Photo courtesy of Tirachard Kumtanom vie Pexels

For my Master’s placement, I was unsure which publishing house to approach. I knew that I would prefer to work with a smaller and more local publisher, as I hope to work with independent publishers in my future career.  

Originating in Barr before moving to Edinburgh, Luath Press has always taken pride in its position as a Scottish publisher; printing books in both English and Gaelic and owning a large frontlist of books about or by authors from Scotland. 

Luath Press also has an open form of accepting submissions, which I found impressive when considering how daunting submitting work can be for first-time, or even established, authors. Larger publishing houses, such as the ‘Big 5’ depend on authors having agents while Luath’s open submission policy doesn’t just make a less intimidating environment to submit written work, but also gives them access to a wide range of work from a diverse group of writers. 

Due to Luath’s open approach to writers, wide range of published works, and their support to those starting out in the publishing industry, I was compelled to apply for the 4-week placement that was made available, beginning in November 2023. I was one of the first within my Master’s course to undergo a placement so asides from previously published blog posts, so I was unsure what exactly to predict from my placement.  

During the placement, each of us who were on the placement was provided with a variety of Luath’s backlist and a checklist of tasks to complete in regards of our chosen text. I elected for Douglas Watt’s A Case of Desecration in the West’, the newest in the John Mackenzie series. The checklist covered many areas of the publishing process including reading and suggesting edits on the manuscript; designing covers and promotional materials; and drafting a marketing plan. The range of tasks allowed me to explore all avenues of publishing and realise my strengths and weaknesses.

Though I have always approached publishing with an interest in editing, I realised that I was experiencing some difficulty with this avenue and found proposing possible marketing ideas easier. I also found that though I have no previous experience in design, I really enjoyed creating the cover of the novel and the related promotional material which surprised me.   

All the meetings with Luath were virtual meetings with the other individuals also taking this placement and Gavin MacDougall, the man who operates Luath. I later learnt that Luath operates almost entirely virtually, collaborating with freelancers, illustrators, editors, and plenty of others through emails and Zoom. Though I found that this system of working online provided a lot of freedom in my work process, I felt isolated when working on my project as there were not many more opportunities to collaborate. I realised this is something that I will have to acclimate to, as in a 2015 poll conducted by Reedsy, several UK publishers were questioned which services they outsource to freelancers. 74% stated they used freelancers for editing work, 72% for design, and 44% for marketing. Only 8% of publishers surveyed stated they don’t use any freelancers.  

My placement concluded with a final online meeting with Gavin and the other members of the placement, as well as Amy Turnbull, a sales and marketing co-ordinator at Luath. We received personalised feedback, which I found useful as suggestions that may not have been directed to me were still valuable and can apply to future projects. Amy provided very helpful feedback; she clarified what she felt needed improvement, what one could do to seek the final goal, and what work she liked and why it was effective. 

Overall, my placement with Luath Press was beneficial and provided me with a much clearer understanding of the modern-day publishing industry. I would suggest to anyone beginning their placement to approach it with no expectations but to bring enthusiasm and not just focus on their preferred areas of work, as I experienced some of the most positive benefits working on less practiced skills.