Reading Rationales for Dummies: How an Idea Becomes a Book

After our successful guide "Metadata for Dummies", we have followed up in cooperation with Wiley-VCH and published the successor "Reading Rationales for Dummies" for Frankfurter Buchmesse 2023. We asked co-author Robin Jung about this project, in which he played a key role during his traineeship in our Marketing & Communications department.

• During your traineeship with us, you were able to work with our Reading Rationales ambassador Stephanie Lange on the "Reading Rationales for Dummies" project and work as an author. How was that for you?
  
  "I was really glad to make such a big contribution to this project. I was already familiar with the "... for Dummies" format from MVB's "Metadata for Dummies" and the Reading Rationales were really ideal for a new edition. But it was also a challenge. Our time slot was quite narrow due to many parallel projects, so every day was crucial. But it was nice to see the results gradually emerge. All in all, it was an exciting and valuable experience."
  
  
• There is a long way between the initial idea and the finished book. How does such a creative process work?
  
  "The format promises to explain the respective topic briefly and clearly. There is a fixed framework for the page numbers and appearance. We therefore had to think about how to introduce the Reading Rationales as concisely as possible, but comprehensively enough, and bundle this in the booklet's table of contents. However, it turned out to be a challenge during the writing process at the latest, not to be too verbose and still keep everything easy to understand. Then you keep coordinating sections with each other, deleting or changing passages and words and getting closer to the goal. The text then has to be transferred to the format template before the final adjustments and printing can follow."
  
  
• "Reading Rationales for Dummies" has now been published and can be pre-ordered from us free of charge. Why should book people from publishing houses, bookshops and libraries definitely read the guide?
  
  "The Reading Rationales are actually a very obvious classification for the book industry because they address a problem that I'm sure every book person has had at some point. You stand in the bookshop and, despite the genres, you don't know what you want to read – you can't put it into words. The Reading Rationales make these unconscious needs tangible and help you to find your way through the abundance of books on offer again by addressing them in a tailored way. Our guide provides specific examples and shows how retailers, publishers and libraries can easily implement them. There is no better introduction to the Reading Rationales."

• From nerds to innovators? Three questions to Sebastian Nöll