6×6: The day to day of working in six publishing departments

Posted on November 13, 2019 in Scotland

The (if we say so ourselves) genius concept of six people talking about their work in six publishing departments for six minutes returned to Edinburgh last month, in our October 6×6 event with PublishEd. Professionals from Editorial, Design, Production, Rights, Sales, and Marketing & Publicity each gave an insight into their work to a lecture hall of students and young publishers. Each speaker emphasised that role definitions vary a lot between publishing houses, and one person’s Editorial in one company can crossover into Production in another. Nonetheless, each speech was very helpful and insightful into the publishing world, so if you were unable to attend, here’s a write up of what you missed:

Lauren Murray, Editorial Project Leader at Harper Collins, spoke first about her work in editorial. Having worked in both production and editorial in Scotland and London, she returned to Glasgow to work at Collins Learning in 2018. Lauren spoke of the importance of an editor’s ability to balance the interests of the author and the reader through a number of stages, from commission, to manuscript, to working with a book’s designer. The skills she emphasised as key for editorial included: awareness of market trends, project management, budgeting, communication (both internal and external), and the ability to prioritise and meet deadlines. Lauren noted that a reader shouldn’t be able to tell when a book is typeset well – and the same should be true for good editing. She can be found @lauren_d_murray.

Second to speak was Richard Wainman, designer at Floris Books. He spoke of the magic of taking a manuscript and transforming it into a covetable book. This begins with planning the concept and then the cover, finding and managing illustrators, writing them briefs describing the story and the vision for the book, designing the layout, and then printing the book. Richard reminded us, however, that the process is rarely that straightfoward, and every book follows its own schedule. For this reason, he emphasised key design skills as: being able to multitask and stay flexible, being able to give and take feedback, having an awareness of trends, and an eye for detail. He also recommended creating an easily-findable Twitter or Instagram to show off your work, as often this is how freelance artists and designers are employed. He can be found @richardwainman

Third to speak, and discussing Production, was Rebecca Bonallie. She works as Production and Inventory Controller at Canongate, having begun her career in publishing as Publishing Assistant there. She described her role as being less about the inside of a book, and more about the physical book itself. The production department manages scheduling and costs, keeping other departments on schedule and within budget. It covers a range of things, from inventory management (making sure the publisher has enough stock to cover sales demands, but not too much), deciding a book’s format, paper choice, endpapers, cover finishes, and binding extras like a ribbon. Managing all these expenses is no mean feat, and so skills required include organisation, communication, budgeting, and nifty software skills. Overall Rebecca emphasised that production is about ensuring readers enjoy the finished product. She can be found @rabonallie.

Next up was Ann Landman, who works in Sales at Birlinn. She described her role as essentially driving in her car to various clients and bookshops, pitching books that she thinks will suit the client, and asking how many they’d like to buy. Ann described how the role of Sales has been shrinking within the publishing industry, but is still highly important – 190.9 million books were sold in the UK last year. But the volume of books available means that Sales is all about considering how to make your book stand out, and making a good connection with your client. For example, when sending out proofs, consider what books might go down well with different customer tastes, in order to build trust. Skills required include being personable and organised, being present across social media, and keeping up to date on publishing trends and events. Ann emphasised the importance of knowing your stock, and knowing how it matches current trends – as well as liking travelling, as people who work in Sales do a lot of it. Ann can be found @annofbooks.

Jamie Norman, Campaigns Executive at Canongate, spoke about working in Marketing and Publicity. Jamie’s worked at Canongate for two years, running campaigns across the Canongate list, as well as for their Black Thorn crime fiction imprint. He spoke about the difference between Publicity and Marketing departments. Publicity involves getting your book to the audience you want, through social media, events, and press coverage. Marketing is primarily advertising, both on and offline, and can include National Rail posters, fly posting, and creating POS (point-of-sale materials, like bookmarks). For example, Marketing make up proofs, so that Publicity can send them out. Jamie emphasised the importance of creativity, contacts, cultural knowledge, and organisation, for working in both departments. He can be found @Normantweets.

Finally, Janne Moller spoke about her work as Rights manager at Black and White Publishing. She set up the department and has worked there for 14 years, having worked previously as a literary agent. Janne described her morning as coming into work, booting up her computer, and beginning to chat to the world. This translates (!) as trying to sell translation rights to relevant persons, using sub-agents, scouts and foreign editors, as a lot of titles have potential abroad. Janne emphasised the importance of attending book fairs, including those at Frankfurt, London, and in children’s publishing, Bologna, as these are excellent places to make deals, not only in formal meetings, but at two in the morning on dancefloors. Skills that are key for working in Rights include: being gregarious, enjoying networking and negotiating, always being able to answer the question “what would you compare this book to?” – and loving reading, of course. She can be found @seven7dayz.

This is not an exhaustive description of the tasks and skills involved in these publishing departments – each job and each publishing company works very differently. However, each professional provided a valuable and real insight into their work, and contributed to the SYP and PublishEd’s goal of clarifying what ‘working in publishing’ might really look like. Thank you to each of our speakers!

By Niamh Anderson.

Image: via Pixabay.