How to Create a Börsenblatt Article

As part of their training as digital and print media clerks, our three trainees pass through various departments at MVB. They not only get the chance to get a taste of the department, but also to actively participate. Olivia is currently part of the Börsenblatt editorial team and gets to see first-hand how articles for the magazine and website are created.

“Always up to date when it comes to the book industry - that definitely applies to the Börsenblatt editorial team,” reports Olivia. “Every day in the department is filled with incoming press releases or relevant news and interesting insights from the industry, which the Börsenblatt then reports on.
These are prepared for the website and the newsletter. But that isn't all. The team also writes its own articles and creates industry surveys. That's why part of the work involves a lot of phone calls and traveling to the location to research the articles.”

But how does a written article end up in the printed Börsenblatt?

“There are a few steps in between. To explain this in more detail, I'll take an article of mine from the current issue no. 20 as an example,” explains Olivia. “By chance, I was lucky enough to visit two German bookshops during my vacation in Mallorca and interview the owners - which was later counted as working time, of course. Before the visit, I thought about a concept and suitable questions. Back at work, I then wrote an article for the print magazine under the motto 'German bookshops abroad'. Satisfied with the result, I had two of my colleagues proofread it. We then discussed the text together and I received valuable feedback and tips from them - especially on the special type of text for a reportage.

Quite exciting, as Olivia found! But where do you get the sensitivity for writing different types of text?

“The more articles, reports, etc. you write and have corrected, the better you get. It's learning by doing. Some people like this craft more and others less, you find that out over time.”

And what happens with the corrected article afterwards?

While Olivia is fine-tuning the text, the layout designer is creating the page intended for it in the magazine. “When everything is ready, the text, including headings and images, is inserted into the designated places in the layout program, including important copyright information. The inserted article is read again by the copywriters at the end. If everything is in order, the magazine can go to print.”

Really exciting insights into the creation of an editorial article that subsequently appears in the print magazine and on boersenblatt.net.

• From Marketing to World Literature: Olivia's School Days at Mediacampus
• Training at MVB: The Path to Becoming a Digital and Print Media Specialist