The Yearbook Blog

The following tips are from Bill Simmons, sports columnist, who posted them on ESPN.com. (Why is ESPN giving yearbook tips? Not sure, but I guess that just goes to show how important yearbooks are in our culture!)

“Some tips about your yearbook choices:

1. If you can help it, avoid picking any quote from a band that might not be around in 10 years. If you want to cast your lot with Kid Rock, the White Stripes, Alicia Keys, India Arie, The Vines, The Hives or any of these other musical acts that people enjoy right now … you’re basically rolling the dice. Look at poor Adam. Bananarama. This actually happened. If it’s a bubblegum act of the day, stay away. Stick with Bruce, the Stones, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and everyone else who will remain respectable 20 years from now.
2. If you feel like doing something wacky with your picture — a nose piercing, a visible tattoo, a freaky hairdo — don’t do it. You will regret it. Remember, you’ll be showing your kids this thing some day.
3. If they allow a section where you can write little comments, tributes and dedications, then …

1. Never say anything maudlin or sentimental about the person you’re dating — you will be linked to them forever and ever. Just remember, when you get to college, you will break up with them by Columbus Day Weekend, probably get back together during Thanksgiving Break, then break up for good during Christmas vacation. Everyone thinks, “Oh, it won’t happen to us.” Believe me, it’s going to happen — 99 out of 100 people eventually break up with their high school flames. So keep the gooey stuff to minimum. If you’re devoting a quote to your significant other, choose this one: “Dead man walking!”
2. Never gratuitously thank your parents, friends, family … that’s just lame. Nobody wants to read that stuff. If you want to thank someone, thank a teacher. They devoted their lives to helping kids like you, you ungrateful slob.
3. Make a conscious effort to include obscure references and inside jokes that will confuse everybody and please your friends, especially if they’re dirty and/or secretly defamatory to someone else in your class. One catch: Don’t make them so obscure that you won’t have any idea what they mean 15 years later. That’s no fun.
4. Don’t identify your friends by their initials. Just write their names. Years later, you won’t even remember what half the initials stood for.
5. If you have a close friend of the opposite sex, don’t spend too much time on them … odds are, one of you will end up making a move on the other one down the road, it will play out badly, and you will never speak again. And even if you make it through college, once you get married, your spouse won’t let you be friends with them anymore. So start cutting ties now. Again, just trust me.
6. Most importantly, have fun with your quote. Nobody wants to read how miserable you are, or how confused you are, or how much you hate everyone, or how everyone underestimated you, or how parents and teachers are purely and simply evil, or the world’s keeping you down, or how nobody loves you … come on! It’s high school! Everyone’s miserable in high school! That’s why they created high school! So have some fun. I’ve always been jealous of my buddy Geoff for picking this yearbook quote:

“            .”
– Mark Bavaro

Absolutely brilliant. Everyone else was killing themselves coming up with these tortured quotes, and Geoff mocked the entire thing. Why didn’t I think of that? Damn him…”

Simmons then lists several quotes he wishes he would have used back in high school. Here are just a few…

“Some mistakes you never stop paying for.”
– Roy Hobbs

“Don’t have anything in your life that you can’t walk away from in 30 seconds.”
– De Niro in “Heat”

“Cheer up, Brando! How ’bout a mega-burger?”
– Nat Busichio

“I have three rules which I live by: Never get less than 12 hours sleep, never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city, and never go near a lady with a tattoo of a dagger on her hand. Now you stick with that, and everything else is cream cheese.”
– The basketball coach in “Teen Wolf”

“Those fans who are booing me now will be cheering for me when I record the final out in the World Series”
– Bob Stanley, April 1986

To read the entire list (and it is a LONG list), click here.

Or lend some seniors a helping hand by posting some of your favorite quotes below…

I hear this complaint a lot from schools. Now, if your school is fine with this and happy to print a book just for the Seniors, then this post is not for you.

Most schools want to sell more yearbooks, but just can’t seem to get the rest of the school interested. If this is the case in your school, the first thing you need to ask is, “Why?” What is it about your yearbook that only appeals to Seniors? Why don’t Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen find value in your book? If you’re a typical school with this problem, then the reason probably includes several of the following…

• The Senior portraits are much larger than the rest of the school
• The Senior section is probably in color while the rest of the book is black and white
• The Senior section includes senior quotes or signatures under their photos
• Only seniors get to buy ads
• You have a special section of the book dedicated to senior activities
• The yearbook staff is mostly, if not all, seniors
• If the staff is mostly seniors, the candids are probably mostly of seniors
• If the staff is mostly seniors, then only seniors are being told when and where to buy a yearbook (and how great it is)

So what do you do? Here are some options to make your yearbook more valuable to underclassmen…

1. Put more photos of Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors in your book! Make it a point to check the coverage in a spread for representation of all grade levels
2. If you’re including spreads on special Senior activities, don’t ignore the activities of other grade levels
3. If your Senior portraits section is much better than the underclassmen, then lessen the difference. Senior portraits can still be bigger, just not 5x bigger. They can still be the only portraits in color, but then include a Student Life section in color that includes candids of underclassmen as well.
4. Allow other grades to purchase ads. They don’t have to be as big and elaborate as Senior ads. Maybe they’re text only. You can call the spread “Message Board”, “Text Messages” or “Shout Outs.” Charge kids $5-$25 to just print a couple of lines
5. If you have a lot of polls and quotes in the Senior section, make sure you’re doing the same in the other sections as well. Make the questions specific to that grade level, “What’s the worst thing about being a Freshman?” or “What are the top 5 hardest things about being a Junior?”
6. Recruit more underclassmen for your staff! This will ensure that underclassmen are being covered. If it doesn’t work out in the school schedule, form a Yearbook Advisory Committee made up of representatives from all grade levels. Maybe they meet once a month after school, and give their input on what underclassmen want to see in the yearbook.
7. Make sure you’re marketing to the entire school, and not just the Seniors. If the only reminders to the school are that Senior ads are due or Senior quotes are due, then the rest of the school is going to assume the book is only for seniors.
8. If you have a special section in your book dedicated to senior activities, consider making this a supplement that only seniors get and charge Seniors $10 more for their book!

Hope these tips help, and if you have ideas of your own, please share them below!