I can’t quite believe it’s been a whole month since we joined Laure Eve on her #papervspixels challenge – yet here we are! For the entirety of April we have been sticking to only one format – be that print, ebook or audiobook – to expand our reading horizons and…
MoreI hope my time as an intern here has been a little different than most. One of the launch titles, Maggot Moon, was in need of some accompanying video content to enhance the digital edition, and with my background in video editing and graphics I hoped that over the next…
MoreThe past seven days have been pretty data intensive at Hot Key Books. We set up our first titles on Biblio Lite, which is the core database of all the information about all of our books. Biblio is our library catalogue. Our store inventory. It’s our scheduling tool, as well,…
MoreYesterday, Sarah B and I attended the opening session of the Digital Skills Sharing initiative, put together by The Reading Agency and The Publisher Association. My favourite line of the day was from Miranda McKearney, CEO of The Reading Agency: “This project brings together the powerful networks that librarians and…
MoreOn Monday and Tuesday at London Book Fair I gave a presentation on how we’re using social media at Hot Key to launch ourselves as a publisher. You can watch me run through how and why on the video below. It’s about 15 minutes, so sit back over lunch or…
MoreEchoing Emily and Kate, I have to say that starting to set up the digital offerings here at Hot Key is a dream come true. I’m in the enviable position of being able to acquire wonderful authors and also to oversee the digital offerings on the entire list. It’s the…
MoreOne of the best things about twitter is its ability to start a conversation. A passing comment can spark discussion that you didn’t see coming, perhaps with people you’ve never met. And that’s kind of a great thing, to be a sentence away from millions of different opinions, passions, and…
MoreWhat makes a beautiful book? Well, I suppose that’s subjective. Perhaps you like the feel of a hardback with thick pages, or relish the purchase of a smooth paperback that embodies the ‘page-turner’ promised within. Are uncoated paper covers are your thing, or are you sold by a beautiful jacket…
MoreYesterday, Cait Davies and I trekked over to Excel to attend the free seminar part of the Digital London Summit to see what nuggets of digital inspiration we could take back to Hot Key. Now, firstly (and as an aside), how big is Excel? Cait and I likened it to…
MoreRecently, I was in Torquay with my writer friends (authors & editors Jasmine Richards, Karen Ball and not pictured Sara Grant), and we were taken on an Agatha Christie tour by a Blue Badge guide named Frank (far right) who was an octogenarian marathon runner and all around brilliant guide….
MoreAfter having Friay and a whole weekend to get over my jet lag, I still haven’t. And it means that I still haven’t blogged about the Wednesday of Tools of Change. If you’ve been interested in these posts, you should follow @toc on Twitter. It has great links to round…
MoreTuesday night, quick fire summaries: The Lean Start Up by Eric Ries Build – measure – learn. Get results, test things. Don’t ask people opinion, watch their behaviour. This is the book I bought! The Information Diet by Clay Johnson People are feeding themselves unhealthy news. The “purple” America of…
MoreThis blog’s title is taken from the amazing and fabulous Karen Ball‘s debut novel of the same name. Yes, yes… the rumours are true. I had a speaking role at my very first Tools of Change conference. Now, I know you only really want to read about my brush with…
MoreWOW, what a day! I can’t hope to summarize everything, but I do have a few choice phrases from some of the presentations that I can share, to help give you all a sense about what’s being talked about here. The Tools of Change key note sessions kicked off with…
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