Tag: Marion Sinclair

Encouraging talk by Marion Sinclair of Publishing Scotland

We were very pleased to attend our guest lecture last week by Marion Sinclair, Chief Executive of Publishing Scotland.

Her opening comment was that she believed that we were doing the right thing in taking a publishing degree because publishers get more applicants for a job than they can interview. Having a publishing degree can increase your chances significantly when it comes to landing a job.  That was certainly the case for Marion, who has over 20 years of editorial experience within the publishing industry.  She received her lucky break soon after graduating with a publishing degree from Stirling University. Because of her own and others’ experiences, she encouraged us to think about working for small publishers as that is often a good way to get hands-on experience from day one.

Moving onto the bigger picture, Marion gave us the specifics of the size of the Scottish publishing industry and then summarised the facts and figures by saying that it is equivalent in size to the salmon industry and the cashmere industry. A student remarked afterwards that it sounded like her perfect night in, reading a book, wearing a cashmere jumper whilst enjoying smoked salmon. All that was missing was the whisky but that industry is far larger than any of the aforementioned put together!

Marion went on to talk of the role and function of Publishing Scotland Continue reading “Encouraging talk by Marion Sinclair of Publishing Scotland”

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Publishing Scotland Conference 2010

MSc Publishing staff with friends Jim MacNeilage (Copyright Licencing Agency) and Kathy Crawford (PPA Scotland) at yesterday’s sold-out Publishing Scotland’s annual conference at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh.

Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, Scottish Government, delivered the keynote speech. The day-long programme included topical issues affecting the industry today, as well as areas that may impact on publishing in the coming years.

As part of SCOB, Edinburgh Napier University, we were pleased to sponsor the lunch and, as you can see below, the drinks event afterwards was equally enjoyable! As a network member of Publishing Scotland, we are closely engaged with Scotland’s foremost trade association, representing over 80 publishing companies.

It was good to catch up with friends, industry contacts and alumni – our students have a fantastic rate of employment in Scottish publishing, even during this time of recession! In fact, three out of the last four jobs advertised by Edinburgh University Press have been secured by our Publishing students!

A large part of this is due to the Placement module (trimester 2). So as well as catching up with all the major issues affecting the industry, we were also glad to hear glowing reports from our host companies – and, of course, to use the opportunity and our contacts to arrange placements for our current students!

Thanks to Marion (CE of Publishing Scotland and formerly a lecturer on our Publishing programme) and all the team for a really informative and enjoyable day!