Who works in publishing in Scotland? Well they are all book
lovers - that goes without saying. But their routes into
publishing, their skills and the jobs they do can be very
different.
Watch some of them tell you about their jobs.
Ceris Jones
Ceris is the Marketing and Publicity Officer at Sandstone Press in Inverness. She talks
about how she goes about 'spreading the book joy', what she
particularly likes about working in marketing and publicity and
tips for getting a job in that area of publishing. Watch the
video.
Leah McDowell
Leah is the Art and Production Director at Floris
Books in Edinburgh. She tells us about her role in the
publishing process and how a designer's working life is very varied
and involves a lot of talking. She gives some advice about getting
a job like hers. Watch the video.
Robbie Guillory
Robbie is a Junior Agent at the Kate Nash
Literary Agency and has worked as an editor. He talks
about the various aspects of editing from commissioning onward. He
also discusses what skills are needed and gives some advice on how
to get into editing. Watch the video.
Above from left: Ceris, Leah and Robbie.
Vikki Reilly
Vikki (formerly of Birlinn and now at Publishing Scotland) talks
about sales. She discusses the various exciting roles in sales
departments, as well as offering advice on some key things to do if
you're interested in promoting books and authors. Watch the
video.
Kirstin Lamb
Kirstin is Senior PR and Rights Manager at Barrington Stoke in Edinburgh. She focuses
on the rights part here. Working in rights is fast-paced, fun and
can involve foreign travel. Her favourite part is seeing the
foreign versions of books she has sold, and she shows us some
examples. Kirstin outlines the skills needed to work in rights. Watch the
video.
Sha Nazir
Sha is the Publisher at BHP Comics and Agent and Founder of 9 Panels Agency.
He talks about making his own graphic novels and comics, starting a
business publishing other people's work too, and comic cons. He
rounds it off with some inspirational advice. Watch the
video.
Above from left: Vikki, Kirstin and Sha.
Sarah Barnard and Niamh Anderson
Niamh Anderson (Bookseller) and Sarah Barnard (Events
Coordinator) tell us about working in bookselling at one of
Edinburgh's newest bookshops - Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh. They
talk about being part of the Portobello community, the
inter-connectedness of bookselling and publishing, and give advice
on getting a job in the book world. Watch the
video.
Above: Niamh (left) and Sarah.
BookSource and Davinder Bedi
Our plans to get a video about distribution have been
temporarily thwarted by the pandemic but in the meantime we have a
video that takes you round the BookSource warehouse at Cambuslang and a video
featuring BookSource MD Davinder Bedi talking about some
steps they've taken to improve lighting and reduce their carbon
footprint.
Above: the BookSource warehouse and Davinder
About the Videos
All the videos and interviews except the BookSource ones
were conducted, filmed and edited by Alice
Piotrowska who is a PhD
researcher at the University of Stirling.
School visits
Interested in having a publisher visit your school or
organisation? See our Publishing Ambassadors page.