Society of Young Publishers: Careers Conference, Oxford Brookes, 2007

In November 2007, I was part of the Oxford SYP committee which organised the annual careers conference, which alternates between London and Oxford. This was my brief report from the proceedings (the speaker in the photograph below is Simon Juden, then Chair of the PA, and now head of public policy at Pearson).

The 2007 Society of Young Publishers Careers Conference took place on 10 November at Oxford-Brookes with the theme of ethical publishing. We were fortunate to be supported by a distinguished panel of industry professionals who delivered a variety of lectures and workshops: Alison Baverstock on Marketing; Suzanne Collier, Giles Clark and Nicholas Jones on Publishing Careers Success; Pat White on Agents; our own Christine Appel on Journals; Kate Harris on Children's Publishing; and Leander Reeves on Magazine Publishing.

The conference opened with a panel debate comprised of Simon Juden (CE of the Publishers Association), Alison Kennedy (Production Director of Egmont) and Sarah Totterdell (Head of Publishing at Oxfam) who discussed various topics relating to the industry and its social and environmental impact.

Giles Clark (Routledge author of Inside Book Publishing), Nicholas Jones and Suzanne Collier provided their own dynamic, detailed assessments for Publishing Careers Success, first, of the main sectors of the industry and their functions; second, the main market sectors; third, current market trends and the industry's future issues; and finally, the roles and prerequisite skills required for each.

Gordon Graham, Editor Emeritus and founder of LOGOS, the premier publishing journal of the world book community, presented his Literature of the Book collection and talked about his long and distinguished career as a newspaper correspondent in India, publisher's rep in Asia, International Sales Manager of MGraw-Hill in New York, Managing Director of McGraw-Hill in Europe and Chairman and CEO of Butterworths.

In summary this was an informative, enjoyable conference which enabled delegates to extend their network of contacts and armed them with a firm understanding, not only of the nature of publishing, but of the personal and professional attributes necessary to succeed within each sector of the industry.