Having journaled since first grade, writing has always been an important part of senior Binny Park’s life.

“Because my parents both work, writing was that outlet for me to talk,” Park said. “In third grade, I would bring my journal [to school] and [my friends and I would] all just write stories together.”

Park’s poems covered a range of topics from familial love to the pain of grief.

By her junior year, Park said she switched to jotting down phrases in an app called Notion, a digital note-taking platform. After spending years documenting her poems on Evernote, another journaling application, the poet said she decided to switch mediums to pay a lower subscription fee.

When Park was in her sophomore year at Sunny Hills, she decided to embark on a whole new adventure — one that would lead her to become a self-published author of Preserved in Pavement.

PARK’S PUBLISHING JOURNEY

The young poet said it all started when one of her tutors had mentioned a student who had published a book 10 years ago.

“That was when the idea started,” the author said. “That was back in 10th grade but I didn’t really want to do it until 11th grade when I was wondering what to do over the summer.”

Since Park had an idea of the different chapters her book would comprise, following her decision to publish her poems, Park immediately began looking back through previous poems and collected works that she believed fit according to the sections.

Despite her lack of artistic experience, Park said she decided to come up with her own illustrations in her book. The cover, for example, features an all-black design with a drawing of a lock in white with the words Preserved in Pavement engraved inside.

Binny said she came up with the front cover image based on the medium she kept most of her writing in growing up — a lock journal.

“I wrote a lot in those, and they were my favorite notebooks because [my writing] felt more protected, so the [the cover] is symbolic of [my] vulnerability,” she said. “I didn’t necessarily want to reach out to anyone separately to help me [draw]…I thought it would just be easier if I was able to interpret my mild poetry as an image.”

One of Park’s favorite poems, On Guernica, which can be found on page 89 of the book, was illustrated with paper people chains running vertically along the page. 

Park said that she determined her title, Preserved in Pavement, near the beginning of her publication journey. 

“One day as I was walking home I stopped, and that was the title that stuck,” she said. “It felt right from the beginning.”

EDITING THE FINAL PRODUCT

The senior said she began the editing process last summer, spending two hours a day for three days a week rereading the same poems in hopes of finding and correcting any typos and grammatical errors.

“A lot of the time, I had to step away for a few days so I could come back to [editing] with a fresh mind,” Park said. “There definitely are some cons to editing your own work — it’s harder to spot typos and errors since it all looks so familiar to the eye.”

Time constraints also hindered her from finishing the final draft sooner, as the writer said she wanted to finish her book project before she started working on submitting her college applications. One major challenge, Park said, was she was not home for much of the summer because she volunteered at the All the Arts Summer Camp at Golden Hills Monday-Friday for two weeks from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Despite these obstacles, the senior said she was able to finish her final draft and start the publishing process of her book the last week of July. For the following two weeks, Park said she had to submit tax forms, finalize decisions regarding the physical design of her book and wait for the publisher to review her work for appropriateness.

Park said she first discovered she was able to publish through Barnes and Noble while she was researching different publishing platforms for Solarium, a literary magazine founded by her club Writer’s Alliance. While the author said she discovered Amazon also offered authors a publishing service, out of personal preference, she went with Barnes and Noble Press.

Publishing the book at Barnes and Noble was a simple procedure, and she only had to submit her final draft on its website. After the draft was reviewed for appropriateness and completion for two weeks, Park said she received a notification on her phone confirming the book was ready to be ordered online.

BOOK READY TO ORDER ONLINE

Three years of writing. Two months of editing. 

When Park held the finished product in her hands on Aug. 31, she said she felt relieved but satisfied that she was able to accomplish such a task.

“The biggest moment was when the first print came in the mail; it was the first-ever print, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is real, you can buy this online now,’” she said. “Since I did everything myself, I wasn’t excited about the content per say, but it was surreal to hold my book in my hands after only having it on my laptop for so many months.”

Park said while her family congratulated her for her achievement, she only posted an Instagram story on Sept. 4 to celebrate. 

The senior said she purchased a total of 21 copies, one being the first print of her book she kept for herself, and the others to distribute among her relatives, best friends, teachers. As the author, Park said she received a discount as royalties were excluded from the total cost, meaning she would pay $12.41 per copy.

For those interested in purchasing her book, they will need to go to the Barnes and Noble website and do a search for the title, and it can be purchased after taxes for $13.06, excluding shipping fees. The book cannot be purchased in any of the Barnes and Noble stores.

Published on Aug. 7 through Barnes and Noble Press, in 114 pages, Park covers topics including her daily life, school and art, hoping that by releasing her book, she could physically preserve her writing.

THE EARLY REVIEWS ARE IN

Many of the recipients Park gifted her book to expressed pride and admiration, some recognizing the rarity of her accomplishment.

“I have had a couple [students] who have published poetry books and other things before, but it’s a very select and small number,” said English teacher Thomas Butler, one of the recipients of her book and also a self-publisher via Amazon. “I think [Park] has a great visual eye with her language, so she captures mood very well [in her poems].”

Park’s friends were also impressed.

“I’m incredibly proud of Binny for publishing her book,” said Arum Han, another person whom Park gave the book to for free. “I’m so amazed that Binny was able to juggle work, school, college applications, her other responsibilities and be able to publish her own book during high school.”

Park’s teachers also recognized her gift as a writer well before she started on her journey to self-publish.

“The first time I saw her writing, I was impressed; she’s an excellent writer, and she has great thought,” said English teacher Tom Wiegman, who has taught Park since her junior year in his Advanced Placement [AP] English Language and Composition class and this year in his AP Literature and Composition course. “She has an awareness of how language is used – reading some of the poems in her book [that she gave me], I could clearly see that.”

Park, who’s also among the record 39 valedictorians for the Class of 2024, said she plans to attend Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences this fall with an undecided major. 

At school, Park also practices creative writing through Writer’s Alliance, a club she founded as a sophomore and through which she and her fellow club members published Solarium, a literary magazine, in May 2023.

However, while Park said the production of the literary magazine was very similar to the production of her book, she said there were many discrepancies as well.

The poet said the formatting and editing process were alike but, while Solarium was traditionally printed, her poetry book was printed based on demand. 

Park plans to publish another literary magazine for the end of the school year with Writer’s Alliance but does not intend on releasing another book in the near future.

“For now, I think I kind of ‘out-poetryed’ myself for a year or two,” she said. 

Despite her decision to take a break as an author, Park encourages other aspiring writers to try publishing their works. 

“The process itself is not super difficult — it just requires a lot of internal motivation,” she said. “So if you really are determined and you have the willpower to do it, it is definitely something that’s super achievable.”