Laurie Swinburne, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2014-15

October 7th, 2014 | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Laurie Swinburne, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2014-15

prof2I did a lot of research into masters programmes in the run up to my graduation from Stirling University English Studies, and after interning at two publishing houses, Ringwood and Fledgling Press, I decided that a publishing masters was the way forward. Despite having a slight love/hate relationship with Stirling town (why so few pubs, Stirling?) the university had been my home for four years and, with it housing a publishing course that both my bosses had raved about, it seemed like the obvious choice. So, I compromised, moved to Glasgow and enrolled.

While I am interested in publishing, I find myself gravitating closer and closer towards a career in marketing and PR, and I’m hoping that in studying this course, I will graduate with the business and marketing acumen to work in marketing, possibly outwith the publishing sector. I’m very interested in the inner workings of newspapers and magazines, and have been lucky enough to intern at The Scottish Sun, write for The News of the World and for several music fanzines and blogs. I’ve also interned at Maximise Sport, a small sports PR firm in Glasgow.

Currently, I work as a bridal consultant in Glasgow and spend my weekends hoiking dresses on and off girls in the basement of my store, which sounds pretty sinister when it’s written down like that. I’ve spent my summer attempting to fix their marketing campaign and, although we have a long way to go yet, I’m pretty proud of the new online presence we’ve managed to create so far. I’m really interested in the wedding industry as a whole, particularly in wedding and bridal journalism, and I would suppose my main goal is to get into bridal publications, possibly working in marketing or journalism.

Of course, I’m 22 so there’s a high chance that will change.

Follow my ramblings and retweets at @LaurieEtLivres
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