Publishing Showcase 2013

April 24th, 2013 by cs48@stir.ac.uk | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Publishing Showcase 2013
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It’s already the end of another year!

Only a moment ago, our 2012-13 cohort of students were fresh-faced and eager to embark on their publishing studies.

Now, they may be a little more tired, and both excited and intimidated by the job search ahead, but more than anything they’re much more publishing savvy.

We’re celebrating their achievements on Thursday 2 May by showcasing their work from the Publishing Project. There also be invited guests from our Industry Advisory Board speaking on a panel on the state of the publishing industry.

You are welcome to join us – please let us know if you’d like to come so we have an idea of numbers.

3.15-4.45 Industry Advisory Board panel discussion (including Katy Lockwood-Holmes of Floris, Adrian Searle of Freight Books, Marion Sinclair of Publishing Scotland, Christoph Chesher of Taylor & Francis). Pathfoot B2

5pm onwards Publishing Showcase and Drinks Reception. Pathfoot Crush Hall.

 

 

Gaelic Publishing Scholarship

April 15th, 2013 by cs48@stir.ac.uk | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Gaelic Publishing Scholarship
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A new Gaelic publishing scholarship is launched by the Gaelic Books Council and the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication at the University of Stirling.

The fully-funded scholarship is open to candidates with fluent written and spoken Scottish Gaelic, on Stirling’s industry-leading MLitt in Publishing Studies programme for the session 2013-14.

Rosemary Ward, Director of the Gaelic Books Council said: “The Gaelic Books Council is delighted to be working in collaboration with Stirling to offer this exciting Gaelic scholarship opportunity.

“The demand for Gaelic publications continues to increase as a result of the growing number of pupils attending Gaelic Medium Education and the ever increasing number of adult learners. Investment in this sector is essential if existing Gaelic publishers are to cope with growing demand.”

She added: “This scholarship will attract new talent into the sector and begin the process of increasing capacity and knowledge transfer.”

Professor Claire Squires, Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication said: “We’re very pleased to be working with the Gaelic Books Council to provide this opportunity for a Gaelic-language student on the MLitt in Publishing Studies at Stirling.

“The Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication has always been closely connected to the Scottish publishing industry, and many of our students have gone on to develop successful careers within it. On the programme, students develop hands-on skills and business acumen, and also an understanding for the wider cultural and social contexts of publishing.

She added, “We also strongly encourage our students to develop an entrepreneurial approach to publishing, and we envisage that this partnership with the Gaelic Books Council will have a positive impact on the development and sustainability of the Gaelic publishing scene.”

The successful student will study at the University’s Stirling campus and the Gaelic Books Council will secure appropriate placements with Gaelic publisher(s). Additionally, the Gaelic Books Council will act as adviser for the student’s Publishing Project and Dissertation which is required to have a Gaelic focus.

The deadline for applications for the Gaelic scholarship is Friday 31 May 2013. Further details are available here: Gaelic Books Council scholarship further details (pdf).

‘An overwhelming bias to the physical book’ – John Seaton

April 7th, 2013 by Stefani Sloma | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on ‘An overwhelming bias to the physical book’ – John Seaton
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Every Thursday we here at the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication are visited by a guest speaker, someone in some way associated with the publishing industry, who joins us for an afternoon lecture and chat. On 21 March we had a fascinating talk from John Seaton, the inventory manager at Canongate Books. John has been in publishing over 30 years, working at major publishers like Penguin and Simon and Schuster, and he’s been working with Canongate’s backlist for the past three years.

John began his talk by explaining the value of books, the fact that you can get so much for your money. John told us that he’d drunk the equivalent of FIVE books the night before at the pub! John’s career in publishing has been long and impressive, we found out as he detailed his involvement in such projects as the Faber Finds programme, an imprint of Faber that aims to find and make available many of the great classics and authors no longer in print. All of the books at Faber Finds are entirely Print On Demand, meaning they require no stock space. He went on to explain some of the challenges faced when working with a backlist. When he joined the team at Canongate he was asked to review the backlist and to revive the titles he found there. Some of the titles didn’t sell enough to warrant a standard reprint; these books, however, were perfect for short run printing. On the other hand, some books don’t flourish with this technique either, making them great for POD.  Because of his long standing career in backlist publishing, John told us that more often than not, he intuitively decides when it’s the right time to reprint and what kind of printing he should go with. While this might not seem like the safest way forward, John’s obviously proven to be successful with his decisions, and it just demonstrates that more experience makes for more knowledge.

John also spoke to us about his feelings towards e-books and their effect on the publishing industry, stating he wouldn’t speak much about e-books as he has a ‘bias towards print’. Despite saying this, John had a very optimistic point of view on the effects of e-books, saying that he didn’t feel that they would replace the physical book. He said he did feel that e-books were changing the physical book, but in a good way; the specifications for physical books are getting better, such as the choice and quality of the paper used for printing. While the physical book might change, it can’t change entirely. John said that the physical book is an excellent example of ‘sufficient technology’ that will see out our lifetimes, which tells you everything need to know really.

@StefaniSloma

Revised Curriculum for the MLitt in Publishing Studies

April 1st, 2013 by cs48@stir.ac.uk | Posted in Blog | Comments Off on Revised Curriculum for the MLitt in Publishing Studies
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BEFORE READING THIS POST, PLEASE CHECK THE DATE OF PUBLICATION. (The REAL curriculum is here. At least for now…)

 

The Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication has been at the vanguard of publishing education for over thirty years. It has a forward-thinking approach to publishing studies, and has continually delivered cutting-edge, professionally-oriented degrees which have prepared alumni to work in publishing and publishing-related companies around the world.

The publishing industry is now undergoing an extremely rapid rate of change. Digital technologies have meant that new business models and structures are radically reshaping the industry. As such, we have entirely revised the curriculum for our industry-leading MLitt in Publishing Studies. The new curriculum will be delivered from 2013-14, and we are proud to announce it here.

The revised programme will be structured as follows:

Semester 1

Amazon 1: This compulsory module investigates different market sectors, introduces concepts of publishing business, finance and intellectual property, and analyses current publishing trends and issues. It also explores job roles and publishing processes, equipping students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in an Amazon career.

Amazon 2: This compulsory module examines the processes by which publishing projects (including books, magazines, journals, and digital products) are conceptualised and created at Amazon. It explores the management of authors, intellectual property resources, and editorial workflow, including practical skills of project management and text preparation (copyediting and proofreading).

Amazon 3: This compulsory module introduces marketing theory and practical publishing examples in order to develop a range of strategies for effective promotion of publishing products, through traditional and digital media. The module also explores Amazon’s supply chain, distribution and sales management.

Arts Research Training: This compulsory module enhances students’ employability skills, professional social media, online writing and editing skills, and research methods and research project development. All elements of the module are specifically tailored towards or focused on Amazon.

Semester 2

Amazon 4: This compulsory module enables students to develop skills, understanding and aptitudes for digital (aka Amazon) publishing, its processes and products, including in compiling digital briefs, reviewing and evaluating digital products, management of social media and digital rights, understanding of e-business models and the digital economy, and deployment of analytics, keywords, SEO, metadata and XML.

Amazon 5: This compulsory module enables students to develop management and entrepreneurial skills crucial to publishing. Areas covered include strategic, operational, risk, financial and HR management. It also explores the global business of publishing, including growth strategies, murders and executions, legal tax avoidance, and inventing business models that at first glance make no sense whatsoever.

Internship at Amazon: This compulsory module enables students to undertake a work placement or internship at one of Amazon’s worldwide distribution centres, to incorporate their workplace learning through critical reflection on their and Amazon’s activities and processes.

Publishing, Literature and Society: This optional module explores the interactions between contemporary and historical publishing and society, approaching topics including authorship, readership and the literary marketplace, censorship, wartime publishing, and publishing and diversity (e.g. “not Amazon”). It enables students to develop a critical distance from Amazon.

Publishers’ Lunch (or, The Frankfurt School): This optional module will introduce students to the traditional, or legacy, model of publishing. It involves copious consumption of alcohol, face-to-face meetings and ‘gatekeeping’. Male students are in the majority on this module.

Summer

Dissertation: This is an intensive piece of research on a topic of Amazon’s choice, which is notionally approved by the Programme Director and student. Work extends over both semesters and into the summer.

Given our excellent industry contacts, we are confident that all students will, on successful completion of their programme, be placed at one of Amazon’s many international distribution centres (probably Dunfermline). In the very unlikely event that they are not immediately placed with Amazon or a sub-contracted company, less successful alumni still have ample opportunity to become authors via Amazon’s Kindle Direct programme, or act as highly valued unpaid prosumers in Amazon’s Kindle Directed scheme. Entrepreneurial alumni have the opportunity to develop Amazon-associated businesses and franchises which, should they survive the Kindle Dragon, will be examined by Amazon as acquisition targets.

Ms A. P. Rilfoule, the University’s Amazon Liaison Officer, commented that, ‘We’re very excited about delivering this new programme, which has been developed in close cooperation with our Industry Advisory Borg. Share the bold new future of publishing, writing, reading, and pretty much everything else: with Amazon, with us.’