My essential question is “how does a book go from an idea to what we see on a shelf?” Something I already know about that is what the book-making process looks like when it gets to a bookstore, as I volunteered at a bookstore a few summers back. I have an understanding at how a smaller, independent bookstore orders from publishing companies, how they do inventory, and how they sell to customers. While I’m not entirely sure how the bookstore knows which books to buy and how many of each, I know that the particular store I worked at asked employees which books they thought would sell well and be a good fit for the bookstore.

This topic is important to me because I’ve always loved reading books, and as of right now I hope to maybe one day get a job in the publishing field. The publishing field is so vast, though, and I really don’t know much about any of the aspects other than the bookstore part. Knowing about these other parts would help me as a reader and potentially as a writer.

The understandings and experiences I’m bringing with me into this research are my own experiences as a reader, and any information I got from reading interviews from some of my favorite authors. This has informed my understanding of my essential question because they give me little glimpses into that process.

As I said before, I really don’t know much about this idea-to-reality process for books. It’s important for me to find out more about this question because I believe it’ll aid me as a reader, a writer, and whatever field I end up choosing. Some things I want to know are how are authors able to know if theres promise in the ideas they have for a book? What do agents look for in manuscripts, and what sets them apart? Who decides on page size, feel, and font? I look forward to exploring all of these areas of inquiry.