News

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

The hotly contested W.E. and M.L. Forde Scholarship to attend the Yale Book Publishing Course in Connecticut, USA reached a head last week as the selection panel met to decide who would be the lucky recipient.  With applications from top publishing executives across a wide range of publishing fields it was no straight forward task.

PANZ is delighted to announce that Rachel Lawson, Assistant Publisher at Gecko Press will be heading to the US to take up this opportunity in July next year.

Panel member and Yale Publishing Course alumnus Sam Elworthy said “It was a great and slightly daunting experience sorting through the applicants for the Yale Publishing Course because the best and brightest from our industry had come forward, keen to develop the international relationships and gain the strategic insight that one gets at Yale.

After considerable discussion, we settled on Rachel Lawson for this year’s scholarship. Rachel works for one of our fine independent publishers, Gecko Press; she is deeply involved in new strategic directions for the Press; and she has broad experience in publishing. We wish her well and encourage the other great applicants to put their names up again next year. What a great legacy for Margaret Forde to leave to the industry.”

Rachel who has been Assistant Publisher at Gecko Press for two and a half years and in the publishing industry for over 25 said “I feel very very lucky! I’m looking forward to everything I can learn about how to do things better, the international perspectives, new contacts and new ideas—and bringing it all back to Gecko Press. Seeing how businesses are working in other countries and the focus on new ways of thinking is so useful for a business like Gecko Press with our international model but tiny size! Thank you to the Forde family and PANZ for the fantastic opportunity.”

In 2018 the Yale Publishing course will run from 29 July – 3 August. The course is a week-long intensive classroom-based course for mid- to senior-level professionals in all areas of publishing. It tackles timely issues facing publishing professionals, giving a candid inside look at lessons learned by industry leaders as well as forward-looking approaches to publishing as a global enterprise.

Congratulations Rachel! We look forward to reporting back to members on Rachel’s experiences in due course.

For more details on the W.E and M.L Forde Publishing Scholarship click here.

If you are interested in an international career changing course don’t forget that the PANZ International Career Development Fund is available to members with funding of up to $3,000 available to attend an international course, internship or fellowship.
More details here.

L-R: Samantha Chorley, Sucheta Raj & Olivia Nikkel

Congratulations to the successful recipients of the 2018 Creative New Zealand Internships Initiative. PANZ is delighted to announce that in 2018 Samantha Chorley will intern with Victoria University Press; Olivia Nikkel  with Bridget Williams Books and Sucheta Raj with Allen & Unwin.

Helen Heath, Programme Leader, Publishing at Whitireia New Zealand, says “It was a very difficult decision as there were so many strong applications but we are very pleased with these selections and think they not only meet the job requirements well but will suit the ethos of each placement. Whitireia publishing graduates have a reputation for excellence for good reason. If these young people are the future of New Zealand publishing then we can all rest assured we are in good hands”

The Creative New Zealand National Publishing Internships Initiative, administered by PANZ, provides internship opportunities each year for three new graduates of the Whitireia New Zealand publishing course to enter the industry. 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 former interns now hold senior positions in publishing companies.

”Allen & Unwin New Zealand is delighted to be welcoming a Whitireia intern into the team for the next six months. It’s a brilliant opportunity to introduce new insight and thinking from someone new to our industry, as well as tackle many projects that in an otherwise busy team, would likely stay on the back-burner.” Says Allen & Unwin New Zealand Director Melanie Laville-Moore.

For more details on the Creative New Zealand National Publishing Internships
Initiative click here.

Catriona Ferguson reports

On 28 April we held our first ever digital marketing workshop. Digital marketing has been top of the training request list from PANZ members for a wee while now and the jam-packed room at the National Library in
Auckland certainly reflected that enthusiasm.

We welcomed delegates from as far as Invercargill, Wanaka and Wellington and some publishers even went as far as to send two or three participants along. The enthusiasm and buzz in the room was fabulous.

The day got off to a lively start with the enterprising Claire O’Connell from The Classroom. Claire took the group on a tiki tour of all things social media with nicely tailored advice for her bookish audience. She gave an overview on the most popular social media platforms here in New Zealand, highlighted the kind of accounts that could prove inspiring for local publishers and gave some examples of which companies were out there nailing the whole digital thing. Facebook remains the queen of the social media marketing platforms but it was hard not to be seduced by some of the delicious book-related Instagram accounts that Claire profiled. The session also offered some hands on tips and tricks for defining audiences, boosting posts and measuring and reporting. More on The Classroom here.

After lunch Nevena Nikolic from Neilsen offered up some insights on book buyers, with a focus on older millennials (that’s the 25 – 34 year olds for the uninformed). Apparently this group is highly social, well-connected and aspirational – and happily they also have some spending power. Nevena steered us through how their book buying habits have influenced the market (colouring-books, grip lit and healthy eating for example), what influences their decision making and where they go to finally buy those books.

Fee McLeod (General Manager of Unitec’s MindLab) picked up the conversation after Nevena with a focus on how The MindLab has managed to grow their work in
the educational space. They offer a whole range of collaborative and digital learning opportunities for teachers around the country finding fresh ways of using technology to be adaptable, flexible and technically skilled.

The afternoon was wrapped up by Anna Dean who’s company Double Denim (more on Double Denim here) crosses both traditional and online media. Full of ideas and suggestions for inventive marketing campaigns, Anna talked about her own successful campaigns in the wider cultural sector and how the book world might gain some traction in a crowded online space.

Throughout the day delegates enjoyed the opportunity to natter between themselves during the breaks. And so at 4.30pm we did a little more of that accompanied by some wine and nibbly things.

We’re currently gathering feedback from those who came along to the workshop and planning phase two. So, if you have any thoughts or ideas on what you’d like to see next please do let us know.

Frances Plumpton reports

I first visited the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in April 1989 when I took a side trip from my Winston Churchill tour investigating library services for young children in the UK. My first impression then was the range of stands from all around the world. I was envious of the Australian Publishers Association stand which housed 25 publishers, and the Canadian stand an exhibition housing 48 publishers. New Zealand was represented solely by Wendy Pye’s Good Parent stand. Any other NZ publishers were not visible.

I do recall seeing the beginnings of series fiction and the emergence of the remarkable Dorling Kindersley non-fiction series.

I have attended the Bologna Children’s Book Fair as an agent since 2007, representing a selection of NZ children’s books as well as IBBY NZ and also the Australian East/NZ Society of Children’s Book Writers and illustrators. When Nicky Page and Trish Brooking first approached me about the possibility of a stand in Bologna I must admit that I was sceptical that they would be successful, giving the short time frame. Unfortunately Julia Marshall of Gecko Press who has been a constant attendee, was already committed to another stand. I had not yet booked my table in the Agent Centre and was also aware that Sophie Siers of Millwood Press and Mary McCallum of Makaro Press also intended to come and would be welcome support on a stand.

Nicky’s very strong and focussed proposal on behalf of Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature was accepted and she and Trish immediately began organising all the resources for the display, working with writers and illustrators based in Dunedin and recipients of the University of  Otago College of Education Children’s Writers residency.

The very strong support from Giorgia Boldrini, director of Bologna UNESCO City of Music whose inspiration was behind the sponsorship of the stand and her colleague Francesca Vacchetti was invaluable. Unfortunately Mary McCallum had to withdraw from the trip to Bologna but remained in the background as a strong support and Sophie Siers of Millwood Press and I were the representatives at the Fair.

Nicky’s attention to detail culminated in an eye catching stand with open bookshelves inviting browsers for the Dunedin linked books and an area for formal meetings. The exhibition was supported with a booklist and documentation of rights available for each title.

As well as the designated stands, Bologna attracts a lot of agents and smaller publishers who come for a day or two on a visitors pass, working a mix of appointments and browsing the halls and our open stand attracted many of these. It was soon obvious that there were many passers-by with a connection to NZ or Dunedin and we recorded these informally in a notebook. These included a Chinese professor who had spent the previous year at Otago University, a Turkish Agent who had commissioned Janet Frame titles when she was an editor several years ago and an American reviewer who had backpacked around NZ in his teens in ’92 with fond memories of his time in Dunedin.

Sophie and I talked with many publishers and editors who called in and were able to pass on interest in many of the books on display to their NZ rights holders. I held the majority of meetings on the stand and there was a lot of interest in the UNESCO connection. In hindsight, this has been a very interesting and positive experience. Giorgia Boldrini is keen to explore further links with Dunedin, there has been an active interest in many of the exhibited titles.

Nicky Page and Trish Brooking are to be congratulated on preparing such a professional proposal within a challenging time-frame, followed by meticulous attention to detail supported by the Dunedin design team with the stunning display material culminating in a stand that showcased the vibrant Dunedin children’s literature community.

This would not have been possible without Sophie Siers and her stalwart duties on the stand and Mary McCallum for her background support.

And next year? We’re working on it . . .