Oxford Brookes UniversityNews and Feedback - Publishing
Charlotte Morris, reflects on volunteeering at London Book Fair (#LBF13)
Hot off the Press! If you were following the #lbf13 hashtag you may have spotted one or two tweets from the lovely @charlieinabook (aka Charlotte Morris). We asked her to give us a roundup of the seminars she helped out on.
Posted on 19 Apr 2013 around 12pm
Filed Under Publishing
Renae Haines, MA In Publishing 2010-11
Life after the MA
I am now a project manager with the Quayside Publishing Group, which is part of the London-based Quarto Group. It's an editorial position. We're located about 20 miles north of Boston. Quayside is primarily a trade reference publisher, and if you'd told me while I was at Brookes that I'd end up in trade reference, my mind would have filled with thoughts of dictionaries and I would have told you you were insane. But we don't publish dictionaries, we publish books for enthusiasts: subjects like cooking, crafts, hobbies, backyard blacksmithing, relationships, health, and even The Chicken Whisperer's Guide to Keeping Chickens. I work with four imprints: Rockport, Quarry, Fair Winds, and Quiver. Rockport is the oddball at Quayside: while the focus of the imprint is on various types of design (graphic, fashion, etc.) and fits in with the enthusiasts theme, it's much more academically-oriented than the others. The other three imprints cover such diverse and niche areas that I'm constantly learning new things (not just about publishing, but also about completely random subjects like how to make marshmallows) and meeting authors from a truly diverse array of backgrounds. "Monotonous" is the last word I'd use to describe my job.
Posted on 11 Jul 2012 around 5pm
Filed Under Publishing • Publishing Alumni • MA Publishing
Emily Hunter, MA Publishing
Emily Hunter works as an editor at Oxford University Press. She writes about her job search:
I started finalising my CV and applying for jobs about 2 months before the end of the MA course, thinking that it would give me plenty of time and some opportunities for interview practice. However, 3 months and about 25 applications later I hadn’t heard back from a single one and was feeling quite disheartened. I kept trying though and soon afterwards I got a job at Oxford University Press doing exactly what I had hoped for. I was considering stopping the job search and looking for other study opportunities for another year, but I am really glad I kept going as otherwise I would never have got this job. When I did get to interview, the MA was a major part of my success, and it has prepared me brilliantly for the job, which meant that learning the ropes in my first few months was much more stress-free.
Posted on 30 May 2012 around 11am
Filed Under Publishing • Publishing Alumni • MA Publishing
Ian Campsall, MA Publishing
When I began the Brookes Publishing MA in 2011, I had a background in media sales and education and was looking to make a career change into publishing. Before the course began, I was worried that my previous experience would be wasted and would not be relevant to my newly chosen field. However, I found that my business experience was very relevant to the work I was doing at Brookes and that the people skills I had developed as a teacher were critical to the group projects. Despite the fact that I was older than the majority of the students, I found that I was learning as much from them as I was passing on my own experience.
Posted on 30 May 2012 around 11am
Filed Under Publishing • Publishing Alumni • MA Publishing
Elizabeth Brennan, MA Publishing
I did the MA in Publishing at Brookes in 2003-2004 and am now working in Dublin as Commissioning and Managing Editor at Orpen Press (www.orpenpress.com). Orpen, the trade books division of Blackhall Publishing, publishes informative, practical and relevant Irish non-fiction, focused on what affects people’s lives in Ireland now. The subject matter of our books ranges from the political to the personal.
Posted on 24 May 2012 around 4pm
Filed Under Publishing • Publishing Alumni
Jorinde Singh - MA Publishing
Internship at ILO in Geneva
I started the MA in publishing at Oxford Brookes as a complete publishing novice. I had a background in library science but almost no knowledge about the publishing world. This changed rapidly over the first months of the course. At that point I felt confident in applying for an internship with the International Labour Organization in Geneva. After an interview at the London Book Fair, I got the news that I had been selected
Posted on 29 Mar 2012 around 6pm
Filed Under Publishing • Publishing Work Experience
Jenny Peebles - MA Publishing
Jenny Peebles
Internship at ILO in Geneva
I came to the MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes from a background in the arts sector, and although I had worked on numerous publications, I had no formal training in the skills required in today's publishing industry. My twelve months in Oxford learning from the excellent tutors – and working with a brilliant bunch of peers – changed that considerably. The opportunity to intern at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva came just after the half-way point in the MA, at which time a lot of the students are thinking about their first professional steps after the course. I was interviewed at the London Book Fair in April and by the end of August was on my way to Geneva with my fellow intern, Jorinde. Being an intern with another student from Brookes is actually a great way to quickly feel at ease, even if, as was our case, we hadn't had much chance to work together on the MA. Having someone with whom to find your feet in the first few weeks works very well, and when one of you can't remember a crucial shortcut in InDesign, the other can often step into the breach.
Posted on 29 Mar 2012 around 6pm
Filed Under Publishing • Publishing Work Experience
Paul Christopher Daniels - MA Publishing and an OICPS Scholarship
Paul Christopher Daniels
I decided that I wanted to study publishing whilst I was in my second year of my undergraduate degree. I previously study a BA Creative Brand Communications degree specialising in Copywriting in Cape Town, South Africa where I was born and lived up until now. I always wanted to go to England and so I decided that furthering my studies abroad would be a good way of learning about a new country, their culture and publishing processes from an international perspective. As my main publishing interest lies in magazines, I first started looking at specific courses in this area, but soon found that I was limited to where I could study and also limited to the knowledge I could gain in other areas of publishing.
Posted on 30 Mar 2011 around 9am
Filed Under Publishing • MA Publishing • Scholarship and Funding
Raya Ubenova - MA Publishing with an AHRC Scholarship
The MA courses at the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies offer a whole universe of knowledge and experience in publishing. Before applying for the MA in Publishing Studies, I visited this very website on quite a few occasions and after reading other students’ testimonials I knew I was about to embark on an exciting journey in the academic, social and practical aspects of publishing.
Posted on 24 Mar 2011 around 11am
Filed Under Publishing • MA Publishing • Scholarship and Funding
Ola Wolenska – MA Publishing 2011
Ola Wolenska
Ola Wolenska was awarded the Hachette UK Publishing Scholarship for the year 2010-11. She writes about her experiences in Oxford and her work placements at Hachette in London.
Applying to Oxford Brookes University for the MA in Publishing was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I grew up surrounded by books, journals and magazines, having an academic professional for my mum and an aunt in magazines distribution. Literature has had a great influence on my development and who I am right now.
Posted on 08 Mar 2011 around 10am
Filed Under Publishing • MA Publishing • Publishing Work Experience • Scholarship and Funding