Innovation in Marketing and Business Practice

The book business is changing even more than the book itself. Although product innovation captures a lot attention and publishers are devoting great effort to it, innovation in marketing and business practices is also a requirement today and this panel will discuss that aspect of digital change.

Lee Harris of Angry Robot, a new science fiction imprint that was born inside HarperCollins but is now owned by Osprey, will talk about what it really from a publisher to create a successful community: constant engagement by everybody in the publishing house with the audience. Agent Peter Cox of Red Hammer sees us in a world where the author and publisher have to really work on building direct audience contact. He can’t control the publishers, but he makes sure that his authors are doing the work to enable that. And Dan Franklin of Random House will give us the perspective from a major publisher, where a big part of Dan’s job is helping those experienced in publishing but not yet entirely comfortable with the digital possibilities explore new opportunities.

Richard Mollet
Chief Executive, The Publishers Association

Richard Mollet became Chief Executive of the Publishers Association in October 2010. Prior to this he was Director of Public Affairs at the BPI (the representative body of the UK recorded music industry) where he was closely involved in the Digital Economy Act, the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, and the wider debates around the value of copyright and the creative industries. Before joining the BPI Richard had ten years experience as a political communications consultant, working across a range of political and media sectors.

He studied PPE at Worcester College, Oxford University. Richard is a visiting lecturer for the Hansard Scholars Programme at the London School of Economics.

Peter Cox
Managing Director, Redhammer

Peter Cox runs Redhammer Management, a boutique literary agency, and also founded the net’s oldest writing community, Litopia Writers’ Colony. He hosts “Litopia After Dark” every Friday on Radio Litopia.

Dan Franklin
Digital Editor, Random House Group UK

Dan Franklin is digital editor at the Random House Group where he is responsible for direct-to-digital commissioning, cross-group digital publishing initiatives, and consultation to its publishing divisions on various digital projects. He was previously digital editor at independent publisher Canongate Books where he oversaw its digital and audio programme, and had his own list of titles.

Lee Harris
Editor, Angry Robot

Lee Harris is the Editor at Angry Robot – an independent global genre imprint, garnering a solid reputation for great (and award-winning) books. He is also the publisher of the online electronic short fiction magazine, Hub, which he founded in 2006. Lee has seen a number of his co-written genre theatre scripts performed professionally across Great Britain, and he regularly blogs for a number of sites.