In The Job Or In The Book

Posted on December 1, 2011 in Uncategorized

On Friday 11^th November the SYP was honoured to hold its talk ‘In the Job or in the Book’ at the stunning Stationer’s Hall. We rather sheepishly filled the 17^th Century Guild Hall, a little overwhelmed by gilded walls and stained glass. The building was once the authoritative body of publishing that controlled all admission into the trade and now, rather fittingly, held our talk on how we got into, or intended to get into, the industry.

The Worshipful Company was extraordinarily welcoming, with Company Clerk William Alden delighted to have the building used for its original intent. With dry wit he noted how the Stationers once welcomed in a young Wynkyn de Worde, among the first of England’s true publishers and printers, to a organisation that had never dealt before with his new technology; the printing press. In the same manner he greeted us stating that ‘the future of digital publishing may rest in this room’.

@stationerscomms

Find out more about the Worshipful Company and Stationer’s Hall here.

After feelings of grandeur duly dissipated Bobby Nayyar presided over the evening. His work as  MD and CEO of Limehouse Academy, a non-profit organisation that offers fantastic publishing apprenticeships, as well as his own fresh twist to the proceedings made him perfect for our talk.

@downbrown

Bobby’s brilliant blog is www.theyearofpublishingdangerously.co.uk, with an equally brilliant name.

First to the bat was the course leader for the Publishing MA at Kingston University, Alison Baverstock. With 25 years of experience Alison stressed the importance of certain qualities that pave a path to publishing. She defined the ideal publisher as curious, a team player, ‘frankly digitally present’, conscious of history, a communicator, quality driven and creative. So many demanding qualities have advantages, as Alison noted the fascinating people and subjects encountered in publishing, honing one’s sense for the all important pub quizzes.

@alisonbav

Visit the MA Publishing at Kingston website here.

Meike Ziervogel runs Peirene Press, described as ‘the living breathing example of what we’ve just heard’. Peirene publishes translated European literature. These are no ordinary books however as each are strikingly designed, often sadly overlooked, compact international classics. Peirene has no ordinary marketing system either, with a combination of subscriptions, themed years, a large digital following and the personal touch of events from Meike’s own home that add to the quality Peirene produces. Meike also caused quite a stir with her ‘dishwasher test’. Peirene offer transferable skills to any intern, encouraging them to take part in every area of the Press, including dishwasher loading. Meike believes skills in dishwasher loading translate to tidy minds and great publishers. Interns at Peirene, you have been warned…

@pierenepress

Widen your palette with Pierene here.

Up next is the Programme Director of City University’s MA course, Mary Ann Kernan. With a wide background and student employability at the heart of her course, she stressed the importance of a meta-cognition; someone who is self-aware and can reflect on his or her work. Mary stated the need for the widest scope possible in personal skills. From cultural to historical and retrospective to digital, publishers have to pull this off with flair and confidence. Quite the challenge. Mary offered a cautionary tale; that no matter how hard we try, sometimes the job can just slip away. This includes even being too bright and talented, as many companies often want positions filled for a number of years.

@citypublishing

To find out more about Publishing at City; explore their website here.

Next to the stand was Nicholas Lovell, Director of GAMESbrief. Nick works as a consultant to video game publishers after leaving a life of city trading, and offered a unique, exciting and alternative viewpoint on the world of publishing. For him, publishing is about the distribution of creative work, rather than the actual content, and gaming is much a part of this as books. Thanks to the internet, distribution is easier than ever before, presenting a problem to publishers. Games have weathered the storm by adopting numerous new strategies, the most notable being ‘freemium’. Even though basic content is available for free, users pay for premium content. This has proved very successful to the video game industry which is still growing, and Nick urged us to follow in its lead.

@nicholaslovell

Click here to see GAMESbrief’s websites, which is full of great insights into the industry.

Amanda Ridout, MD of Phaidon Press, finished our evening’s talks. Amanda noted how  publishing in the 90’s was very much ‘Amateur Hour’ with easy pickings. Now, with the Net Book Agreement gone and the recession in full swing, the industry has tightened and we must think more carefully about the future. She noted that the world was shrinking, while markets in BRIC and Middle Eastern countries are growing, requiring a matching change in attitudes towards international publishing. For Amanda, a publisher now has to be a marketer, lawyer, branding expert, trend analyser and consumer expert. A business, as she put it, for risk-takers and passionate people.

@phaidon

Phaidon publish visual arts, architecture, art, photography and design. See their suitable stylistic website here.

Samuel Partridge is an intern at the literary agency Rogers, Coleridge and White, an MA Publishing Student at UCL and a lover of deadlines for the whooshing sound they make.

@samuelpartridge