Review: Inside Book Publishing, 4th edition, Giles Clark and Angus Philips

In the past two decades Inside Book Publishing has established itself as a mainstay adoption on publishing courses throughout the UK and abroad. The text's genesis lies within the history of the Society of Young Publishers: in the early 1980s the SYP asked Clark to research and write a guidebook 'for the benefit of its members, to give an overview of publishing and the careers available'. Now in its 4th edition it has stayed true to this original aim: with added benefits of currency, the insight of expert contributors' and coverage of those issues which have so dominated the agenda of the industry since the turn of the millenium.

Clark and new co-author Angus Philips officially launched the 4th edition in the grand Italianate surroundings of Headington Hill Hall. Giles began by describing his entry to publishing via family connections and an early apprenticeship ('I was born into publishing'), and elaborated on the involvement of the SYP and, vitally, Gordon Graham's role in preventing the work from going unpublished. Now founder and Editor Emeritus of LOGOS, Graham (an honorary member of the SYP) at the time was President of The Publishers Association and Chief Executive of Butterworths; he facilitated Clark's introduction to Dag Smith of the Book House Training Centre. As Clark said to me:

'It would have been wildly optimistic to predict that the book planned by the SYP, meeting in the board room of Michael Joseph in Bedford Square, would still be growing in size and sales in the next century, that another generation of upcoming publishers would be trained by it.'

Clark hinted he was a somewhat tired author as the book entered its 3rd edition; he was especially grateful for Angus Philips' invigorating him and the book, and for introducing such valuable pedagogy into the text. Angus thanked the publisher for allowing him the luxury he had always denied his authors as an editor: the selection of a typeface!

Philips' influence, as Director of the Oxford International Publishing Centre at Oxford Brookes, is evident throughout the book. A variety of effective learning tools and pedagogy have been incorporated. The 'Expert' boxes are a welcome addition for putting each chapter content into an industry context: from Kevin Fitzgerald regarding the Copyright Licensing Agency, Christoph Chesher on ebooks from a sales perspective, Sue Freestone on working with authors, to Eric de Bellaigue on how publishing companies are valued, added learning value is to be gained throughout the new edition with the inclusion of such professional analysis.

The 'Focus' boxes are similarly beneficial and serve as a concentrated, intertextual aside to topics or terms mentioned within each chapter. For me, the beauty of these is that they include such subjects as the Net Book Agreement, the Rise and Collapse of Multimedia Publishing and the Research Assessment Exercise; although topics unfamiliar to today's young publisher, I believe it is important to appreciate the context in which our predecessors worked and made their decisions, and the effect these have had on today's business landscape.

The 'Skills' boxes serve as the HR officer: this is where the reader can locate details of the prerequisite personal/professional skills necessary for each division. These are certainly a useful indicator to the character of the day to day working culture in Commissioning, Editorial, Production, Design, Picture Research, Marketing, Sales, International Sales and Rights. The reader may find an indication of where their own future career paths will take them.

No matter your age/experience within publishing Inside Book Publishing makes for a pleasant reading experience. Throughout, the book is reader friendly and such sections as the Glossary, directory of organisations, networking opportunities, sources, web resources and training courses are an invaluable orientation for the reader. It is well pitched at the dedicated beginner, and liberally illustrated with book covers, page proofs, workflows, tables, halftones and figures. The companion website, however, is a somewhat sparse and underused utility (http://www.insidebookpublishing.com/), but it is worth mentioning here that there is a forthcoming online course being developed in association with the Publishing Training Centre.

For those entering this culturally and intellectually rewarding industry this 4th edition should prove to be as useful an investment in a professional capacity as it is in an academic one.