Tuesdoy, June 22, 1965
The Summer Nebraskan
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AN INTRODUCTION
Publishing
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By Robert E Knoll
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KNOLL PAUSES FROM HIS WORK It took three years to PUBLISHER AND EDITOR AT WORK Bruce Nlcoll (1.), director of the University of
"beat" his information into shape at a rate of about 200 Nebraska Press and Herbert Hyde, associate editor, smile over a typographical error
words, or one page per day. in a carefully written manuscript.
Till-: FINISHED PRODUCT! Knoll's book pasted the test
and was sent to press to be bound in this finished form.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The fol
lowing story was written for
an advanced reporting class
at the School of Journalism.
Frank Partsch, who is intern
ing at the Omaha World Her
ald this summer, served as
editor of the Daily Nebraskan
second semester of this school
year.
By Frank Partsch
From the time when an au
thor decides to write a book
until the day his finished copy
Summertime fun
"Pizza Hut"
style
eat in carry out
-4601 0--489-4601-
Putt Putt
to the
Pizza Hut
appears on the bookstore shelf
is a long, agonizing period, ac
cording to Robert Knoll, pro
fessor of history at the Uni
versity of Nebraska.
The story of a book can
take from one year up to a
lifetime, according to Knoll,
who has written and edited six
books himself. His latest,
"Ben Johnson's Plays," was
released this spring.
The Jonson book took from
1959 until 1965 to research,
write and publish, Knoll said.
About three years of this time
was actually spent in writing
the book.
The other leading role in the
story of a book is played by
the publisher, in this case
Bruce Nicoll, director of t h e
University of Nebraska Press.
It is the publisher who holds
the power of life or death of
the book, by saying whether
or not it will appear in print.
"First of all an author must
have something to say," Ni
coll said.
Knoll wanted to say that
Ben Jonson's plays could be
more "accessible to the mod
ern reader." The urge to write
on Jonson, he said, first came
to him while a graduate stu
dent at the University of
Minnesota. "I didn't get
around to it until 1959, when I
decided 'It must be now.' "
Knoll said the plays of Jon
son are not so familiar to the
modern reader as those of
William Shakespeare. "I ask
myself what was in the plays
that people could like."
The next step was to find
the theme of each of Jonson's
plays and to explain it in mod
ern terms. "I had to find
what alchemy, usury and bes
tiary meant to the Elizabe
than," he said.
Finding o u t what these
terms meant required a trip
to the British Museum in Lon
don, where Knoll determined
if calling someone "chicken"
meant the same in 1650 as it
did in 1950 and whether al
chemy held the same esteem
then as physics does today.
A key to understanding "The
Alchemist,", therefore, is to
know how much confidence
the Elizabethan-on-the-street
had in alchemy. "I had to
know these attitudes in order
to explain the plays," Knoll
said.
Then came the three years
of "beating the information
into shape.".. Knoll estimated
that he waS able' to ' turn out
about 200 words per day
about one page.
When the rough draft of the
manuscript was done, Knoll
contacted Nicoll and asked
him to look at his work. He
then received from the Uni-
vcrsity press a long statement
about accepted style and pro-!
ccdurc.
At least one expert in t h e
field must read the manu
script for style and content,
according to a rule of the Uni
versity Press. The names of
these critics are kept anony
mous from the author.
The critic reads the manu
script and returns it to Nicoll,
accompanied by a critique on
the work. "If this report is too
negative we either refuse to
publish the book or we find
another judge," Nicoll said.
"We return the manuscript
and critique to the author,
who corrects and returns his
work."
According to Knoll, this re
vision takes around six
months. "The corrections are
made according to the auth
or's own judgment," he said.
"If he doesn't want to follow
the a d v i c e of the critic, he
doesn't have to."
Knoll said a good editor
makes a good author. The
copy editors at University
Press read over his finished
and revised manuscript.
They also may suggest correc
tions and revisions.
How does the author feel
about so many different
people telling him how his
book should have been writ
ten?
"The problem is to retain
your own integrity while at
the same time profiting from
the advice of those whose opin
ions you value," is Knoll's an
swer. University press sends out
specifications to several pub
lishing houses, after which the
lowest bidder is usually chos
en to publish the book.
The type is set in "about
eight weeks," according to Ni
coll. and the D r o o f s of the
manuscript are read by the
proofreaders at University
Press.
And then back to the author
for his inspection and last
minute changes.
Then the type is arranged
into pages, more proofs are
made, and the proofreaders
and the author have another
chance to make last minute
changes.
During this time, the Uni
versity of Nebraska Art De
partment is working on a jac
ket design and the author is
determining what artwork he
wants in the body of the book.
This material is sent to the
publishing house about the
time the pages have been
printed.
How does the author feel
when the long birth of a book
is completed?
"I remember the extreme
letdown, after my first book"
Knoll said. "I thought Thank
God, that's over. It's more a
sense of relief than anything.
"I'm glad to have them
bound, because then I can't do
anything more to them."
The book is held for release,
allowing reviewers some time
to read and review it before it
is released to the public. It
usually appears in the book
store about two months after
it is bound.
Without a hitch in the pro
cedure, a manuscript could be
received, printed and bound in
about eight months, Nicoll
said, but most authors take
more time in reading their
proofs.
And scholarly books, accord
ing to the author of "Ben
Jonson's Plays, are not writ
ten for money. "It is not un
usual for the writer of a book
of this type to pay for his own
book," he said.
"The profit from this book
won't buy me a car; it might
buy me a bicycle."
Non-Discrimination Move Prompts Action
Cont. from P. 1
"Yet, Sigma Nu will con
tinue to work through its na
tional organization to delete
the clause on a national level.
This, we feel, is the proper
democratic process."
Phi Delta Theta president
John Luckasen said "We are
working to make the constitu
tion of Phi Delta Theta com
patable with the IFC state-
leg flfafeii...
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The statement issued by the
Board of Regents on June 11
stated that "Membership in
student organizations at t h e
University of Nebraska must
be based on criteria which
will not include race or color."
According to Dean Ross,
the statement was not a
change in institutional policy
but merely a move to define
and clarify the University po
sition formally.
Ross pointed out that in
their statements, Panhellenic
and IFC indicated the "need
for clarification and restate
ment of institutional policy in
the area of racial discrimina
tion." Sigma ftu Reaction
Sigma Nu president Mow
bray said that steps were
taken by the fraternity two
weeks before classes were out
this June to obtain the waiver
necessary to strike the chap
ter's "white clause."
He said that due to a mix
up, the papers have been mis
placed between the national
officers and the local chapter.
However, he added, an addi
tional set of papers is on the
way.
Mowbray said he felt
that the Regents' action in
setting the deadline for re
moving such clauses at Sep
tember 1 was "unfair."
He said he understood that
Dean Ross had "originally
gone to the Regents with a
December 1 deadline, but the
Regents turned this down."
"I am somewhat disap
pointed in this action," he
said.
According to Mowbray, the
fraternity c a n n o t get the
clause removed "before late
October, even with a speeded
up process."
He said that changing the
constitution involves three
visits from national officers
and three by the Regents,
"and this is hard to set up
with their schedules."
Mowbray expressed hope
that the Regents would recog
nize that the fraternity is co
operating with them in trying
to remove the clause just as
quickly as they can.
He said he hoped that they
would interpret the actions of
the fraternity as indicating
"their ability and desire to
select members" on the basis
stipulated in the Regent's
statement.
Dean Ross was unavailable
for comment last week.
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