Blog 18: Third Answer

EQ: How can an editorial publisher produce a quality yearbook?
Answer 3: Incorporate copy that reflects students' memories of the school year. 

1. "Copy" is the term for the type of writing that yearbooks use in order to accurately portray people's memories and quotes, without sounding too formal or informal. 
• Example: Pep rally is a really upbeat, exciting, and busy event. The copy should reflect that, by using students' accounts and direct words. 
2. The copy that goes in the yearbook should compliment the respective photographs used on each spread.
• Example: A spread on pep rally has a dominant photo of Bryan Posada getting wrapped in toilet paper. The copy should compliment the photo by explaining what is happening, what Posada thought about the activity, the point of view from someone watching, and more of that context.
3. Copy should be written in a relatable way to the audience, in order to make it more interesting and make them want to read it.
• Example: Teenagers 14-18 are the audience in this case, and the way they speak and write are specific. Therefore, the copy should be written how a teenager would like it, instead of sounding too much like an essay, or even too much like text message.

Resources: 

• Patterson, Benton Rain and Coleman E.P. Patterson. The Editor in Chief: A Management Guide for Magazine Editors. Second Edition. Ames: Iowa State, 2003. Print.
• Interview #3 with Rebecca Chai, advisor of Walnut High School's Cayuse Publication

Concluding Sentence: Incorporating copy that reflects students' memories of the school year will best portray people's accounts of various events, compliment photographs that will be in the yearbook, and relate to the audience's age group, school culture, and individual interests.