The Publishing Student Association (PSA) at the NYUSPS MS in Publishing: Digital and Print Media is a vibrant community of students who get together to host social, community, and professional service events throughout the academic year. One of the major activities the group sponsors is a book club. And what could be more appropriate for students who love books? So, we asked the PSA President, Natalia Becerra, who is a rotational associate at Macmillan, to tell us more about the club:
In creating the PSA Book Club, what was important to you? Was there any specific focus or ground rules?
Last year’s PSA board did a great job establishing the book club and the basis for what we are doing today. When we discussed how we were going to approach the club this year, we knew we wanted to continue their work and make sure the club reaches as many students as possible. The goal of the PSA Book Club is to give our students (many of whom are currently working or interning in the publishing business) an opportunity to gain and share experiences and insights from a professional viewpoint. While we do talk about the writing style and storyline of a book as book-lovers, we also have a distinctive and professional perspective, including art and design, pricing, the marketing campaign, sales predictions and so forth.
How did you go about selecting your first book, and what were the criteria?
First, we wanted to have a book that was widely praised and recognized because we thought it would help to draw new members to the book club. At the same time, we also wanted to select a book that could offer new perspectives, broaden our worldview, and lead to necessary discussions about the current political environment. Each one of us came up with some suggestions; it was Prince, our vice president, who actually suggested we read Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. None of us had read it, but we had all heard about it and decided it was the perfect book to start the new year. It had also been a recent Oprah’s Book Club selection, so we knew it already had a great reputation.
Did you consider having an online component, or was having actual “meetings” more important to you?
Having actual meetings was very important for us. It is sometimes hard to get to know other students who aren’t in your same classes; we want the book club meetings to be a way for students from the entire program to get to know each other and talk about things other than the books. Besides the meetings, we also have a Goodreads group. We hope to expand and utilize that group more this year for discussions outside the formal setting.
How much time did you give your members to read the book, and did you suggest any broad topics to think about in advance?
We announced the book one or two weeks before classes started; we gave our members five weeks to read the novel because we felt they needed the time to read between classes. The PSA board had a brief discussion prior to the first book club session to list several topics we’d like to cover. During the meeting itself, we guided the dialogue into a comprehensive and in-depth discussion.
What were some of the questions/topics of discussion?
The conversation was led mostly by our PSA board members, with Brittany Lowe, our treasurer, taking the lead. The topics involved writing style, plot, character development, and personal impressions and ratings for the book. We also discussed the pricing and cover design; the book’s message and its relation to the current political and social environment for immigrants; DACA, a 2012 Executive Order permitting hundreds of thousands brought into the US illegally as children to remain here; and even whether or not we thought the book should be added to reading lists for high school students.
You have already selected your second book, which is non-fiction. Any criteria for that?
Yes. After the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for this year’s National Book Awards, we decided that it would be a good idea to choose one of the nominated titles; we are publishing students, and this is one of the biggest events of the year. We also thought non-fiction might open up the club to a wider audience. By consensus, we selected Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, which was subsequently made a National Book Award finalist.
We noticed that both of your early selections were major adult bestsellers. Will you continue in that vein, or are you considering other genres such as YA, backlist books, etc.?
We want the book club to appeal to a wide group of students, and will feature other genres as we go along. We’re thinking about selecting a specific genre for each meeting, with as comprehensive a list as possible, including children’s books, classic literature, and commercial novels.
What will the selection process be going forward?
We plan to select future book club choices as a group, just as we did with Killers of the Flower Moon. We want to make sure that the books we are reading appeal to our members, and that they feel their opinions are being heard. The book club is for all publishing students, and we want everyone to feel as welcome as possible.
Natalia Becerra is a second-year student in the M.S. in Publishing and the president of the Publishing Students Association. A graduate of the Universidad de los Andes, in Colombia, she currently works as a Rotational Associate at Macmillan.