Links to the Publishing Industry

iMira Website - Innocent Aguwuom, Michelle Ravey and Adam Wakeling
Innocent Aguwuom, Michelle Ravey and Adam Wakeling, MA Publishing students, won the Pearson Education epublishing prize for their Mira! website. … Read More...

Set: ePublishing

ChemistryQuest - by Renada Arens and Ilse Gey van Pittius - MA publishing students, 2009-10
Coursework for the MA epublishing module includes creating a website to accompany a published book. A screenshot from the prize … Read More...

Set: ePublishing

The total turnover of the UK publishing industry is £4.5bn, which includes a book market of £3bn and a journals industry worth £1.5bn. The revenue from the export of books exceeds the export turnover of the film industry, the TV industry and the music industry.

Much of our success derives from our extensive links with the publishing industry in the UK and internationally. All members of staff have worked in the publishing industry and continue their connections through their research and consultancy work. We have excellent relationships with publishers and trade organizations, and our alumni are working throughout the industry. We are involved with industry awards: for example we help to organize the British Book Design and Production Awards each year along with the British Print Industries Federation and the Publishers Association; Angus Phillips was a judge for the Bookseller industry awards in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Visiting speakers

Many visiting speakers contribute to the degree programmes and also to the Publishing Seminar series. Recent speakers include:

Simon Winder, Penguin

Robin Harvie, HarperCollins

David Fickling, David Fickling Books

David Stam, Marketforce

Emma Ellwood Russell, Dazed and Confused

David Taylor, Lightning Source

Ruth Killick, Profile Books

Christopher Davis, Dorling Kindersley

Lynette Owen, Pearson

David Campbell, Everyman Library

Antonia Hodgson, Little Brown

Bridget Shine, Independent Publishers Guild

Scholarships

There are a variety of scholarships available through the department, the university, and from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. In 2012 students received industry scholarships from Random House, Macmillan, Osprey Publishing and the Stationers' Foundation.

Students have also won prestigious external awards from a range of organizations such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the World Bank.

Prizes for student work

A range of prizes are offered by the publishing industry for the best student work, ranging in value up to £500. These are sponsored by:

Lightning Source - best dissertation

Palgrave Macmillan - prize for best editorial project

Pearson - epublishing prizes

Taylor & Francis - journals publishing prizes

There is also a dissertation prize run by the Association for Publishing Education.

Work experience

All students have the opportunity to do work experience alongside their studies, and we have a member of staff with specific responsibility for work experience and internships. We run our own web board with advertisements for work placements.

Gaining employment

Our graduates have established an enviable reputation in the publishing industry and they are extremely successful in obtaining good jobs fast. Evidence from our alumni suggests that they are able to enter the industry at a higher level than would otherwise have been possible. The Centre has its own vacancy list of jobs in publishing and runs an annual Working in Publishing Day, attended by many employers.

Publishing networking

The Centre is a natural focus for Publishing in Oxford. It hosts meetings of the Oxford branch of the SYP, the Society of Young Publishers and OPuS, the Oxford Publishing Society. These are excellent places for students to meet people working in the industry. The annual conference of the SYP was held at Oxford Brookes in both 2009 and 2011.

Field trips and trade fairs

We are the only publishing programmes in the world to run regular trips to the London, Frankfurt, and Bologna book fairs. The Centre arranges free entry for students to the London International Book Fair, and our students are asked each year to help with the running of the Fair and its seminar programme. The Centre has a stand each year and has hosted seminars on topics including children's publishing, publishing in the Arab world, publishing in India, publishing and censorship, social media, sustainability, and publishing education. In 2008 we helped run the Careers Centre with Random House and The Bookseller. The Centre will again have a stand at the Fair in 2012 and will hold a reception for industry professionals and alumni.

There are annual trips to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the biggest and most important rights fair in the world, held each October; and to the Bologna International Children's Book Fair. In the last five years, students have also visited the Warsaw and Leipzig Book Fairs.

There are industry visits to publishers and industry suppliers such as printers. In recent years there have been trips to Bloomsbury Publishers, the British Library, Cambridge University Press, and Getty Images.

Training and consultancy

The Centre's links with industry are a two-way street. University courses are supported by visiting lecturers from industry. At the same time the Centre provides professional development programmes and consultancy for the international industry. All these activities enhance the quality and currency of the mainstream courses offered at Oxford Brookes.

International Links

There is a separate page here describing our extensive international links.