Student Profiles

Meet some of our current and recent students on our programmes:


Megan Carney, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

December 7th, 2017 by Megan Carney | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Megan Carney, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

My name is Megan Carney, and I come from a town in the south-west of Ireland called Tralee. Despite the well versed warning not to, I have always been very much guilty of judging a book by its literal cover. There is nothing I enjoy more than walking into a bookshop and finding refuge among the colours and textures which encase each story as it sits on a shelf, just waiting to be read.

While I have always been an avid reader (quelle surprise!), it is in fact the world of theatre which led me to pursue a career in publishing. For the past few years I completely immersed myself in theatre, studying English with drama at University College Dublin, working in a theatre in Dublin’s city centre, acting in plays, directing shows, and building and designing sets. During this time, I learned a lot about the process of taking an idea or a vision and seeing it through to a physical piece of art. When nearing the end of my undergraduate degree I took some time to consider what it was about this work that I loved, and I realized that it was that collaborative process of bringing about the best possible end product, which still retained its artistic integrity. This led me to consider applying the same concept to literature. I began to wonder more about the journey a book takes, from the original manuscript, through editorial and design, all the way to being a tangible book, sitting on a shelf in a bookshop.

And so here I am, less than a year later, embarking on my journey to learn as much as I can about the publishing industry. While I joined the course hoping for a career as an editor, each week I find that as I learn more about the industry, each area of publishing becomes more and more enticing! I hope to get as much hands on experience as possible so that I might find which department I click with best, but for now I am leaving my options open as I take it all in.

Twitter: @migcarney

 

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Chi Mo MLitt in Publishing 2017-2018

November 30th, 2017 by Chi Mo | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Chi Mo MLitt in Publishing 2017-2018

2016 The Book Fair of HongKong

Hello everyone, my name is Chi Mo, you can call me Jennifer. I come from China.

I worked for three years at the publishing company. The publishing company is the Hong Kong Commercial Press, which publishes academic books, especially in dictionary publishing. This is a company with more than 100 years of history, mainly for the Hong Kong and Southeast Asian book market. My main job is to design the book’s cover and typography. I use Photoshop and Indesign.

I was impressed by the fact that in the spring of 2014, I and Hong Kong Education Books Co., Ltd. co-published “one hundred thousand why” series of books, that time and education books editor exchanges, let me have an understanding of the editorial work. This series of books became the best book of the Hong Kong Book Fair in 2014.

I made the book “Hong Kong Geography”, “Hong Kong Literature Department”, “Emergency Room Story 2” and many other books, respectively, 2015 and 2016 Hong Kong Book Fair Best Book Award.

As far as I know, the MLitt in Publishing Studies at Stirling is professional and famous, so this is a great opportunity for me to receive further training. Hopefully here you can learn the complete publishing process, including editing, design, and printing.

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Kathryn Haldane, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

November 29th, 2017 by Kathryn Haldane | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Kathryn Haldane, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18
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The question I was asked most as a child was ‘so you’re going to be an author when you grow up?’. This seemed like a logical idea; I read and wrote voraciously, and I thought that if I could do this for the rest of my life, that would be pretty much perfect. As I got older, I discovered that it’s not so easy to just become an author, and I still can’t find many jobs that involve me sitting and reading all day long. It took me a surprisingly long time to discover that publishing was a possible career option for me. For the longest time, I was so absorbed by the contents of the books themselves that I never gave much thought to how they actually came into being.

My interest in stories made me choose an undergraduate degree in English and Film Studies at The University of St Andrews. Although I enjoyed many aspects of my undergraduate degree, I learned that I did not want to work as an academic studying books for the rest of my life, but would still love to work around them in some capacity. I did as much work experience as I could to try and figure out where my interests lay, and did several placements at TV and newspaper businesses. They were fascinating, but they affirmed to me that working with books was what I definitely wanted to do.

After graduating this June, I stayed in St Andrews to work through the summer while applying for jobs and internships in publishing, and was finally rewarded with an internship at Alban Books in Edinburgh. It was an interesting and informative experience, and thankfully made me completely certain that I wanted to work in the publishing industry. Only late in the summer did I come across the MLitt in Publishing Studies at Stirling – I never knew such a thing existed, and right away I knew it was what I wanted to do. I never thought I would be going back to university to do postgraduate study, but I liked how vocational the course at Stirling seemed to be, and was excited by the prospect of learning real skills I could use in the workplace. I’m particularly looking forward to doing work experience at local publishing houses to get a feel for which area of the industry I would like to work in, and of course living in another beautiful part of Scotland.

Twitter: @kathrynhaldane

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Ana Tratnik, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

November 29th, 2017 by Ana Tratnik | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Ana Tratnik, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18
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As long as I can remember I wanted to be a librarian, which pushed me to enrol in Library Science and Publishing after finishing high school, at the University of Ljubljana.

Since traveling has always been my passion, I aimed to do an internship abroad as part of my studies. After finishing my undergraduate degree, I got an opportunity at Icelandic Publishers Association, where I gained hands-on experience in publishing. Working with different publishers and organizing local book fairs gave me a great insight into publishing Icelandic literature and its marketing. Also, at this time, I became aware that researching foreign book markets, comparing them with the ones I already know and follow, gives me joy. My mentor during the internship (one of my favorite people in the world) was always telling me to be brave and not afraid to make mistakes, think out of the box, and everything would eventually work out. And it did.

When I returned back home to the sunny side of the Alps I mostly spent my days hiking, rock climbing, cycling, beekeeping and knitting on chilly days. Then, I came across the MLitt in Publishing studies at the University of Stirling webpage and I felt the need again. Publishing is what I want to study; I also want to pursue a career in right sales, marketing or editing. I am especially interested in books on alpinism, non-fiction, and literary fiction – the ones that change my perception of the world and shake prejudices off. I hope to someday work with people that are passionate, and who love their jobs; to me, that is the best way to grow professionally and personally. In the meantime, I am happily exploring the hills of Scotland, biking around historic Stirling and getting to know the publishing industry in the UK.

 

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Madalena Cardoso, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

November 29th, 2017 by Madalena Cardoso | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Madalena Cardoso, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18
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Chocolate, fantasy novels, large cappuccinos, watercolours, scrapbooks, yoga, Chinese food and labradors. That’s me!

Currently doing an MLitt in Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling, I wish to pursue a career in the dynamic industry of books, more specifically in Marketing.

I attained a BSc in Business Management at Nova School of Business and Economics (2014-17), in Lisbon, the colourful and sunny capital of Portugal, and the place I like to call home. The course put a strong emphasis on the development of analytical, research and communication skills, and I took modules in Marketing & International Marketing, Strategy, Finance, Statistics and so on, covering all aspects of Business. I spent one semester abroad at The University of Sheffield as part of the Erasmus + Programme, where I became more internationally aware, and where I fell in love with the UK (except for its weather), sharing unique experiences such as living, studying and travelling with people from all over the world.

My passion for the universe of words and my creative disposition dictated that my next step would be to cultivate specific knowledge in the Publishing field. Unsurprisingly, I am a fan of spending hours at bookshops, scanning charming covers and enigmatic synopses, and (discreetly) smelling lovely thin-paper pages. Four weeks into the masters, I have already learned about industry roles, trends, design theory, business models and standard software.

The Marketing of books is what really interests me, not only because of my background in business, but because organisations have become increasingly more customer- and relationship-centric and more experience-orientated. One day, I hope to become more than a mere consumer and enjoy more than the publishing output; I wish to take part on the other side of the industry, where all the magic begins.

Find me on Twitter and on WordPress

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Kate Bailey, MLitt Publishing Studies, 2017-18

November 20th, 2017 by Kate Bailey | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Kate Bailey, MLitt Publishing Studies, 2017-18
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Like most of the students on this course, it’s fair to say that I love reading. Maybe it’s a little strange that one day I can be reading fantastical fiction about dragons or spaceships and then the next day I am completely invested in learning about obscure literary figures or the American Revolution. But so long as it’s written and I’m at least a little interested, I’m game to read it. This means I am quite good at knowing trivia, but not so good at finding space on my bookshelves!

For a long time I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after my History undergraduate degree. Ironically, I attended a Publishing event in my first ever Freshers’ week at university. But for a long time I wasn’t sure if it was for me. I decided that I needed to get some first-hand experience, so I did some unpaid work experience in publishing houses in Edinburgh and Glasgow. They were brilliant. There were so many books! And the people there actually made a difference to their content and design and helped them to get out there and get noticed… Amazing! I was convinced. Publishing was where I wanted to be.

I spent last year working in a remainder bookshop learning that some books sell quickly, some books sell slower, and that no matter what, Oor Wullie always sells out (at least in Scotland). And now here I am to study publishing in more depth and learn about all the hard work that goes into making sure there are books to sell. I am really enjoying the classes on editorial and production work, which are the parts of my work experience I found most interesting as well. Since I enjoyed my last round of work experience so much, I am keen to get back inside a publishing company as an intern and work on some new projects!

If you think my rambling might be interesting in some way, please feel free to follow me on Twitter.

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Hollie Monaghan MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

November 20th, 2017 by Hollie Monaghan | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Hollie Monaghan MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18
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For as long as I’ve known how to read and write I’ve loved books and have especially loved pointing out typos and spelling mistakes and loudly tutting. A children’s book I loved as a child had on the page the typo “the the” and it still haunts me to this day. I want to go into publishing so that another young child does not need to go through that trauma. Also, because I love books of course!

I’ve wanted to be a publisher for as long as I actually knew what being a publisher entailed and my career trajectory has not shifted at all since then ( apart from a brief digression when I was ten and I wanted to be a pirate). Books always fascinated me and I was often caught reading a book under the table in school instead of doing maths work. Helping books be created and introducing them into the world is what I want to do. One gap year, a terrible call centre job and a dreadful bar job later I know I really would much rather do a job in publishing.

I did my MA in English Literature at the University of Glasgow and as much as I enjoyed the course, I was one of the very few students that didn’t want to be a teacher and I knew a future in publishing was still what I wanted to do and that the MLitt in Publishing Studies at Stirling would be an integral part of achieving this goal. At graduation while everyone was talking about their summer plans and their gap years I was talking about this publishing course. Even the social media aspect won’t scare me off; I hope. Over the summer, I even helped edit my friend’s self-published novel Melancholy Mind. I will completely acknowledge it as my first editing job even if the pay was in McDonald’s fries.

A few weeks into this course and I now know it was the right choice. Editing was my original career goal but now sales and marketing sounds rather interesting as well. The social media aspect of the course is scary though but I will persevere and become a social butterfly! Therefore, you can find me on Twitter . Let’s talk about books and the eternal struggle of getting up those stairs at Pathfoot.

 

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Wendy Russell, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

November 10th, 2017 by Wendy Russell | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Wendy Russell, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18
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A mature student, I have recently graduated from Stirling Uni.  in Heritage and Conservation and through the course of my studies, I was able to do modules in History and English (always my favourite subjects at school).  I decided that I wanted to stay on to do a Masters and searched for a course that would give me greater employability, but that I also enjoy.  I have been self-employed for many years and ideally would like to continue with this in some form after the course.  Hopefully, throughout this year I will find a focus for business development which would utilise my knowledge of the heritage sector and combine this with publishing.

I have been a volunteer at the Battle of Bannockburn Centre and the Anne Frank Trust and more than anything else, I would say that this taught me to be flexible in what you want to do and be open to new ideas.

I feel that this is a really interesting time in publishing and that we have the opportunity to be a part of the changes that are taking place.

 

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Lucie Santos, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

November 10th, 2017 by Lucie Santos | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Lucie Santos, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18
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I am very fond of travelling, of discovering a new culture and a new way of thinking. Sometimes, I just observe people and I see what they want to do or who they want to be. So, one of the best way for me to get into culture and to develop my critical thinking is to read books. As an editor, you take part in someone’s dream and you have to meliorate it and to think how their book can interest someone else.

After my A-level in France, I searched what I wanted to do and I found my life’s passion: working in publishing and books. I did my bachelor’s degree in publishing at Paris-Descartes University. I developed my skills in digital publishing and made different internships in bookshops and in indie publishing houses. I am particularly interested in South American literature. That is why I made an internship in a publishing house in Buenos Aires. I learned a lot from this experience and I can speak fluent Spanish.

Thanks to that I made an apprenticeship last year in Nathan, a publishing house in Paris, working at the Spanish methods department. I made some copy-editing in French and Spanish, proofreading, iconography researches and I was in charge of the rights for the texts and images of two textbooks. I really enjoyed getting in touch with literary agents, sending contracts and respecting the copyrights. It was really interesting and I realized that to follow my dreams and create my own publishing house specialized in translated fiction, I should improve my English. I chose Stirling University because I wanted to discover the Scottish culture and develop my skills in publishing. I am very passionate about the classes and I really want to work in this sector.

If you are interested in my work, you can have a look at my Linkedin profile.

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Yuehan Chen, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18

November 10th, 2017 by Yuehan Chen | Posted in Student Profiles | Comments Off on Yuehan Chen, MLitt in Publishing Studies 2017-18
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Hi, I am Yuehan Chen, you can also call me Hannah.

I come from the city of Chengdu in China, the hometown of pandas and spicy hotpot. I have loved reading since I was a little girl. Bertrand Russell once said: “There are two motives for reading a book: one that you enjoy it; the other that you can boast about it”, and mine is the former. I really enjoy the time when I immerse myself in the world of words, which brings me peace and pleasure. Gradually, I began to think about that what a mystery the word is and how these words are printed and published. And because I wanted to figure out the secret of words, my interest in Publishing grew and grew. Therefore, in February 2016 I started to teach myself the basics of publishing. I choose to study this course in Stirling University in order to get a more comprehensive understanding of publishing and put the publishing knowledge I have learned into practice.

When I was an undergraduate I worked as the Vice Chairman and Outreach Minister of the Students Union, and I gained many experiences from it that I think can be applied to publishing such as organising a program of events, how to apply for sponsorship and how to save money, which I think is important in publishing. I studied Applied Psychology in Nanjing for four years – it was interesting and I really enjoyed it. But after four years,  I found that the more Chinese psychology books I read, the fewer  options I had for what to read next, as there are not so many psychology textbooks written in Chinese. After graduating from Stirling I want to produce more high quality Chinese psychology textbooks or magazines, and since I am really interested in book design now, maybe I will do some psychology textbook translation or design in the future.

You can find me on

instagram@hannahhh08

Twitter@yuehan_chen

 

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