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Create: The Business of Publishing

• Module code: PU7001
• Year: 2018/9
• Level: 7
• Credits: 30
• Pre-requisites: None
• Co-requisites: None

Summary

This module initiates the student into the collaborative, creative business of commercial publishing and facilitates the development of their research, critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills. From books and magazines to apps and websites, students explore the structure and operation of successful publishing companies, the stakeholders, tools and processes crucial to the development of profitable multi-platform products and services and the fundamental and disruptive business models used by both traditional companies and new industry-entrants.

After an immersive introduction to the complex and challenging nature of twenty-first century publishing, the module offers the opportunity for the generation and critical evaluation of students' own publishing ideas. This involves using industry-standard sources and approaches to research and analyse markets, identify appropriate business models and operational strategies and build and present persuasive business cases.

Throughout, there is an emphasis on building robust and well-evidenced arguments to win support for theoretical assertions and practical publishing concepts. Students also have the opportunity to work with their peers, and to critically evaluate each others' publishing proposals.

Aims

• To familiarise students with the concept of publishing as a strategic business operation, critically exploring the organisations, functions, customers, partners, stakeholders and processes involved in successfully developing and distributing effective publishing products and services
• To facilitate task-oriented small group collaboration in a pressured environment
• To develop students' creative thinking, opportunity recognition, business planning and financial management skills in order to develop viable and outcome-oriented publishing propositions
• To demonstrate the value of critical thinking in a fast-changing industry sector and to support students in the development of their own research and argument construction skills

Learning outcomes

• Critically analyse a key issue in publishing from an objective perspective, developing a robust and well-evidenced argument to support their conclusion
• Identify and categorise common characteristics of successful publishing products and business ventures
• Apply a range of tools to spark, evaluate and develop creative publishing ideas
• Critically evaluate traditional and disruptive business models and confidently analyse, interpret and communicate financial information
• Develop and deliver persuasive presentations and business plans to win support for new publishing proposals

Curriculum content

• Defininiton of the nature of publishing – as a commercial, creative business and a set of skills that can be applied across a range of organisations (including new media, learning providers and charities).
• Exploration of alternative (or additional) goals of publishing operations – to achieve non-financial aims such as communication, marketing or literacy development outcomes.
• Consideration of the industry's economic impact, internationalisation and current and future trends.
• Exploration of traditional and disruptive business models – the addition of value and minimisation of risk from the perspectives of different stakeholder perspectives.
• The anticipation of financial outcomes and the communication of financial information, at organisational (macro) and product (micro) level.
• Description of the supply and value chains – functional roles, required skills and opportunities to add value.
• Introduction of intellectual property (IP) and the acquisition and exploitation of IP rights across multiple platforms.
• Evolution of the roles of publishers, authors, agents, printers, booksellers and distributors – including self-publishing and recent industry-entrants such as Amazon, Apple and Google.
• Identification of critical success factors for effective publishing ventures.
• Generation and evaluation of creative publishing ideas – types and sources of innovation, creative tools, opportunity recognition, risk assessment and organisational fit.
• Definition, research and analysis of markets, customers, competitors and sales channels.
• Appreciation of the formats, costs and product life-cycles, such as books, e-books, magazines, apps, enhanced ebooks, web.
• Position and differentiation of products, meeting audience needs, building of brands and creation of  markets.
• Organisational planning – collaboration with others inside and outside the organisation, the sharing of risk and profit.
• Development of business cases and robust business plans, including effective risk assessment.
• Preparation of pitches to colleagues, authors and partners.
• Reflection on the rewards and challenges of group collaboration, of winning support from others and critically evaluating your own peers – includes consideration of how and why outcomes were achieved or not.

Teaching and learning strategy

The module is delivered in two distinct sections:

• At the beginning of the first semester students participate in a four-day intensive introduction to the module comprising whole day interactive lectures and small group workshop sessions (total 20 hours).
• The remainder of the module is delivered in weekly one hour interactive lectures followed by a one hour small-group workshop. Over the course of the two semesters, students develop their own publishing concepts while progressing through the course content,  applying learnings from lectures and associated reading and research every week. Students are expected to prepare relevant material in advance of workshops, to share their own work-in-progress and to evaluate the work of their peers (total 42 hours).

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Assessment strategy

The two points of assessment for this module are intended to assess students critical understanding of the contemporary publishing industry and also to develop their skills of critical thinking, collaborative working and business planning.

• A group presentation exploring and critically evaluating a contemporary publishing issue (worth 20%).
• A product development portfolio (worth 80%).

The group presentation is designed to provide explicit opportunities to feed forward learning to both the remainder of this module and to all the other modules on the programme.

The portfolio could include tasks such as individual peer-assessed presentations, market and competition analyses, or a new product business plan.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Elements of Assessment

Achieving a pass

It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Davies, G. (2004). Book commissioning and acquisition. Second edition. London: Routledge.

Thompson, J.B. (2010). Merchants of culture: the publishing business in the twenty-first century. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Stutely, R. (2006). The definitive business plan. Second edition. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Woll, T. (2010). Publishing for profit: successful bottom-line management for book publishers. Fourth revised edition. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.

Bibliography recommended reading

Blake, C. (1999). From pitch to publication. London: Macmillan.

Cottrell, S. (2011) Critical thinking skills: developing effective analysis and argument. Second edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Osterwalder, A. & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model generation. New Jersey: Wiley.

Stewart, D. and Simmons, M. (2010). The business playground: where creativity and commerce collide. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.