#SYPConf20: A department insight on… Marketing

Posted on November 10, 2020 in London

Ammara Isa is Trade Marketing Manager at HarperCollins overseeing booksellers communications, marketing and strategy for titles across the company. Beginning her career in the Children’s division, she is now co-chair of HarperCollins’ BAME network, Elevate, and in 2019 she was named a Bookseller Rising Star. You can find her on Twitter @AmmaraIsa.

What was your journey into the publishing industry?

I graduated in 2014 with an English degree and not much idea of what I wanted to do so then, like most people, spent my days working in retail and scrolling through twitter to see what I could find. It was then that I came across an application for work experience at HarperCollinsUK and the rest is history.

I started off my career in the children’s marketing team on work experience, then got an internship, then a temporary contract and eventually moved into my current role as Trade Marketing Exec where I eventually worked my way up to Trade Marketing manager.

What is your current role?

My current role is Trade Marketing Manager; an unusual role which I don’t think a lot of publishers have.  It’s a marketing role which sits in the wider sales team. I spend most of my day speaking to booksellers (indies and Waterstones) ensuring that they have all the material and resources to help sell our books. It’s quite fun and varied and can involve anything from designing magazines to posting on our social media channels.

How has your job changed during COVID19?

Before the pandemic, I’d spend a lot of time visiting bookshops around the UK (the dreaaaam) but as everything has moved online, it’s a whole new way of selling books. There’s alot more virtual presentations and ensuring bookshops have the digital content they need. It’s been such a period of adjustment so we’re all trying to support bookshops as much as we can.

Please discuss which departments you work closely with, and what you work together on?

I sit in the Group Sales team, so I work across most of the divisions at HarperCollins. This means I talk to tons of people but it’s great as I get a real overview of how the business works. I primarily work with the sales and marketing teams on the strategy of our bookseller communications and our field-sales reps who sell our books to retailers all around the country.

Briefly discuss a project you feel proud to have worked on:

Not strictly to do with my role but one of the things I’m most proud of working on at HarperCollins has been co-founding the BAME network with my colleague (and pal!) Georgina Ugen – Elevate. We’re made up of two co-chairs and a committee of seven other inspiring individuals who work across different departments across HarperCollins. We’re continuially growing as a network and seeing what all our members are achieving is SO exciting. You can see what everyone at Elevate is up to on Twitter and Instagram.

Please discuss any difficulties you face in your role:

I think the thing I find most difficult is reading all the books we publish! As I work across the company, I try to keep on top of all the books that are priorities but also the smaller more niche titles.  This, mixed with my own reading, means my TBR is sky-high but I guess whose isn’t am I right?