This year at London Book Fair, the Society of Young Publishers ran two panels – How to get into Publishing, and How to get ahead in Publishing. I have been to several of the SYP careers panels, and they are always very engaging and well-run, with excellent speakers, so I was pleased to be able … Continue reading BLOG: LBF 19 – Getting Ahead in Publishing
There has been ongoing talk about diversity in publishing across social media and industry, from women in management to social and ethnic diversity. The latest is ageism which, as someone who transferred to publishing after working for several years elsewhere, hit rather close to home. Unfortunately I missed the start of the panel at London … Continue reading BLOG: LBF 19 – Ageism in Publishing
Today the Bookseller published the findings from a survey they conducted asking whether people from Working Class backgrounds felt they had been hindered in starting a publishing career, or whether their progression had been impacted. Shockingly, the answer was yes. Particularly noteworthy was that 91% of respondents felt that the London-centric nature of publishing was … Continue reading BLOG: Social Class in Publishing – Bookseller Survey Results
Saturday 10th November was the annual SYP autumn conference. The theme was innovation and disruption in publishing, questioning established beliefs and practices in the UK publishing industry. Stream 1 was entitled "Write Your Own Story", which looked at started a career in publishing, and also alternative ways to manage or develop your career. Stream 2 … Continue reading BLOG: The SYP Conference 2018 – Rewriting the (Rule)Book
At the start of 2018, Orion books launched their #OrionOnTour initiative, which saw representatives from the publisher visiting places around the country to promote publishing as a career. After a weekend discussing regional diversity and the London bias of publishing at the 2018 SYP conference, it seemed fitting to highlight a publisher that is making … Continue reading INTERVIEW: #OrionOnTour – Regional Diversity and Publishing
Who hasn’t, at some point, looked across on the train or in the café, seen what someone else is reading and felt a sense of distaste that someone is reading ‘trash’? Perhaps it comes with that additional flush of intellectual superiority, that you are able to recognise how appalling that book is, whilst they cannot … Continue reading BLOG: In Defence of Bad Books
On 29th May 2018, independent Norfolk-based publishers Salt tweeted that they were facing challenging times, and asked for support. They requested that twitter followers help them change their fortunes buy buying #JustOneBook. On 30th May, the Bookseller reported that Salt had raised £7,500. At 3:00am on the 6th June 2018, Salt announced that they had … Continue reading BLOG: #JustOneBook
The 1st September marks one year since I handed in my dissertation and completed my MA. Perhaps the title here is misleading - the news is, there is no news. I had honestly expected to have a job by now – my opening blog in January was optimistic that I would be able to do … Continue reading BLOG: News from the Job Front
One week to go until London Book Fair kicks off - 10th - 12th April, at the London Olympia. The Book Fair is huge, hard to navigate, and frankly baffling at times. There are plenty of tips and lists telling you how to survive the fair (here, here and here for example), but what is … Continue reading BLOG: Top Tips for London Book Fair
To continue with the theme of “Why I am Disgruntled that Most Large Publishers are Based in London”, I thought I would show some cold, hard numbers to demonstrate the cost of entering a career in publishing, whether you choose to live in London, or do what I do and commute. On my MA, I … Continue reading BLOG: The Cost of Starting a Career in Publishing
NERDS LIKE ME 