Applications are now open for the Creative New Zealand National Publishing Internships Initiative 2019 which offers a Whitireia graduate the opportunity to work in a publishing company for six months. There will be three internships available which will run from February to July 2019. This a terrific opportunity to have a new graduate assisting you with your business.

The programme has produced some impressive results in past years with many publishers choosing to offer the interns full-time positions at the end of the programme and a number of interns now hold senior positions in publishing companies.   Last year’s successful applicants were Allen & Unwin, Bridget Williams Books and Victoria University Press.

“The intern programme allows us to expand our publication schedule and gives us valuable help during busy periods when we need all hands on deck. But more than this, it encourages us to listen to new ideas about publishing from a fresh perspective, and also to reconsider our own roles and tasks from a newcomer’s point of view, and consider how they may be done more effectively,” says Craig Gamble of  Victoria University Press.

Applications are open to trade publishers and also to educational publishers who produce a broad range of titles including picture books, early readers and junior fiction and/or books in te reo as well as Pasifika and Asian languages.

Applications close Friday 21 September and publishers will be advised whether or not they have been successful before 9 October to help with staff planning for the year ahead.  Click here for application form and further criteria.

Rachel Lawson, Associate Publisher, Gecko Press was the recipient of the 2018 W.E and M.L Scholarship to the Yale Book Publishing Course. Rachel attended the week-long intensive course which ran from 29 July to 3 August at the Yale School of Management in New Haven Connecticut and reports on her experience.

Yale School of Business building (glass walls represent transparency of good business practice)

The Yale Publishing Course was energising, absorbing, great fun. Forty percent of the participants were international, and I enjoyed being part of the antipodean contingent alongside five Australians. We discovered there was no need to get the giant semi-trailer-like black bus to lectures each morning but could stomp 15 minutes along the road and pick up a decent espresso on the way. And the stomping was important considering the quantity of (good!) food on offer at every break. Mornings were sessions from the charismatic staff from the business school, with heaps of useful material about how to make strong teams and good decisions, the culture of organisations. Afternoons were visitors from the publishing industry. In the spirit of the dozens of powerpoints we were shown, here are some of my bullet points.

Publishers catching the bus

Areas for putting energy mentioned by a number of different speakers

• Audio books are growing exponentially, and it’s a new market – audio listeners are not print readers
• ‘Facebook is dead’, not worth our energy (only 2% ‘pass-through rate’ to followers)
• We need to constantly feedback customers’ words into our message about the book (revise blurbs, media, metadata, ads)
• Every book needs visual content built for social media – ‘quote cards’, original photography and banners
• Special sales are just sales – they’re not special any more
• Multinationals are combining their marketing and publicity departments with little distinction now between the roles/tasks

Stats I found interesting

• Amazon has 46% of US print sales but books are around 4–5% of their business
• Audiobook sales have doubled in the past two years
• Online retail has led to a big shift to backlist: 59% of books sold online are over two years old

Useful tidbits

• The digital director of PRH told us they only deliver one ebook format (epub3) even to Amazon: ‘it’s not entirely easy but you too can do this!’
• Craig Mod says, ‘Amazon won’ so the only way to compete is to add value where they can’t, through voice and intimacy. He reckons this is through newsletters and email lists: they are all about voice and playfulness and have direct engagement – ‘the intimacy of the inbox’ (fantastic speaker and probably a great newsletter: craigmod.com)
• The PRH marketing and publicity department ran through the process of marketing a ‘make book’ and showed us everything we’re up against: five staff members; one year of work; media coaching, tour, website and social media platforms built for the author; three separate advance proofs (the third with a run of 5000 copies) and a total marketing spend of $200K… That’s how you get a book on the New York Times bestseller list.

Favourite quotes

• Blog posts aren’t dead, they just became emails.
• Boring retail is dead but exciting retail is alive.
• Publishing is a terrible business to be in – most books fail!

Applications for the 2019 scholarship will open in October.  Details can be found here

Winning designer Aaron Beehre

Aaron Beehre definitely got his exercise at the PANZ Book Design Awards held on Thursday 26 July. The Canterbury University Press designer took to the stage four times to claim a series of awards and found himself running out of people to thank in his acceptance speeches.

New China Eyewitness: Roger Duff, Rewi Alley and the art of museum diplomacy edited by James Beattie and Richard Bullen (Canterbury University Press) was definitely the hot favourite on the night, with the judges praising the book as “a complete package”, declaring it exquisite and awarding it the Gerard Reid Award for Best Book Sponsored by Nielson Book.

The crowd agreed and it was also awarded the Hachette New Zealand People’s Choice Award, winning by a clear margin.

As if that wasn’t enough, it took out the Penguin Random House New Zealand Award for Best Illustrated Book and the HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover.

This year’s awards were judged by David Coventon (convenor), Anna Brown, Janson Chau and Kiran Dass and were presented at a buzzy ceremony at the Fresh Factory in Eden Terrace.

The Upstart Press Award for Best Non-Illustrated Book was awarded to Sarah Maxey (cover design) and Katrina Duncan (interior design) for Allen Curnow Biography and Poems Slipcase edition by Terry Sturm (Auckland University Press). The book’s use of a single typography throughout captured the judges’ attention and they found the elegant design and classic typographic choices highly evocative of the life lived.

The sophisticated partnering of typography and illustration saw Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story by Gavin Bishop (Penguin Random House) receive the Scholastic New Zealand Award for Best Children’s Book. The book was designed by Vida and Luke Kelly of Kelly Design and illustrated by Gavin Bishop.

Shying away from the obvious primary colours in favour of a muted palette was a risk that paid off for designer Kate Barraclough (Kate Francis Design), who received the Edify Award for Best Educational Book for The New Zealand Art Activity Book by Helen Lloyd (Te Papa Press). The judges found the book fun for kids, user-friendly, practical and engaging.

A cookbook that successfully paired photos, text, stories and food, while delivering something “a little more” design- wise was awarded the 1010 Printing Award for Best Cookbook. Eat Up New Zealand by Al Brown (Allen & Unwin NZ) was designed by Gary Stewart of The Gas Project.

The Mary Egan Publishing Award for Best Typography was awarded to A Moral Truth by James Hollings (Massey University Press), cover design by Gideon Keith and interior design by Gideon Keith and Carla Sy. The judges delighted in the use of the ellipsis as a repeated device alongside the halftone dot illustrations, labelling this a small example of the wit demonstrated in the book.

The Allen & Unwin Young Designer of the Year Award saw two Penguin Random House colleagues battle it out for the top prize. Rachel Clark was declared the winner thanks to her well developed and varied portfolio, which demonstrated a nuanced understanding of the elements of book design.

The awards were followed by a workshop the next day which kicked off with a panel chaired by David Coventon which drew the judges out a little further on their decision-making process and touched on some of the books that they loved but had just missed out on winning the top prize.  Next up Gideon Keith and Spencer Levine got down to the nitty gritty of typography, discussing kerning and exploring whether or not there is such a thing as a bad font. The final session was led by Anna Brown and Kiran Dass and featured Andrew Long (Marketing and Sales Manager from Auckland University Press) and Sally Greer (Beatnik Publishing). The discussion focused on designing for your audience and the differences in approach between university presses and more commercial publishing houses.

Publishing Matters: Fresh Perspectives, New Directions was the title of the PANZ International Conference and the programme posed some big questions about the state of the industry in 2018.

Questions that were answered with thoughtfulness, clarity and innovative thinking by a diverse range of keynote speakers, all of whom left attendees with valuable insight to take back to their everyday roles. Hugo Setzer, Vice President of the International Publishers Association, gave himself no small task when he set out to address Why Publishing Matters in the opening keynote. Citing a whole range of reasons the industry is crucial, he then asked if we need to get “more Californian” in how we sell ourselves, giving the example of the big tech companies and the emotional connection they offer consumers. Hugo also gave a really clear overview of the work the International Publishers Association does, highlighting the two key issues they are currently focusing on – copyright and the freedom to publish.

Nerrilee Weir, Senior Wrights Manager, Penguin Random House Australia then gave an incredibly insightful overview of the current state of play in the world of rights sales in Global Markets : Finding Your New Zealand Fit. She shared lots of interesting anecdotes and was very candid with details of her own personal approach and insightful about the challenges faced by Antipodean publishers. Promisingly, she believes there’s never been a better time to be selling rights from ANZ authors.

Diversity in publishing is a hot topic, both locally and internationally, so the panel of the same name garnered a lot of interest from the crowd. Gita Jayaram (consultant, Diversity Works), Eboni Waitere (executive director, Huia Publishing), Anton Blank (director, Oranui) and Josie Dobrin (CEO of Creative Access) collaborated on a wide-ranging discussion of the issues and opportunities a more diverse publishing workforce brings.

Denise Cripps might have had the slot before lunch, but her fascinating insight into The Transformative Power of Education kept people’s minds off their rumbling stomachs. Her address was just as interesting for those in trade publishing and there were lots of discussions over lunch around the implications of what she spoke about concerning language development in young children.

The afternoon saw the group split for two workshops. Children Interacting With The Page looked at the current state of play in children’s publishing with a panel made up of Jenny Hellen (publisher, Allen & Unwin), Matt Comeskey (publishing manager, Lift Education), Lynette Evans (publishing manager Scholastic NZ) and Catherine O’Loughlin (publishers children’s, Penguin Random House NZ) discussing what’s working and where things are headed. Augmented reality, sing-a-long stories and beautifully illustrated books with longevity emerged as key trends.

The group then came back together for Louise Sherwin-Stark, CEO of Hachette Australia, who gave a workshop entitled Does Amazon Keep You Awake at Night?. Louise posited that maybe it should, but not for the reasons you think. She assured the audience that Amazon wasn’t something to worry about and then elaborated on the opportunities it brings. As well as offering insight into Amazon and some of their processes, Louise’s presentation was an incredibly practical guide to nailing online sales and there was lots of frantic scribbling as attendees jotted down her wisdom.

The last session of the day saw Joan Mackenzie in conversation with Juliet Rogers, CEO of Murdoch Books and current CEO of the Australian Society of Authors, to deliver Lessons from the Bookshop Floor.  Joan talked about her long career in the industry and her passion for what she does, stating she “loves getting books into people’s hands”.  As someone who reads about 8 books a week, she believes good book buying is a mixture of art and science. She offered helpful insight into what makes the perfect book for Whitcoulls and emphasised the importance of stock being available when marketing and publicity hits.

The evening’s dinner provided a more relaxed opportunity for conference delegates to socialise, with feedback from many that it was a great opportunity to get to know others in the industry and develop and strengthen those crucial networks.

Martin Green of Pantera Press brought incredible energy and passion to his address Behind the Curtain: Finding and Lifting Your Publishing Ambition, which started off detailing what a horrible world we live in. He talked about Pantera’s desire to create an innovative new model of publishing and their belief in being a social purpose business. He outlined all the ways they affect change and support organisations working in literacy and education. Martin urged those present to set their goals ridiculously high, stating that way if you fail, you’re still above everyone else. Further emphasising this, he told the room that if think you’re too small to be effective you’ve never been in the dark with a mosquito.  Martin’s conclusion? “The world sucks and it’s not fair and we can make a difference.” Read Martin’s full speech here.

The conference closed with a very fitting final keynote.  Josie Dobrin addressed Inclusivity and Diversity in Publishing: Why We Should All Care. As well as detailing the incredible work Creative Access has been doing in the UK, she also left publishers with a series of practical steps they can take to better encourage diversity within their company. Josie really emphasised the point that it’s not enough to just hire people from the diverse backgrounds, you also need to make sure the office environment is welcoming – “Don’t just open the door. Invite people in”.

In his summing up, PANZ president Peter Dowling said that he hoped people would take a chance to digest all they’d learnt before they got stuck back into their day jobs. This was a concept supported by Martin of Pantera Press, who had commented that they like to give their staff space to imagine and strategise and urge them to take a day at home just to think. Getting away from the office and having space to absorb new ideas is the biggest advantage of attending a conference like this, with many attendees making comments to this effect.

Between all the buzz, noise, debate, encounters and networking that took place over the two days of the conference there was definitely plenty of proof that publishing matters.

Headlining the PANZ International Conference in June will be Hugo Setzer, Vice President of the International Publishers Association & CEO of Manual Moderno, Mexico. Hugo recently took the time from his very busy schedule to answer some questions about his role at both IPA and Manual Moderno, and issues facing the publishing industry.

You’re Vice President of the International Publishers Association. What exactly is the role of the IPA?
IPA works to defend publishers’ interests all over the world, especially the promotion of copyright and freedom to publish, along with literacy. Right now I am catching a plane to Toronto to testify on behalf of international publishers as part of the Canadian Copyright Act review. At the same time, the IPA is holding a Regional Seminar in Lagos, Nigeria, attended by our President, Michiel Kolman and our Secretary General, José Borghino.

In your day job you’re CEO of academic publisher Manual Moderno. Could you tell us a little about what that involves? 
Manual Moderno is a medium sized academic publishing house, with headquarters in Mexico City and a subsidiary office in Bogotá, Colombia. We translate many of the books we publish into Spanish, so this takes me every year to Frankfurt. But we also publish a lot of local authors and contact with them is equally important. I have a great executive team at the office, which currently allows me to dedicate more time to IPA.

Do you have a book that you’re most proud of publishing? 
Yes, though it’s not the kind of book we usually do. It is a social responsibility project we developed with teachers of a university and physicians of a hospital. It is a guide for parents with visually impaired children, so they can learn how to better attend to their needs. Thanks to the authors and our suppliers who donated their work, we could provide the hospital with 1,000 hard copies of the guide completely for free, so they could give them to families in need with a case of a visually impaired kid. It’s also available for free in digital format (click here)

Any major international trends in publishing right now that you’re able to share? 
We can see a worldwide attack on copyright. Large companies with their own interests are lobbying against copyright and many people fall for the “information for free” speech. As IPA, with our limited resources, we engage everywhere we can to help our members defend their interests and the copyright laws. Recently we had this debate in Colombia and now in Canada, where I have had the opportunity to work with our members on the ground in defence of copyright.

What are you reading right now?
I am reading Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. Really enlightening!

The PANZ International Conference is taking place on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 June 2018. Programme details are available here. Early bird rates available until 25 May. Don’t miss out book your place here.

Ex cyclone Gita couldn’t keep the eager participants of the PANZ Digital Marketing Workshop – Creative Engagement, away yesterday.  With more than 30 attendees the room was at maximum capacity.

The workshop started in high gear with an insightful and inspiring look at the This Girl Can campaign; a UK government funded campaign aimed to get women exercising. The campaign was launched after research showed a significant disparity between the numbers of men and women in the UK who were involved in sports and exercise.  Dan West, Digital Strategy Director for FCB (a major advertising agency also responsible for such iconic campaigns as the PAK ‘n SAVE stick man and the Farmers Christmas campaign) was tasked with managing the This Girl Can campaign and tackling this thorny issues. Dan talked through the complexities of the campaign and challenges faced in the digital realm, offering practical as well as inspirational ideas.

Hayley Miller, partner at Kensington Swan is passionate about privacy law and her session reminded everyone about the care that must be taken when managing databases that hold personal information.  Hayley stayed on for lunch to continue answering questions, of which there were many with one attendee remarking “I never knew privacy laws could be so interesting”.

Tyne Brocklehurst’s more interactive and practical style got the room buzzing after lunch with participants invited to come up with their own social media promotion ideas and her talk on e-newsletters offered practical and helpful tips and tricks.

The final session of the day, featured Leonie Barlow and highlighted her one woman approach to navigating the digital space. Leonie is one of New Zealand’s leading ‘Influencers’ and she talked about her strategy for building followers and her personal approach to social media and YouTube.

Networking drinks and nibbles concluded the day allowing the discussion to continue and ideas and wine to flow.

Our grateful thanks to the National Library for the use of the space.

Grant Nicol

With its bubbling mud and steaming pressure Rotorua may be the perfect setting for a crime novel (Ngaio Marsh certainly thought so in 1943 when she penned Colour Scheme) and in 2019 it will be the hub for book lovers as Kiwi crime takes centre stage at New Zealand’s very own crime festival Rotorua Noir.

The festival founders are Kiwi crime writer Grant Nicol and Craig Sisterson, who is also the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards. In fact Rotorua Noir will also be celebrating 10 years of the fabulous Ngaio Marsh awards. Grant has recently returned to New Zealand from Iceland where he helped organise the Iceland Noir crime writing festival in 2016 and hopes to bring some of its ideas to New Zealand for Rotorua Noir.

Craig and Grant met in Iceland, when they both attended Iceland Noir in Reykjavik. On moving back to New Zealand Grant decided it was “time to have our own festival to celebrate Kiwi crime writing. Craig has done a great deal over the last few years to champion the cause of New Zealand crime writers so I had no hesitation in calling him up and asking for his help when I came up with the concept.”

Craig Sisterson

Planned for early 2019 (probably January or February says Grant) the exact venue is yet to be selected but will be announced shortly and the ball is well and truly rolling. The festival will incorporate two days of panels featuring local and international crime writers discussing their craft and a day of workshops for local writers to attend. “We already have four authors from overseas who have agreed to attend, as well as many Kiwis – but there will also be writing workshops, author readings and a North Island vs South Island cricket match” says Grant. “We will be looking to involve the local community as much as possible and will be utilizing a local arts venue as well as one of Rotorua’s book shops. I want to get as many of New Zealand’s crime writing community together under one roof and give the public the chance to listen to them and meet the people responsible for creating so many fine books.”

Any publishers with authors interested in appearing at the festival can contact Grant here. You can also keep up to date with the festival progress on Facebook and Twitter @RotoruaNoir2019