3 March 2023

Member news and round-ups:

Congratulations to Belle Media, BookSource, Canongate Books, Edinburgh University Press, and Saraband who are all shortlisted for IPG Independent Publishing Awards 2023; the British Book Awards 2023 announced the Small Press of the Year Regional and Country Finalists including members 404 Ink, Charco Press, Rymour Books, Scotland Street Press, Scottish Mountaineering Press, The Wee Book Company and Saraband – a finalist in the North England category; well done to Luna Press Publishing with 13 nominations on the recently announced longlists for The British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards; great to see recent English PEN Translate awards for titles by Charco Press and Scotland Street Press; Barrington Stoke's title Wrath by Marcus Sedgwick is longlisted for the 2023 Yoto Carnegie Medal for writing. This news is bittersweet following Marcus's tragic death, but the publisher say 'we were honoured to publish him and are now grateful for this recognition of his immense literary talent.' In addition their title Needle is also on this longlist.

In this bulletin: (calls to action in red)

• Ainslie Thin obituary
• Accountant required for Treasurer role for Publishing Scotland
• Joan Lyle, our Training Manager, is retiring in April
• Full online member meeting - sign up for either date
• Sustainable Publishing Group - we need your books for a carbon audit
• Have you thought of joining the Federation of Small Businesses?
• Creative Scotland Open Funding for Organisations | Sector Sessions
• Pitching to Autumn Book Festivals 2023 - sign up for 13 March
• Libraries Day update, networking opportunities - Tuesday 21 March, Dundee
• Sign up for One-to-One Bookbug Sessions and/ or submit titles by 31 March
• Our Sales Bootcamp Programme - join the March dates
• Fever Pitch at the Scottish Book Trade Conference - sign up 18 May Edinburgh
• Top 20 bestselling Scottish books in Scotland chart this week
• Birlinn Ltd - welcome to the membership
• Training news
• Members area - our useful back catalogue of training, recordings and presentations
• BooksfromScotland - February issue Letting Go
• BooksfromScotland Themes for 2023 - submit your titles
• News and events
• Opportunities
• Jobs

Best wishes,

Lucy

Lucy Feather

Membership Services Manager

Ainslie Thin

We were saddened to hear that Ainslie Thin, the former Chairman and MD of James Thin’s bookshop on South Bridge, has died. Ainslie was for many years an absolute stalwart of the Scottish publishing and bookselling scene. A fuller notice will appear on our website but for now, the funeral notice is below - 

THIN Ainslie Thin (Edinburgh)

Peacefully, on Friday 24, 2023, Ainslie, bookseller, loving husband for 60 years of Eppie, father of Jackie, Hilly & Jamie, grandfather of Holly, Ainslie, Oonagh, Anna, Steph & Sinead. A service will be held at Mortonhall Crematorium, Main chapel, on Monday March 20 at 2pm, to which all friends & colleagues are welcome. Please dress cheerfully.

Accountant required for Treasurer role for Publishing Scotland - account trustee and director

We are looking for a qualified or senior part-qualified and experienced accountant working within the publishing industry to join the board of Publishing Scotland. This position will require attendance at four board meetings a year plus the AGM and regular contact with the Finance Manager at PS. The individual will be expected to discuss the prepared quarterly accounts to the board, highlighting areas of concern, and advising on potential risk. The accounts and reports are fully prepared by the PS Finance Manager, Andrew May, and it is expected this treasurer position will act as a critical friend to that role. The treasurer role is a key role on this board and commands a position of governance. Some liaison with the annual auditors is also expected. This is an ideal position for a young accountant to take a first board position and support will be given by the CEO and Chair of PS.

Please get in touch with Marion if you are interested. 

Joan Lyle, our Training Manager, is retiring in April

After 15 years at Publishing Scotland (and 40 years of full-time employment), Joan Lyle, our Training and Information Manager, will be retiring at the end of April. From a legal and publishing background, Joan is our longest-serving employee in the current team and has been with us since our Dundee Street days. She has been a central member of our team, delivering the training programme and running the PS website. We shall miss her hard work and dedication and wish her all the best for the future.

Full online member meeting - sign up for either date

We would like to meet with you online to discuss our future strategy and plans, as well as hear from you about current issues you are facing and how we may support your business.

It is vital for us as the trade body for the industry to hear directly from our membership.

There will be 2 meeting dates, hosted on Zoom:

• Thursday 23 March at 2pm
• Tuesday 28 March at 2pm

You can join either of these dates, they will have the same agenda. Please email Patrick with your intended date and we will send meeting links out.

Sustainable Publishing Group - we need your books for a carbon audit

Publishing Scotland has recently formed a Sustainable Publishing Group with the aim of helping members to understand, and reduce, the carbon footprint of their publishing businesses. Our first project is to produce an audit of the carbon footprint of a number of types of book, taking in variables such as dimensions, location of printer, hard/soft covers, paper type, transportation method etc. To that end we are looking for suggestions of actual titles, printed in the last 12 months, that we could include in the audit.

They should fit, or be close to, one of the following scenarios below.

We hope the audit will provide insight into the biggest contributors to emissions. We will publish the results to provide a resource to benchmark your own processes against and give you options to consider when tackling emissions from your businesses.

If you have a book that fits these criteria, please get in touch with Andrew at PS [email protected]. Please submit titles by Friday 10^th March.

Have you thought of joining the Federation of Small Businesses?

It may seem odd that we are recommending another organisation but they offer legal and insurance benefits that we can’t.

Take a look and see if your business would benefit.

They offer – 

• Specialist advice

• Built-in insurance protection

• Training on health and safety 

• Free business banking…with the Co-Op bank

• Help on debt recovery

• Tax investigation protection and advice

• Wellbeing benefits for employees

More.

Creative Scotland Open Funding for Organisations | Sector Sessions

Do you want to know more about Creative Scotland's new funding for organisations?

Join a session to learn about key features of the new funds, the application process and ask questions.

On 15 February 2023, Creative Scotland launched two new funds –

• National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations – a revised version of the Open Fund for Organisations: Sustaining Creative Development.

• National Lottery Extended Programme Fund – a time-limited fund offering organisations support for longer programmes of creative activity.

You can find out more about these funds on the website.

To help organisations who may be considering making an application to these funds, Creative Scotland will be running a series of sector information sessions. Each session will held on Zoom and will be live captioned. A transcript will also be produced, allowing capture of the discussion and review comments and views – these transcripts will not be published in the public domain.

• Thursday 9 March, 15:00-16:00

Book here.

• Monday 13 March, 12:00-13:00

Book here.

Sign up for pitching to Autumn Book Festivals for 2023 - 13 March

We have organised a pitching session for Autumn festivals Wigtown, Tidelines (Ayrshire) and Bookmark (Blairgowrie) with programmers Lee Randall, Siobhan Staples and Gail Wylie. The pitching session will be held on Monday 13 March from 9.30am - 4.00pm.

This pitching session will be hosted in person in the Publishing Scotland office and via Zoom. We have 14 pitching slots and each will last 20 minutes.

To sign up, get in touch with Patrick Jamieson

Please also send Patrick the AIs for the titles you will be pitching as we will be putting together a package for each programmer after the session is over

Libraries Day Update - LAS away day, Tuesday 21 March, Dundee

We’re delighted to be hosting our Libraries Day, along with SLIC, in person on Tuesday 21 March, Dundee Central Library.

Libraries Day is a joint collaboration with Literature Alliance Scotland, who have programmed their Away Day to coincide with our event, providing an opportunity not only to network with librarians, but with more Scottish literary organisations as well as the Scottish Festival Network.

All the presentation slots for our member publishers to present their 2023 titles to the librarians are now filled, but if you would still like to attend for networking and to attend the afternoon sessions for the LAS Away day, please contact Vikki Reilly to reserve a place, and let her know any dietary requirements.

There will be display tables outside the conference room where the presentations to the librarians will take place. This will be a networking area, and even if you are not presenting, you can display books and catalogues for attendees to pick up. If you would like to have space on these tables, contact Vikki Reilly who will give you more details.

You can find more details about the LAS Away Day Sessions Schedule on their Eventbrite page here.

Sign Up for One-to-One Bookbug Sessions or submit titles by 31 March

Last year we hosted an Open Book session with the Scottish Book Trust about their Book Bug programme. The recording of that session can still be found in the members area on the Publishing Scotland website. As a follow up to that session, Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years team are keen to hold meetings in February to discuss any titles you may have that are suitable for their Bookbug Baby, Toddler and Explorer Bags for 2024/25. If you’d be interested in setting up a meeting (online or in person) then please contact [email protected].

If you’re ready now to submit titles, you can find the submission form here and information on submitting here. The deadline for submissions is 31 March.

Publishing Scotland Sales Bootcamp Training Programme, March dates 

We are facing uncertain times in the publishing landscape, and while the appetite for new stories remains undiminished it is vital for all publishing companies large, small, and micropress, to face the challenges armed with sales and business fundamentals in place to give your books the best possible chance in the marketplace.

Publishing Scotland has created a free sales training programme for our members, which we will host in hybrid and online events across early 2022. These sessions will cover best practice for working with the trade so that you build lasting and effective relationships.

Remaining sessions:

Sell More Books with Metadata, Tue 14 March, 11.30 - 12.30 (hybrid)

How to Sell eBooks, Tue 28 March, 11.30 - 12.30 (online)

These sessions will suit member publishers who have been in business for 7 years or less and for new members of staff in sales & marketing who have been working with more established publishers.

Sign Up for Fever Pitch at the Scottish Book Trade Conference, 18 May

Fever Pitch is back in person at the Publishing Scotland / Bookseller’s Association Annual Conference to be held in Central Hall, Edinburgh on the 18 May. The Fever Pitch session will be held first thing, from 9am to 10am before the conference begins.

As ever, publishers will have five minutes to pitch key 2023 books to the assembled booksellers. We may even ask the BA’s Alan Staton to bring back his bell to stop you going over time! NB. you must sign up for the conference to attend.

If you would like to take a pitching slot, please get in touch with Vikki Reilly.

Top 20 bestselling Scottish books in Scotland chart

Welcome to this week's Top 20 Bestselling Scottish Books in Scotland chart. This week, Val McDermid reclaims the top spot with the paperback edition of 1989.

The chart is dominated by World Book Day books – though they don’t appear in our chart as none of them are included in our criteria - and I wonder if this has contributed to having THREE Harry Potter books in this week’s Top 20! Billy Connolly also reappears in the chart, and we have a new entry with Alex Gray’s latest book, Questions for a Dead Man.

NB. At the moment, these spreadsheets are for Publishing Scotland members only, and will only be shared via this bulletin. Please do not circulate. You can, however, use the information in them for marketing purposes.

Chart Criteria Reminder: Publishing Scotland receive the Top 250 bestselling titles across Scotland. We then curate the chart to feature Scottish interest books by Scottish authors, or authors based in Scotland, books of Scottish setting and/or subject, and books published by publishers based in Scotland.



See the chart.

Birlinn Ltd

We are pleased to welcome Birlinn Ltd back to the publisher membership. Birlinn Ltd is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company is built on traditions of the written and spoken word and is constantly looking to the future.

More.

Training news

You can find details of Publishing Scotland’s courses (including the Sales Bootcamp Programme), Harper Macleod webinars, and BIC courses on the Publishing Scotland website. 

Bookings are open for our editorial courses in spring/summer and include:

• Editing for better communications (24 and 27 April)
• Introduction to Copy-editing (2 and 9 May)
• Introduction to Proofreading (15 and 22 May)
• Further Copy-editing (15 June in person in Edinburgh)
• Further Proofreading (22 June in person in Glasgow)

The next free Harper Macleod webinar is Equality, diversity and inclusion on Tuesday 21 March. Considerations relating to equality, diversity and inclusion have never been more important in the context of the modern workplace. This webinar will provide attendees with an overview of their legal obligations in this respect, describe how best to approach dealing with these obligations, both on a practical and legal level, and look at various case studies to see how matters might work out in practice. Register on the Harper Macleod website. The remaining free webinars in this series (including the rescheduled Recruitment law) are also open for booking:

• Intellectual property in publishing: Tuesday 25 April 
• Data protection: Tuesday 23 May
• Recruitment law: Tuesday 20 June

BIC’s training programme for 2023 is also open for booking. Publishing Scotland members can attend at Friends of BIC rates. Courses include:

• BIC’s An Introduction to Production Training Course (14 and 15 March)
• BIC ONIX: Essentials Plus training course (21–23 March)

For details of all our courses, see the Publishing Scotland website. See also Events.

Members area - our useful back catalogue of training, recordings and presentations

A part of our offering to members we record Open Book sessions, some training courses, useful conference presentations and a variety of other sessions. These are available on our Publishing Scotland You Tube channel. We also have a list of booksellers addresses and sales charts, as well as the Nielsen sales data presentations from previous conferences. Everything is accessible in the members area of our website.

If you do not have a login at present, we will make arrangements to sign you in automatically this Spring when your subscription is renewed. If you would like one before this, please contact Patrick. 

BooksfromScotland - our February issue Letting Go is now live

February, despite it being the year's second month, feels more like the time for beginnings. The sky is starting to lighten, the snowdrops are making their way out into the world and, as ever, great books are being published!

Thank you for your submissions.

Read the issue.

BooksfromScotland Themes for 2023

March submissions are closed, so look ahead to the rest of the year for themes you can submit titles to.

• April issue: Open Up – covering books that feature imagination, new ideas, regeneration, rejuvenation
• May issue: Bloom – covering books that feature nature, adventure, success, wellbeing, comfort
• June issue: Press Play – covering books that feature joy, hobbies, food, music, love, dance, games
• Summer issue: Let the Sun Shine – covering books that feature summer reading, travel, outdoors, climate
• September issue: Shake it Up – covering books that feature sport, history, politics, inspiration, experiment
• October issue: Do You Believe in Magic? – covering books that feature magic, surprise, tricks, mystery, supernatural
• Festive issue: Revel, Revel – covering books that feature festive gifts, party, indulgence, friendship

To submit email Vikki Reilly.

BIC reminds industry of date for BIC Standard Subject Categories scheme end-of-life

Further to its 2022 announcement, BIC issued a reminder to the UK book industry that the outdated BIC Standard Subject Categories scheme (BSSC) is being made obsolete by the end of February 2024, as it continues its efforts to encourage the UK book industry to fully adopt Thema (the international, multi-lingual subject category scheme for the global book trade) in its place. 

More.

News

Scottish government U-turns on £6.6m funding cut

The Scottish government has reversed a proposed £6.6m cut in Creative Scotland’s funding.

Under the proposed slashed budget, Creative Scotland’s Grant in Aid budget for 2023/24 would have decreased from £63m to around £56m. Acting finance secretary John Swinney has now made a U-turn on plans to cut cultural funding, but on the reinstatement of Creative Scotland’s £6.6m he warned that that was the “absolute limit” of funding he could offer the organisation.

Creative Scotland said it "warmly welcome[d]" the announcement. Robert Wilson, chair of Creative Scotland, said: “Alongside the board and staff, I am very pleased to see this announcement about the Scottish government’s budget. “It follows a great deal of work from Creative Scotland in setting out the impact and implications of the proposed budget reduction, and the enormously valuable advocacy work from people and organisations across Scotland’s culture sector and beyond. The board will now consider what this means for our budget and our funding in 2023/24 and we will announce more on this as soon as possible.” The Bookseller, 22 February.

The BookMachine Podcast: Conversations in Publishing - latest episode live, book fairs and Bologna in particular

The BookMachine Podcast: Conversations in Publishing shines a light on the unsung heroes of the publishing industry, sharing the career journeys of inspiring people across all departments. Orna O’Brien, Head of Marketing at BolognaBookPlus, formerly at London Book Fair and Publishing Training Centre. Orna is sharing insight into her career that has thrived on human connection and working to her strengths, with some advice on finding your place in the industry.

More.

Roald Dahl controversy

We were interested to see this as, of course, the books also appear in Scots versions.

More.

Open Books sessions from The Publishers Association

Open Books is a virtual initiative to connect young people with potential careers within the books industry. Demystifying career options, identifying routes in, and positioning the book industry alongside other inspirational creative industries such as film, TV and music, Open Books is a series of free, accessible online events targeting 14–19 year olds, and especially those from under-represented backgrounds.

More.

Events

StAnza 2023

Tickets are now on sale for StAnza 2023 in St. Andrews from 9-12 March for a brilliant weekend of poetry. Check out the full programme.

More.

How To Get Published, Edinburgh

Writers and Artists are partnering with the Open University Scotland to offer a full day conference packed with practical presentations and panel discussions from authors and publishing industry professionals. 11 March, Summerhall.

More.

The UK Book Consumer 2022

In 2023 Nielsen BookData’s annual presentation on the UK book consumer will be offered as a hybrid event with the option to join digitally or in London at the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza. It will take place on Wednesday 22nd March from 10:30am – 11:30am.

More.

SYP Scotland Spring conference - 1 April, Edinburgh

SYP Scotland proudly presents their annual Spring 2023 Conference – Skill Seekers: Navigating the Rollercoaster World of Publishing.

More.

Opportunities



Bloody Scotland prizes - apply by 31 March

McIlvanney Prize and Debut Prize are now open for crime writing submissions. Please note that the eligibility criteria have changed so you might find that more of your authors are now eligible. The winner of The McIlvanney Prize – Scottish Crime Book of the Year will receive £1,000 and the winner of The Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year will receive £500. Books entered for The Debut Prize will automatically be considered for The McIlvanney Prize.

More.

The Printing Charity’s Rising Star Awards open for entries until 2 April

The Rising Star Awards are to fund training and development opportunities to help young people aged 18-30 in our sector, whatever their role, develop vital skills to progress their career and thrive in the print industry of the future. Previous applicants have selected courses to help with collaboration and teamwork, boost resilience and confidence and improve presentation skills, as well as Chartered Institute and core skills training.

More.

New fund for Poetry Pamphlet Publishers - apply by 3 April

This fund is administered by the Scottish Poetry Library on behalf of Creative Scotland. The Poetry Pamphlet fund is a pilot fund to support Scottish poetry pamphlet publishers. To provide some help in this time of financial uncertainty, the fund will be a one-time opportunity for eligible publishers to apply for grants of £500-£750. This can include funding for ongoing or already-planned projects, such as marketing costs, publication costs, author fees, and production costs. Any pamphlet publisher based in Scotland may apply.

More.

Scots Language Publication Grant - apply by 23 April

Publishers are invited to apply by noon on Wednesday 18 April 2023.

Funded by the Scottish Government and administered by Scottish Book Trust, the Scots Language Publication Grant was created by the Scots Language Resource Network to support Scottish and UK publishers to publish and promote work written in Scots. The grant is designed to cover publishing costs such as editing, advances, illustrations and cover design, typesetting, printing and marketing.

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Call for applications - Rendez-vous in Montreal in November 2023, participate in the Québec Édition fellowship program, apply by 1 June.

About ten publishers will have the unique opportunity to discover the Quebec and French Canadian book markets while developing business relations with book professionals from Quebec and around the world. Québec Édition welcomes publishers from all nationalities and all editorial fields (children's books, YA literature, fiction, essays, scientific textbooks, university press, etc.). The Rendez-vous program will include a visit of Montreal's literary scene, meetings with publishers at the Montreal Book Fair, some networking events and more. The transportation and accommodation expenses are covered by Québec Édition and affiliate partners.

More.

Visit our opportunities page for more.

Jobs

Jessica Kingsley: Production Editor

Apply by Thursday 2nd March to be considered for this full-time permanent position based in Edinburgh or any of the other Hachette offices.

Edinburgh International Book Festival: Administrator

Apply by 5pm on Friday 3rd March 2023 for this full-time, permanent position.

Little, Brown: Commissioning Editor/Senior Commissioning Editor

Apply by Friday 3rd March for this full-time permanent position based in Edinburgh, London, Newcastle, Manchester of Sheffield or Bristol.

The Scottish Text Society: Administrative Officer

Apply by Tuesday 7th March for this part-time role based online and in Edinburgh.

Prepress Projects: Publishing Intern

Apply by noon on Friday 7 April 2023 for this internship (or possibly two internships) of up to 13 weeks in Perth.

Visit our jobs page for more.