The BookMachine Podcast: Conversations in Publishing BookMachine

Building a career in publishing – whether in a large or small company – requires a great amount of self awareness. Key to this is understanding how you have to be, and what you have to do, to be successful. We were delighted to speak with Rebecca Smart, about her role as Leadership and Talent Coach at Penguin Random House as well as an accomplished career leading teams at publishers large and small. We asked her about the art of coaching and how it features in developing high performing teams...

We were delighted to speak with Olivia Tanner, Digital Marketing Strategist at BookMachine Creative Agency and experienced education marketer about the importance of marketing to schools in the right way. We asked her about what techniques and approaches she uses to get busy teachers on board and why teacher case studies and hearing directly from their peers is so powerful. She also shared insights from her career including time at Rising Stars, Hodder Education.Find out about BookMachine at ...

With spiralling costs and huge disruption to the supply chain, publishing production departments have had it tough of late. We speak with award-winning production professional Srishti Kadu to get her take on the recent changes and challenges that production colleagues are responding to. We discuss her thoughts on production careers, global impacts on the industry, diversity and inclusion, and developments in accessibility. She also shares insights into her career journey and the top prioritie...

Managing teams across generations and departments can call for a variety of approaches and working styles, which is why hearing from experts on the topic is key. We were delighted to speak with Shannon Cullen, Group Publishing Director of Quarto Kids, about her career and journey to her role where she is now. We ask about her experience moving from Editorial Manager all the way up to Publishing Director at Penguin Random House UK, and how her leadership or management style has changed over th...

The publishing industry has changed a lot in the past few years, how are industry leaders changing with it? We were thrilled to speak with Emma House, Founder and Managing Consultant of the Oreham Group, about her approach to leadership and what lights her up when managing teams and company strategies. We talk about the challenges posed by the pandemic, Brexit and cost of living crisis on motivations and inspiration within publishing companies, Publishers Without Borders, and offer some solut...

People in leadership roles in the publishing industry have a lot of responsibility to lead the way with diversity and inclusion in the front of their minds. They are responsible for opening doorways and creating space in an industry that’s often been described as opaque or tight-knit. But how can publishers do this the right way, from hiring, in their campaigns and beyond? We spoke with Jaini and Lydia about how publishers can build internal systems that welcome and include people from all ba...