What to Expect from #SYPCONF20!

Posted on November 9, 2020 in London

Welcome to the 2020 SYP Autumn Conference! Despite a difficult and uncertain year, we’re delighted to still be able to host our Conference. This is often the highlight of the SYP calendar, and this year we’re hosting a wide range of panels, talks and blog posts for you to enjoy.

Kicking off our Conference is our very own Elle Brenton-Rounding, the 2020 SYP London Chair who has led our team absolutely amazingly through a truly bizarre year. We’ll then have our Keynote speaker, and we are very excited to announce Francis Bickmore, Publishing Director at Canongate! Join Francis for his speech looking at how indies have coped throughout COVID, the impact of having a hardback fiction bestseller over summer AND a Man Booker Prize shortlisted title, and what he hopes to see change within the industry post-COVID.

Looking for something to enjoy over your lunch break? Join us for our Lunchtime Sessions! These events are for everyone, whether you’re in the publishing industry or not, so do come along. Creating Community in Publishing: Innovation & Inclusion invites some of the people and groups who are at the forefront of change and representation in the industry, whether that’s company-focused or industry-wide groups. Make sure you attend our Contracts Workshop with Diane Spivey, a contracts workshop for non-contracts people! Finally, join us for our extremely exciting Friday event, Sparking the Conversation: A Spotlight on Dialogue Books, as publisher Sharmaine Lovegrove discusses their recent releases and just what it means to ‘spark a conversation’.

Our first event every evening is part of our Publishing Professionals stream, aimed at those of you who are in your first or second roles in publishing. Get inspired on our Started from the Bottom, Now We’re Here: Directors’ Journey panel, where we’ve gathered a range of directors in different departments to discuss how they got to where they are now. If you’re looking for your next role in publishing or want to discuss a salary raise and aren’t sure how, then make sure you attend Climbing the Publishing Ladder: Progression, Promotions and Salaries, which will be full of advice on how to approach and negotiate those sometimes difficult conversations.

Our Publishing Hopefuls stream is aimed at those looking to get their first job in the industry. We’ve got a whole host of panels and blog posts for you! The Rights Words on the Page: CV & Cover Letters is here to give you the best advice on how to get your applications in shape, with industry experts from publishing houses and recruitment agencies here to help. You can also join us for The Path Less Travelled, an insight into less traditional publishing careers from charities, magazines or spoken word. Learn how our speakers got their roles and how they champion literature in all its forms.

We’ll end this incredible week with a very exciting event…. Don’t miss our Book Journey event, with none other than the team behind the bestselling, Booker Prize winner, Girl, Woman, Other. This is bound to be a key event of the conference, and we’re sure we’ll see a lot of you there!

Keep an eye out on our Twitter to find out more about our closing speech! We cannot wait to let you know who’s going to be closing our Conference.

If all of this amazing content wasn’t enough, then do join us for our networking event on Zoom on Friday. Despite being online, we’re still here to provide our usual chit chat and networking – although you’ll have to provide your own drinks! We’ll see you all there!