“Oh my gosh! When will they ever stop commenting?” This is my favorite line whenever I get exhausted managing publications whose end hasn’t come yet.
Since high school, I have been involved in publications work either as a writer, editor, layout artist, circulations manager, or managing editor. I’ve had a few memorable experiences I wish to share here. Mind you managing publications can be so mechanical, not until you start reflecting on the process.
I have managed technology bulletins, magazines, and a coffee table book. The process involves varied emotions from the mind boggling, excruciating, thought-provoking up to the rewarding moment once it is out.
Let’s start with the idea process. It is where the people involved brainstorm on what they want with the publication. In this process, I get amazed at how the human brain functions. Creative ideas emanating from everywhere pour in at an instant the documenter can have a hard time capturing them all.
The execution part is the bloodiest of all. It is when I work with the layout artist to come up with the first draft. Once the first draft is out, I present it to the team so they can feast on it. After the comments, hey, summarize it, it is OVERHAUL. Whew! We will surely need some exercise to do the next draft.
“Please transfer this to the next page. Oh this page looks nice, very nice, but I think the picture is a bit pixilated, so we should change this (the very nice page now fades). The book is great (with two-paragraph single-spaced comments). Oh, this is great! But we need more! More! More!”
Comments after comments, never-ending comments can be so tiring. Until we are near completion.
Just when everybody seems to be resting and preparing to close the pages, last minute comments will come in, which can alter the course of events or just suspend completion for a bit later. A Hollywood suspense thriller is no match on this part. Whenever this happens, I take a deep breath so I won’t lose my sanity. Sometimes I listen; sometimes I don’t. But then again, I am left with no choice but to listen to the powers that be.
There are times when a publication gets extended to their original schedule. The major publications can take months even years to be completed. When I get fed up, I can no longer see the mistakes even as I keep re-reading the material. When somebody looks at it, the most obvious and basic mistakes will surface. It can be so shameful.
There were also instances when I was able to do the table of contents without going back to the actual pages. When I checked it, voila! I only missed several pages. I have mastered the publication. When I get so immersed in it, I can hear the comments of the team in my dreams. I can hear them requesting if one more photo can be added, if the deadlines can be moved. Sometimes, I can spot what word was added if the layout artist added one without my consent effortlessly.
Publications, they can be so addictive. If they were a drug they should have been banned long ago.
Bringing the material to the printing press is second to the best part. That’s when I argue with the colors and the nitty-gritty of everything. You just can’t let the material go without much supervision. Mind you my eyes are so sensitive; I can distinguish the slightest difference between different shades of the same color. But then again, there are excruciating and persistent human errors no matter how high the standard is.
Once it is out, there seems to be an indescribable feeling of relief and fulfillment. We did it! When the coffee table book was out, I leafed through it for innumerable number of times—seeing the pictures, checking the pages and the binding, I felt every page with my hands. I even slept with it by my side. I tried looking at it at different lighting conditions, and at different positions. But of course, nothing beats looking it with a coffee and a table by my side (what a cliché!). There are imperfections, but I’m happy with it.
For 23 years, I have been through a lot of seemed unexplainable occurrences. I have been through a lot of heartaches, failures, nostalgia, what have you. I have been asking myself: what’s with all these? I have been searching for books for explanation. And oh yes, the answer is printed. I have found the answer in what I am doing—publications.
Young as we are, we need to welcome comments, undergo a process so we’ll end up triumphant—not completely thou, because we need to work for something more. Something that will lead us to being the best.
A colleague said this to me: “Allow your outputs to be critiqued so when they come out they can stand.”
Kamalig: A treasure trove of rice, a coffeetable book on Philippine rice production, will be launched in Powerbooks Megamall, November 28, 2-5 pm. See you there.
