The BookMachine Podcast: Conversations in Publishing

Emma Steel started her career in teaching and went on to be a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (known as a SENCO to those in the know). But how did her journey lead her to award-winning independent children’s publisher Sweet Cherry, and how did her experiences feed into the founding of their Every Cherry, their innovative imprint that focuses on bringing high quality reading material to people with a range of learning disabilities and difficulties? In this fascinating conversation, we speak to Emma about her route from teaching to publishing and how she constantly – and successfully – balances the needs of students and teachers with those of the industry.

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Remember those memorable campaigns for non-fiction books that took to the streets to gain maximum impact? Akua Boateng, Senior Marketing Manager for non-fiction at Bloomsbury, does.

She has worked on a range of events, marketing stunts and other “out-of-home” promotions to make a splash, build awareness, entertain and capture the imagination and attention of audiences. 

We were thrilled to speak to her about her work crafting campaigns, her  thoughts on what makes them successful, and where they really have an impact. We also asked her about her work with Bloomsbury’s Bloom network and her role as a Creative Access steering group member.

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Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

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The fantasy genre is an exciting place to be right now – with portmanteaus like ‘Romantasy’ entering common industry parlance, and new instalments of beloved series creating new levels of buzz. In the latest episode of The BookMachine Podcast, we were overjoyed to speak with Anissa de Gomery, Founder of FairyLoot, one of the biggest book subscription boxes on the planet. Learn more about Anissa’s journey into the book industry, gain insights into trends in the fantasy genre and what’s driving this incredible growth, and dive into the behind-the-scenes of building a passionate community of readers.

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

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Will AI only cause disruption to the publishing industry or can it be used as a tool to empower and pilot our way through increasingly complex markets? In Episode 17 of The BookMachine Podcast, we’re thrilled to speak to leading digital publishing analyst Thad McIlroy and publishing software expert Sebastian Mayeres about how they see AI impacting on publishing processes, jobs and sales. They discuss where exactly the greatest opportunities lie to integrate AI tools, how to address concerns around AI's use (and abuse) as well as what the risks are of getting left behind.

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Show Notes

Thad McIlroy is a digital publishing analyst and author based in San Francisco. His site, The Future of Publishing, provides in-depth coverage of book publishing industry trends, currently focusing on the intersection of AI with book authoring and publishing. His latest book is The AI Revolution in Book Publishing: A Concise Guide to Navigating Artificial Intelligence for Writers and Publishers. A well-established expert in the technology and marketing issues surrounding digital publishing, he has authored a dozen other books and over 400 articles. McIlroy is also a partner in Publishing Technology Partners, and a contributing editor to Publishers Weekly covering publishing innovation, startups and artificial intelligence.

Thad’s new book, The AI Revolution in Publishing: https://leanpub.com/ai-revolution-in-book-publishing

Sebastian Mayeres is Chief Executive Office at knk and is a tech enthusiast in love with the publishing and media industries, having worked in that field for almost his entire work life. After starting out as a developer for publishing software, Sebastian has led various implementation projects across the globe, all within the publishing industry. He has been managing the US arm of knk Group for the past five years. Sebastian loves embracing new technology and making it useful in real-life environments. He explains, “Often technology is confusing for the ones who are not too familiar with it. I try to bridge the gap by translating between those two worlds to make technology tangible.”

AI White Paper by knk: https://www.knkpublishingsoftware.com/white-paper-ai/

Sites mentioned in the Podcast

• https://perplexity.ai
• https://you.com

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

Find out about BookMachine at the links below:

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Languages publishing is a unique niche of the industry – calling for specific skills and eagle-eyed market observations to successfully reach language learners on the lookout for books and materials. In Episode 16 of The BookMachine Podcast, we sit down with Emma Green, Editorial Director, Languages at John Murray Press to zoom in on what’s changed, what’s trending and what’s next for this area of publishing. From the impacts of AI, social media and other developments in personal tech, to the role of publishing when it comes to keeping endangered languages alive, tune in to get illuminating insights into the commissioning, publishing and championing of language titles.

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

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Building a career in publishing – whether in a large or small company – requires a great amount of self awareness. Key to this is understanding how you have to be, and what you have to do, to be successful.

We were delighted to speak with Rebecca Smart, about her role as Leadership and Talent Coach at Penguin Random House as well as an accomplished career leading teams at publishers large and small.

We asked her about the art of coaching and how it features in developing high performing teams in publishing. We also drew on insights she has gained from a wide-ranging career, from production through to Managing Director and CEO roles at Osprey Publishing, followed by senior management roles at Penguin Random House.

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Show Notes

Here are the books Rebecca talks about during the episode:

• Coaching for Performance: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership 
• Co-Active Coaching: The proven framework for transformative conversations at work and in life
• Flow: The Psychology of Happiness

Other resources:

• International Coaching Federation 

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

Find out about BookMachine at the links below:

• BookMachine Creative Agency
• BookMachine CAMPUS 
• Live and Digital Publishing Events
• The BookMachine Blog

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We were delighted to speak with Olivia Tanner, Digital Marketing Strategist at BookMachine Creative Agency and experienced education marketer about the importance of marketing to schools in the right way. We asked her about what techniques and approaches she uses to get busy teachers on board and why teacher case studies and hearing directly from their peers is so powerful. She also shared insights from her career including time at Rising Stars, Hodder Education.

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

Find out about BookMachine at the links below:

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• Live and Digital Publishing Events
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With spiralling costs and huge disruption to the supply chain, publishing production departments have had it tough of late. We speak with award-winning production professional Srishti Kadu to get her take on the recent changes and challenges that production colleagues are responding to. We discuss her thoughts on production careers, global impacts on the industry, diversity and inclusion, and developments in accessibility. She also shares insights into her career journey and the top priorities of contemporary production departments.

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Show Notes

Find out more about Retyped at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retypeduk/

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

Find out about BookMachine at the links below:

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• Live and Digital Publishing Events
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Managing teams across generations and departments can call for a variety of approaches and working styles, which is why hearing from experts on the topic is key. We were delighted to speak with Shannon Cullen, Group Publishing Director of Quarto Kids, about her career and journey to her role where she is now. We ask about her experience moving from Editorial Manager all the way up to Publishing Director at Penguin Random House UK, and how her leadership or management style has changed over the years and with the teams she’s worked with.  We also talk about Shannon and Gemma's John Green era during their time working on The Fault in our Stars and other iconic titles, and the importance of taking all of your holidays.

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

Find out about BookMachine at the links below:

• BookMachine Creative Agency
• BookMachine CAMPUS 
• Live and Digital Publishing Events
• The BookMachine Blog

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The publishing industry has changed a lot in the past few years, how are industry leaders changing with it? We were thrilled to speak with Emma House, Founder and Managing Consultant of the Oreham Group, about her approach to leadership and what lights her up when managing teams and company strategies. We talk about the challenges posed by the pandemic, Brexit and cost of living crisis on motivations and inspiration within publishing companies, Publishers Without Borders, and offer some solutions to people looking to refresh their leadership skills.

https://www.eurolitnetwork.com/publishers-without-borders/

Exclusive offer for Podcast Listeners!
Get 20% off BookMachine Campus Membership with the code BMPOD20. Go to bookmachine.org/campus.

Find out about BookMachine at the links below:

• BookMachine Creative Agency
• BookMachine CAMPUS 
• Live and Digital Publishing Events
• The BookMachine Blog

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• Twitter (X) 
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