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London Book Fair 30th birthday party with Publishing Scotland

April 3rd, 2012 by cs48@stir.ac.uk | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on London Book Fair 30th birthday party with Publishing Scotland
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The Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication was founded in 1982, and so 2012 marks our 30th anniversary.

To celebrate our birthday, we’ve got a number of events planned.

The first takes place at the London Book Fair, where we’ll be joining with Publishing Scotland in the Isle of Arran whisky party. This takes place on Tuesday 17 April from 5.30pm on the Publishers from Scotland stand, H350. Please join us!

If you can’t make the party, please do drop by the stand and say hello or leave us a message, or come to one of our other events at Stirling: the World Book Night Book Dominoes on Monday 23 April, or our Publishing Showcase and Alumni Drinks Reception on Thursday 3 May.

Alternatively, if you can’t join us for any of those, please do join us on our social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). And if you’re one of our alumni, please do consider writing us an alumni profile for our website.

Publishing Scotland Conference 2012

April 2nd, 2012 by Sara_Gardiner | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Publishing Scotland Conference 2012
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I have never been to a conference before and I would definitely go to one again.

The day began with an introduction from Bob McDevitt and Marion Sinclair explaining how, as publishers, we should be able to adapt to the new digital world by having more direct contact with customers and physical bookstores. The aim of the publisher is not to challenge the age of the author but to challenge the price point of e-books and to get more people reading.

Alan Clements, Director of Content for STV reiterated Marion’s speech, acknowledging that the media industry should have more focus on content and accountability to their customers. So what does this mean for media and culture when each person may be looking at three screens in one sitting? Alan stated that working with technology and not against it is the key to controlling IP and sustaining the media industry we work in. He then candidly discussed the lack of communication between the publishing industry and TV, believing that if both industries work together on the adaptations of new books, it would give Scotland a place on the map.

Next to speak was Steve Bohme, Research Director from BML. He showed the conference, through the analogy of weddings, how the publishing industry is coping with the downward trend in print books for the third year running. Steve questioned how the role of the designer will change with the popularity of the e-book, and how the e-book effect will change the way in which it affects the publishing industries sales.

Discussing social media and marketing, Jon Reed, Social Media Consultant spoke of the effects social media marketing has on the selling of a product and exposure of a company (follow him on Twitter @reedmedia). Jon Reed is the founder of Publishing Talk, giving hints and tips on the best ways to market your company and/or product. He discussed how the social media buzz should revolve around the product and build interest in the niche area; to support social media, companies should still continue to e-mail their customers.

Jon also said that authors should be trained in using social media to promote their novels and to update their own profiles and if training cannot be given, guidelines will then become useful to the author. Included in the author questionnaires, should be the question regarding the authors current social media use, in order to increase author visibility. Through social media networks, content should be made valuable by giving away free information on the author/novel or company. The ultimate goal as a publisher is to add value to a novel while also supporting their authors.

Author Nicola Morgan then spoke about author/publisher relationships along with the (lack of, in her case) communication between the two. Nicola made the point of authors being the last to hear about changes to their work; what Nicola insisted on in a business relationship was honesty. Her response to being dropped by her publishing company was to consider self publishing, however, as she discovered during the self publishing process, this then eats away at the time the author has left to write new material.

The speakers at the conference were all so passionate about their area of work within the publishing industry, and also believe that the industry will be able to adapt to new media in the future, but finding the right ideas for this is the key.  The Publishing Scotland conference showcased many intelligent, passionate and enthusiastic people with many opposing ideas.

“Punching above our weight in an international arena”: selling international rights with Canongate

April 2nd, 2012 by Nuria_Ruiz | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on “Punching above our weight in an international arena”: selling international rights with Canongate
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The Publishing Studies Visiting Speaker series got off to an excellent start this March as Andrea Joyce, Associate Rights Director at Canongate, paid a visit to demystify the mysterious world of selling international rights. Although a medium-sized house in the world of Scottish publishing, we soon discovered that Canongate has a real international presence through its titles; in Andrea’s own words, they punch above their weight in the global arena. Oh, and we learned just what working in rights encompassed too!

Andrea noted almost immediately that the rights department can easily be undervalued and overlooked in publishing, and she made a salient point. Of the 100 top selling UK titles in 2011, only 6 were in translation. Not the best advertisement for the absolute wealth of beautiful foreign writing out there. Our own rights experience as MLitt students came as a small part of a module on publishing dynamics, unlike our marketing and editorial modules which were self-contained. During an earlier visit from Skillset’s Suzanne Kavanagh, not one of us stood up and proclaimed an undying passion for selling translation rights and drafting co-edition licenses (but then again, not one of us wanted to be a bohemian editor of poetry either). So it was interesting to hear that this attitude is not only part of the student experience; part of the problem, argues Andrea, is that publishers might assume they don’t need the profit generated by rights sales, and that literary agents feel they are better placed to handle an author’s rights than their publisher. This is not always the case, certainly not for Canongate, and Andrea made a compelling and convincing case for the integral place of rights in their publishing strategy.

Publishing authors from all across the world, and conversely getting their own authors published in forty-five countries, is a “great source of strength” to Canongate. Certainly, the figures seem to back this up. In 2011, the rights team struck 202 deals across 45 countries, up from 175 in 2010 and 150 in 2009. Europe is their major market, with Germany claiming 20 per cent of deals, Italy 14 per cent and France 13 per cent (by value). Selling international rights has also allowed Canongate to venture into the competitive US publishing market, launching with established publisher Grove/Atlantic and already claiming 9 per cent of deals by value.

So what’s the secret to success in the international rights market? Timing, timing, timing was Andrea’s first piece of advice. We live in an increasingly interconnected world; people everywhere know when something new is launching and more importantly, they know where to get their hands on it if it’s not provided where they are – and thus bypassing territorial rights agreements and the publishing value chain altogether. With the gargantuan growth of Amazon, publishing simultaneously in the home language has proved crucial to ensuring Canongate’s rights success in countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. But more than this, it’s also about trusting your taste to timing. The Radleys, the international bestseller by Matt Haig, landed on Andrea’s desk as she was departing for the Frankfurt Book Fair. Timely, with its young adult crossover potential and paranormal setting, a short captivating read was enough to convince Canongate of its potential – and many other international partners too. In rights, you have to be flexible, speedy and creative in order to take advantage of an opportunity, which sounds pretty exciting in my book.

And this was Andrea’s parting shot; it’s actually an exciting time to be working in rights. If you don’t believe me when I say that she has me totally convinced about the value, necessity and importance of selling international rights, just think where we would be if this little guy hadn’t purred his way across the world …

– Nuria Ruiz

Aye Write! Festival 2012

March 16th, 2012 by Sara_Gardiner | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Aye Write! Festival 2012
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Opening day, Friday 9th March, the Aye Write! Festival in Glasgow began with an opening discussion from Mark Buckland, Cargo Publishing, Adrian Searle, Freight Books and Sam Best, Octavius Magazine discussing how to be a small publisher in Scotland. The main points discussed were funding and the abundance of emerging new talent coming from Scotland.

Sam discussed how Octavius was set up on a shoestring, primarily creating the magazine in an electronic form with a view to expanding into a physical format when their funding becomes more established. Octavius consists of four volunteers managing submissions from around the world. Sam explained how he was surprised and happy at the amount of writing talent that came from Scotland for the submissions, which has now had to close due to the innumerable amounts of new material they have received. Their first online magazine will launch in spring this year.

Mark also discussed the beginnings of his business, as a University graduate with a keen interest in books. His interest in publishing stems from his love of literature and interest in making the complete form. Mark discussed how he was a gardener with £800 in his pocket when he began Cargo, and made it into what it is today. In the present day, Cargo are linked with the Dundee International Book Prize and have recently announced their judge’s panel – Stephen Fry, Alan Bissett, Jenny Brown and Philip Pullman, with the winner of the prize being announced in October.

Mark candidly spoke of the industry and the realistic ways in which publishing needs to change. Cargo have begun the process by updating POD systems, which have now been taken on by the big publishing houses and the introduction of the Margins Book and Music Festival, to showcase new talent both in the publishing world and the music industry.

The day became an opportunity to talk to other publishers and listen to the seminars provided by Aye Write! Many writers were also keen to see if they could get their manuscripts read by companies while also acquiring a few free sweets at the same time.

– Sara Gardiner

We love books. And domino chains.

March 13th, 2012 by cs48@stir.ac.uk | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on We love books. And domino chains.
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To celebrate World Book Night, a group of us at the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication have decided to hold a book dominoes event* on April 23rd. The goal is to create the biggest book dominoes event possible, promoting a love of reading, Scottish literature, and Scottish Publishing. Of course, to achieve this lofty goal we need your book donations! We’re looking for any donations, great and small, and we are willing to pick them up by car if necessary. However, they do need to be able to stand up, fall over, and knock other books over. A strange way of judging literature, but there you go…

We’ve already had pledges of books from Alban Books, Cargo Publishing, Freight Books, the Gaelic Books Council, Publishing Scotland, Saraband Books, and Stirling Libraries (thank you!). Blasted Heath are going to see if they can make their ebooks stand up for us! (Though we think p-books probably win here…)

If you would like to participate, please email: stirlingbookdominoes@gmail.com. You can also follow our exploits on Twitter via @stirpublishing and the hashtag #stirbkdominoes

We will release details of the event itself closer to the time. If you’d like to come and watch, contact us via the email above.

*We love books, and we promise to love your books, too. No books will be harmed in the making of this event and loaned books will be returned to their respective owners.

– Alicia Rice

Margins Book and Music Festival 2012 – A Night in the Gutter

March 5th, 2012 by Sara_Gardiner | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Margins Book and Music Festival 2012 – A Night in the Gutter
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Opening night in an underground maze, trains running on time overhead. Underneath the mundane patterns of everyday life, literature and music come alive. The Margins Festival celebrates music, through the unique sound of Roddy Woomble (Idlewild), Withered Hand, Alasdair Roberts and literature through the readings of Christopher Brookmyre and Louise Welsh along with the launch of Gutter Magazine 06.

Gutter is now in its third year as Scotland’s leading literary magazine and publishes the work of new Scottish writers, and this year’s collection is no exception.  With performances by Keith Macpherson and Nalini Chetty of the literature and poetry, Gutter were able to dramatise stories such as ‘Windows’ by Alison Irvine and ‘The Judge’ by Roddy Dunlop and poetry, ‘Sometimes I Forget’ by Stav Poleg and ‘Goma, Goma, Goma’ by Alexander Hutchinson.

Amidst the appreciative chuckles in the audience during the reading of ‘The Judge’, audience members included a select few of the contributors to Gutter 06, who kindly gave a signing after the readings.  In this dungeon-type palace of culture, Gutter Magazine was brought to life by actors and audience alike and somewhere in the background, plotting their next launch in the autumn.

Gutter 06 is available to buy now and is published by Freight Books.

– Sara Gardiner

What’s Wrong with Women’s Writing?: Centre Director speaks at Aye Write

March 4th, 2012 by cs48@stir.ac.uk | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on What’s Wrong with Women’s Writing?: Centre Director speaks at Aye Write
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The Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication, Professor Claire Squires, will be appearing at Glasgow’s Aye Write! festival on Sunday 11 March, at 3.30pm.

 She will be speaking on the topic of ‘What’s Wrong with Women’s Writing’, along with authors Laura Marney and Karen Campbell, and Sue John of Glasgow Women’s Library. The debate will be chaired by Vicky Allan of the Herald.

 ​As Aye Write! Has it, ‘the people who buy books, read and recommend to friends – in short those shaping the publishing trends – are women. The people writing the reviews and winning the prizes are men.’

 Expect some feisty debate! Tickets are available from the Aye Write! website.

Publishing Scotland Annual Conference 2012

March 4th, 2012 by Victoria_Sugden | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Publishing Scotland Annual Conference 2012
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This year the Publishing Scotland Annual Conference took place at Edinburgh’s Royal College of Physicians on Monday 27 February. Following registration and a number of freebies, an assortment of publishing professionals and students congregated in the main auditorium (at a somewhat vertiginous height!) ready to catch the pearls of wisdom thrown their way.

After a warm welcome from the Chair and Chief Executive of Publishing Scotland, Bob McDevitt and Marion Sinclair, the conference was in motion. The most engaging speeches, for me, were delivered in the morning session. The key note speech came from Alan Clements, Director of Content at STV on ‘Future-Gazing-what’s in store for media and culture in the next few years.’ Clements pushed that in this day and age there is an issue of content, rather than the means of distribution in broadcasting and publishing. After all, “content is king” Clements later declared. Ultimately, Clements argued that publishing and TV should be more engaged than they already are. He also stated that Scotland has become the “other” in UK terms, thus publishers and TV should work together to create new Scottish-centric material.

Steve Bohme, Research Director of Book Marketing Ltd gave an insightful talk on key retail market trends. His decision to use a weddings metaphor in his slides was very effective but left some of us disheartened with the lack of real cake during refreshments…

Then came the presentation that was a firm favourite of mine, Social Media Consultant, Jon Reed speaking about ‘Publishing Direct-reaching readers online using social media.’ Social media is certainly proving to be one of the principle ways to reach consumers as Reed presented the staggering facts of there being two billion people online, 850 million on Facebook and approximately 500 million Twitter users worldwide! Reed was very insightful and revealed numerous ways to reap the benefits of social media marketing that many social media fiends would not even think of!

The afternoon sessions were less digitally focused but nonetheless enlightening with talks ranging from metadata (from Nielsen Bookscan) to Scottish library partnerships. At the end of proceedings Publishing Scotland kindly set up a Q&A session for us students, which gave us a valuable 45 minutes to grill those already in the industry.

My thanks go to Publishing Scotland for a fascinating and well-organised day.

– Vicky Sugden

Image by Sandy Young Photography

Visiting Speaker programme

February 28th, 2012 by Frances_Sessford | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Visiting Speaker programme

Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication hosts another diverse and interesting programme of visiting speakers for the Spring semester. Over the next few weeks, guest speakers from production, rights and editorial departments, representing many different sectors of publishing, will come and speak to our cohort.
We are delighted to have Andrea Joyce, Rights Director at Canongate Books, to begin the programme on March 1, followed by Johnny Gallant, director of Edinburgh book distributor Alban Books on March 8. On March 15, Peter Dennis of Leckie and Leckie will give us the benefit of his experience at this educational publisher now owned by HarperCollins, while on March 22 we will host publisher, author and academic Miha Kovač. Miha is the author of Never Mind The Web; Here Comes The Book and is spending a week at the Centre teaching and giving seminars. On March 29 we have Kyle Macrae and Allan Guthrie of Blasted Heath digital publishing in conversation with Padmini Ray Murray, lecturer at the Centre.

After the mid-semester break, author Sarah Rayner gives a writer’s perspective on the industry on April 12, and on April 19, Vivian Marr, Head of Language Acquisition at Oxford University Press, will talk about the business operation behind this publisher’s content licensing activities. Our final session on April 26 hosts Sara Hunt from independent publisher Saraband Books.

Attendance at all visiting speaker sessions is free but there is limited space so please register via publishing@stir.ac.uk to book a place.

AHRC Digital Transformations Project: The Book Unbound

February 15th, 2012 by cs48@stir.ac.uk | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on AHRC Digital Transformations Project: The Book Unbound
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 We’ve just heard that the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication has been awarded a grant from the AHRC in its Digital Transformations Research Development call.

Our project, ‘The Book Unbound: Disruption and Disintermediation in the Digital Age’, will be led by the Centre’s Director, Professor Claire Squires, with Dr Padmini Ray Murray (Lecturer in Publishing Studies) and Dr Paula Morris (Lecturer in Creative Writing) as Co-Investigators. The staff team will be completed by Scott Russell, as an External Consultant. We’ll also be working with the Electric Bookshop in order to present some of our findings, and there will also be opportunities for collaborations between creative writing and publishing students.

The project will examine changing business models in the digital publishing environment and their impact on the communications circuit and notions of authority, authorship, audiences and access. It will do this both via a series of case studies, and an experimental mode (live publishing – watch this space!).

We’ll have a new website up with full details of the project soon, but if you’d like any information about it in the meantime, please get in touch via our Contact page.

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