The SYP Annual Conference: The Perfect Publisher

Posted on September 25, 2014 in Uncategorized

The SYP Special Events Team are a very excitable bunch at the moment as we prepare for the SYP Annual Conference, which is being held on Saturday 8th November. Alternating each year  between London and Oxford, we have a lot to live up to after the fantastic event hosted by the Oxford Committee last year. This year the conference will be held at the London College of  Communications, to whom we say a big thank you for generously providing us with a wonderful venue!

The title of this year’s conference is The Perfect Publisher and the day will start bright and early with a keynote speech by Ursula Mackenzie, CEO at Little, Brown. Over the course of the day  delegates will be given the option of 12 different seminars, with four seminars running simultaneously. The seminars will be arranged by stream and we’re delighted to announce some of the  wonderful and inspiring speakers already confirmed.

The first stream will focus on the world of literary agents and editors. Delegates will hear from speakers including SYP Mentor, Bookseller Rising Star and literary agent Hellie Ogden  from Janklow & Nesbit, as well as editors including Nick Davies, managing director at John Murray Press, and crime editor at Faber, Sarah Savitt.

The second stream will focus on sales, marketing and data. Marketing director at Orion, Mark Rusher, will present the marketing campaign for GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn, and speakers including Jo Henry, director at Nielsen Book Research will discuss the increasing importance of Consumer Insight.

The third stream will focus on the world outside the traditional publishing paradigm, with speakers including Sheila O’Reilly, owner of the wonderful independent Dulwich Bookshop, with Tom Bonnick, digital project and marketing manager at Nosy Crow and George Walkley, head of digital at Hachette UK, talking about all things digital.

The fourth and final stream will include the Big Ideas seminars, where we’ll hear from Tom Chalmers, founder of Legend Press, Joe Cohen, CEO of Movellas, and Anne Perry, founder of the Kitschies, as well as from cover designer at Penguin, Matthew Young, and Creative Director at Hodder, Auriol Bishop.

Throughout the course of the day there will be three Career Workshops where delegates will hear from speakers including HR Manager at Simon & Schuster, Jessica Harris, Antonia Honywell from the wonderful WoMentoring Project, and Seonaid Macleod from the Publishers Association who will be talking about EQUIP and diversity in publishing.

Our concluding panel discussion will ask our very special guests to describe what their Perfect Publisher would look like, but we’re going to keep their names a secret for now!

Tickets are on sale now at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-syp-annual-conference-the-perfect-publisher-tickets-13325375557 and we look forward to seeing you all on 8th November for another wonderful SYP Annual Conference!

Sarah O’Halloran, Head of Special Events at the SYP, and Literary Scout at Louise Allen-Jones