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Publishing

The publishing industry needs people who can think creatively across a range of media and markets to develop innovative and engaging content.

Publishing (print and digital) taken as part of a Combined Award adds a practical dimension to your study at university. Publishing is one of the UK’s major cultural industries, shaping and producing content for books and magazines; multimedia websites and mobile apps; e-books, and social media. This is an exciting time to get involved as digital technology is changing things fast.

Course Structure and Content

All students take a 40-credit core publishing module in each of the three years. These teach the essentials of contemporary publishing: writing concise copy and developing effective content; creating professional blogs, websites,  and integrated social media; text editing and communicating brand identity; researching and developing an e-book or iPhone app and presenting the results. You will learn layout and image manipulation using industry-standard software and compile a wide-ranging portfolio of your work ready for interviews.

Additional modules offer the chance to specialise and deepen your knowledge and skill base, and to work on larger personal projects. The Publishing team has developed an innovative ‘Digital Natives’ module to prepare students for new ways of working and creating, and this is being made available to all Bath Spa students as an open module, launching in October 2011. This is taught together with colleagues from the Broadcast Lab and industry experts. Students take part in a variety of live projects with outside organisations and run the new BSU student magazine, MILK. You will be able to further your personal interests through specialist projects. There are also opportunities to develop your skills in photography and in video interviewing to create multimedia content.

Publishing BA Routes

You can opt to take Publishing as a Major, Joint or Minor subject within a Combined Award (though you will start in Year 1 studying both your subjects in equal depth).

• Minor: You will take the core course only (see below).
• Joint: You will take the core course with one additional 20-credit module in each of the three years.
• Major: You will take the core course with one additional 40-credit publishing module in each of the three years (please note - one 40-credit module can be replaced with two 20-credit modules).

Modules

Modules available (some combinations are only available for certain routes):

Year 1

• Editorial: Copywriting and editing (40 credits)*
• Digital Natives (20 credits)
• Understanding Media Communications (40 credits)

Year 2

• Contemporary Publishing: The Business of Publishing (40 credits)*
• Editorial: New Product Development (40 credits)
• Writing for New Media (20 credits)
• Feature Journalism (20 credits)

Year 3

• Digital Publishing (40 credits)*
• Professional Writing (20 credits)
• Food Writing and Editing (20 credits)
• Literary Journal (20 credits)
• Creative Enterprise Project (40 credits)

* Core module.

Teaching Methods and Resources

The learning resources on offer to the students are both impressive and varied. The expertise in training around the digital side of the publishing industry is particularly noteworthy.

External academic adviser, 2011.

You will learn through a series of mini-lectures, workshops, software training, guided independent and group project work. This will mainly be carried out in the Publishing Lab where the facilities include two Mac suites with full industry software, and a range of digital devices such as camera equipment, iPads, and Kindles. We also run industry skills tests (introductory and intermediate levels) in copyediting and InDesign layout software.

Staff have extensive publishing industry experience, continue to develop their practice and share this with students. Talks by visiting industry speakers have included: the CEO of the Publishers Association, social media experts, book production directors, and the online marketing director of The Bookseller and its digital arm, Futurebook. Specialist advice is available for work placements, careers, and job applications.

Assessment Methods

Students are assessed by coursework.

Assessment is mainly through the creation, over the year, of professional-standard portfolios of varied work to briefs set by your tutors and personal project work. There are regular points in the year when students have to prepare their work in progress for presentation to the tutor for feedback.

There is also an element of writing reflective commentaries and sharing your work through short, informal presentations.

Career Opportunities

These include a variety of roles within the publishing industry (e.g. editorial, production, marketing, digital); marketing and publicity roles within a wide variety of organisations and companies (from charities and retail to business and cultural); digital roles such as web editor, social media manager.

Typical Offers

240-280 UCAS Tariff points (eg BCC; BB+AS a).