Commissioning and List Management

This is the definitive course for anyone who wants to learn how to build profitable lists.

If you’re a new editor with responsibility for commissioning and list-building in educational, academic, or professional publishing, this unique programme will give you the best possible start. The course is supported by the main players in these fields.

This is an intensive residential event, which is hugely rewarding for those who take part. Not only in terms of the knowledge and skills gained, but also the networking and relationship building opportunities.

You will learn how to:

• evaluate markets and develop lists
• find and keep valuable authors
• understand financial costings
• get publishing proposals accepted
• negotiate author contracts that work
• plan for profit and return on investment.

The aim is to help you develop an effective list that meets overall company strategy and management goals.

You’ll find out how to create a market-led proposal, and how to plan publications working closely with colleagues in other functions, especially in sales and marketing. You’ll also get a clearer understanding of financial management and how costings work, as well as ways of managing yourself and your time constraints to better effect.

The case study is threaded through the more formal group sessions, each led by a different tutor, ensuring a variety of teaching styles, backgrounds, experience and pace. Working in case study groups delegates will agree a topic, work through all the detail, from title and content to routes to market, and then prepare a compelling presentation.

The dedicated training facility at Milton Hill provides a conducive learning atmosphere. After four days of hard work, delegates leave the course tired but inspired!

Day one

• What kind of publishing world is it: an overview of the industry; current pressures, challenges, threats, demands and opportunities.
• The role of the commissioning editor: an examination of the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to become a successful commissioning editor.
• Market Research and competitive advantage: market wisdom rather than market knowledge. Three pronged research: market trends, competitors and potential customers; external research v do-it-yourself.
• Working with authors: how to manage the author/editor relationship most effectively.

Day two

• Finance: costings, margin and profit: A practical interactive session explaining financial terminology, how products are costed, how to improve their profitability and why your organisation makes the demands on you that it does.
• Planning and investing in digital products: a consideration of the many different types of digital products, from VLEs (Visual Learning Environments) to Wikipedia commons, and how the approach differs from traditional print media.
• Scoping the case study: title; costs, income, and profit. Delegates have on hand an expert advisor to assist with decisions and spreadsheet preparation.

Day three

• Case study work: delegates work on their plans for commissioning, producing, marketing and selling their chosen project in preparation for the presentation on the final day.
• Essential features of an author’s contract: key elements of the author publisher contract and the responsibility of the editor to understand and communicate these clearly.
• The marketing/editorial interface: how this important relationship can be improved for optimum results with a thorough understanding of each party’s pressures and concerns.
• Building a successful list: the editor's role in building a list within company context; building brands; managing demands of format revenue and time; building a profitable list.

Day four

• Routes to market: an academic bookseller gives his views on how publishers and booksellers can work together more closely for mutual benefit.
• Case study presentations: Each group presents their project proposal to a ‘board of directors’.
• Feedback and conclusions

Who will benefit from this course?

Development Editors, Assistant or Commissioning Editors, Research Editors, Production or Managing Editors.

Richard Balkwill has more than 25 years' experience in educational and children's reference publishing, latterly as a publishing director at Heinemann. He is now an independent consultant running CopyTrain, a writing, training and copyright service for publishers. He is also the author of The Multilingual Dictionary of Copyright, Rights and Contracts. Richard will be joined on the course by eight experts on specific topics, including Kay Symons, Gill Davies and Brenda Stones.

"I found the course excellent and will recommend it to colleagues."

Taylor and Francis delegate

"I thoroughly enjoyed this course and feel I have gained a great deal of valuable knowledge which will be hugely beneficial in my new role. I’ve developed an enthusiasm and confidence in my commissioning abilities and look forward to putting these skills into practice."

Hodder Gibson delegate

Please note that most of our courses can be run as in-company training events.
Contact The Publishing Training Centre to learn more about in-house training.

Funding and discount information can be obtained by contacting The Publishing Training Centre and completing an Information Request.

Excellence in training for the publishing sector

Celebrating 30 Years of Training Publishers

For over 30 years The Publishing Training Centre at Book House (PTC) has been firmly established as the pre-eminent training organisation within publishing. We provide high quality yet cost-effective training for publishers both in the UK and overseas. Previously known as Book House Training Centre, PTC is an educational charity dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in publishing. 

The Publishing Training Centre grew from a small department at The Publishers Association and remains at the heart of the industry. All of our tutors are practitioners first and foremost, which means that they bring their real-world experience with them to the courses they teach, enriching the experience for students and making the courses more practical. PTC's work is overseen by a dedicated Board of Trustees, who have a broad range of experience and expertise in the publishing industry.

Offering over 70 short courses covering the complete range of publishing skills, as well as distance learning programmes and in-company training opportunites. PTC also cater for non-publishers who still need some of the core editorial skills.

We are always happy to hear from you with any ideas for a course, or from potential tutors!

Send us an Information Request; we'd love to hear from you.