Small Press, Big Impact

This year, I had the incredible fortune of discovering Bright Red Publishing and getting the opportunity to complete my work placement with them.

Director’s John and Alan met with me, face to face, to discuss with me what I wanted to get out of the placement, and to evaluate if that was something they could provide. They also asked me a lot about my CV, and other projects I had been a part of, which was refreshing to hear someone taking a real interest! 

Educational publishing appealed to me as someone who wanted to explore the other paths of publishing outside of trade publishing. After learning about what Bright Red do in completing this placement, educational publishing has become an area of the industry I would like to work in. The work they do is meaningful and for the good, helping students at all stages and from every part of Scotland. Their books are accessible, informative and completely relevant to the curriculum. As an English person, seeing these resources widely available to students across Scotland was incredibly impressive to me, as this was unlike anything I had access to within an English school, in terms of quality, accessibility and affordability. 

I was given tasks each week which were all practical and allowed me to understand what my role in the industry would realistically look like. I was able to copy edit and proofread texts that hadn’t been edited previously at all. This allowed me to develop our own style and have feedback on what we did well. I also learned the valuable skill of proofreading marks and how to use them, though it was initially like attempting to read a foreign language, I grasped the key aspects in the end. 

John and Alan were also great at tailoring tasks to things I had experience in, such as marketing. I focused on creating social media posts for the various platforms for Bright Red and creating blog posts. This was great experience for me to look at what their branding is online and create content that was consistent with that, whilst putting my own spin on it. I also did a lot of work to their Digital Zone website, a process which taught me how many fine details must be considered, that I wouldn’t have thought of before. 

My overall experience was amazing, John and Alan were super helpful in providing valuable feedback, making a point of highlighting what I had done well and what they liked about my style in editing or marketing. The work I completed was planned to be used professionally, which was really encouraging to know they trusted my level of skill and saw the value in what I had produced. Initially I was worried that my placement was going to be intimidating, and that I would be given work that was more in the style of admin. However, John and Alan ensured I learned something from everything I did. They always made a point of explaining why they had given me a particular task and how it translates into real industry work. 

Bibliography

Bright Red Publishing (no date). https://www.brightredpublishing.co.uk.