Of all the types of institutions we publish histories for, a school history or college history presents the most unique challenges. For openers, you have  more audiences. There are the usual constituencies, such as current faculty, some of whom have had long relationships with the school. And you have retirees. You can't forget the parents and current students, either. Naturally, a school's biggest audience will be its alumni, and even then you have what amounts to class (literally and metaphorically) distinctions.

But before you begin to fret about how to please everyone, you need to first determine your goal is for your college history or private school history. More and more, I'm talking with schools and colleges that need their book to be a development tool as much as a history. I remember a conversation with the late Dr. Gloria Shatto, then president of Berry College. We had written and designed a beautiful book and she was seeing it in layout for the first time, along with all the beautiful, archival photos we had collected. She handed it back to us and said, "I can't sell Berry College on what it used to be. I have to sell what it is today." We promptly went out and shot 20 more days of new photography and wrote more manuscript about current programs.

Once you know your goal for the book, make that known early in the process so there are no misunderstandings later. When we start a project with you, this is our first step: clearly defining the goals for the book. Your audiences develop close relationships with their school. Some live that relationship through spirit, others through gifts (sometimes very influential gifts), and others by attending reunions and whatever. Your school history can do wonders to strengthen those relationships as long as you carefully plan your editorial roadmap in advance.