Do you love travel and coffee, or do you love New York City? Well, for my final year project, I’m writing and designing my own original book concept – on the subject of New York Café culture. In order to accomplish this, it will require me to visit the beautiful city of New York and interview local cafe owners. Therefore, I’m trying to raise money for the research phase. My goal is to raise £1100, and together with a personal contribution, make the trip with my co-writer.
Together with YOUR help, I will be able to create a book proposal that will hopefully WOW publishers and get this amazing book idea to become a reality.
Who am I?
Let me introduce myself, my name is Marielle Scholten and I’m a third year publishing and media communications student at Bath Spa University. Originally from the Netherlands, I permanently moved to Britain 2,5 years ago to persue my passion for books and to learn everything I can about the publishing industry. My personal and professional interests lie in illustrated non-fiction, with my favorite genres being cookery and travel.
I will be writing and designing this book proposal together with a very good writer friend of mine, Joe Nicholson. Joe has a BA and MA in creative writing, with a passion for coffee, history and culture.
The story
The ‘New York Café Culture’ book is a project I started in my second year module (PB5008), and which I’m developing over the course of my final year. During this year, I will produce a complete non-fiction book proposal, which I will sent to relevant publishing houses in the UK and US, for feedback and consideration. To accompany this detailed proposal, I will write and design a sample chapter.
The book will explore New York City through its independent cafés, highlighting the best within the five boroughs. This approach will highlight the best, the quirkiest and most loved cafés in the area. The book will be split up into seven chapters, starting with the five boroughs – Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island. The last two chapters will be dedicated to a travel guide, and a section with life stories from ‘real’ New Yorkers. Each of the borough chapters will start off with a brief history and local culture, also highlighting some of the best spots to visit. The chapter will then move on to the five best cafés located in that borough – including a detailed experience description of the café, the story/interview with the owners and menu recommendations.All the cafés pages will be accompanied by a series of images and illustrations.
I will be co-writing the book with the aforementioned Joe Nicholson. I will be doing my own photography and illustrations will be included, but outsourced.
Where will the money go?
As stated before, my goal is to raise £1100, and together with a personal contribution, this money will make it possible for this trip to happen. If you are interested in how this money will be spent, please find a simple break down of the costs below. These prices are based on a 5-day (4-night) trip, for two people.
- Flights: £327 p.p. (the were based on the average cost of the cheaper flight options)
- Accommodation: £50 p.n. (based on the average price of an Airbnb rental)
- Travel: $3/£2,25 (Travel within the city, allowing for 2 rides p.p, per day; based on the cost of single metro fares)
- Food & drink: £15 p.p, per day
- I will be contributing money myself, of at least £400, and to make up any difference in prices.
**If you would like to follow the project, please find us on facebook: @NYCbookproject
