“Books are the quietest and most constant friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers”  – Charles W. Eliot

I have always loved books. As a kid, I went to the library once a week to get new reading material to satisfy my hunger for books. Growing older, this did not change. On the contrary, my passion for the printed word actually increased. When the time came to decide on a subject of study, I knew it had to be something with books and how they are made. I finally ended up at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, where I studied Book Studies, European Literature, and History. I chose my minor subjects European Literature and History in order to keep my future career path as broad as possible.

During my studies I had the chance to do an internship with the publishing house of Feder&Schwert, where I did a lot of proofreading and was able to translate the book “The Good, the Bad and the Uncanny”, written by Simon R. Green, into German. After my internship, I worked for them as a freelancer translating another book and doing some more proofreading.

Apart from my studies, I worked as a temp for a bookshop in Worms where I advised customers which book they may want to read. Furthermore, I helped selling schoolbooks.

I am really interested in editing and marketing, especially fantasy books, historical fiction, and children’s books. I am sure that I will be able to expand my knowledge of publishing further while studying with the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication.

Coming from a journalism background I can very much relate to the popular quote: “journalism is literature in a hurry”. Being a lover of literature myself, the next logical step was to try my luck in publishing studies.

Originally I studied History and Archaeology at the Aristotle University in my hometown, Thessaloniki, in Greece. After my graduation I obtained a degree in journalism from a private institute in Athens and proceeded to work as a journalist for a news website, writing articles and doing field work. I have minor experience in writing reviews of films, books and graphic novels.

As I said literature has always been a passion of mine, as a reader and as a writer, so by following an MLitt in Publishing Studies, I hope to gain a thorough knowledge of the whole industry. The majestic campus of the University and the high quality of the course made up my mind for me, so Stirling was the place for me.

I am particularly interested in how the digital world is affecting the publishing field, and I would love to focus my studies on fantasy fiction publications and on the comic book domain, which I consider a vital aspect of the publishing industry.

Last but not least, I have already signed up and have been working as a volunteer for Bloody Scotland, the crime-writing festival that is taking place here in Stirling, and loving the experience so far!

Thomas Jefferson once said, ”I cannot live without books.” I agree with him completely. I discovered my love for books when I was very young, even before I started school. I would spend hours and hours at our local library just browsing between book shelves and being stunned by books. When the time to decide what I want to study finally came, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I did my undergraduate studies in Library and Information Science at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. During the programme I chose some of the publishing classes that were available and realized that I felt very attracted to the publishing process and book production. I’ve also done an internship at publishing house UMco, d.d. in Ljubljana, Slovenia. After receiving my BA degree and doing my research on publishing programmes in Europe, I decided I wanted to attend the MLitt in Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling.

I’m interested in marketing books and the translations of literature from ex-Yugoslavia countries and translation copyrights. I would also like to do some research on what is different in publishing process of small market countries and what is there to do to create a thriving and competitive publishing field.

This is a challenging time for publishing and I am prepared to accept the challenge and be a part of this vibrant, non-stop, changing business.

Hi! I’m Lexi. I came to University of Stirling after I graduated from my undergraduate university, Florida State (FSU) in May 2013 with a dual degree in English and Theatre. I have a passion for storytelling in any and all mediums. I chose publishing studies for my postgraduate because I wanted to learn more about the processes of getting a book, or any kind of story out into the world. I am extremely interested in print versus digital publishing, as well as cross-media, or what I like to call the Harry Potter phenomena. I enjoy a wide variety of fiction genres including fantasy, sci-fi, young adult (YA), horror, romance, etc. — so long as it’s well-written and the story is interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking.

As someone who comes from a background in theatre, I know how important every part of the process of putting on a performance is, and how vital communication during that process is as well. While my interests are primarily editorial, I hope to learn about all the areas of publishing so that I can effectively communicate with other departments and understand the process as a whole. I can’t wait to get to know my fellow classmates and start learning about the business of publishing.

Please feel free to follow me on Facebook, Linkedin, and/or Twitter.

(FYI: Gareth David-Lloyd and James Marsters from Torchwood are the actors in the photo.)

My name is Clémence (Clem for short, and because most people pronounce my name wrong). I am Belgian born and raised and did my BA Creative Writing & English Literature at the London Metropolitan University. I decided to do an MLitt Publishing Studies at Stirling because it seemed to me the best way to learn all about making a successful career in publishing. And we have a lake. And a castle. So there.

Books were everywhere in my house when I was growing up. (We even kept some in the bathroom. Tintin was a huge favourite for bathroom breaks.) Harry Potter got me into fantasy when I was 7, I decided I would become a writer when I was 8 (and promptly wrote some very cringe-worthy short stories), became a huge LOTR fan when I was 11, and sometime in my second year of my undergraduate degree started correcting all my friends in class until someone told me, ‘Maybe you should just become an editor, you’re a grammar Nazi anyway.’ And that sprouted a little idea in my mind.

I love fiction, from children’s to literary and even teen fiction (nothing wrong about enjoying some Twilight every once in a while). I write a vegan baking and cooking blog called The Vegan Cookie Fairy (and if you’re nice, I’ll share some yummy desserts with you.) I love cats and period dramas and knitted jumpers and yoga, but I promise I’m not too much of a hippie.

Have a question or a comment? I’m on Twitter and LinkedIn.