No–because the vast majority of the books are bought and paid for approximately a year before they are published/released. No one knows the content of the book when he is purchasing it (sadly).</p>
<p>If the students (read: parents) at our h.s. bought last August with hopes of a repeat performance, word has it that they will be terribly disappointed. According to some incredibly reliable sources of mine, this particular yearbook went though MANY sets of hands on its way to publication! :)</p>
<p>Yearbooks are the only vanity-type publication I can think of where you have to pay for something before you know what’s in it, or even if your picture will make it in. They have a captive audience (teens) that are hoping they get their picture in there. They only have one chance to buy the book, since most schools do not purchase enough extras. If they don’t buy it in advance, they forfeit the opportunity to own the book. Yearbook publishers have no incentive to please the customer.</p>
You got it. Also, in some schools, there is little incentive to be truly inclusive as the yearbook is run solely by kids who are involved in journalism CLASSES.</p>
<p>Having briefly considered a career working for a national mag, I think it is about money. Sales are done well ahead of time. Cutting edge concepts are to drive a bottom line, not an agenda. Remember you’re dealing with a for profit whose income comes from the teen market. Teens are marketed completely different than adults. </p>
<p>Things that are going to bug parents are going to drive sales to kids. It’s a proven formula over and over. </p>
<p>A political agenda doesn’t pay for the publisher’s summer house. They ain’t that noble. </p>
<p>“If they don’t buy it in advance, they forfeit the opportunity to own the book”</p>
<p>Most every HS buys extra yearbooks and sell them at a higher price for those who balked at registration or for those who moved into the community during the school year.</p>
<p>I think what may be lost on some here is yearbooks are made for the enduser, just as those terrible tight fitting low cut jeans are. It doesn’t matter that much what parents like or dislike. Kids are looking for edgy, even if it creates new terminology in style… “muffintops”.</p>
Yes…and no. Teen market? Maybe. Teen funds? Not normally. I don’t know <em>anyone</em> whose kids paid for his/her own yearbook, though I’m sure there are a few. Therefore, the parents have, by way of their wallets, MUCH more control over this publication that you would like for them to, opie. ;)</p>
<p>"Therefore, the parents have, by way of their wallets, MUCH more control over this publication that you would like for them to, opie. "</p>
<p>Just like clothes, video game and cereal. Somebody’s making alot of money out there B, maybe not taking yours, but somebodys. And what they make from others may more than offset the need to comply with a particular parent or group’s wants or desires.</p>
<p>Actually, the funny thing is that the “end user” is going to ultimately be a geezer like us looking back at his high school yearbook to reminisce. “Gawd! Remember the tattoos?! Aren’t you glad they finally figured out how to get rid of those things? Best $600 I ever spent.”</p>
<p>^^We were talking just last night about how the guy who invents a tattoo that is permanent but removal without scarring, or figures out a way to remove existing tattoos without scarring is going to make a fortune.</p>
<p>About the end user being kids- our kids hated their yearbook this year. I didn’t hear of one kid who like it. It had tiny pictures of all the teams and clubs in the back, and the inside looked more like a random scrapbook. Personally, I didn’t really care (sunk cost) but it’s too bad that the kids don’t have something they like.</p>
<p>One of the things kids in yearbook class should be learning is that they are producing a product and their objective should be consumer driven- to please the customer and create a nice product that everyone will enjoy. Ours was so poorly put together- no attempt was made by the staff to go out and photograph people around campus (instead we were asked to provide pictures), the team pictures were taken by professional studio; there were captions like “Joe Blow goes in for the slide in our victory against Mother Mary High school XX to XX.” (Literally they put XX to XX). No editting.</p>
<p>Sorry for the rant, I just think that students should be held accountable and responsible for producing quality if they expect to “sell” their product.</p>
<p>The trouble is, that usually you have to order your yearbook in advance, so you’re stuck. I thought our school yearbook was fine. (It did include a page of kids and their cars.)</p>
<p>exactly^^
Usually the yearbook teacher finds out sooner or later and the following year things go differently.</p>
<p>We once had a yearbook teacher that made the staff “count” the number of times candid pictures of each student appeared in the book, and even it out- even if they had to go from classroom to classroom and take pictures of certain students! She produced our books for two years and the kids all raved about them.</p>
<p>As far as I know, no refunds offered on these books if you order in advance. We always pay for a senior year book. Don’t look at it first to decide whether it is worth it. I don’t think including pictures of tatoos has any effect on sales. I could be wrong.</p>
<p>They’re not worth the amount of money they cost , IMO, tattoos or no tattoos, but we buy them anyway. The kids and their classmates all have at least one picture in the book (senior picture) and they enjoy writing in each other’s books – that’s the part that makes it worth it, I guess.</p>
<p>^^Our kids do not get to sign each other’s yearbooks…our yearbooks do not come out until the following August after the seniors are off at college and the previous school year is gone and forgotten by the underclassmen. </p>
<p>
Yep. Exactly. Expecting significant changes this year, per a very reliable source. ;)</p>
<p>
This is what many have failed to acknowledge with regard to our school’s case. This yearbook was brought to me by some dissatisfied kids, and many others signed our petition. This was in <em>NO</em> way a simple parent vs. student or parent vs. sponsor battle. Many of the students felt that the book did not accurately reflect THEIR own school.</p>
<p>
Actually, our yearbook sales (and local business sponsorships) were WAY down this year as a protest of the inappropriate content that reflected badly on our one-high-school town and also on our community. This was very alarming to those who produced the yearbook–one of those parents even stopped a woman that I worked closely with after the board meeting to express her anxiety over the financial jeopardy.</p>
<p>Counting the pictures…I like that idea! The kids taking the candid shots tend to concentrate on their friends. (Except for club pictures) There’s been a couple of years where I couldn’t be sure my daughter even went to the school or indeed whether anyone but a scant dozen or so girls went at all.</p>
<p>Novelista,
Counting/tracking student candids: yeah, I think when the pages were submitted for final approval, someone updated a spreadsheet of some sort with all the kids names. Obviously, halfway through the year it’s going to become apparent if certain kids already have several photos in the yearbook and others none. At that point, the photographers have a mission. It’s really a very do-able policy; I don’t know why it is not done ALL THE TIME. Either laziness, which is inexcusable because this is a journalism class after all; or something deeper and having to do with cliques and favoritism, which is inexcusable as well.</p>
<p>PS I also think they gave more of a “picture quota” to seniors, which was kind of nice and gave the underclassmen something to look forward to.</p>
<p>I think that is a great idea also, counting pictures. I know my daughter’s school does that – you can look up in the index which pages they have pictures on. It certainly would make sense to include at least one or two candids for every senior.</p>
<p>I like the idea of including candids of all students - although at my kid’s school with well over 2,000 students I’m not sure how you could pull it off. As it is, there’s always an imbalance of representation for various reasons. As I’ve mention - of my two sons who have graduated one was all over the book, the other nowhere to be found. With me and my wife it was the same (the good looking one got the ink in that case.) </p>
<p>I remain uncomfortable with the idea that the more “deserving” students should be portrayed and the less “deserving” ones should not; if you can’t have universal inclusion then I’d follow precedent and let the kids on the yearbook staff choose.</p>