Publishing Scotland and Booksellers Association Book Trade Conference 2018

22 February 2018

Jenny Brown

Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates did her usual great job of chairing the conference. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Welcome

Meryl Halls, Head of Membership Services at the BA (left) and Marion Sinclair, Chief Executive of Publishing Scotland, welcome everyone at the start of the 2018 Conference. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Sally Magnusson

The conference got off to a great start with author, broadcaster and journalist Sally Magnusson. Sally spoke about how writing has always been part of her life, how it has become increasingly important to her over recent years changing from an 'escape' to a 'burning desire', learning the craft and feeling part of a team with her publisher and the wider book world. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Steve Bohme with slide

Once again we were delighted to get a preview of the key retail market trends of 2017 from Nielsen's Steve Bohme. The information is embargoed until the Quantum conference in April in London. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Steve Bohme

Nielsen's Steve Bohme delivering the 2017 market trends data in his inimitable style. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Conference bag 2018

This year's conference bag was the very stylish Coralie Bickford Smith designed 'Books are my Bag' courtesy of the Booksellers Association. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
PPA stand

The exhibitors included PPA Scotland. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Delegates chatting

Publisher Keith Charters chats to speakers Jenny Niven (left) and Fiona Brownlee (right). Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
The Bookseller stand

Delegates look through last month's Scottish issue of The Bookseller at The Bookseller's exhibition stand. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Sally Hampton

Sally Hampton, Consumer Magazines Publisher, DC Thomson Media, delivered a session on resilience and raising the profile of publications. Her case studies included the revitalizing of a 275-year-old magazine. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Jamie Keenan and Jon Gray

Designers Jamie Keenan (left) and Jon Gray told us about setting up and running the Academy of British Cover Design awards. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
The Academy of British Cover Design

Jamie Keenan (left) and Jon Gray finished up by telling us they had their biggest ever number of entries for the ABCD Awards 2018 - 1162! Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Brains Trust session

In the morning there were separate streams for booksellers and publishers. The booksellers attended the Brains Trust session (a series of interactive, round-table “masterclasses”). Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Nigel Roby

Before the Trade and Marketing Panel discussion got underway, Nigel Roby of The Bookseller thanked Scottish publishers for their contributions to the Scottish issue and encouraged them to keep in touch. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
The Trade and Marketing Panel

The Trade and Marketing Panel discussion on 'The Next Big Idea?' was chaired by Jenny Niven, Creative Scotland (left). The four panellists were (from left): booksellers Bob Johnston, The Gutter Bookshop and Calum McGhie, Blackwells; publisher Laura Jones, 404 Ink; and Annie Stone, BookBub. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
The Trade and Marketing Panellists

The panelists presented and discussed ideas for the coming year and answered questions from the audience. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Bob Johnston

Bob Johnston of The Gutter Bookshop in Dublin. Bob's idea was for publishers to work creatively with the Independent Bookshop Alliance eg pitching ideas for promotions that many bookshops would take up at the same time. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Calum McGhie

Calum McGhie of Blackwell's (Edinburgh South Bridge). Calum's idea was for booksellers to learn more about individual publishers. He suggested publishers invite booksellers to their offices to find out about how they work and produce the books on their lists. He also reminded publishers that they were welcome to work in bookshops. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Laura Jones

Publisher Laura Jones of 404 Ink. Thinking about people who don't normally visit bookshops, perhaps because they don't feel comfortable in them, Laura came up with the idea of bookshop tours. Later discussion of this well received idea, built on it by suggesting working with partners who already worked with the target audience. Laura also presented an idea from publisher Sara Hunt about learning from other industries such as the music industry eg charging to see high profile authors (rather than free events) but pairing them with a debut or less well-known author. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Annie Stone

Annie Stone of BookBub. Annie encouraged publishers to focus on their digital backlist allocating at least some time every week to it eg tying in relevant titles to topical news, holidays etc. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Fever Pitch

The limited number of slots (for publishers to pitch books to the assembled booksellers) get signed up very quickly. 404 Ink publishers Laura Jones (left of screen) and Heather McDaid (on the right) were among those who delivered a 4-minute pitch at the 2018 conference. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Bob McDevitt

Bob McDevitt of Aye Write!, Bloody Scotland and Winter Words, spoke at the breakout session on working with authors and book festivals. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Janet Smyth

Janet Smyth of EIBF, spoke at the breakout session on working with authors and book festivals. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Crawford Goodwin and Lewis Dawson

Crawford Goodwin of Lomond Books (left) and Lewis Dawson of Bookspeed were the speakers at the breakout session on tourist organisations and book supply. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
David Robinson

Freelance journalist David Robinson was one of the speakers at the print media and maximising PR breakout session. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Fiona Brownlee

Fiona Brownlee of Brownlee Donald Associates was one of the speakers at the print media and maximising PR breakout session. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Delegates at breaktime

The refreshment and lunch breaks provided good opportunities for delegates to chat and make new contacts. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Publishers at breaktime

Publishers from Saraband, 404 Ink and Floris Books catch up during a break. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Julia Kingsford and Virginie Clarke

Julia Kingsford (left) and Virginie Clarke spoke about reaching and building new audiences. Recognising that publishing is homogeneous and not inclusive, they suggested ideas for tackling the problem and gave examples from their own work. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.
Dr Richard Holloway

The longest and warmest applause of the day was reserved for Dr Richard Holloway whose closing keynote speech was a fitting end to the 2018 conference. Photo by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.

The joint Publishing Scotland and Booksellers Association Scottish Book Trade Conference 2018 #scotbookconf took place on Thursday 22 February at Central Hall, Tollcross, Edinburgh.

The conference is the biggest get-together of publishers and booksellers in Scotland.

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Conference Programme 2018 (download pdf 2 pages)

Conference Chair: Jenny Brown, Jenny Brown Associates

MORNING

09.00: Registration and refreshments sponsored by Batch Ltd

09.30: Welcome from Publishing Scotland, the Booksellers Association and Conference Chair
09.40: Keynote speech - sponsored by Bertram Books - Sally Magnusson, writer and broadcaster
10.15: The Key Retail Market Trends 2016/17 - Steve Bohme, UK Research Director, Nielsen Book

11.00: Morning refreshments sponsored by Nielsen

Separate sessions for publishers and booksellers:

11.20: For publishers

Building Resilience and raising the profile of publications - Sally Hampton, Consumer Magazines Publisher, DC Thomson Media
The Academy of British Cover Design - designers Jon Gray and Jamie Keenan

11.20: For booksellers: Bookseller Brains Trust

Running a Big Book Promotion - Helen Stanton, Forum Books
Working With Community Partners to Create Events - Mairi Oliver, Lighthouse Bookshop
Using Instagram Effectively for Bookshops - Julie Danskin, Golden Hare
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Batch - Fraser Tanner, Batch Ltd
Dyslexia-Friendly Books - Kirstin Lamb, Barrington Stoke

AFTERNOON

13.00: Lunch sponsored by Bertram Books

14.00: Trade and Marketing Panel - The Next Big Idea? Chair: Jenny Niven, Creative Scotland. Panel: Publishers Sara Hunt, Saraband and Laura Jones, 404 Ink; booksellers Bob Johnston, Gutter Bookshop and Calum McGhie, Blackwells; Annie Stone from BookBub and Nigel Roby, The Bookseller, predict and present ideas for the coming year
14.45: Fever Pitch - Publishers pitching to booksellers (pre-booked slots) sponsored by Gardners

OR publisher workshop sessions:

Nielsen - Using Thema to increase the discovery of your books - Jo Shaw, Sales Director
Working with authors and book festivals - Bob McDevitt, AyeWrite! / Bloody Scotland and Janet Smyth, Children and Education Programme Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival
Working with print media and maximising PR - David Robinson, Freelance Journalist and Editor, and Fiona Brownlee, Brownlee Donald Associates
Tourist organisations and book supply - Lewis Dawson, MD, Bookspeed and Crawford Goodwin, Commercial Director, Lomond Books

15.45: Afternoon refreshments sponsored by Publishers' Licensing Services Ltd

16.15: Reaching and Building New Audiences - How to create and engage new audiences, reflect a diverse community, improve the impact of books and bookselling and create real change - Julia Kingsford, The Good Agency and The Good Journal and Virginie Clarke, Moon Lane Ink CIC and Tales on Moon Lane Children's Bookshop
16.45: Closing Keynote: A Life With Books - Dr Richard Holloway, FRSE, Scottish writer, broadcaster and cleric
17.15: Conference ends - round up and close from Chair

17.30: Drinks receptionsponsored by BookBub

Thank you to the London Book Fair and Unwin Charitable Trust for their overall sponsorship and support of the conference

EXHIBITORS

You will find our exhibitors in the Hall where we take refreshments - please make time to visit their stands during the day.

Batch Ltd and the Booksellers Association
Bertram Books
Nielsen Book
Unwin Charitable Trust
Creative Europe
PPA Scotland (Professional Publishers Association)

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All photos above of the 2018 conference are by Sandy Young of Sandy Young Photography.

Publishing Scotland and Booksellers Association Book Trade Conference 2018

Jenny Brown

Welcome

Sally Magnusson

Steve Bohme with slide

Steve Bohme

Conference bag 2018

PPA stand

Delegates chatting

The Bookseller stand

Sally Hampton

Jamie Keenan and Jon Gray

The Academy of British Cover Design

Brains Trust session

Nigel Roby

The Trade and Marketing Panel

The Trade and Marketing Panellists

Bob Johnston

Calum McGhie

Laura Jones

Annie Stone

Fever Pitch

Bob McDevitt

Janet Smyth

Crawford Goodwin and Lewis Dawson

David Robinson

Fiona Brownlee

Delegates at breaktime

Publishers at breaktime

Julia Kingsford and Virginie Clarke

Dr Richard Holloway

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Conference Programme 2018 (download pdf 2 pages)

MORNING

AFTERNOON

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