Alumni - Marrisa Joseph, MA International Publishing

I am currently a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Henley Business School, and a member of the Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship. I have recently published Victorian Literary Businesses, which is based on my PhD thesis and is published by Palgrave Macmillan. The book explores the business practices of the British publishing industry from 1843 to 1900, discussing the role of creative businesses in society and the close relationship between culture and business. Developments in copyright law, gender and literary culture are analysed from a management perspective, drawing on the histories of some of publishing’s most influential businesses: including Macmillan, Routledge and Longman. Through an analysis of archival sources, the book provides an insight into the decision-making processes and strategies that shaped an industry, many of which can still be seen today.

The topic of my research was inspired by my time working in rights - I was rights assistant at Osprey Publishing after graduation from Oxford Brookes. I became interested to find out how the job I was doing came about, and decided to trace back where the business practices came from. The first chapter I wrote was about A. P. Watt and his literary agency; the rest of the research blossomed from there. My research about Watt was also my first published journal paper so he has done me well in terms of academic research!

Posted on 09 Jan 2020 around 9am