Module: PB7001-30 Multiplatform Publishing

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Laura Little

Module Tutor Contact Details: l.little@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

This module provides a systematic understanding of the current book publishing market and publication strategy informed by new technology. You will use this knowledge to develop a new publishing proposal for a multiplatform product.

Publishing is one of the UK’s most successful creative industries, contributing £10.2bn a year to the UK economy and respected internationally for its high levels of innovation and creativity.

Publishing as a business is all about the imaginative exploitation of copyright by talented editors and designers across multiple platforms and territories for a variety of existing and new audiences. This exploitation takes many forms with imprints such as Penguin mining the backlist to represent Classics in new and exciting ways through re-interpreting texts for a new audience within a strong design and promotional concept. Alternatively, archives provide interesting – often unpublished – raw material with which to develop new publications. This shaping and curating of content, together with experience in making good creative and business decisions, is at the heart of 21^st-century publishing. A multiplatform approach incorporates a wide range of publication forms from print books with high production values to mobile app publication and live author events. Digital technology offers new opportunities for creating imaginative and engaging content and for reaching audiences. We are only at the start of understanding its potential and especially in an international context.

You will think creatively and carry out research – in the backlist, in archives – to select an inspiring text and/or images with which to develop a publishing proposal for a new multiplatform product (including print, handmade, live, video, and digital). Workshop session topics will encourage imaginative approaches and new ways of looking at books and inform the decision-making process, while a series of short talks will cover the contemporary international industry in areas such as international rights, audience-building, content-marketing.

2.Outline syllabus

• New product development (research, development, prototypes)
• Creative multimedia multiplatform making (print, digital, live)
• International publishing industry
• Publishing strategy
• Audience research and user experience
• Marketing and sales
• Translation, rights, licencing
• Ethics and cultural context

3.Teaching and learning activities

Learning will be through workshops, industry talks, tutor-supported project work, technical demos and progress reviews and feedback.

Field trips will include visits to, for example, the Penguin Book Archive at Bristol University, the Bodleian Library, the British Library.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: Project Portfolio
• % Weighting: 90%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: Project presentation (10-minutes)
• % Weighting: 10%