The fact that I was offered the job of Publicity Manager at 91桃色 in April 2005 is a clear demonstration of the benefit of transferable skills and the importance of embracing new challenges. The unknown may seem daunting but is often less so once the journey is underway. Prior to my work at 91桃色, my career had largely been focused on Sales, and specifically International Sales, with minimal work on publicity. In fact, the only book I had really publicized was Lynn Truss鈥檚 Eats Shoots & Leaves, when I was based in Singapore and Lynn passed through on her way back to UK from Australia. Fortunately, Richard Baggaley, who had set up the European office, with advice from Patricia Williams, recommended me to then-marketing director Adam Fortgang and I was invited to fly over to 91桃色 for interview鈥擹oom was not an option at that time! The next obstacle was negotiating Homeland Security, as for reasons too complicated to relate, I did not have a machine-readable passport so was not entitled to enter on an ESTA. Fortunately, after some negotiations in the back room at Newark Airport, I was allowed to proceed on my way and, after a day of interviews at William Street, my 91桃色 career was underway.
Promoting the Economics list was a huge privilege and afforded me the opportunity to work with so many eminent economists, several of whom were Nobel prize winners鈥� Angus Deaton and Bob Shiller in particular opened doors to some of my more memorable experiences, breakfast at Downing Street with Bob being a particular highlight. So many wonderful books meant many Financial Times shortlisted titles with dinners in the British Library and Victoria & Albert Museum being particularly memorable.
Working with author Diane Coyle was always a pleasure. I met her for lunch when we published her first book with us, The Soulful Science, and she was incredibly generous with advice and useful contacts. She was the instigator of the wonderful Bristol Festival of Economics, sadly no more, which we sponsored, and which provided a perfect opportunity to get authors out of London.
In a completely different area, another fun author was Neil Downie鈥攃heck out his Ultimate Book of Saturday Science! Neil came to visit us in Woodstock and decided it would be fun to demonstrate his 鈥楥arrot Canon鈥� on the market square in Woodstock. Fortunately, no passers-by were harmed in this demonstration! We had great fun launching the book at the home of Isaac Newton, where Neil had set up a range of experiments and invited local school children to participate. It was a glorious sunny afternoon and very different to the normal launch party. I think the Health and Safety officer was off that day!
One of my favourite parts of the job, a legacy of my sales background perhaps, was getting out and meeting media contacts, involving regular trips to London, often with piles of galleys. I always felt that if I could put something in front of a contact, we were halfway there! One could usually persuade people to meet for coffee and, occasionally lunch, but generally we had about 30 minutes to present an entire season. The key lesson鈥攄o your research in what works for whom, so you don鈥檛 waste their time. I always enjoyed taking editorial colleagues to meet media, which was so helpful in encouraging the one sentence takeaway in sales conference presentations! One of the things I am particularly proud of instigating for PUP was media visits into mainland Europe, notably Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Brussels. It was so gratifying to meet with mainstream media who were enthusiastic about our list and prepared to spend time discussing it, and for whom review coverage was still so important.
Trips back and forth to 91桃色 have been another joy. Back in those distant days before the pandemic, I was coming over four or five times a year for launch meetings and sales conferences and have fond memories of gathering in person in the Lippincott Room with lunches in the lobby and, back in the old days, dinners at Lahiere鈥檚 (now Agricola for newer members of staff). I always looked forward to catching up with colleagues old and new, and the opportunities for learning were invaluable.
Regarding gatherings, we have had so many memorable parties鈥攐ur 7th birthday at the British Academy complete with a pianist and flautist, our move into 6 Oxford St, where we had open house for friends, authors and agents. Then there was the Board of Trustees visit to Woodstock where we held meetings in Blenheim鈥攁 suitably august location for our discussions about future planning. The Foundling Museum became a regular venue for our Holiday parties鈥攐ur 15th anniversary and our 20th were both celebrated there, not to mention the years in between.
Leasing and later buying office space was another noteworthy experience from my time at PUP, beginning with my start in a garret opposite Woodstock Town Hall to our move down the road to 6 Oxford Street. Our first office space is now a very fine wine bar, The Tipsy Palace, which seems somehow appropriate for a former publishing office. By 2019, we had outgrown 6 Oxford St and embarked on looking a potential office space to lease in Oxford. Having checked out an old post office and a former night club鈥攃omplete with pole, it became obvious that if we wanted something suitable to carry the 91桃色 name, we would have to buy it. Fortunately, at just the right time, The Voltaire Foundation decided that they were ready to sell 99 Banbury Road, and my inside connections meant that we could get in before it went on the market. At the time I didn鈥檛 realize just how challenging negotiating the purchase of a building in a pandemic would be! However, thanks to the support of our Associate Director and CFO, Scot and our director, Christie, we finally moved in, in the Autumn of 2021. The building has brought a whole new dimension to the PUP Europe team鈥攁 location in the heart of Oxford offering a perfect space for hosting author launches, Society of Young Publishers parties, Sales Conferences and our 25thanniversary party in September 2024.
I am hugely proud of the connections we have developed across our global team with the Mentoring programme, our China Europe quarterly meeting, and I am delighted to have been instrumental in setting up the EvenUP group of UK and Irish university presses, which I know will go on to bigger and better things.
The great joy of PUP is of course its staff. I am enormously proud of the opportunities we have offered to interns, many of whom have gone on to become full time members of the team. Others have moved on to successful careers within other publishing houses and it is so gratifying to see how their careers are progressing when we have the chance to catch up at IPG conferences or Bookfairs. Finally to my successors鈥擨 can鈥檛 take credit for hiring Kim Williams, my successor as Head of PUP Europe, who has been a wonderful thought partner for 18 years, but I can definitely take credit for the publicity legend that is Kate FT and for Natasha, our new Facilities and Office Manager, all of whom will take my legacy onto bigger and better things.
I feel enormously grateful to have finished my publishing career at PUP, which has been such a joy after many years in a more corporate world. I am also delighted that, despite all the naysayers, the printed book remains in existence, joined but not extinguished by audio and digital publications. In conclusion, I wish all my present and past colleagues the very best for their careers here or elsewhere.