Category: live publishing projects

MSc Publishing & the Napier Big Read

DID YOU KNOW…?

MSc Publishing spearheads the #NapierBigRead!

A group of dedicated Publishing students work with their Programme Leader to share the joy of reading! Their aim is to connect staff and students at Edinburgh Napier University through the shared experience of reading a book. This year we’ve asked everyone to vote on the next #NapierBigRead!

The #NapierBigRead Shortlist!
  1. Dark Star – Lorna Moon
  2. Olalla – Robert Louis Stevenson
  3. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
  4. The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
Which one will you vote for?
We invite all students and staff across all our campuses to VOTE for our next #NapierBigRead!

Voting stations are on each campus, with our #NapierBigRead team on hand – on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – to answer any questions.

We launched the 4 shortlisted titles during Book Week Scotland and our election campaign is on NOW!

There is still time to vote. (Vote as many times as you like!)

Your vote counts! Please VOTE!

#BigReadBigVote

Publishing Others

You’re going to need a bit of backstory to get through this post.

When I was fifteen years old, I was selected to be in a “young writers” program back in Spain. This program taught us, kids from ages 9 to 20, a series of writing techniques and an introduction to poetry and all the necessary tools to one day become writers. The lessons were taught by some brilliant authors like Fernando Iwasaki, Pablo García Casado, Eduardo García and Rosa Montero, who made us write stuff and then read it aloud in class. That’s how I got to know what my friends were writing, and how many different voices fit in a classroom. The Andalusian School for Young New Writers made me realize that although I liked writing, what I really wanted was to get those voices to the public. And thus, when the journalists came to air a piece on us, I claimed on national TV that what I truly wanted was to be an editor and to publish all the people who deserved to be heard.

That philosophy has stayed with me and it’s what made me start this MSc in Publishing. After all the lessons and seminars and different events, I can understand a lot better how publishing works and how marketing, design, editorial and all other components are parts of a whole: an industry that makes money out of IP and that has strategy and numbers and an awful amount of both math and uncertainty of what the future brings. But underneath all that I saw echoed what my fifteen-year-old self thought publishing was – how what truly matters, in the end, is to bring stories and voices to people everywhere. Continue reading “Publishing Others”

The Challenges of Creating a Magazine

If someone told me that I would be making a magazine a year back, I wouldn’t believe it. And here I am, almost completing a literary magazine that has been both enriching and a delight to create.

When our course leaders informed us about creating a book or a magazine as part of our module this semester, I immediately decided to do a magazine. I always have loved reading visually appealing magazines designed to perfection. Though I decided to do a magazine, it was not long when a train of self-doubting thoughts troubled me. Questions like – Where will I find writers for my magazine? What about the design? The content? Will anyone be interested in my magazine? I felt overwhelmed.

I spoke to Nikki Simpson, Founder & Director of the International Magazine Centre and a die-hard fan of magazines herself, who encouraged me to take the leap. It is amazing to see how complex aBold Cover Designn idea may look in your mind but when you start working on it, you somehow put together different elements piece by piece, completing an entire project.

My first obstacle was to understand the objective of making a magazine and for what kind of a reader. My ideas kept changing multiple times until I finally found one after researching and talking with various people who have published or worked with a magazine. Creating the cover design and researching the USP’s for my magazine as assessment one coursework helped me immensely in visualising how to proceed with internal pages.

But wait. How do I approach people for submissions? My way of approaching may not be a comfortable one, but it indeed gave me an opportunity to connect with strangers online. Continue reading “The Challenges of Creating a Magazine”

New titles for 2019 in Forgotten Female Writers series

On International Women’s Day 2019, we are delighted to announce the next books in our Forgotten Female Writers series.

Look out for new print editions of:

Margaret Armour – Selected Poems
Eliza Brightwen – Wild Nature Won by Kindness
Catherine Carswell – The Camomile
Violet Jacob – The Golden Heart & Other Fairy Stories
– Irresolute Catherine
Lorna Moon – Dark Star
Margaret Oliphant – Diana Trelawny: The History of a Great Mistake
                                       – Stories of the Seen and the Unseen
Felicia Skene – The Inheritance of Evil
Annie Shepherd Swan – Thankful Rest

Margaret Oliphant: a force to be reckoned with

When I first began exploring titles for my Publishing Production project I was really struck by how many of Margaret Oliphant’s works I had never heard of before, and speaking with peers, family and friends I realised I wasn’t alone. When I came across the powerful and driven voice of the central character in Oliphant’s novel Kirsteen (1890), I knew I had to help bring this largely forgotten story to readers today.

Set in the early 19th century, Kirsteen tells the story of a refreshingly feisty Scottish woman who rejects the conventional path which had been laid out for her before she was even born. Described by the narrator as ‘one of those who make a story for themselves’, she was determined to shape a future for herself through her trade and natural skill; a sentiment echoed in Oliphant’s own life, herself a woman who wrote to support her large extended family.

Oliphant was an unstoppable force – her work being abundant and widely popular in its day, even favoured by Queen Victoria. It is easy to see why – Kirsteen celebrates complex and interesting women, with a powerful narrative driving the novel that makes it impossible to put down. She was truly a force to be reckoned with.

This book will be edited and designed by Elizabeth Eagan. Find and follow me on Twitter 

Catherine Carswell’s ‘Open the Door!’ – Republishing a Rebel

Catherine Carswell was a badass. Both personally and professionally she dealt with more than her fair share of strife. In her time, Carswell became well-known for her biography of Robert Burns, but not for the right reasons. Carswell’s biography was controversial – unlike previous works which praised and worshipped Burns, Carswell’s account of his life was frank and honest, detailing his faults and affairs. For this she received huge backlash from the many fans of Burns who rejected this portrayal, attacking her with sermons and apparently going as far as sending her bullets to use upon herself. So that was fun.

Personally, Carswell had faced turmoil from her first marriage to a war veteran named Herbert Jackson. They married very early in their relationship, only for Carswell to later discover that he suffered incredibly from paranoia – thinking himself sterile, Herbert accused his wife of betrayal when she announced her pregnancy, and threatened her life. Carswell made legal history when she managed to get the marriage annulled after establishing that her husband’s insanity was present when they first married. Again – fun.

Catherine Carswell was incredibly brave in both of these circumstances – brave enough to write so controversially, and brave enough to fight against the marriage she was in. Her novel Open the Door! first published in 1920, is reflective of this. The novel follows Joanna Bannerman as she grows and questions the attitudes instilled in her during her youth – religion, marriage, female identity, sex – subjects we are still questioning now. For these reasons I chose to produce this novel, and for these reasons she deserves to be celebrated on International Women’s Day. Genuine fun!

This book will be edited and designed by Lizzie Green. Head on over to my Twitter if you’re in need of GIFs or any general ridiculousness.