Oxford Brookes University | Publishing | Publishing Podcasts

With the growth in the use of tablets to consume media, including books, what is happening to the boundaries between books and games? There are now books of games, and games of books – what, for example, do we call an interactive children’s product, and does it matter? An expert panel from publishing and the games industry examines a range of topics including our continuing need for exciting stories on which games can be developed, and how publishers are looking to develop a digital strategy across media platforms.

Richard Charkin is the Executive Director of Bloomsbury Publishing and gave this talk as the final session for the Working in Publishing event in the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies. The talk is introduced by Angus Phillips, head of the OICPS and was attended by students, lecturers and guests.

Not every idea for a book will be developed into a manuscript. Sarah explained that all new proposals must be reviewed internally and externally and a strong business case put forward before a contract is signed and the content written.  This means that she has to keep a regular stream of new ideas flowing into the process.

Dr Liz Marchant is Head of Publishing: Science and ICT (Pearson Education), and her talk focusses on Digital Publishing

This talk was given as part of the conference: Progressing Book History and Publishing Studies as Disciplines a British Academy Funded Event on Wednesday October 24th 2012 The purpose of this event was to discuss and agree a set of objectives that will enable us to further the progression of Publishing Studies as an established field of research and teaching.

How should the role of a Digital Publisher/Product Manager be defined and what does this involve? Matt Kibble's talk will cover a number of different roles (technical, business, editorial, marketing) and address the fact that the job is defined in different ways at every company. Matt will illustrate these points with a range of products from the major online publishers and explain what is involved in bringing these products to market. This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to hear about structure and responsibilities of digital roles from someone working in a publishing company that is clearly integrating digital at the heart of its corporate development strategy.

Leander Reeves, Senior Lecturer in Publishing, was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford on Friday 14 September 2012 about the publication in France of the topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge. The magazine Closer was the subject of legal action regarding the pictures of Kate Middleton. Thank you very much to BBC Radio Oxford for allowing us to use the recording of this interview.

For World Book Day, 1 March 2012, the lunchtime show on BBC Radio Oxford looked at key developments in the story of the book. These included the development of printing, the paperback revolution of the 1930s, and the present growth in the popularity of ebooks. Both Jane Potter and Angus Phillips from the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies were interviewed for the programme by Jo Thoenes.

Self-publishing, eBooks, Amazon, piracy - the threats to trade publishing are numerous but the opportunities are too. Publishers need to be creative and agile in order to adapt to the rapidly changing retail and consumer environments we currently face. Thinking about content creatively and taking risks on new formats and retail channels is vital. Kay will talk briefly about what Random House is doing in this area and will also touch on how other trade publishers are evolving from the traditional book publishing model into the multi-platform 'content' model.

Chris is a technologist first and foremost. Chris studied on the Modular Course at Brookes between 1993 and 1996, his main subjects were Computing, Intelligent Systems and Bodrum Kebabs. The inspiration for Bardowl came from years of listening to audiobooks and podcasts, knowing they could be delivered better. Chris has only ever worked in mobile, starting his career at Orange in 1997 and has worked at the most exciting mobile companies since, pioneering the mobile internet and apps ecosystems. Chris cannot quite believe his luck that his two passions of Books and Mobile have intersected as industries and enabled him to start Bardowl. Chris also organises conferences and barcamps such as The Power of One, The Big M, openMIC and BathCamp. Chris lives in Bath, is married with 2 children, has a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon-Do and supports Tottenham Hotspur. Chris tweets far too much at @bookmeister.

The age of the manager is coming to a close.  Doing, not directing, is the secret to making a difference in organisations - particularly those in a mature industry coming under increasing fire from newcomers and disruptive technologies. You, personally, need to be able to not only use but  invent leading-edge technological solutions. Emma Barnes, co-founder and MD of innovative indie publisher Snowbooks, will share some real-world examples of the sorts of problems facing the modern publisher, and how technological competence can overcome them.

Publishing On-demand: just in time , not just in case Print on-Demand eBooks  Print on-Demand and eBooks:   Publishing On-Demand One workflow, multiple outputs

How Non-Profit Publishing works at Oxfam.

Liz Marchant linforms us about some of the digital projects she has been involved in at Pearson Education.  The talk will focuses primarily on digital delivery of science and ICT related products for secondary schools. Dr Liz Marchant is Head of Publishing: Science and ICT (Pearson)

Lindsay Mooney of Kobo talks about their partnership with WH Smith’s and how Kobo can work with publishers in the UK to distribute ebooks both here in the UK ad worldwide.