About

I am a Senior Lecturer in Publishing, and teach on the Publishing MA course and the Creative Writing and Publishing BA course. In 2021 I won Lecturer of the Year for Arts, Humanities and Education in the Union Awards. 

Teaching responsibilities

I lead and teach on modules about publishing law, marketing and sales, multi-platform writing and publishing, and skills for contemporary publishing. 

Research interests

My research focus is on disability in publishing. In 2021 I published the Access Denied report, which gathered the experiences of 200 disabled job seekers and employees in the UK publishing industry and gave suggestions for improvements. I used this research as a consultant for the Inklusion guide, which aims to make literary events accessible for disabled people, which launched in August 2022.

I also research marketing and publicity in publishing, with a focus on how bestsellers are made. I have a particular interest in crisis management, and social media marketing, including the rise and impact of TikTok. 

Membership of professional bodies

I'm an active member of the APE (Association for Publishing Educators) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) English and Related Literature - The University of York
• MRes (with Distinction) Social Research - The University of Derby 

Experience in industry

I have five years of experience in the publishing industry, including four years working in various marketing and publicity roles at Penguin Random House UK in London. I have also worked as an intern at a literary agency, an events coordinator at a book festival, and a freelance book publicist.

I was a judge for The British Book Awards in 2022 and 2023, and sit on the executive board for The Barbellion Prize, which is a book prize dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing. I have also written for the publishing industry's trade magazine The Bookseller, and regularly speak at industry events, including at the London Book Fair and FutureBook conference, and with the Society of Young Publishers. 

In the media

• Interview for a BBC article on disability (Nov 2021)
• UCL Shelf Healing podcast – two interviews about my disability research – Work and Life (Dec 2021) and Work and Life (April 2022)
• comment for an article in The Bookseller about industry leader’s predictions on the future of publishing (Jan 2022)
• The Disabled Debrief podcast interview about The Barbellion Prize (March 2022)
• Interview for a Guardian article on disability (May 2022)
• Interview with FLIP (Female Leadership in Publishing) about my career and disability research (May 2022)
• Interview for The Bookseller about how the industry needs to support authors, especially disabled ones (August 2022)
• Interview on BBC Radio 4 Front Row about bestseller charts (Sept 2022)
• Interview for The Bookseller about extra hidden work for disabled people (Feb 2023)

Recent publications

2022. 'The Thursday Murder Club: Launching a Mega-Brand Author - A Publishing Case Study,' for Logos (Vol 33:1)