The SYP meets every year in January in the beautiful Stationers’ Hall to say goodbye to old SYP UK and London committees and welcome in new. There will be a recap of the whole SYP year from different committee members, followed by our panel.
In this, the headphone era, it is not surprising that audiobooks and podcasts are going from strength to strength – and with the recent Futurebook Conference hosting a stream dedicated to The Audiobook Revolution, this format looks set to continue its growth. To delve more into the creation and popularity of audiobooks, the impact of podcasts on our industry, and what might be next, we’ll be joined by Miles Stevens-Hoare of RB Media, the company behind audiobooks.com, and the team from the amazing Mostly Lit podcast.
Join us on the Monday 29 January 2018 to meet our new committee and to join in the discussion. (Please note that all are welcome to attend but only SYP members can vote on any movements made in the AGM.)
Our Speakers
Miles Stevens-Hoare, WF Howes
Miles Stevens-Hoare joined WF Howes as GM – UK and Australia in February of this year. WF Howes are part of RB Media, a PE backed audiobook publisher and technology company. They publish an extensive range of best selling fiction and nonfiction for the consumer and library market. They also have their own Consumer platform, www.audiobooks.com which recently launched in the UK and Australia, after experiencing phenomenal growth in North America. Miles has spent most of his career in publishing, originally in Product Management with EMAP Magazines, then his first MD role at Panini (children’s stickers and Comics). He subsequently spent nearly 6 years with Scholastic running Book Clubs and Fairs and then after a short VC adventure, 7 years running Capstones International business in Oxford. Consequently, Miles has a range of experience across many publishing segments and formats.
Mostly Lit
Named by the Guardian and the BBC as one of the top podcasts of 2017, Mostly Lit is a books and pop-culture podcast, created and hosted by AlexReads, Rai and Derek Owusu – and managed and executive produced by Clarissa Pabi.
Hosted by Rai, AlexReads, and Derek Owusu, the trio chronicle the millennial experience, while exploring the intersection between literature, wellness and pop-culture – all in a fun, irreverent and insightful way. The Lit in ‘Mostly Lit’ is a double entendre, delineating Alex, Rai and Derek’s passion for books whilst also signalling that their podcast is about much more than ‘literature for literature sake’ – it is about what things are cool, current, and interesting, and how, more often than not, books are a part of that.
Mostly Lit operates as an independent podcast and has received coverage in BuzzFeed and The Guardian and the team has worked with brands such as Waterstones, the BBC, HarperCollins, FutureBook and Penguin Random House.
One of the key aims of Mostly Lit is to deconstruct the image of the reader as ‘bookish’ and ‘solitary’. Through their pioneering podcast and social media they promote the message that anyone and everyone can be a reader and Mostly Lit strives to create more inclusive and diverse publishing and media landscape that also reflects that message.
Follow Mostly Lit on Twitter @mostlylit and listen to them on iTunes and Soundcloud
Instagram – @mostlylitpod
YouTube – www.youtube.com/channel/UCNSap_m48BXPUViJofbUYCQ