The production of Travel Light is well under way! The team has been working long and hard to get the book finished and looking great. Each department has stuck to a tight schedule and met their deadlines. As the project is nearly complete here is an overview of the production process so far!
Marketing
The marketing team were involved in lots of different activities. They hosted a quiz, visited libraries and created lots of fun marketing materials for libraries and schools. You can download the activity pack from the Fun Stuff section, where you can learn more about the book.
They are also very busy organising a party to celebrate the launch of the book, so keep checking and we’ll give you the details soon!
Editorial
Before editorial had a chance to get their hands on the text they rewrote Alistair McCleery’s Last Word to make it more child friendly. Alistair was then shown the text to see if he agreed with the changes, and luckily he did.
The Last Word wasn’t the only element of the book that the editorial team felt needed to be adapted. As some of the terms within the novel were related to Norse Mythology and others possibly above the target age’s reading ability, the team felt that a glossary was needed. This would also make the novel stand out against the previous editions, adding a new dimension to the text. The team set about clarifying the terms, from Valkyries to the Pheonix and Seadragons, they even found themselves learning new words!
The original text contained words that caused great debate amongst the team over their suitability for young readers. They sought the opinions of professionals who worked with children, e.g. teachers and children’s librarians, to reach a final decision. They decided that the word ‘slut’ wasn’t appropriate due to its meaning and instead changed it to ‘wench,’ so as to keep the overall meaning of the sentence the same as Mitchison had originally put it.
The final edited text was then send over to the production team, completing another stage in the process of becoming a finished product!
Production
Production has been working hard on making Travel Light an exciting children’s book! They decided to have illustrations for each of the three different parts, as well as illustrated dropcaps for the first letter of each chapter. They set about commissioning an illustrator to do the work, and William B. Hill more than met the teams high expectations for eye-catching images. He also designed a map of the places that Halla goes in the novel, allowing the readers to keep track of her adventures.
After undertaking market research the production team designed the inside pages with a 129 x 198mm format and use the font Bookman Old Style. After producing the prelim pages they then filtered it into the already designed pages, after being given the edited text from editorial. As you can see from the sneak preview below the combination of page layouts, illustrations and edited text have made the book come alive!
The First Page of Text
