Publishing Blog
Behind the scenes volunteering at a book fair
by Rachael Wass
This semester, Oxford Brookes publishing students volunteered at some of the most anticipated annual events in the publishing calendar, including the Oxford Literary Festival, Oxford Indie Book Fair, and the London Book Fair.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03 May 2022 around 2pm
11 tips for careers in publishing
At the OICP Working in Publishing, Media and Journalism annual event 2022, keynote speaker Jamie Hodder-Williams, the CEO of Hodder & Stoughton, offers career insights from how to network, pitch an idea, and keep ahead of the trends
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04 Mar 2022 around 6pm
Jenter på do or Girls in the bathroom
by Helene Jelsø Spanthus
Helene Jelsø Spanthus was an MA Publishing Media student at the Oxford International Centre for Publishing from 2019 to 2020. When she went back to Norway after Covid-19 hit, she was employed as a summer intern at Gyldendal Publishing. Due to some unforeseen challenges they needed help throughout 2020, so she stayed on, and in January 2021 was hired on a one-year contract as Head of PR and Marketing at the imprint Tiden Norsk Forlag. This is where the amazing project of Girls in the bathroom took place.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08 Feb 2022 around 12pm
Crossover Covers - YA All Grown Up
by Yasminn Brown
Books covers today need to be 'attention-grabbing' (Violet Bramley, 2021) but they also need to signpost to the potential reader 'hey, I'm for you!'. In this blog post, alumni Yasminn Brown shines a light on the design choices made in the rejacketing of YA books for the adult market. There is of course a cost to rejacketing a title so publishers tend to do this only when they are sure the work has a significant crossover appeal and thus warrants the extra spend. Yasminn has hunted down some interesting contemporary examples of bestselling YA worthy of a new look.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 29 Apr 2021 around 1pm
The Oxdam Book Fair
by Eliza Smultea
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 23 Apr 2021 around 1pm
Getting published while studying
by Daniela Hernandez Villarroel
As a second year BA Media, Journalism and Publishing student, my course provides the opportunity to develop my writing skills - and to get published while I’m studying.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 29 Mar 2021 around 10am
The value of literary festivals - a webinar
by Fraser Smith, studying on MA Publishing Media
On Friday 19 March 2021 OICP, in collaboration with Oxford Brookes Business School, ran an online event, The Value of Literary Festivals. Offering a range of speakers, it gave students, both on the postgraduate and undergraduate courses, the chance to gain a keen understanding of literary festivals and the challenges presented by the global pandemic.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 24 Mar 2021 around 12pm
Working in Publishing 2021
by Giulia Maggiori and Verity Stuart, studying at OICP
This year, the annual Working in Publishing event took place on Tuesday, 5 March 2021. More than 70 publishing professionals engaged in speed-dating sessions with over 80 Oxford Brookes publishing students.
We were delighted to work with Adam Blades, Sarah Franklin and James Spackman on organizing the event, liaising with publishers from across the industry to help bring this exciting event to life.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 23 Mar 2021 around 2pm
Beth Cox on diversity and inclusivity
by Sophie Terry, studying on MA Publishing Media
Diversity and inclusivity are important topics in any industry, particularly within publishing where there is a large audience reach. A few weeks ago I attended a guest lecture on ‘Creating Inclusive Content’ from Beth Cox, who is an Inclusion and Equality Consultant for children’s book publishing. The talk began with a brief introduction from Beth about the work she does to create inclusive content and how we can bridge the gap for those who are marginalized.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 23 Mar 2021 around 12pm
Graham Bell on metadata
by Isabelle Zigrand, studying on MA Publishing Media
Publishing students were fortunate to have Graham Bell from EDItEUR speak to us about the importance of metadata for book sales. Metadata is data about data. In the book industry this could be anything from keywords, price, publisher, author brand, reviews by critics, and much more. It includes all information that could be used to help create, describe, trade, promote and sell books. Most importantly, metadata is used by everyone in the book discovery chain – from publishers, retailers, librarians to search engines and especially readers.
I left Graham Bell’s talk aware of metadata’s importance within the industry and with a better understanding of how metadata is used. He talked us through different examples of ONIX (industry standard) codes, showed us what they look like in practice and explained how to read the code. Bell concluded that metadata has become even more crucial during the Covid-10 pandemic, with shops closed and publishers and retailers reliant on online data for their promotional efforts and sales.
Edited by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10 Mar 2021 around 11am