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

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.