A Recap of SYP North’s 2026 Uncovering Publishing Week

Posted on September 13, 2026 in North, Uncategorized

This year, SYP North was proud to launch our second themed week of resources, events and connections. Following the success of our first initiative in 2025, this year’s week, ‘Uncovering Publishing’ (7-13 September), was designed to showcase the variety of departments, roles and career paths across the industry, with a focus on the publishing community across the North.

Publishing is often viewed through a London-centric lens, with many conversations, opportunities and events centred around the capital. As SYP North, we wanted to help broaden that picture and celebrate the wealth of publishing talent, organisations and opportunities that exist outside London. Uncovering Publishing was our chance to shine a light on the North and illustrate that there is a thriving and diverse publishing community beyond the capital.

Starting in 2025 under the leadership of then co-chairs Laura Lewis and Caitie Woolridge, our themed week has become an opportunity to explore different areas of the industry and bring our Northern publishing community together. For 2026, Uncovering Publishing went behind the scenes, exploring everything from Legal and Sales to Production, Literary Agents, and Editorial. It’s time to recap our deep dive, so put your prescription goggles on, and let’s see what we have learned!

Before the week began, we started with two exclusive newsletters. One of them gave subscribers an early look at the week ahead. The other, introduced Alice Burns, Journals Marketing Executive at LUP, and her role with the University of Liverpool’s new MA Publishing course. Alice spoke passionately about non-London-centric publishing initiatives, as well as how hopefuls could “think outside the box” to frame “experience of any kind —from administration, Excel wizardry, journalistic roles and online marketing” in their job applications.

Monday: Legal

The week began with an interview with Chris Shelley, a lawyer who has advised academic publishers in Oxford throughout his career. Legal teams work across the publishing process, helping to protect authors, publishers and everyone involved in bringing a book or other publication to readers. Our Social Media Officer, Martyna, spoke to Chris about his career at Oxford University Press, which spanned everything from the introduction of the Copyright Act in 1988 through to the complex worlds of digital-first publishing and AI. While artificial intelligence poses “difficult questions around copyright and the extent to which publishers can control how their content is used”, we stressed the value of effective legal advice in helping publishers “understand their rights and manage risks”, whether in organising acquisitions or managing authors’ rights before and after publication. For those looking to dip their toes into how legal considerations affect publishers, the blog is worth a read!

If you’re interested in learning more, then you can read the full interview here.

Tuesday: Sales

Sales is a key part of connecting publishers and their books with the people and organisations who ultimately get them into readers’ hands. Hosted by our Student Outreach Officer, Isobel, our online panel, ‘A Day in Sales’, detailed how this department sits at the intersection of publishing, relationships, and commercial strategy, making it an area that can offer a fascinating career path for those interested in the business side of the industry.

Georgina Bulga gave us a look at how sales connects with teams across different locations, working with sales leadership, retail partners and the PI Kids US teams to keep commercial operations running smoothly. From preparing for Frankfurt Book Fair to analysing sales metrics, attendees got an amazing insight into both what sales roles involve in practice and the skills publishing hopefuls can develop – namely transferable skills like admin and customer service experience – to enter sales roles. She even answered your questions in a follow up email, which will be dropping in attendees’ inboxes shortly!

Wednesday: Production

This was followed by Emma Leask spilling all on production in our Inside Publishing podcast, taking us behind the scenes of this essential part of the publishing process.

Production is a role that connects with so many other departments within publishing. Understanding how a book moves from a manuscript towards its final form can help professionals across the industry, whether they’re already working in publishing or are just beginning to explore where they might fit.

Emma, a former SYP North Chair and now a SYP mentor, charted her journey from volunteering to working at Bloomsbury Academic. Her enthusiasm for “making sure these high-quality academic texts are being made to the highest-possible standard” leveraged her eye for detail, as she involved herself in the intricacies of indexes, tables, and bibliographic references to ensure a pitch-perfect presentation for the scholarly record. Crucially, she explained the importance of transferable skills like problem-solving and communication capability and advocated for the importance of academic book publishing.

She offered useful insights for those looking to get into the area, as well as those already working in publishing who want to understand how to make their, and productions, roles easier. Spoiler: it has to do with keeping on top of your emails!

You can listen to the podcast here.

Thursday: Literary Agent

Thursday brought another special newsletter for those signed up to our mailing list, featuring an exclusive conversation with literary agent Laura Bennett, giving subscribers the opportunity to hear from a publishing professional and gain insight into her experiences and perspectives. She covered her time working as a teacher, her development of her skills by completing ad hoc editorial work, and her time being offered the agent role.

Working from Liverpool also shapes her approach to the role. She stresses the importance of regional representation, both in the stories readers see themselves reflected in and within the industry itself, which she believes remains too London-centric. There are “many, many readers” who “struggle to see themselves reflected in the characters they read about”, she argued.

This might not be the path you might think of when you imagine how a career in publishing might begin. However, it just serves as a reminder: it’s never too late. Maybe it sounds like a cliché, but it’s one for a reason! These interviews, stories, and blogs serve as a reminder that though getting into the industry is tough, you will end up where you need to be.

To ensure you don’t miss out on content like this again, make sure you sign up to our newsletter, here.

Friday: Editorial

Academic and non-fiction editorial work might fly under the radar, but we hope we changed that on Friday with our series of short videos which explored four different experiences of editorial, including academic editorial with Leah Longfoot, non-fiction, and freelance editorial with Ruth Jones.

The aim was to showcase just how varied editorial can be and to highlight that there isn’t one single route or experience when it comes to working in the field. For aspiring editors, Ruth argued, the key is to “read widely and trust your instincts”, listening to your internal voice and what is or is not making a book work for you.

Head over to our Instagram to learn about what the day-to-day might look like in these roles, and how you can get started.

Saturday: Networking

And finally, we brought Uncovering Publishing Week to a close by combining forces with you!

On Saturday, we hosted an in-person social at Holding Patterns in Leeds, giving attendees the opportunity to meet, chat and network in person. After a week of uncovering the different sides of publishing, we greatly enjoyed capping the week off by bringing people together and creating space for conversations, connections, and new relationships within the industry. Meeting face to face brought together the strands of our community: driven people longing for a career in publishing, with a deep passion for books, and a desire for connection.

Thoughts and Reflections

This brings us to today. We aimed to tell the story of careers which you might not think about, to highlight their importance, and to show you that there is more that goes on behind the scenes. If this week has made you consider applying for different roles, inspired you to change your career path, or given you a newfound appreciation for the work of people who work behind the scenes, then we consider it a success!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to and engaged with our Uncovering Publishing Week. We hope you enjoyed discovering more about the different roles and opportunities within publishing as much as we enjoyed putting the week together.

By Martyna Smolinska, Katie Siddall, and Thomas Barker