It’s November 2015, it seems so early on in the course, yet our heads are buried deep in our degree.

First and foremost, let me introduce myself and my 4 fellow bloggers. It’s only been a month and a half since the UCL Centre for Publishing have again, started teaching a new group of MA students. 4 of which include me (Sarah Louise Osborne), Elisabeth Wilkes (otherwise known as Niki), Camilla Lunde, and last but not least, Stephanie King.

We were fortunate enough to bag ourselves the titles of “Blogging Manager” for the UCL Centre for Publishing blog, and we’re all really excited to get stuck in!

What to expect from the blog?

From now on, until the end of our degree, the 4 of us will blog once a month on our own chosen blog series. Guest bloggers, and interviews will be interspersed throughout. We aim to show aspiring publishers what our course involves, tips on how to handle university workload, and most of all – show everybody why the publishing industry is so great.

The 4 blogging series are as followed:

1. Sarah: Struggles and tips from a Commuting Student
2. Niki: The Publishing Industry today
3. Camilla: International Perspectives
4. Stephanie: The Publisher’s Atlas

Each series will be published on a monthly basis, every Wednesday at 5pm.

Not just a blog, but a whole Media Team!

So, as the title states – we’re not working alone. We are working with other students controlling other media platforms – and shall together, be bringing you lots of interesting material. The platforms involve:

Twitter: @uclpublishing – Managed by Zoe Sharples and Kirsty Mackay.

Youtube – Managed by Mirjam Coenraads.

Instagram: @publishingucl – Managed by Delia Caroline Bennett, Hannah Reed, and Charlotte Parker.

All of our team are committed to bringing a variety of material and information on publishing (at UCL and in general). Twitter will be posting 2-3 times a day, Instagram 1-2 times a day (including series: Saturday Shelfie, UCL Pub recommends, lecturer’s and guest speaker quotes, and Commuter Diaries). Finally, Youtube will be posting videos on: the MA in Publishing at UCL, student experiences, guest speaker interviews, event videos and the London Book fair.

We hope that our posts are enjoyable and informative, and stay tuned for our first official series post next Wednesday!

P.S. Stay up-to-date via our Twitter @UCLPublishing, or our own Twitter accounts: Sarah @SarahLouiseOS, Niki @enwilkes, Camilla @CGLunde, Stephanie @stelkisays, Zoe @zoesharples, Kirsty @la_squish,  Mirjam @freudhasdreams2, Delia @delia_bennett, Hannah @HaReIllustrate and Charlotte @fireflyreads

By Marianne Tatepo

Of the thousands of online witticisms causing the SYP 2014 Conference hashtag (#sypconf14) to trend, one tweet stuck with me to this day: “It’s kind of hilarious how few people have chosen to attend the #sypconf14 session on diversity.” (Miriam H Craig, 12:15 PM – 8 Nov 2014, @miriamhcraig).

You’ll have heard of the ‘d’ word. For some it may be equated to ‘race’. But diversity is not colour, gender, or ability specific. Was the ‘diversity’ session at SYP aimed at those few minority groups (ditto about such print issues by The Bookseller)? Many will be most aware of their own underrepresentation: diversity is being able to scan a room and see, or hear about both others like you and those unlike you. A room where each attendee can’t think to themselves “there are other people like me AND unlike me” is not diverse – the same goes for an industry. Still: it’s difficult to tackle the issue of diversity if none of those concerned are included in such discussions – so here’s my own input, following on Caroline Carpenter’s piece.

My contention is: a diverse industry is one inclusive of those who have had to deal with marginalisation or disparities at a range of possible levels. Mental health issues; lack of social mobility; gender or racial imbalances or discrimination; physical impairment or disability; and other major factors that may lead them to feel there are no ‘people like them’ around.

Identity is not one-dimensional. On the one hand, there were a plethora of others like me at SYP’s 2014 summit: literature or humanities degree bearers, and probable Student Finance benefactors, who are only mediocrely digitally skilled. On the other hand, it was honestly disappointing to have to acquiesce to some of the facts outlined in The Bookseller’s November issue regarding the status quo of variety in publishing – even ten years on, post-Web 2.0.

As both a hyperbole and simile: a love for publishing can sometimes feel like having Stockholm Syndrome – we’re captives of something we’ve grown to feel an attachment to, in spite of the perils presented (e.g.: ‘death of the book’ and other doomsday fear-mongering), and this often causes onlookers to equate our loyalty to insanity. At ‘budding publisher’ level, this translates into the sacrifices some must make in order to intern for periods of up to a year (dixit many of SYP 2014’s despairing attendees). The labour is often unwaged, and worse yet: there is no guarantee that you’ll reach Promised Land.

You’ll hear about books being rejected by publishers because the demographic depicted in said books is not that of ‘the reader’ or ‘the customer’ – that is to say, not white. To say that minorities aren’t ‘the reader’ doesn’t recognise the fact that they are often unrepresented in stories, despite the infinite amount of stories out in the world. Not reading every book that refuses to acknowledge you could be seen as a silent, peaceful protest of sorts – a sign of a malignant illness tainting the reading experience.  How can catering to a wider audience be achieved whilst simultaneously telling said audience – by way of ellipsis, by way of vacuum – that they don’t exist?

What you won’t hear enough about is people like Nikesh Shukla or Malorie Blackman – both of them catering to different age groups, but certainly to wider groups than many past and present writers did altogether. A diversity workshop, I believe, would have been most beneficial to future agents, editors, marketers, publicists… That is to say: anyone likely to unearth the next Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Junot Diaz, or John Elder Robison and whose instincts may be muddled by a one-dimensional idea of ‘the reader’.

What you won’t hear enough about is that the next generation of writers is tucked away in places like The Baytree Centre, in Brixton. In this all-women’s culture and literacy centre, young girls of BAME background aged 10-14 are attending Creative Writing and Reading classes voluntarily, and will soon submit their edited, original creative writing work to the Global Girls Project, with the hope to be published.

However, you will certainly hear about the commercial benefits of diversity. What you won’t hear is about the value of culture – especially in a melting pot like the UK. What you don’t hear enough is how good, loyal employees are the ones attracted not to the commercial aspect of the industry, but the fact that their presence is reflected in the workplace; that they are part of a community – just like ‘the reader’. The fact that when, finally, they get that book proof on their desks, more than once in a blue moon, they can read about ‘others like them’.

The momentum is now, and the opportunities are here: where there is a will, there is a market. If Nichelle Gainer could sell out for an illustrated coffee book like Vintage Black Glamour (£30 apiece) and even a major cultural institution like the V&A is doing a Black British Experience exhibition after recognising a “gap” in their knowledge… What’s stopping the publishing industry from recognizing the full scope of ‘the reader’?

Okay, so we may have a got a bit behind with our Tweet of the Week posts… but we’re back!

This weeks tweet celebrates our successful bake sale for Children in Need! Not bad for one hour on a rainy day… Well done everyone!

Each week we are planning to present a student profile for future employers to see. These profiles can include anything you think relevant, including personal information, CV, work experience, information on where you’d like to work – really anything you fancy.

In order to make it fair, we will be running competitions each week in order to choose the student to focus on. This week, the competition is…

Compose a Tweet that describes everything you love about the UCL Publishing course.

Tweets can include photos, links and videos, but must include #UCLPubLove and be posted by midnight on Tuesday 28th October. The student who writes the best Tweet will be featured on here next week in whatever form they prefer.

Happy Tweeting!

Each week we will pick a tweet that we think you just should not miss out on…

This week, predictably, Tweet of the Week has to go to @DWill_ . With 17K retweets and 12K favourites, and the whole book industry expressing their jealousy of being trapped in a bookshop, you probably did see this… but it was definitely the highlight of Twitter this past week and I couldn’t not choose it!

Bookshop sleepover anyone?