Talking through my hat
56 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago -This podcast explores bookish businesses and the fantastic people who create them, looking at why business are started, how they keep going and where we can take them in the future. I'm John Pettigrew - a hat wearer, a recovering editor and the creator of Futureproofs, and you can subscribe to this podcast at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow me on Twitter as @john_pettigrew. The podcast is on hiatus for a few months from Easter 2019 but we'll be back later in the year with more great people!
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Episodes
53: People and technology: the future of making books
October 27, 2020 12:00 - 56 minutes - 32.7 MBThis year has shown once again how technology is vital to the making of books - and that our needs can change in a heartbeat, but also that people are always at the heart of what we do. Join our panel to discuss questions like: does tech ever change what we're trying to do, or just how we do it? how do we balance the development of skilled publishing teams with the use of new technologies? where do these two aims align, and where do they not? how do we equip our teams to make best use...
52: Publishing people: build teams and careers in 2020
October 20, 2020 12:00 - 55 minutes - 31.7 MBThis year has shown once again how important our teams and business relationships are - and that our needs can change in a heartbeat. Join our panel to discuss questions like: is there such a thing as a career these days, and how do you build one if so? what changes are happening in our workplaces, and how do we make the most of them? how do we address the fact that the publishing business doesn't properly represent our country, communities or readers? what do you do when the unexpect...
51: Publishing innovation: how do we manage change?
October 14, 2020 17:13 - 56 minutes - 32.3 MBThis year has proved, more than ever, that it's impossible to predict the future. But given change is inevitable, how do we manage and prepare for change? Our panel discusses questions like: how do we identify where change is needed in our business? how do we get our teams on board with the idea of change? how do we pick our battles and make sure the most important changes happen? how do we know things are heading in the right direction? The panel discussion was streamed live on YouT...
50: Why start a publishing business? (Best Bits)
April 16, 2019 11:22 - 24 minutes - 33.9 MBFor episode 50, I've looked back at the past year of interviews and put together a compilation of some of the best bits - or, at least, some memorable ones for me! In this episode, I look back at why people set up a publishing business, whether it's a small publisher, a tech business or something else. Reasons range from being made redundant, through frustration with how the industry works, to a simple passion for doing something else. This episode features extracts from interviews with Em...
49: Passion and idealism (Hugh McGuire interview)
April 09, 2019 12:28 - 30 minutes - 41.6 MBHugh McGuire is co-founder and Executive Director of the Rebus Foundation, the founder of Librivox, and the founder of Pressbooks, which helps publishers and authors easily create professionally designed print and ebook editions of their books. Before that, he worked in the world of electric power and alternative energy, but he's been trying to bring the world of the book together with the (better) world of the web since about 2005. He's particularly driven by the intersection of book publis...
48: Follow your customer (Miral Sattar interview)
April 02, 2019 11:23 - 29 minutes - 40.8 MBMiral Sattar is CEO and Founder of LearnSelfPublishingFast and of Bibliocrunch, an award-winning marketplace that connects authors with vetted editors, designers, marketers and more. She's worked in the media industries for 11 years, including launching several digital initiatives at Time. She's written for and been featured in Time, Forbes, Consumer Reports, CNN, and New York Daily News. She's also launching another new business, Bearily Bear, selling cuddly toys that read audiobooks to chi...
47: Readers, users and scale (Emmanuel Kolade interview)
March 26, 2019 12:00 - 31 minutes - 43.5 MBEmmanuel Kolade is the founder of Shulph, a book-technology company focussed on multi-format reading experiences. He comes from technology industry where he has spent the last 17 years specialising in human-centred design to build digital products. Before founding Shulph, Emmanuel led PricewaterhouseCoopers digital experience practice to deliver digital transformation programmes for some of the UK and world's leading brands. He's also worked for a wide range of large and small businesses fro...
46: From German Literature to blockchain (Sebastian Posth interview)
March 19, 2019 12:28 - 29 minutes - 39.9 MBSebastian Posth is a serial entrepreneur and consultant for the publishing industry, with a focus on digital publishing and innovation. His interests always feature the hot topics, currently including data analytics and blockchain technologies. Sebastian has been working for 15 years in a variety of roles to transform these new technologies into useful products, services or tools for the publishing industry, with the aim of supporting media companies to develop and implement a digital busine...
45: Access to ideas and nature (Helen Bagnall interview)
March 12, 2019 12:00 - 30 minutes - 41.7 MBHelen Bagnall is co-founder of Salon London, co-founder of the Transmission Prize for artists who promote bold, beautiful ideas, and also Director of the Also Festival of ideas. Before all that, she worked as a writer for Sony Pictures Entertainment, looking after characters across a range of platforms. In this episode, she talks about how Salon London helps people to spend time with new ideas, and how the Also Festival gives even more space for this, because you need time to properly lear...
44: Keeping a broad focus (Lorraine Shanley interview)
March 05, 2019 12:12 - 29 minutes - 40.4 MBLorraine Shanley is co-founder and President of Market Partners International, who are consultants for the changing environment of publishing. Before MPI, Lorraine worked at Barnes & Noble, Book of the Month Club and HarperCollins, and now also serves on the Advisory Board of New York University’s Publishing Program, and for five years chaired the Launch Kids Media conference at Digital Book World. In her spare time she writes articles on publishing, technology and social media, and regularl...
43: Following the river (Richard Nash interview)
February 26, 2019 11:59 - 34 minutes - 47.7 MBRichard Nash is a coach, strategist, and serial entrepreneur in new and traditional media. He led partnerships and content at the culture discovery start-up Small Demons and the new media app Byliner, and ran the publisher Soft Skull Press, for which work he was awarded the Association of American Publishers' Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing in 2005. Utne Reader named him one of Fifty Visionaries Changing Your World and in 2013 the Frankfurt Book Fair picked him as one of the F...
42: Finding new voices (Kevin Duffy interview)
February 19, 2019 12:00 - 35 minutes - 49.4 MBKevin Duffy is co-founder of Bluemoose Books. Having been in publishing for 20 years back in 2006, he and his wife mortgaged their house to start Bluemoose, with the aim of publishing new and exciting voices. Since then, their books have been sold in 82 countries, and had rights sold to British TV and Hollywood. He also founded the Northern Fiction Alliance, and is an author in his own right. In this episode, Kevin talks about how Bluemoose arose from his bile and anger with the big publis...
41: Growing open literature (Sean Preston interview)
February 12, 2019 12:00 - 33 minutes - 46.2 MBSean Preston is the founder and editor of short-fiction platform Open Pen, whose self-titled magazine has been described as “More like a shot of absinthe than a boring pint of lager,” and is making its first forays into book production. He's a proud East Londoner, an ex-pro wrestler, a full-time thing-maker at a South London record label, and an occasional short fiction writer. We talk about the deliberately analogue, hard-copy, zine approach that Sean took and the motivations behind that,...
40: From personal plaything to book business (Jens Tröger interview)
February 05, 2019 12:00 - 32 minutes - 44.6 MBJens Tröger, the founder of Bookalope is an experienced software engineer and computer science researcher with over two decades of industry experience including Microsoft Xbox, Intel Labs and Oracle Research. He is also a book lover, typophile and book designer for print and e-publishing. Bookalope weds his two passions (computer science and book design) in a set of intelligent tools that automate analysis, clean up, and conversion to and from various formats. In this episode, we talk abou...
39: Learn by building (Ron Martinez interview)
January 29, 2019 12:00 - 32 minutes - 44.2 MBRon Martinez is the Founder and Principal of design and product-innovation firm Invention Arts, and also a prolific inventor with >60 US patents and many more worldwide in the fields of media, mobile and social technologies, and commerce. He's worked in Intellectual Property Innovation for Yahoo!, and enjoyed a long and successful career designing, producing, and coding consumer software products, including pioneering interactive fiction, entertainment and educational software, massively mul...
38: Building a grammar for augmented reality (Michael Kowalski interview)
January 22, 2019 11:23 - 27 minutes - 38.3 MBMichael Kowalski is the founder of Storienteer, which is exploring augmented-reality, as well as the programme director of the Confluence conference this February. Before all that, he worked as a software developer at the Guardian and was Head of Publishing for a digital initiative at News International, as well as founding two other businesses, Kitsite and Contentment. In this episode, we talk about what augmented reality, or mixed reality, actually is and what it could mean, as well as t...
37: Just-in-time learning (Ryan Morison interview)
January 15, 2019 12:00 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MBRyan Morison is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience across two continents developing and commercialising digital publishing solutions, from a digital reading ecosystem, through a multichannel content-management solution to an award-winning direct-sales platform. He's even run a successful crowdfunding campaign for a subscription-based website! Now, he runs publishing-technology company Erudition and direct-to-consumer music publisher Informance. In this week's episode, w...
36: Curation as marketing (Gary Price interview)
January 08, 2019 19:45 - 34 minutes - 47 MBGary Price is a librarian, author and co-founder of infoDocket (on the web and Twitter), now part of the Library Journal. Before that, he co-founded ResourceShelf and Docuticker, which he edited and ran for ten years. In addition, he's worked as a librarian at George Washington University and as Director of Online Information Resources at Ask.com. In this week's episode, we talk about the importance of curation in an information-rich environment, and how being that curator helps establish ...
Christmas holidays!
December 19, 2018 08:22Thanks to you all for listening to the podcast this year. It's been so interesting for me to talk to so many fantastic people from our industry - and even more so to share those conversations with you. I'm going to take a little break from posting new episodes over the Christmas period, but I'll be back from the 8th of January with more dives into the wonderful business of publishing. Have a very merry Christmas, and I hope to talk to you in the New Year!
35: Technology, process and people (Bill Rosenblatt interview)
December 18, 2018 12:00 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBBill Rosenblatt is a media-industry commentator on intellectual property and technology, President of GiantSteps Media Technology Strategies, and programme chair of the Copyright and Technology Conferences. In addition, he's spoken at the Davos summit, written a book about the business and practice of DRM, and come up through publishing from an IT background. In this episode, we talk about what it's like to work in publishing and media when you come from an IT background, and what it was l...
34: Climbing a new ladder (Joanna Penn interview)
December 11, 2018 11:50 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBJoanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She spent more than a decade as an IT consultant, but is now much better known as a writer and independent publisher of thrillers and dark fantasy novels, an award-winning entrepreneur, a publishing commentator, and a podcaster and YouTuber. Her long-running blog, The Creative Penn, shares what she's learned and helps give authors the information and inspiration they need to get published. In this episode, we talk about star...
33: Flexibility and community (Georgina Atwell interview)
December 04, 2018 11:29 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBGeorgina Atwell is the founder of Toppsta, a community for reading, reviewing and discovering great children's books. Before that, she worked at Penguin UK, and also for Apple's iBooks team, which all gives her a unique perspective! In this episode, we talk about the importance of flexibility to a small business, how best to use Facebook and social media (and when to own your own customer relationships), and how writing and reading reviews gives a better experience than algorithms.
32: Metadata and markets (Laura Dawson interview)
November 27, 2018 12:00 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBLaura Dawson is a metadata expert for the media, entertainment and publishing industries, and the Founder/CEO of Numerical Gurus. After years working in and around publishing, she got involved with the International Standard Name Identifier. And, on the side, she ran The Solitary Chef, a book and website platform for people who live alone. In this week's episode, we talk about the ISNI and why musician and actress Lady Gaga has two while Brian May (Queen guitarist and astrophysicist) has o...
31: Accidental publishers (Asi Sharabi interview)
November 20, 2018 12:00 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBAsi Sharabi is Co-Founder and CEO of Wonderbly. Before this successful venture into the world of publishing, he spent time as a researcher and lecturer at the LSE, worked at startups, and was MD of Sidekick studios. Now, of course, at Wonderbly, he leads a team creating highly personalised print books for children, starting with their original book Lost My Name. Asi describes Wonderbly as "accidental publishers" and is very proud to have become part of the publishing industry - even though...
30: In the global marketplace (Jo Bottrill interview)
November 13, 2018 12:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBJo Bottrill worked for Nature, Taylor & Francis and Cambridge University Press before setting up Out of House Publishing over 11 years ago to help academic and educational publishers to develop, edit and produce their content. In this episode, we talk about how Jo grew his business from freelancing to being a global partner for major publishers and how he dealt with the challenges that that change in scale brought. And also about how building trust is crucial for success - both between you...
29: Making authors and building brands (Dominique Raccah interview)
November 06, 2018 16:06 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBDominique Raccah is Founder, Publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks, which has over the years grown to produce everything from children's books to college guides. It is the largest woman-owned book publisher in the USA, as well as the largest trade book publisher in Chicago. Dominique has long been recognized as an innovator and was named Publishers Weekly's Person of the Year in 2016. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and The New York Times. In this wide-ranging int...
28: No-one wants a "quite good" book (John Bond interview)
October 30, 2018 11:31 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MBJohn Bond is the Co-Founder of WhiteFox, a new breed of publishing services company. He set up WhiteFox after being Marketing Director at Virgin Publishing, Penguin and HarperCollins, and then MD at HarperCollins. In our interview, we talk about finding co-founders among your existing relationships, and about how it can take a lot longer to get where you want to be than you thought - but also that these mistakes and diversions can be important for learning what you need to say No to. And a...
27: Protecting people from tech (Arthur Attwell interview)
October 23, 2018 12:00 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBArthur Attwell is a self-described serial adventurer in publishing innovation, and has co-founded several publishing businesses, perhaps most famously Paperight, which enabled people in Africa to print out legal copies of books from local photocopy shops. Currently, he runs Electric Bookworks, using unique tech skills and open-source tools to build complex books in multiple formats simultaneously. In this episode, we talk about how Arthur's love of building machines (people, processes and ...
26: Soppiness and profit (Justine Solomons interview)
October 16, 2018 11:22 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBJustine Solomons is a networker extraordinaire and Founder of Byte the Book, which helps writers and publishers to learn more about the publishing industry, and to make connections that will help them in their careers. In this episode, we talk about building a business on helping other people while also being clearly focused on making a profitable business. Also, how everything is sales, while scaling means learning to lean on other people and delegate work. "Our work is just a dream, unti...
25: Working hard at learning (Michael Bhaskar interview)
October 09, 2018 12:00 - 29 minutes - 27.5 MBMichael Bhaskar is the Co-Founder of digital publisher Canelo, author of the books The Content Machine and Curation, and also Writer-in-Residence at Google's DeepMind with the Ethics and Society team. In this episode, we talk about how Canelo tries to do things differently - not just the obvious "being digital" stuff but also using marginal gains to produce a large overall result, and how the economics work differently for small publishers, enabling them to work effectively with "mid-list"...
24: Finding the business model (Nina-Sophia Miralles interview)
October 02, 2018 12:00 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBNina-Sophia Miralles is the Founder of digital culture magazine Londnr. She is a writer and editor with a focus on arts, culture and lifestyle, served as Head of Partnerships and Special Projects for the Society of Young Publishers in 2017, and has received awards from The Hospital Club and the Young Stationers. In this episode, we talk about how a side-project turned into a full-time business based on providing writers and journalists with a paying market for their writing, with a clear f...
23: An agent's journey (Fiona Spencer Thomas interview)
September 25, 2018 12:00 - 22 minutes - 10.2 MBFiona Spencer Thomas is a literary agent and book publicist who works with a range of authors on both fiction and non-fiction. In this podcast episode, she talks about how she got started as an agent, what a literary agent does for her clients, and how her own passion drives her choices. It was interesting to talk about striking the balance between creativity and nit-picking attention to detail - between helping writers create better books and handling the fine points of royalties and cont...
22: Crisis and opportunity (Kate Wilson interview)
September 18, 2018 09:00 - 29 minutes - 13.6 MBKate Wilson is the Founder and CEO of Nosy Crow, an award-winning child-focused, parent-friendly publisher of children's books. Kate has an extensive pedigree in publishing, but her decision to start a publishing company has its roots in a professional crisis that she's turned to a comprehensive victory! In this episode, we talk about the need to know yourself as a Founder, and to surround yourself with people who will complement your strengths (and weaknesses), and about how even commerci...
21: Nearly writing, nearly working (Chris Meade interview)
September 11, 2018 12:00 - 25 minutes - 11.8 MBChris Meade is a newly-minted Doctor of Nearlyology (not, as I mis-spoke in the introduction to the podcast "Director of Nearlyology"!), as well as running If:book, which among other things supports the New Media Writing Prize and the Dot Awards. We talk about what he means by "nearlyology", the differences between running a for-profit business and a charitable company that is primarily funded by grants, and the relationship between thinking and doing. But most importantly, the nature and ...
20: Top down or bottom up? (Nancy Roberts interview)
September 04, 2018 12:00 - 25 minutes - 11.7 MBNancy Roberts took time off from a successful career in publishing to work out what she really wanted to do, and how she could continue growing. Her answer to that was first Business Inclusivity (consulting with publishing companies to help them understand and improve their diversity and inclusivity) and recently Umbrella Analytics (providing hard data, comparison and analysis to back this up). In the podcast, we talk about how Nancy took the opportunity afforded her by an MBA to reflect o...
19: Getting inside someone's head (Emma Donnan interview)
August 01, 2018 15:19 - 24 minutes - 11.4 MBEmma Donnan is a ghostwriter, and in this week's podcast we explore the often-overlooked and important work that ghostwriters do. In Emma's case this grew from her work as a journalist, and she sees her work writing memoirs as an extension of that - discovering and spreading stories that from extraordinary people, as well as from ordinary people who have important stories.
18: Don't listen to the doubters (Justo Hidalgo interview)
July 24, 2018 11:01 - 27 minutes - 12.7 MBJusto Hidalgo co-founded 24symbols 8 years ago, and this 'Spotify for Books' contender is still around and successful. In this week's podcast, we talk about how books really can compete against Angry Birds, the importance of continuing to provide ways for people to easily find and read books, and of balancing your work and home life. In the episode, Justo mentions several great business books in passing so I thought I'd list them here for you. Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown...
17: Focus on the problem (Bec Evans interview)
July 17, 2018 12:00 - 26 minutes - 12.2 MBBec Evans is Co-Founder of Prolifiko, the digital productivity coach for writers that uses persuasive technology to help people achieve their writing goals. She's also worked as Head of Innovation for Emerald Group and as Centre Director for Ted Hughes's historic house and grounds, and the writing courses that were held there. In the episode, we talk about finding a problem you're passionate about, and embracing the fact that your solution to that problem will change. Being a Founder means...
16: Lead the market (Emmanuel Nataf interview)
July 10, 2018 12:00 - 26 minutes - 12.3 MBEmmanuel Nataf is the co-Founder and CEO of Reedsy, a marketplace for authors, editors, designers, marketers and more to come together and form teams to get books published. In this interview, we talk about Emmanuel's belief in leading the market - coming up with new ideas and solutions rather than just asking what people want. Also, how he founded a business to save his own mental health, picking the right home country for your company, and finding networks to help and support you. In the...
15: Discovering and repeating success (Tom Chalmers interview)
July 03, 2018 12:00 - 24 minutes - 11.4 MBTom Chalmers is Founder and MD at the Legend Times Group, and also founded IPR License (now sold to the Frankfurt Book Fair). In this week's episode, we talk about finding your way to success in publishing with a combination of serendipity and deliberate reflection, using market comparisons and data to focus on the areas where you have the greatest chance for success. And don't be put off by the craziness of your ideas!
14: Local action, global passion (Syima Aslam interview)
June 26, 2018 12:00 - 29 minutes - 13.5 MBSyima Aslam co-founded the Bradford Literature Festival in 2014, and in this episode we discuss what makes this festival special, the ways that a literature festival helps the city that hosts it, and what it means for her to run this successful, growing annual event. In particular, her passion for reading and stories shines through - and for her home city and how books, libraries and reading in general are essential for young people to succeed in life. It's inspiring how she's making "litera...
13: Be your own Google (John Espirian interview)
June 19, 2018 12:00 - 25 minutes - 11.5 MBThis week, John Espirian and I talk about how to be your own Google (providing the best answers to people's real questions in your areas of expertise), pursing clarity and simplicity in your writing, and how content marketing can work for your business by creating content that works for you even when you're on holiday - and how to balance the time spent creating that content against the time spent doing the work that directly brings in revenue! John is a freelance copywriter, helping busin...
12: An unexpected need (Mindy Gibbins-Klein interview)
June 12, 2018 12:00 - 26 minutes - 12.2 MBMindy Gibbins-Klein and I talk about finding your business idea in unexpected directions, the importance of peer support (for your staff, for your authors and especially for you as the person running the business), and how to balance the need to plan for the future with the need to respond to what's happening now. Mindy runs Panoma Press and The Book Midwife, helping people to find their best message and turn it into a great book. She came from a corporate marketing background and moved in...
11: Outside your comfort zone (Simon Appleby interview)
June 05, 2018 12:00 - 23 minutes - 10.6 MBSimon Appleby is Founder and Director of Bookswarm, the digital agency for the publishing industry. In this week's episode, we talk about being a non-specialist founder of a tech company, the power of networks and personal connections, and the idea of business-karma and "paying it forward".
10: Better together (Bridget Shine interview)
May 29, 2018 11:48 - 22 minutes - 10.3 MBBridget Shine is the Chief Executive of the Independent Publishers' Guild, a UK-based organisation that helps independent publishers to have better business through support, training, communication and a whole range of activities. She's run the IPG for about 15 years, in which time it's more than doubled in size. In our conversation, we talk about the ways in which the IPG helps its members, as well as the approach Bridget takes and what she's learned. What always amazes me about the IPG i...
9: People, people, people (Suzy Astbury interview)
May 22, 2018 11:13 - 27 minutes - 12.4 MBSuzy Astbury owns and runs Inspired Selection, a recruitment agency dedicated to the publishing industry. In this podcast, we talk about her early determination to run a business, her decision to buy Inspired Selection, and the many things that working in recruitment brings. It's not just the people who work for us, either, but those we work for, those who advise and support us, and those who hold us to account. Overall, a great conversation!
8: Experimenting and learning, from print to digital (Ken Jones interview)
May 15, 2018 12:00 - 28 minutes - 12.9 MBKen Jones is Director of Circular Software, creating software like CircularFLO (to easily create advanced fixed-layout EPUBs) and GreenLight (to make sure that files from your team and suppliers follow all the right specs for your printer). He's also helped develop exciting ebooks like Galdo's Gift (with Tapocketa), which we talk a little about in the podcast. In this episode, Ken talks about his background in print (an actual family tradition), his time spent training and in particular hi...
7: Passion and working on your business (Alison Jones interview)
May 08, 2018 11:14 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBIn this week's episode, Alison Jones and I talk about how important it is to work on your business as well as in it - that is, to plan carefully. But even more, how passion and fun can drive you to success while making sure you enjoy the journey. Alison's worked in publishing for 25 years, starting as a bookseller and then an assistant editor at Chambers, then Oxford University Press and Palgrave Macmillan, to become Digital Innovation Director. Then she left to make a career change, and b...
6. Checking my privilege
May 01, 2018 11:15 - 14 minutes - 6.64 MBThis was the hardest episode of this podcast so far to record (so apologies in advance for the slightly scrappy quality of some of the audio), because I'm getting personal about some subjects that are often taboo - education, career progression, choices, and the privileges that affect our access to these things. "Privilege" is the preferential treatment that we get from other people, companies and society in general because of our skin colour, socioeconomic class, gender, health or other fac...
5: Surviving the workplace (Suzanne Collier interview)
April 24, 2018 11:22 - 28 minutes - 13.1 MBSuzanne Collier (@suzannecollier) of BookCareers entered publishing at 16 from school and has since then chaired the Society for Young Publishers and worked for a range of publishers in a range of jobs. Some changes in personal circumstance led to her setting up her own business, and over the past 20 years, Suzanne's been instrumental in making the publishing industry a bit more open and honest through exercises like her annual pay survey. And along the way, she's helped a lot of people with...