V 
 
 , I llltl 
 
 £3<pAKToASSUING 
 A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 MODLM ~ BUSINESS 1 
 METHODS'/- FOPwTHE 
 M ANAG ER £y P3 •>/ oKofs- 
 
 INT B.O DUCTIOK 
 
 EDITING THE <** 
 COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 by" CAar/es Diffon 
 
 ADVBRTI SING 
 SEJLZsIXTG VjZLtUnS 
 
 by^B.P.Bctrtfeit 
 
Copyrlflkt 1918 
 /%&££t^1-' Cappe 
 
 Topvka, Kansas 
 
 
 ©CI. A 5 0700! 
 
 OCT 15 1918 
 
INTRODVCTION 
 
 G^A^6etts 
 
 During the most active part of a stu- 
 dent's life, in the time when the most is 
 required of him, comes the school annual 
 with all of its attendant pleasures and 
 difficulties. A meeting of the class is 
 called and in a very brief space of time 
 one student finds himself business man- 
 ager of a company — the class — that has 
 decided to edit and publish the largest 
 and best annual that this particular school 
 has ever issued. 
 
 This manager, and likewise the editor- 
 in-chief, on whom the larger part of the 
 work will fall, frequently are chosen on 
 account of their work in other activities 
 in the school, and not because of special 
 knowledge concerning the publishing busi- 
 ness. They usually are the busiest mem- 
 bers of the class, yet they must take up 
 this new role — -work in which they have 
 had no previous experience — and it is 
 absolutely necessary that they make it a 
 success. 
 
 I have met these young people year 
 after year and helped them plan and build 
 the book that had first seemed so easy and 
 afterward so difficult or impossible. 
 
 It is a big task to produce a book that 
 will meet the ueeds of the school and at 
 the same time be within the means of the 
 annual organization. Consequently it has 
 become obvious that a complete set of 
 tried and well defined plans is necessary 
 if workers are to make a decided success 
 of their venture. I have noticed that fre- 
 quently the time lost or wasted in the be- 
 ginning, thru a lack of knowledge of just 
 where to start, if used properly would 
 have made the book an unqualified success. 
 
 To be the most valuable to the staff 
 
 such a guide should be written by one 
 who has found himself in just the position 
 described, for he must have had, and over- 
 come, every difficulty that will be encoun- 
 tered. He must be a man who is capable 
 of writing these things so they will be 
 understood. F. B. Nichols, associate edi- 
 tor of the Farmers Mail and Breeze, who 
 wrote this guide to success in annual man- 
 agement, was formerly business manager 
 of The Royal Purple, the annual issued by 
 the Kansas State Agricultural college, and 
 he made it a big financial success, having 
 a considerable surplus of money which 
 was returned to the class members. He 
 also was the editor-in-chief of this annual. 
 
 Charles Dillon, managing editor of the 
 Capper Farm Papers, who has written an 
 article for this book ou "Editing the Col- 
 lege Annual," has spent the greater part 
 of his life in editorial work. His book, 
 Journalism for High Schools, has been 
 adopted generally in many states, includ- 
 ing Kansas, as a text on this subject. He 
 was formerly professor of industrial jour- 
 nalism in the Kansas State Agricultural 
 college, where he had considerable experi- 
 ence in helping to edit and plan The Royal 
 Purple. 
 
 Mr. B. P. Bartlett, a successful adver- 
 tising expert, associated with Capper Pub- 
 lications, is just the type of man that 
 could put the advertising section of a 
 school or college annual "on the map." 
 He has given the advertising manager 
 what he considers to be the very keynote 
 of success, as well as some very clever 
 suggestions as to methods of increasing 
 the usual list of firms and each firm's 
 space. 
 
EFFICIENCY IN 
 MANAGEMENT 
 
 P. PI NLcHois 
 
 A high standard of efficiency is re- 
 quired in the business world today. In 
 no line of work is this more important 
 than in managing a school or college an- 
 nual. The ideal should be to reduce the 
 expenses to the lowest point possible in 
 producing a good book — just where this 
 point is requires a high degree of business 
 judgment from the manager. This most 
 certainly does not mean that the work- 
 manship on the book should be inferior 
 because of the demand for a low price. 
 It is far better to get out a small book 
 with real engravings and printed properly 
 on good paper than to issue a much larger 
 book with poor engravings, produced by 
 careless printers on inferior stock. • , 
 
 Consider the reputations of the firms 
 with which you deal most carefully. You 
 have, of course, already closed your con- 
 tract with the Capper Engraving Com- 
 pany, a firm experienced in producing 
 superior college engravings, so there need 
 be no fear in regard to the quality of the 
 engravings. ! If you will now select a good 
 printer and allow him to use a quality 
 stock you will have made an excellent 
 start on your work. 
 
 An exact record should.be kept of every 
 cent received and every cent spent. Most 
 schools and colleges now require the books 
 of the annual committee to be audited by 
 some member of the faculty, and if this 
 is not the case your committee should 
 suggest it to the faculty and get a mem- 
 ber appointed for this purpose. This will 
 give a feeling of security and a protection 
 to your committee that will be most help- 
 ful. There will then be no question from 
 
 anyone in regard to the way that the 
 money is being spent, and that will aid in 
 getting all of the organizations of the 
 school behind the book, and it will help 
 greatly in its sale. 
 
 Cut off the unnecessary expenses with 
 which so many books are burdened. This 
 can be done if all of the members will 
 work together in the right way. This 
 includes the elimination of an excessive 
 amount of traveling, which many college 
 committees, especially, have had. Every 
 time that money is spent in an unneces- 
 sary way it discredits the book and the 
 Avhole college annual business. Tou, as 
 manager, realize this. You realize, fur- 
 ther, that you have an opportunity to get 
 a business training that will be decidedly 
 helpful, and that will without doubt re- 
 flect to a considerable extent the success 
 which you will be in after life. Put the 
 same high intelligence into the committee 
 work which you will use later in your own 
 business and you will not go far wrong. 
 
 Your work will require the use of a vast 
 amount of patience ; more, probably, than 
 you realize now. In dealing with the 
 human factor in this world, especially 
 when taking money away from persons in 
 return for a service such as is given by a 
 college annual, you are constantly en- 
 countering new factors. Patience, intelli- 
 gence and tact are required to the highest 
 degree. You, of course, have these char- 
 acteristics or you would not have been 
 selected by the class I to manage the book, 
 but still you will have need to remember 
 their importance every day. 
 
 Especially is it necessary to keep all of 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 the college organizations behind the book. 
 Never neglect the opportunity to impress 
 on the students to the maximum degree 
 the importance of the book, and the fact 
 that it is a real school or college annual, 
 and not merely a class book. The day of 
 the class book has passed ; the ideal should 
 be to produce a book that will represent 
 the whole school. Tour class merely has 
 this duty in charge for this year. If you 
 talk this school annual ideal constantly 
 and get the rest of the folks in the school 
 to understand it thoroly, you will find 
 that the other classes and the faculty will 
 be for you to the limit, and the work of 
 financing it will be a great deal easier 
 than it otherwise would be. 
 
 By this method you will be able to un- 
 cover sources of income which were not 
 possible before. Naturally the method of 
 financing the book will depend on local 
 conditions — it is different in every school 
 and college — but there are a few funda- 
 mentals which are fairly obvious every- 
 where. One of the main ones is the assess- 
 ment on the class which is getting out the 
 book, which is either the senior or junior 
 class. The usual rule is to assess the class 
 as heavily as the members think fair, and 
 then give every member a book without 
 further charge. The other classes should 
 be just as well represented as possible. 
 Urge upon them the importance of taking 
 as much space as possible. 
 
 Many annuals make a charge to the 
 classes and organizations which just about 
 covers the cost of the space and then the 
 manager allows them to take all of the 
 space they will buy, with some limit of 
 course which would prevent some of the 
 especially rich organizations, which might 
 buy up a large section, from getting an 
 undue amount of publicity. This system 
 allows a great expansion in the size and 
 interest which the book will have, and it 
 also will help greatly in the sale of the 
 
 book. When a student appears in it in a 
 half dozen or more places he is much more 
 likely to buy a copy than when he is not 
 mentioned. 
 
 This system of asking the different as- 
 sociations which are financially able to do 
 so to pay for their space is absolutely fair, 
 as well as being a good business plan. It 
 allows the business manager to make a 
 great development in the percentage in- 
 crease in total receipts, and opens up a 
 source of revenue which is either ne- 
 glected entirely or is given only inci- 
 dental attention. 
 
 Two other very important sources of 
 income are the money obtained from the 
 sale of the books and from the advertis- 
 ing. Both are discussed under special 
 chapters. Prompt collections are essential 
 from every source except advertising; 
 with advertising the rule is to collect after 
 publication. If the book is printed in the 
 spring, say in May or June, try to get all 
 of the collections in, except the advertis- 
 ing, by April '1. The books should be sold 
 by ticket, and the sale should end as a 
 rule by March 1, or before it is necessary 
 to give the final order on the size of the 
 edition to the printer. 
 
 Finally, in all of your work, don't for- 
 get the essential factor in the success of 
 every business man, which is tact. You 
 will have many trials — or if you don't 
 you will be the first manager on record 
 who didn't have. Members of other 
 classes, your own classmates and even 
 members of your own annual committee, 
 will be constantly suggesting freak ideas 
 that are absolutely impossible from a 
 financial standpoint — and perhaps from 
 others — and you will have to prove this 
 clearly and carefully if you expect to con- 
 tinue to receive their-' support. 
 
 For whatever else the annual committee 
 may do it must have the loyal support of 
 the entire student body — that is the most 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 important axiom you will have to remem- 
 ber. On your shoulders, as the executive 
 head of this committee, most of the re- 
 sponsibility of getting this support rests. 
 It is a responsibility that is a care and a 
 privilege. You will get a training that 
 
 will aid more than you believe now in 
 after years, when you are against the 
 difficult problems of life in the outside 
 world. So we congratulate you, Mr. Man- 
 ager. Keep your pep ! Go in and win ! 
 
 SELLING THE BOOKS 
 
 The campaign for the sale of the book 
 should be based on the idea that it is a 
 school annual, and not merely a class 
 book. If this is understood generally, and 
 it is realized that all organizations and 
 efforts of the school will be given a fair 
 amount of space, a big start will have been 
 made in the selling campaign. Never neg- 
 lect the opportunity to impress this idea 
 wherever you can. 
 
 Get all of the publicity in every way 
 possible long before the selling campaign 
 is started. This is the most valuable part 
 of the sales work. You can see this gen- 
 erally in the sale of many of the goods 
 which are advertised commonly; the sales 
 manager does not wait until the goods are 
 ready before starting his advertising cam- 
 paign. He probably has been at work for 
 months, by the use of ordinary paid ad- 
 vertising and otherwise, to get the widest 
 possible publicity for the goods. His ex- 
 ample is something which should be con- 
 sidered very carefully by the business 
 manager in deciding on the plans for the 
 sale of the books. 
 
 Usually the committee in charge of the 
 annual is represented on the staff of the 
 school paper, or at least the two staffs 
 work together closely. Make the most of 
 this publicity. Conduct a campaign from 
 the time school opens in the fall, and the 
 first issue of the paper is prepared, telling 
 of the fine new features which the annual 
 will have. Impress on everyone the com- 
 
 pleteness with which all school affairs will 
 be covered. You can take it as an axiom 
 that the more frequently the average per- 
 son expects to get his picture in the an- 
 nual the more likely he is to buy a copy. 
 This is perfectly natural ; if he is well rep- 
 resented it makes the book more interest- 
 ing to him in after years. 
 
 Much good can be done by talking 
 about the merits of the annual before the 
 different associations. Get a member of 
 the committee who can talk clearly and 
 forcefully on the programs of all of the 
 school organizations, and especially be- 
 fore the general assembly. 
 
 And now we come to the selling method. 
 There are different plans, of course, but 
 the one which has given the greatest satis- 
 faction — the one which is fundamentally 
 sound from a business standpoint — is to 
 sell tickets for the book, and to do this in 
 the winter, not later as a rule than March 
 1, before the book is printed. In this way 
 there is no chance for loss. Every book 
 is purchased and paid for before the edi- 
 tion goes to press, and there is no chance 
 of the committee having a lot of books 
 left on hand which could not be sold. 
 That, by the way, has been the unhappy 
 experience of a great many business man- 
 agers who elected to risk waiting until the 
 book appears before selling it. 
 
 As a rule the students have more money 
 in the winter than they will have at the 
 close of the school year, and they enthuse 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 more over buying a copy of the book. 
 The efforts which are being made to col- 
 lect material for the book are more likely 
 to be in a student's mind at that time, and 
 he is more likely to be impressed with the 
 importance of the book than he can be 
 later. The most important thing, how- 
 ever, is the idea that if you get the book 
 sold and the money in hand at that time 
 there will be no loss from unsold copies — 
 for as you have discovered before a good 
 high charge is made for white paper and 
 labor costs in book production. And as a 
 final argument for the advance sale of the 
 book, the fact that most of the schools 
 over the country use this method is a 
 sufficient indication of its value. Have 
 tickets printed which call for a copy of 
 the book when it is printed, require cash 
 in advance for these in every case, and 
 then don't print one extra copy. If you 
 eliminate this extra copy feature it will 
 make it easier for the committee the next 
 year to get the money in advance. 
 
 Don't be afraid to charge a fair price 
 for the annual. Most annuals are sold at 
 too low a price — a price much less than 
 the production cost, and this is not fair 
 nor sensible. The important thing is to 
 produce a book which has real quality — 
 that is of much more importance especially 
 
 in after years than the extra cost required 
 to get maximum results. Charge an honest 
 price for your effort and then work to 
 produce a book that will represent the 
 school properly, and there will be no ob- 
 jections to the increased cost. 
 
 In the sale of the book, after deciding 
 on the ticket system and after obtaining 
 the widest possible publicity, especially 
 thru the school paper and thru personal 
 appeals to all of the school organizations, 
 comes the use of special schemes. Fre- 
 quently some special stunt, such as beauty 
 contest — giving a certain number of votes 
 for every book sold, which are cast in 
 favor of the more popular girls — is effect- 
 ive. The use of form letters, addressed 
 to every member of the school, sometimes 
 pays well. A big feature is to obtain the 
 personal, loyal support of some of the 
 leaders in every class, and to get them 
 solidly behind the sale of the book. If 
 you will do this you will have made a big 
 start in "getting across" with the book. 
 
 There is no reason for having the sale 
 of the tickets extend over a considerable 
 time. Three weeks usually is plenty long 
 enough. Start it with a whoop, keep up 
 the enthusiasm right thru the selling 
 period and then stop it. That is the way 
 to get the maximum results. 
 
 EDITORIAL EFFICIENCY 
 
 For the Managing Editor and His Assistants 
 
 A big responsibility rests on the man- 
 aging editor and his assistants. No mat- 
 ter how hard the business manager may 
 labor, no matter how many books are sold 
 or how much advertising may be obtained, 
 the annual will be a flat failure unless the 
 editorial department puts forth its maxi- 
 mum efforts. It is indeed a responsibility 
 
 and a privilege to be connected with the 
 editorial department of one's school an- 
 nual. When one puts forth his best ef- 
 forts, when he helps to produce a book 
 that is worth while, he will have done 
 something that will be a source of satis- 
 faction to him all thru his life. Not only 
 that, but he will have demonstrated early 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 in life that he is a leader, that he can do 
 things worth while. 
 
 The first thing for the managing editor 
 and his assistants to do is to view the 
 book in terms of school or college service 
 — to have the idea of making it of the most 
 value to the school at large. It should not 
 be a class book in any sense of the term 
 but should represent fairly and completely 
 all of the organizations and efforts of the 
 school. We need not dwell on the tre- 
 mendous value of this in helping to 
 finance the book. The important thing is 
 that this will be of the greatest help to 
 the school, and will show that you are in 
 the big league class; it will indicate that 
 you have the real ideal of service so es- 
 sential in producing an annual that will 
 be a credit to yourselves. 
 
 The first thing is to get the work di- 
 vided among the committee so that every 
 person will have a definite task and be 
 responsible for this. This division will at 
 least include an associate editor, an ' art 
 editor, and athletic editor, and such fur- 
 ther divisions as seem best. Every editor 
 should be able to write clearly and force- 
 fully on his subject, and should have an 
 enthusiasm and love for his particular 
 line. The athletic editor, for example, 
 should be a man who has been successful 
 in athletic work, and who has a funda- 
 mental knowledge of sports in general. 
 The art editor should be a student who 
 has ability in this work, and who has 
 made a careful study of the results ob- 
 tained in books. These general funda- 
 mentals apply to the editors for all the 
 departments. 
 
 It is well to make this division just as 
 soon as possible after the committee is 
 selected ; in fact it should be formed with 
 the qualifications of the various members 
 in mind. It should be selected two years 
 in advance; if the seniors issue the book, 
 for example, the committee should be se- 
 
 lected in the fall of the junior year. This 
 plan is used at most of the larger institu- 
 tions, and experience has demonstrated 
 that it is fundamentally sound. 
 
 A decision in regard to the number of 
 pages should be made as soon as possible. 
 Naturally the manager will have to be 
 much concerned with this, as the commit- 
 tee should use great care in planning a 
 book so it can be paid for. After the 
 number of pages has been determined the 
 general layout can be made, with a care- 
 ful division of the space among the dif- 
 ferent departments. Eight here usually 
 is where there is much debate, and much 
 difference of opinion. The athletic editor, 
 for example, as a rule wishes to "make 
 away" with an abnormal amount of space 
 for his department. That art editor de- 
 sires to use much white paper for his sec- 
 tion. Others insist that there should be a 
 huge amount of space given to pages of 
 snapshots, which as a rule are very pop- 
 ular. And so it goes. 
 
 The axiom to go by in deciding on the 
 space is to see that all departments are 
 represented fairly; to avoid making any 
 one department top-heavy. Of course this 
 is a problem and requires some very fine 
 judgment, but then if you go into news- 
 paper work and should become a man- 
 aging editor this is the sort of thing you 
 would have to be deciding constantly. 
 You can perhaps get some help along this 
 line by considering what former classes 
 have done back for perhaps four or five 
 years. Naturally you will get out a book 
 that is "different," but the experiences 
 which they have had should be of interest. 
 
 This also is true with the books from 
 other schools ; examine all of the efforts 
 of the other committees which you can 
 find. You will not, of course, wish to use 
 any of the ideas which you find there in 
 the form in which you find them, but fre- 
 quently a book will suggest a new feature 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 that can be worked into the book you will 
 produce which will apply to local condi- 
 tions. Naturally you will wish to get as 
 many new, original, distinct and forceful 
 features as possible. Avoid the freakish, 
 however ; always use good taste. 
 
 And right here the matter of judgment 
 enters. Bear in mind all the time that the 
 more judgment you can get to bear on the 
 features of the book the better it probably 
 will be. The help you can get from some 
 member of the faculty or some loyal mem- 
 ber of the alumni frequently will be very 
 valuable. This especially is true in the 
 use of snapshots and some of the alleged 
 jokes which will be submitted. Try to 
 consider these in the light of what your 
 more mature judgment will be in after 
 years, and also get outside help on these 
 problems. Have the ideal of leaving every 
 offensive thing out of the book, and in 
 case of doubt take the safe course and 
 eliminate it anyway. 
 
 Early planning will allow the produc- 
 ing of copy long before the closing date, 
 so the engraver and the printer will have 
 a chance to do the best possible work. 
 In fact, the closing date should not be re- 
 garded in any way except as the date for 
 the sending in of the last bits of copy 
 which remain. A high proportion of it 
 should be in weeks before. If the work 
 is managed in this way it will be distrib- 
 uted properly for the annual committee 
 and you will avoid some of the astonish- 
 ing things which develop when it is put 
 off until the last minute. For example, 
 one of the larger annuals in Kansas a year 
 or two ago was printed in the East, and 
 at the "last minute" the committee had 
 to make many of the page corrections by 
 telegraph. As a result there were many 
 errors in this book and of course the stu- 
 dents were not satisfied, and naturally 
 the committee got the blame. How much 
 better it would have been if the copy had 
 
 been sent in early and the book issued in 
 a normal way ! 
 
 Plan the book so you will use all of the 
 white space. There is much careless 
 make-up work done on many annuals, 
 with the result that valuable white space 
 is not used. Why not use this space to 
 carry actual, definite records about the 
 work of the college year? In fact this is 
 true all thru the book. Make it an ac- 
 curate record of all of the school life, and 
 eliminate what in newspaper offices is 
 forcefully called "bunc," or sometimes in 
 college circles "inflated atmosphere." 
 
 Dwell on the historical, the informa- 
 tion which will be of interest in after 
 years. Make the definite records of all 
 contests with other schools, both athletic 
 and otherwise, especially complete. Tell 
 of the school events thru the year. Have 
 stories about the traditions of the school, 
 and of the places visited on "hikes." It 
 is better in the senior section to merely 
 give a record of the associations to which 
 a person belongs — making it purely histor- 
 ical — than to attempt any "write-ups," as 
 these are certain to be unsatisfactory in 
 some cases, while a clear, definite record 
 of what one has done and the associations 
 to which he has belonged is dignified and 
 sensible, and appears much better in after 
 years than some of the things which we so 
 frequently see printed. 
 
 Don't allow any editor to "hog" more 
 than his share of space, which someone 
 almost always makes an effort to do. 
 Give all general phases of school life a 
 chance. A high school annual issued a 
 year or two ago devoted thirteen pages to 
 telling about a punk football team which 
 had lost all but one game — with a team 
 from a school so small that the players 
 literally had to be drafted — and but one- 
 fourth page to a debating team which had 
 defeated every team with which it had 
 come into competition. Such a system was 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 unfair, senseless, illogical and otherwise 
 unnecessary. Give all activities of the 
 school life a fair amount of space. 
 
 The art editor has an especially big op- 
 portunity and responsibility. His most 
 important thing is to work in the closest 
 harmony with the firm which is doing the 
 engraving work. Big engraving firms, 
 such as the Capper Engraving company, 
 have artists who have had experience 
 on hundreds of annuals, and naturally 
 they have gained knowledge with the 
 years in handling this work. This fact is 
 realized especially well today in the larger 
 universities, and the excellent books pro- 
 duced by some of the larger schools are 
 made possible only by the co-operation 
 which exists between the art editor and 
 the engraving firm. 
 
 If the book is to be a success it must 
 carry the spirit of being a complete whole ; 
 otherwise it will appear more like a scrap 
 book. To get this substantial air it will 
 be necessary to have a certain design' or 
 plan carried out all thru it. That is why 
 it is best as a rule to have most of the 
 page headings and the art work on the 
 snapshot pages done by the engraving 
 firm. This will not be especially expen- 
 sive; the artists work rapidly, and a few 
 
 hours of extra time put in on the book 
 will do wonders in making it a finished 
 whole. 
 
 The importance of getting good copy 
 cannot be over emphasized. It is true that 
 with the great improvement of machinery 
 and processes used in producing engrav- 
 ings in recent years it has been possible 
 to get better results than one would ex- 
 pect from inferior copy, but it also is true 
 that it will pay mighty well to supply the 
 very best copy possible. This is especially 
 true with the snap-shots. Most of the 
 larger schools now collect the films and 
 plates of these pictures and take them to 
 the best photographer in town — if he can 
 be induced to do the work in considera- 
 tion of a fair price and other more desir- 
 able annual work — and get him to care- 
 fully print the best copy possible, con- 
 sidering every plate or film as a problem 
 in itself, which indeed it frequently is. If 
 you Avill use such a plan, you will find 
 that your snap-shot pages will have a de- 
 cided improvement over those in former 
 annuals, which will be a mighty pleasing 
 thing. That will be especially true if you 
 will have the artists of the engraving firm 
 arrange the pictures for you. 
 
 OBTAINING ADDITIONAL HELP 
 
 Get all of the outside help that is avail- 
 able for the annual work. You will real- 
 ize the importance of this when you con- 
 sider that as a general rule the larger the 
 annual the greater is the attention which 
 is given to help of this kind. Epecially is 
 it mighty important that you work in the 
 closest possible harmony with the engrav- 
 ers and printers. These men have as a 
 rule been handling work of this kind for 
 many years, and as a result of this they 
 
 have accumulated a rich fund of experi- 
 ence in regard to the things which should 
 be done to get the best results. It will pay 
 mighty well to make the greatest possible 
 use of this. 
 
 If you select high class firms to do this 
 work you can depend on it that they are 
 just as much interested in the success of 
 your annual as you are. Their reputations 
 depend on the quality of the work they 
 turn out, and this of course is their most 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 important asset. Take with the Capper 
 Engraving company for example ; its prin- 
 cipal asset is not the very expensive equip- 
 ment which it has for producing quality 
 engravings, costly as this has been, but it 
 is the reputation which it has all over the 
 Middle West of delivering engravings 
 which give satisfaction. It has made this 
 reputation by the use of the very best 
 equipment, skillful workmen and the best 
 possible co-operation with the people for 
 whom it does work. 
 
 Ask your engravers and printers when 
 you need help on special problems. You 
 will find that they have at hand a rich 
 fund of information which will save you 
 money, improve the appearance of your 
 book and reduce the number of irritating 
 mistakes to the minimum. Make the great- 
 est use of this outside help. 
 
 Then consider the help you can get 
 from the alumni. This, as a rule, will be 
 considerable, and decidedly valuable. You 
 can find members of the alumni around 
 every school, usually from the more re- 
 cent classes, who still have the student's 
 viewpoint, and at the same time it is tem- 
 pered with a more mature judgment that 
 will be very valuable in keeping things 
 out of your book which should not be 
 there. Why not get one or two of these 
 loyal friends of the school to help you in 
 an unofficial way ? This is done commonly 
 in the larger schools and universities, and 
 in many cases is responsible for the at- 
 tractive results produced. They certainly 
 will help in avoiding errors which they 
 have perhaps had experience with before. 
 
 And there is another thing about this 
 help : It will be very valuable in increas- 
 
 ing the sale of the book among the alumni, 
 which is desirable from a financial point 
 of view, and at the same time it aids in 
 producing that fine spirit of loyalty so 
 essential in every worth while school, no 
 matter whether it is a high school, college 
 or university. Give the alumni space in 
 the book for a good long story, with pic- 
 tures, concerning their activities. And 
 make the most of the help you can get 
 from its members. 
 
 Faculty help can be made very valu- 
 able. In selecting the faculty members of 
 your committee, which as a rule should 
 serve only in an unofficial capacity, it is 
 of course necessary to use judgment. 
 Select some member or members who are 
 popular with the student body. They will 
 help in avoiding errors into which you 
 might fall. These include errors in the 
 use of English and especially in judgment 
 concerning the jokes and other material 
 which should be used. Let several mem- 
 bers of the committee, a member or two 
 of the faculty and a member or two of 
 the alumni see every bit of material which 
 goes into the book. If you will do this 
 you should be able to eliminate everything 
 that is objectionable. 
 
 In other words, the point about all of 
 this outside help is this : There is avail- 
 able, from outside sources, a huge amount 
 of technical information in regard to the 
 publishing of an annual which you can 
 obtain free. It has been obtained from 
 years of experience. Make use of this 
 help — assemble the information and aid 
 which you can get in the best possible 
 way. It will mean a better book. 
 
EDITING THE 
 (DILEGEANNVAL 
 
 Charles 7 Dillon 
 
 A student's annual, in high school or 
 college, should be so written that it will 
 be a source of pride, a souvenir of youth- 
 ful days not containing a word or picture 
 likely to cause regret in after years when 
 life may have taken on a somewhat graver 
 aspect. This does not mean that all humor 
 should be excluded from its pages. Quite 
 the opposite, indeed. But it should be 
 humor, which is kindly, which in its read- 
 ing creates laughter, while wit, in which 
 so many thoughtless persons like to in- 
 dulge, cuts and wounds, and leaves a scar. 
 The chief trouble is found in the fact that 
 many persons are unable to distinguish 
 between "Pep," that very necessary qual- 
 ity in school life which adds interest to 
 institutional activities, and the objection- 
 able, and very frequently offensive ex- 
 plosion of animal spirits which finds ex- 
 pression in complete forgetfulness of 
 others' rights and feelings. To take ad- 
 vantage of anyone, student or teacher, 
 anonymously, is unforgivable, and injures 
 the annual and the committee in charge 
 of its writing. 
 
 The committee should bear in mind, in 
 editing the school publication, that it rep- 
 resents the institution in that particular 
 period with which the students were con- 
 nected. It is not, or should not be the 
 annual clearing-house for ill-temper or 
 revenge. It should be as carefully writ- 
 
 ten, in English as clean and grammatical, 
 as the most dignified text-book. And this 
 purpose can be achieved without making 
 it gloomy or dull. The pieces so fre- 
 quently seen in which the writers attempt 
 an imitation of Josh Billings or Mrs. 
 Malaprop in spelling, are in bad taste, 
 and nearly always are the products of stu- 
 dents who seek in this way to disguise the 
 fact that they are themselves unable to 
 spell properly. Shown to friends or fam- 
 ily, twenty years later, such exhibits ~9 
 woud prove embarrassing. 
 
 A school or college annual should be 
 perfect as to its artistic features. Only 
 the best drawings should be accepted for 
 publication; and in enforcing this rule 
 the committee will be setting a standard 
 which all ambitious students will seek to 
 attain. Nothing ever was gained by print- 
 ing mediocre work. To do so cheapens 
 the entire volume. Moreover, it seems a 
 waste of money and material to use any 
 except the very best contributions. The 
 college annual, in brief, should be a fine 
 record of days that pass only too quickly, 
 days that will be looked back to in after 
 years with pleasure, if the work be well 
 done by the editors, or with regret if it 
 be handled in a slovenly way. Surely the 
 history of an enterprise taking four years 
 to complete is worthy the best setting. 
 Nothing else should be permitted. 
 
ADVERTISING 
 
 Selling Ve/aes <~^o- 
 
 BLP.J&rtlett 
 
 Advertising in College Annuals has been 
 considered more or less a contribution to 
 the student body or to the school itself, 
 a good-will holder, as it were. By some 
 outspoken merchants and manufacturers 
 it has been unkindly called "graft" and 
 "hold-up" — a necessary evil — an annual 
 donation — one of the "conditions" to be 
 tolerated and expected in a college town. 
 For this condition, the management of the 
 book, the method of solicitation or the 
 solicitors themselves have been largely to 
 blame. "It is Ourtown College Annual, 
 and you should patronize it," has been the 
 threadbare approach of the solicitor. Ad- 
 vertising today is an investment as im- 
 portant as clerk hire and the solicitor who 
 "brings home the bacon" now sells values. 
 Advertsing in the C. A. is not a benevo- 
 lence, seeking the funds of gullible mer- 
 chants to defray the expense of preparing 
 and issuing a beautiful specimen of print- 
 ing art, full of pictures, wit and poems, 
 and with a little information regarding 
 the institution. Of course, in return for 
 the money he pays, the merchant has the 
 opportunity of seeing his name and ad- 
 dress among the other advertisements, 
 but he is not often enough sold on the real 
 value the book will actually deliver to 
 him in honest-to-goodness business — and 
 profits. 
 
 The C. A. has its place upon the "legit- 
 imate stage" of advertising; it has an 
 established value as a sales force, effect- 
 ive and resultful to a greater or lesser 
 degree, depending upon the usual ele- 
 ments of circulation, distribution, quan- 
 tity and quality, as well as vitality of 
 
 content, holding interest and compelling 
 attention. 
 
 Advertising in the C. A. has an extended 
 period of value. It does not meet the fate 
 of the fiction magazine which is devoured 
 and then destroyed. The C. A. is read 
 and re-read, then kept as a reference book. 
 It has value thruout the year. It is shown 
 to friends. Its actual readers during the 
 year are in larger multiples than the read- 
 ers of ordinary advertising mediums. 
 
 Such advertising is a known-value 
 means by which the retailer may educate 
 the consuming student body to confidence 
 in the character of his store and the qual- 
 ity of the goods he sells. The news value 
 of each advertisement must be basically 
 informative. The solicitor should study 
 the trade conditions of each prospect and 
 be prepared to suggest, to lay out, to il- 
 lustrate and write the text of the copy 
 when the prospect is not prepared or is 
 disinclined to prepare his own. 
 
 To put the 'advertiser on the dotted line 
 for the largest contract his business will 
 warrant, he must be shown the direct ap- 
 plication of his business to local student 
 trade, the alumni and the purchasing 
 power of the homes represented by the 
 student body. 
 
 Before the solicitor can expect the 
 largest success in selling advertising, he 
 must first sell himself on the true value 
 of the advertising service the book will 
 actually render, measuring the result by 
 actual dollars and cents. He must feel no 
 apology necessary in presenting these 
 values in solicitation. He must know 
 every angle of his proposition and antici- 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 pate the usual objections and arguments. 
 
 Among the ordinary excuses is the 
 threadbare "appropriation exhausted." 
 This will be met successfully if the solici- 
 tor is sold on his own proposition. No 
 commercial enterprise is unwilling to ac- 
 cept and care for — even to seek and to 
 pay for increased business. 
 
 "I use the local newspaper, that's all I 
 can afford," another says. Give him the 
 facts and figures of the actual purchasing 
 power of the clientele of the C. A. Show 
 him the calibre of the student body and 
 the alumni. Point out the sales possibili- 
 ties with the student body thru the posi- 
 tive value of this advertising service. 
 
 Avoid the selling of mere space. Offer 
 a sales service to the merchant and manu- 
 facturer just as a man seeking an opening 
 as salesman in a retail store. This job- 
 seeker sells himself to the merchant on his 
 abilty to sell goods and earn the salary 
 to be paid, and he knows what he is worth. 
 Just so must the solicitor sell the adver- 
 tising service of the C. A., knowing its 
 worth, its sales ability and its outstanding 
 value. But, I repeat, this cannot be done 
 unless the solicitor has sold himself on the 
 positive value of the advertising pages of 
 the annual with specific adaptation to 
 each and every line of business repre- 
 sented. 
 
 Prospects should be listed and carefully 
 followed until closed. They fall naturally 
 into two classes — advertisers and non-ad- 
 vertisers. There are certain stores in 
 every college town which traditionally 
 have the bulk of student trade. For years 
 they have catered to and drawn their 
 profits from the student body. These may 
 be counted on as sure space buyers. But 
 don't be satisfied with a half page this 
 time because a half page was used last 
 year. Show the proprietor how he can 
 increase business by doubling his adver- 
 tising. Right here suggest helpful, strong, 
 
 selling copy for the larger space. Submit 
 "different," ingenius, original sales copy 
 and the result will frequently be larger 
 space. 
 
 The non-advertiser in this particular 
 sort of a publication is harder to sell. He, 
 too, must be shown the purchasing power 
 of the student body, the alumni and the 
 homes of the students. He must be shown 
 reader-interest as well as the number of 
 subscribers and the sales opportunity the 
 C. A. offers his particular business by the 
 direct application of selling copy in the 
 ad itself. 
 
 The positioning of advertisements is 
 important. Is it tradition that usually 
 compels the segregation of all advertis- 
 ing in the front and back of the book? If 
 so, tradition is depriving advertisers of 
 value for which they are willing to pay a 
 fair price. But the old timers say "it 
 destroys the appearance of the book." 
 Sometimes it does, particularly so if you 
 leave the topography and dress of the ads 
 entirely to the advertiser. A careful use 
 of art and taste to display forceful copy 
 will make an advertising page compel the 
 attention, hold the interest, and be as ar- 
 tistic in appearance as the text pages if 
 care is given to carefully planned and 
 executed layouts of pages. This treatment 
 positively enhances the sales value of the 
 advertising, making more business pos- 
 sible and enlarging the field of influence. 
 Such pages of advertising can face text 
 pages without detriment to the general 
 appearance and character of the book. 
 Tradition is the only sacrifice, and after 
 all it is value you want to give to the 
 man whose money you take for merchan- 
 dising purposes. Give him a "look in" 
 for his investment. Try running adver- 
 tising on the left hand pages and facing 
 right hand pages of "snap shots," comics, 
 and cartoons. Give the advertiser the 
 benefit of the special interest in these par- 
 
THE ART OF ISSUING A COLLEGE ANNUAL 
 
 ticular features. Cut some pages into 
 quarters, others into eight equal parts, 
 four to the column, for the cards of small 
 advertisers, professional men — and public 
 utilities. Frequently a page or more of 
 business classifications may be secured, 
 carrying perhaps not more than the name, 
 address and telephone number. This space 
 should be sold at a higher rate than full, 
 half, or quarter page display. 
 
 Many professional folk as well as some 
 commercial houses believe the dignity of 
 their vocations demands merely name, ad- 
 dress, and telephone number, plus white 
 space. And right here too much emphasis 
 cannot be put upon the value of white 
 space. It's proper use adds strength and 
 pulling power to the "copy" and a touch 
 of character to the page — but for the com- 
 mercial advertiser, values and results are 
 the only genuine appeal for the solicitor 
 to use. 
 
 Master and present the values the C. A. 
 has always possessed — and you have the 
 fight more than half won for , a bigger ad- 
 vertising revenue than any previous year. 
 
 Be sane in solicitation. The shoe repair 
 shop on the side street cannot expect to 
 find profit in a double page spread. The 
 cobbler 's business among the student body 
 is not large and his profits comparatively 
 small. But the nationally known and 
 widely advertised brand of men's clothing 
 sold in a leading store in "Ourtown" as 
 
 well as in leading stores in other impor- 
 tant cities where live the alumni and par- 
 ents, is a prospect for pages., 
 
 The big trade possibilities of such an 
 account suggest an argument which the 
 local dealer can present to the manufac- 
 turer for special publicity advertising to 
 run in connection with the local mer- 
 chant's advertisement. 
 
 Solicitation of the manufacturer will 
 have to be done by mail, but if this is 
 backed and seconded by a strong letter 
 from the local dealer it will have great 
 effect. 
 
 This as an illustration may be applied 
 to any other nationally known line of 
 merchandise. Secure the co-operation of 
 the retail dealers in Ourtown and suggest 
 the letter that they should write to the 
 manufacturer. 
 
 Unless there is a strong local connec- 
 tion, National advertising will not be 
 found available for the publications of 
 any but the very large universities and 
 colleges located in or near the larger 
 cities, where very complete distribution 
 is already secured. 
 
 On the other hand a much greater 
 volume of local advertising may be se- 
 cured by careful and thoro solicitation of 
 the fine-tooth-comb variety — and the ad- 
 vertising pages of even the smallest C. A. 
 may be made to contribute a greater 
 revenue than the first estimate stipulates. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 030 219 011 2 
 
 »*.-, 
 
 : ,' **: