MFA, Graphic Design Students at Rutgers-Camden Turn Manuscripts into Ebooks

CAMDEN — Most college courses require students to purchase books.  At Rutgers–Camden, a new collaborative project will help creative writing students to publish their own books, by turning their manuscripts into ebooks with the help of graphic design students.

 “The opportunity for writers to collaborate with other artists on campus enables everyone’s talents and art to be shared more easily in this digital world,” says Doreen Fera, a student in Rutgers–Camden’s master of fine arts in creative writing program.

The project pairs graduate students like Fera with undergraduate graphic design students to bring written words to life by creating illustrations and animations in digital form.

“The project itself is really brilliant because it marries writers and graphic artists and illustrators together and says, ‘create’,” says Fera, a Turnersville resident.

The success of ebooks has been well documented and the new technology has transformed the book business. Lauren Grodstein, an associate professor of English and director of Rutgers–Camden’s MFA program, says quite a few books become top sellers again when they are published in electronic form.

The acclaimed author speaks from experience. Her book A Friend of the Family recently emerged on the New York Times bestseller list because it was re-released as an ebook.

“Publishing your book digitally means that you no longer have to be dependent on the gatekeepers, like publishers and marketers,” Grodstein says. “Those gatekeepers are very important, but they’re no longer the only way to get your work out to readers.”

Grodstein and Allan Espiritu, an associate professor of art at Rutgers–Camden, thought that having their students collaborate would be a good way to introduce them to digital storytelling.

“A project like this brings the theoretical and the practical together,” Espiritu says. “It allows the graphic design students to work with a client and use their skills to help that client realize their own vision. It melds the two worlds together. It’s a natural alliance of two kinds of creativity.”

Fera is working with two graphic design students to digitally publish a children’s book she wrote for her now 8-year-old son. Rodney Robin’s Fabulous Adventure tells the story of a little bird who overcomes his fear of a dark forest after flying too far from home.

Rob Miyamoto, a junior graphic design major from Moorestown, is illustrating Fera’s book.

“It’s really interesting to see this process in action,” says Miyamoto, a Moorestown High School graduate. “It takes a lot of effort and work to make Doreen’s vision come to life, but it’s an amazing experience to take an idea and make it tangible.”

Gabriella Termine, a junior graphic design major from Cherry Hill and a graduate of Paul VI High School, is working on the digital layout of the book.

“The project pulls us out of the classroom and allows us to interact with a real client, and it gives us valuable experience in working together to achieve a common vision,” Termine says.

Barb Gorman is a Rutgers–Camden MFA student who is also working with graphic design students to digitize a children’s book. Gorman’s book helps to explain in vitro fertilization to young audiences.

“Because of this unique opportunity, my work is no longer a Word document awaiting an illustrator, an agent, and editor, and a publishing house to make it a real live picture book,” Gorman says. “I’m really excited to be part of this initiative, which is proving me first-hand experience in preparing my work for ebook style publication.”

This semester, eight of Grodstein’s MFA students and 13 of Espiritu’s graphic design students are participating in the project, which is serving as a pilot program for a full course, which the faculty members hope to offer in spring 2014.

 “We want to help our students understand this medium and make it about more than just taking your text and putting it in digital form,” Grodstein says. We want to help students take their creativity out into the world.”

 

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