and publishing industry, how writing is used in business practices, and the specifics of academic publishing. I achieved these goals as the small size of the BUP allowed me to interact with professionals working in different aspects of publishing. Although I did not work in production, I was able to listen to meetings and understand what the production side of publishing entails. I was also able to hear more about the process of acquisitions. This helped me learn more about the different areas that make up the editing and publishing industry. I was able to see what forms writing takes in the everyday work of a business and participate in workplace writing. Working on the marketing and publicity side of BUP allowed me to interact with reviewers and professors, which helped me understand a different side of what it is like to work in institutes of higher education. Furthermore, I learned how academic publishing differs from general publishing in terms of how books are marketed and the role of reviews. 

My smaller goals for my internship were to increase my knowledge of software used in marketing and produce quality work. Through my internship, I familiarized myself with how to use adobe acrobat. I also was able to watch a webinar where I learned how to use Adobe InDesign. Although I did not have any projects this summer where I needed to use InDesign, I am sure that acquainting myself with the software will be helpful in the future. 

I was not sure what to expect when I started my internship. I thought I might be interacting more with authors than with reviewers and professors. I also thought the majority of my work would entail marketing efforts more similar to what I had experience with, like designing graphics and strategizing social media to get people interested in a specific text. However, the majority of the marketing work I did was working with people who were already interested in the texts BUP is publishing. Despite my internship being different than expected, I still met my goals. 

Although I did encounter challenges with some work assignments, they were in large part due to technological errors rather than something specific I did. I do think that I can continue to improve when it comes to navigating situations that I do not know how to approach. I think I often want to be independent and solve a problem myself because I worry about bothering my manager, and I think that doing things on my own will be more efficient. However, I have learned that there are times when it is better to ask questions than try to solve a problem alone. 

Overall, I believe I did quality work this summer. I accomplished the tasks my manager requested in a timely manner, worked well with others, and behaved professionally. I was able to navigate challenges with grace, and when I made mistakes, I learned from them. I grew in my ability to write in a professional setting and used the assignments in class to reflect on my experience in my internship and what I am looking for in future jobs. For this, I give myself an A.

Overall Evaluation of My Writing and Professional Development

When I began my studies in the Professional Writing and Rhetoric program, I was somewhat confident in my writing for no other reason than I had been told I was good at it. My understanding of the writing process was elementary. I did not truly understand the time, work, and patience that goes into crafting good writing. I thought writing was something you either understood and could do or struggled with. I now see writing as a skill, something that can always be improved upon no matter what level a person is at. The small class size and the invested faculty of the PWR program have given me opportunities to take risks in my writing and write without fear of embarrassment. In turn, I have grown in confidence both as a writer and a person. 

The student in me who wants to learn sees the university environment as a place for self-growth and gaining knowledge. The practical person in me knows that the majority of students who decide to enter higher education do so because they know a college degree is the first step toward a “good job.” PWR offers the best of both. Classes in PWR are practical. They prepare you for a wide range of jobs by developing writers who can transfer their skills into various rhetorical situations and genres. The classes force you to network and interview professionals. They give you real-world experience in terms of working with clients and having internship experience. These experiences have helped me make connections with a wide variety of professionals and learn about different ways writing can be used in a career. This has allowed me to not only grow in my confidence with interviews and cold calling/emailing but has given me insight into the way that writing is valued in the workplace. This insight is powerful when making a case with employers on how my skills can be transferred to things they need.

Practical PWR assignments are balanced with assignments that encourage self-discovery and self-reflection. In my classes, I have had the opportunity to write about my family history, my early educational experiences, and my own life. These assignments allowed me to intentionally reflect on experiences and people who have shaped me to be the person I am today. Additionally, these assignments allowed me to deconstruct my idea of who writers are and what good writing looks like, which helped me realize how being a writer is integral to my identity. From my preferred workflow to how I interact with society, I have found that learning about myself has provided insight into how I write and that how I write informs much of my behavior. Learning about myself has made me more confident as both a writer and a professional. I am able to identify jobs that will suit me well and articulate to employers what kind of work environment I value and why. 

In PWR, I have developed skills in a wide variety of genres. In addition to my internship,  I have taken classes about writing pedagogy, creative nonfiction, fiction prose, persuasive writing, theories of tutoring, workplace writing, and spiritual writing. I have learned how to navigate my personal writing process and how to work collaboratively to help others work through the writing process. I have also developed a strong sense of audience awareness and how it informs writing, and what media form is used. I can confidently transfer written work into new forms of media, including visual and audio. This has helped me in collaborative work in my internship, and I can see it helping me in the future should I work on the production side of a press, as a university professor, or on team projects in a business. As I look into graduate programs, I feel confident in my ability to succeed in the wide variety of genres schools require students to learn, and I can easily trace how programs build on work I did in my undergraduate degree.