Publishing at Stirling

My lovely editor at Penguin knows I’m fascinated by “dummies”. These are the completely blank mock-ups that publishers make to see how a book will look and feel if they make it in such-and-such a format or on a certain type of paper. She just sent me these fine specimens.

A Happy New Year to all our students and alumni! We hope you’ll have a wonderful, rewarding, and successful 2025!

That would carry more weight if I’d remembered to follow @harkaway.bsky.social from this account, obviously! :-D

This opening post doesn’t convey the characteristic thoughtfulness of the rest, but it’s the start, so I’ll share it with the recommendation that if our @stirlingpublishing.bsky.social students want to follow a writer who always thinks incisively about publishing, @harkaway.bsky.social is that man.

Behaviour Beyond the Text and the Morality Clause in Twenty-First-Century Publishing Cambridge Core - Printing and Publishing History - Behaviour Beyond the Text and the Morality Clause in Twenty-First-Century Publishing

I am excited to share that my research on the morality clause and behaviour beyond the text is now available with Cambridge University Press! It is open access for the next four weeks, read/download here:

www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Publishers Association report reveals 'disappointing drop' in ethnic minority representation within industry A report by the Publishers Association (PA) has revealed that "ethnic minority" representation fell by 2% in 2024, with a decline in the numbers of Asian and British Asian staff.

Last week a survey demonstrated that UK children's books were becoming less diverse; today we learn that the same is true of the industry itself.

www.thebookseller.com/news/publish...

Vintage to launch 18 new Collector's Classics in 2025 with marbled endpapers and sprayed edges Ten new Vintage Collector’s Classics novels will be published on 20th March next year.

Penguin's Vintage imprint to launch new deluxe hardback classics that aren't entirely dissimilar to Penguin's Clothbound Classics series.

www.thebookseller.com/news/vintage...

Text reads: “not gonnae lie, th place wis a bit gaudy fir ma tastes - th fake palm trees n tropical plants were enuftae make ye fumin when you were stawnin in line freezin yersel tae bits. this isnae africa, ah cin see th fuckin’ river clyde fae here! ye felt like screamin it th bouncers. n th bouncers - fuck sake - they were in full suits n bow-ties as if they wur mafiosos, even worse than th brown-blaze-clad dobbers floatin aboot tryin tae beg fir a fag cuz they spent all the dole on that mingin outfit. at least brown-blazers cud act as a beacon ah pure mockery, bit the bouncers gote ego-tistical once they put th uniform awn. ‘Where ees yoor Eye-Dee?’ this, an ‘How manie dreenks thees eve-ning?’ that. felt like volleyin th cunts n makin th gel fly oot their hair. instead ah jist checked their disgustinly polished shoes n tried no tae burst oot laughin while they scrutinised ma Eye-Dee. ‘Weeeell, yeees’ they wur murmurin tae onanother - as if this shitey club wis barlinnie. ‘All-roite.’ ‘Yees, on yew go.’ ah walk. ah hit ma stride. Bingo.”

And for St. Andrew’s day, an excerpt of a short story I’ve been finishing up this weekend. Apologies to all the non-Scots speakers. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

🔊 Our 7th annual #ReflectingRealities report is out now! This year’s report shows a significant drop in the presence of racially minoritised characters in books published for children in 2023 in the UK.

New publisher Spines aims to 'disrupt' industry by using AI to publish 8,000 books in 2025 alone A new publisher has claimed it aims to “disrupt” the books industry by publishing 8,000 books in 2025 alone using artificial intelligence.

This isn't a publisher, it's a self-publishing services provider charging authors for those services while delegating the actual work to AI.

(I'm delighted to see that @matildabattersby.bsky.social interrogates a lot of the claims made by the company here.)

www.thebookseller.com/news/new-pub...

Translation rights sales on the rise for university presses, despite roadblocks Red tape and censorship pose difficulties, but British uni presses are expanding their international reach.

This piece in @the-bookseller.bsky.social by Melina Spanoudi touches on quite a few of the topics I discussed with our @stirlingpublishing.bsky.social in our sessions on academic publishing last week.

www.thebookseller.com/features/tra...

Day in the life of a cover designer Junior Designer Gita Kowlessur walks us through a typical day working at Bloomsbury Academic and designing book covers.

Definitely likely to be of interest to our @stirlingpublishing.bsky.social students: a day in the life of Bloomsbury Academic cover designer Gita Kowlessur.

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/...

Surrealism, cafes and lots (and lots) of cats: why Japanese fiction is booming From tales of alienation to comforting novels set in bookshops, Japanese authors have written nearly half of this year’s bestselling translated novels in the UK. What’s their secret?

Why is Japanese fiction having a moment?

(One of our @stirlingpublishing.bsky.social students wrote a very good dissertation on this very same topic this year.)

www.theguardian.com/books/2024/n...

Amazon Music Unlimited to offer monthly access to Audible’s catalogue of 800k audiobooks Amazon Music Unlimited customers in the UK, US and Canada can now listen to one audiobook a month from sister company Audible’s library, in a move that seems designed to ward off competition from Spot...

Spotify's entry into the audiobook market last year - and particularly its offering of 15 hours of 'free' audiobooks monthly - is slowly having wider repercussions: Amazon/Audible has waited, watched, and is now essentially mimicking Spotify's approach.

www.thebookseller.com/news/amazon-...

This graphic explains my route to publishing. I went to uni & did publishing (not necessary but the overview of the industry and the people I met were so valuable). I then got an internship at Bookouture which was then a teeny tiny digi-first publisher, but is now a major division of Hachette. I went into editorial and worked at Canelo, harper Collins, head of Zeus and more. I loved editorial but working in-house wasn't for me. I then got approached about a job as a commercial fiction agent, which was my dream! The people you meet are so key. The text is surrounded by images of key stages of my career and people I've met!

Hi! My name is Hannah & I'm a literary agent for commercial fiction. It's Working In Publishing week and my top advice is to think outside the box & to hold the friends you make close!

The people of publishing (editors, agents, authors) are the best bit... Even more so than the books!

Jobs at Canongate Current vacancies at Canongate – the award-winning independent book publisher based in Edinburgh and London.

Also, if you're looking for an entry-level Editorial role in publishing, based in Edinburgh, then boy do we have just the entry-level Editorial role in publishing based in Edinburgh for you!

Deadline 28 November, details including salary here:
canongate.co.uk/about/jobs/

A flier image. Text reads: 21–24 November 2024. Edinburgh's Radical Book Fair at Assembly Roxy. The title of this year's festival shown in an illustration of trees with people on growing out of boots is 'From Where We Stand'.

This weekend! The absolutely wonderful Edinburgh Radical Book Fair, truly a highlight of the book calendar now. Drop by any time to take it in and browse, or go for one of the great events.

Featuring @salenagodden.bsky.social, @alycia.bsky.social and more.

lighthousebookshop.com/events/radic...

It’s very much work in progress, but here’s a starter pack of people in publishing for our students at @stirlingpublishing.bsky.social.

go.bsky.app/UkunZMo

Spotlight on Disability-Focused Magazines and Journals By Caroline Dowse, Ana Cecilia Matute and Zalak ShahDiscovering the world after being diagnosed with, or growing up with, a disability can be a difficult experience, filled with doubts and confusion, ...

📰✨ Discover publications that amplify disabled voices, share unique perspectives and help foster a community📚
www.thepublishingpost.com/post/spotlig...