Book Marketing Society : Meetings

Past meetings

Thursday 17th June 2010

An Open Meeting was held at One Alfred Place, London. The agenda included:

Maureen Scott from Etherbooks talked about the app platform her company has developed, allowing paid-for short story content to be distributed via their iPhone network. The service also offers some interesting marketing possibilties. For a copy of Maureen's presentation or contact details, please email Jo Henry.
An update on the Specsavers TV Book Club, Crime Thriller Awards, Pure Passion / RNA Award and Irish Book Awards
Jo Henry presented some findings from BML's BookZone panel on consumers and social networking, which showed that among heavy book buyers about a fifth use social networking sites to learn and talk about books, with users of MySpace and Twitter being the most likely to do so. For further results contact her by email.
And of course results for the highly competitive Best Marketing Campaign Awards (Jan-Apr 10). See here for info on the winning titles

Tuesday 2nd March 2010

An Open Meeting was held at One Alfred Place, London. The agenda included:

Introduction by Jo Howard, Chair of the BMS
Evaluation of the Specsavers TV Book Club: summer read season, and Crime Thriller Awards 2010
Information on the chick-lit focused Pure Passion / RNA Award, the Galaxy & Irish Book Awards, and Bookseller Industry Awards
Overview of new Author Blog Awards competition which ran in April
Launch of new Awards programme honouring book blurbs
Results of the highly competitive Best Marketing Campaign Awards for Sept - Dec 09, followed by results on the inaugural Best Blurb Award, which had 30 entries in total

Best Marketing Campaign Award

Winner:

Under the Dome - Stephen King
Marketer: Laurence Festal (Marketing Manager)

Highly commended:

Real Heroes - Ross Kemp. Marketer: Ben Hurd (Head of Marketing), HarperCollins

And Another Thing - Eoin Colfer. Marketers: Elizabeth Smith (Commercial Marketing Director), Penguin & Antonia Byrne, Pan Macmillan

The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave. Marketer: Sian Gibson (Marketing Manager), Canongate

Where's Stig - Rod Hunt. Marketer: Alex Young (Marketing Manager), Ebury

(Retail Sector) "For Christmas Read Foyles" - Marketer: Julia Kingsford (Marketing Manager), W&G Foyle

Best Blurb Awards 2009

Winner:

The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, published by Scepter

Runners Up:

Joint second place: Hetty Feather - Jacqueline Wilson, published by Random House Children's Books

Joint second place: The Birthing House - Christopher Ransom, published by Little Brown

Fourth place: The Canterbury Tales - Peter Ackroyd, published by Penguin

Fifth place: Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll - John Harris, published by Sphere

For more details on the blurb award winners and reader's feedback click here.

Thursday 5th November 2009

A Forum meeting was held at the Boardroom of the Simon & Schuster offices, where members discussed possible backlist promotional ideas. The meeting was a follow up to the ideas presented at the Book Industry Conference earlier this year in June.

Tuesday 20th October 2009

An Open Meeting was held at Foyles Gallery, Charing Cross Rd, London. The agenda included:

Introduction by Jo Howard, Chair of the BMS.
Evaluation of the 20 Best AudioBooks promotion
BML research findings: Consumers' experience of e-books and downloading.
Ideas on backlist promotions (presented at the Book Industry Conference in June) - to be discussed at the next Forum meeting.
launch of new Awards programme honouring book blurbs.
And, as always, the results of the highly competitive Best Marketing Campaign Awards for May - Aug 09:

Winners:

The White Queen - Philippa Gregory
Marketers: Dawn Burnett (Marketing Director), & Ally Glynn (Web Manager), Simon & Schuster

Life of Pi (reissue) - Yann Martel
Marketers: Sian Gibson (Marketing Manager), & Andrea See (Online Marketing Executive), Canongate

Highly commended:

59 Seconds - Richard Wiseman. Marketer: Rebecca Ikin (Marketing Director), Pan Macmillan

Keep Calm and Carry On. Marketer: Louise McKee (Marketing Coordinator), Ebury Publishing

Breath - Tim Winton. Marketers: Lee Dibble (Senior Marketing Manager), and Rebecca Ikin (Marketing Director), Pan Macmillan

D-Day - Antony Beevor. Marketer: Jane Rose (Literary Marketing Director), Penguin

Wednesday 17th June 2009

An Open Meeting was held on Wednesday 17th June 2009 at Foyles Gallery, Charing Cross Rd, London. The packed agenda for the evening was:

Introduction by Jo Howard, Chair of the BMS
An update by Damian Horner on the new cross-industry marketing initiative
Briefing by Alastair Giles on the Audiobooks promotion
And, as always, the results of the highly competitive Best Marketing Campaign Awards for the first period of 2009 (Jan - April 09):

Winner:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar's 40th Anniversary - Eric Carle
Marketer: Kirsten Grant (Marketing Director), Puffin Books

Highly commended:

50 Ways to Find a Lover - Lucy Anne Holmes. Marketers: Rebecca Ikin, Marketing Director, and Naomi Berwin, Marketing Assistant, Pan Macmillan

Bad Science - Ben Goldacre. Marketer: Ben Hurd, Marketing Director: Press Books, 4th Estate / HarperCollins

Mr Toppit - Charles Elton. Marketer: Matt Clacher, Literary Marketing Executive, Penguin

Gone Tomorrow & Nothing to Lose - Lee Child. Marketer: Janine Giovanni, Transworld Publishers

Thursday 26th February 2009

An Open Meeting was held on Thursday the 26th Feb 2009 at One Alfred Place, London WC1E 7EB, Followed by drinks. The agenda for the evening was:

An update on Galaxy British Book Awards - 3rd April
Update on British Book Industry Awards - 1st June
Notice of Audiobooks promotion - key dates
A BML presentation - findings from the Book-lovers & the Economic Downturn report - Steve Bohme
And, the results of the seasonal Marketing Awards, covering the period Sept - Dec 2008 was:

Winner:

The Mighty Book of Boosh - Noel Fielding & Julian Barratt
Marketers: Jenny Todd (Sales and Marketing Director) and Sian Gibson (Marketing Manager), Canongate Books

Highly commended:

Ripley's Believe it or Not Marketer: Farah Thompson, Marketing Executive, Cornerstone

FX 'Prime Time Crime Reading' Television Sponsorship Marketer: Adam Humphrey, Senior Marketing Manager, CHA

Dear Fatty - Dawn French. Marketer: Claire Round, Marketing Director, Random House, Cornerstone

The Snowball - Warren Buffett & the Business of Life - Alice Schroeder. Marketer: Penelope Beech, Head of Adult Marketing, Bloomsbury

Wednesday, 8th October 2008

An Open Meeting was held on the 8th October in the Foyles Gallery, Charing Cross Road. The agenda for the evening was:

An overview of the recently launched Faber Finds project
Daily Mail/Richard & Judy latest news and results
BML snapshot to examine which book categories could be most affected by the credit crunch
Romance in books and in general - survey results from the Romantic Novelists Association
Booklovers and the environment - some findings from a recent BML BookZone survey
General noticeboard
And, the results of the highly competitive seasonal Marketing Awards, covering May - August 2008

Winner:

Devil May Care - Sebastian Faulks
Marketer: Jane Rose, Literary Marketing Director, Penguin

Highly commended:

Dead Man's Footsteps - Peter James
Marketers: Charlie King, Senior Marketing Manager & Geoff Duffield, Group Sales & Marketing Director, Pan Macmillan.

Chasing Harry Winston - Lauren Weisberger
Marketer: Leisa Nugent, Head of Marketing, HarperFiction, HarperCollins

Wednesday, 19th August 2008

A Forum Meeting was held in the boardroom at 1 Alfred Place, London, WC1E 7EB (www.onealfredplace.com ), and was followed by a summer drinks party & networking occasion.

Members heard presentations from Dom Kippen (Borders, Community Marketing Executive) and Sandeep Mahal (The Reading Agency, Partnerships Project Manager). Each spoke briefly about working collaboratively with libraries, and the opportunities in this area for both publisher and retailers:

Sandeep Mahal from The Reading Agency gave a presentation on the Reading Partners' key achievements over the last 12 months, demonstrating evidence of impact on book sales and on library performance indicators based on a sample of 80 author events that were tracked. The presentation also included a summary of the BME readers and writers initiative - how these projects help deliver enthusiastic and diverse audiences. It also revealed that its consortium of publishers are now looking to libraries community knowledge, massive audience reach and potential contact with new BME writing talent to diversify their materials.
Dom Kippen's (Borders) presentation, also stressed the need for synergy with libraries. The Border's Retailers/Library Skills Sharing Toolkit is designed to help bookstores forge new links with libraries and develop existing relationships. The presentation included a snapshot of some of the case studies, and ways in which Borders and libraries are already working together in various locations in the UK. The Toolkit aims to undertake new ideas at a local level that can then be shared with other stores and libraries, and eventually across the publishing industry.

Thursday, 12th June 2008

An Open Meeting was held on 12th June 2008 in the Publishing News Boardroom. The programme for the evening was:

Presentation by Marc Lewis, Founder of i-cue on marketing books by mobile
Updates from Alastair Giles and Jo Henry on:

Announcement by Jo Howard on the winners of the BMS 1st Marketing Campaign Awards for the period January - April 2008.

Winner:

Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking - Delia Smith
Marketers: Alex Young & Sarah Bates, Ebury Publishing

Highly commended:

The Infidelity Chain - Tess Stimson
Marketer: Ellen Wood, Pan Macmillan

The Shakespeare Secret - J.L Carrell
Marketer: Emma Williams, Marketing Executive, Little, Brown Book Group Ltd

Revelation - C. J Sansom
Marketer: Charlie King, Senior Marketing Manager, Pan Macmillan

The Quest - Wilbur Smith
Marketers: Ellen Wood & Rebecca Ikin, Marketing Director, Pan Macmillan

Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
Marketers: Laurence Festal, Marketing Manager & Kelly Edgson-Wright, Marketing Director, Hodder & Stoughton

Wednesday 2nd April 2008

A Forum meeting was held at The Boardroom of Little, Brown Book Group, where Jon Woolcott from Waterstone's gave a presentation about Waterstone's customer research - with specific reference to their market segmentation procedures.

Wednesday, 20th February 2008

An Open Meeting was held on 20th February 2008 in the Gallery at Foyles. The programme for the evening was:

Presentation by Honor Wilson Fletcher of the National Year of Reading
Updates on various industry promotions, including:

Presentations are available, please email Chini Ugboma to request
Announcement by Jo Howard on the winners of the BMS 3rd Marketing Campaign Awards for the period September - December 2007.

Joint winners:

On the Edge - Richard Hammond
Marketer: Mark Rusher, Marketing Director, Orion Trade

Slam - Nicky Hornby
Marketer: Kirsten Grant, Marketing Director, Puffin Books

Highly commended:

Nigella Express - Nigella Lawson
Marketer: Claire Wilshaw, CCV Marketing Manager and Vintage Brand Manager

For One More Day - Mitch Albom
Marketer: Lindsey Mooney, Online Development Manager, Little Brown

The Difficult Second Book/audio download - Chris Moyles
Marketers: Alex Young, Marketing Manager and Katie Johnson, Digital, Ebury Publishing

Long Way Down - McGregor and Boorman
Marketer: Alison Lindsay, Marketing Director, Little Brown

And a Special Award ...

Blackwells Back to University/Connect Site
Marketer: Phill Jamieson, Head of Marketing, Blackwells

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows/Save Harry campaign
Marketer: Nyree Jillings, Children's Marketing Planner, Waterstone's

Thursday, 18th October 2007

An Open Meeting was held on 18th October in the Gallery at Foyles. The programme for the evening was:

Introduction by Jo Henry
An update on the Spread the Word campaign by John Bond
Announcement by Alastair Giles on Richard & Judy's Children's Book Club/C4 Lost for Words campaign
Announcement by Alastair Giles on Richard & Judy's Book Club 2008/Galaxy British Book Awards/ 2008 Irish Book Awards
Audiobook promotion update by Jo Henry
Announcement by Jo Henry on the winners of the BMS 2nd Marketing Campaign Awards for the period May - August 2007.

Joint winners:

The Blue Zone - Andrew Gross
Marketer: Catherine Hunt, Head of Insight and Media, HarperCollins

Vintage Classics relaunch
Marketer: Claire Wilshaw, CCV Marketing Manager and Vintage Manager

Highly commended:

Young Stalin - Simon Sebag-Montefiore
Marketer: Jessica Mead, Senior Marketing Manager, Weidenfeld & Nicolson

The Missing - Chris Mooney
Marketers: Jennifer Doyle and Samantha Binnie, Penguin

And a Special Award ...

Harry Potter
Marketers: Sarah Beal (Project Director), Lucy Holden (Head of Children's Publicity), Minna Fry (Marketing Director) and the Harry Potter team.

Key dates from the meeting include:
The Irish Book Awards title nominations open from 22nd November 2007: Organiser: Bert Wright, bwcc@eircom.net - Details available at: http://www.irishbookawards.ie

The Galaxy British Book Awards title nominations open from 24th November 2007: Organiser: Merric Davidson, gbba@mdla.co.uk - Details available at: http://www.galaxybritishbookawards.com

Wednesday, 19th September 2007

A Forum Meeting was held in the boardroom at Penguin, Embankment level meeting room, 80 Strand, WC2. Members heared talks from four people working within online book communities - Mark Thwaites (The Book Depository), Peter Crawshaw (Lovereading.co.uk), and David Keighley & Tony Cook (Booktribes.com). Each spoke briefly about their online book ventures, and the importance of online social networks in the book community.

Wednesday, 20th June 2007

A Forum Meeting was held in the boardroom at Orion, Upper Saint Martins Lane. The meeting discussed the audiobooks market and the Spread the Word scheme.

It reported on recent audiobook research carried out by BML on behalf of the APA, to provide information to better understand the audiobooks market. The meeting also looked into ways to rejuvenate the Spread the Word initiative.

Wednesday, 12th June 2007

An Open Meeting was held on 12th June in the Gallery at Foyles. The programme for the evening was:

Presentation by Jo Henry on the first findings from the APA's Audio Book research conducted by BML.
An evaluation by Jo Henry of key research findings from BML's Digital Task Force research, produced from the BML Book Zone panel.
Announcement by Alastair Giles on Richard & Judy's Summer Reads 2007.
Round-up by Alastair Giles, of the '50 best books that defined their era' promotion, run in April/May/June with The Guardian and Pilsner Beers.
Sales evaluation by Kirstie Wainwright of BookScan, of the '50 best books that defined their era' promotion.
Presentation by marketer, John Grant, who discussed 21st Century Marketing, a continuation of his BA conference speech.
And the winners of the BMS marketing awards for the period January - April 2007, were announced by Jo Howard, chair of the BMS.

Joint winners:

Anybody Out There - Marian Keyes
Marketer: Elizabeth Smith, Commercial Marketing Director, Penguin

The Raw Shark Texts - Steven Hall
Marketer: Jenny Todd and Suzanne Kennedy, Canongate

Highly commended:

Borders Mobile Campaign
Marketer: Laura Stafford, CRM and Online Manager, Borders

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith
Marketers: Nicola Hill and Bobby Nayyar, LittleBrown

Rebus 20 Campaign
Marketer: Anthony Keates, Marketing Director, Paperbacks, Orion

Thursday, 22nd February 2007

An Open Meeting was held in the Boardroom at The Guardian. The Agenda for the meeting was:

Briefing on Richard & Judy Summer Reads 2007
Briefing on forthcoming Guardian promotion - 50 Books Defining the 20th Century
Briefing of revised Book Marketing Society Structure & Schedule

Thursday, 25th January 2007

An Open Meeting was held in the Gallery at Foyles. The agenda for the meeting was:

Francis Bennett, consultant, discussed the implications of the recent BA report on digitisation, Brave New World, and how digital content is likely to be sold in the future
Presentation by Alastair Giles on the Irish Book Awards
Timetable for research project into and promotion of audio books
Quarterly awards, October-December

Joint winners:

Hannibel Rising - Thomas Harris
Marketing team from CHA

Step on it Cupid - Lorelei Mathias
Marketer: Lorelei Mathias

Highly commended:

Heat by George Monbiot
Marketer: Rachel Salvidge, Marketing Director, Penguin Press

The Sound of Laughter by Peter Kay
Marketer: Claire Round, Marketing Director, Century

Close by Martina Cole
Marketer: Emily Kennedy, Marketing Director, Headline

Monday, 30th October 2006

An Open Meeting was held in the Gallery at Foyles. The agenda for the meeting was:

Presentation by Phil Downer, Chair of World Book Day on 10th anniversary of World Book Day in 2007
Presentation by Cathy Gale on Quick Reads 2006/7
Call for collective research into and promotion of audio books
Quarterly awards, July-September

Winner:

Penguin Classics 60th Anniversary
Marketer: Rachel Salvidge, Penguin

Highly commended:

The Longest Crawl by Ian Marchant
Marketer: Jon Parker, Head of Adult Marketing, Bloomsbury

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
Marketer: Kelly Edgson-Wright, Marketing Director, Hodder

Hope by Lesley Pearce
Marketer: Elizabeth Smith, Commercial Marketing Director, Penguin

Araminta Spook (two titles)
Marketer: Joanne Owen, Children's Marketing Manager, Bloomsbury

For a copy of the press release, please contact chini@bookmarketing.co.uk

Tuesday 26th September 2006

A Forum Meeting was held in the Bloomsbury boardroom, Soho Square.

The meeting discussed ethnic diversity within the publishing industry, and possibilities to reach BME markets. Presentations by:

Stephen Merrigan of DIPNet on history and development of DIPNet
Jo Henry on recent BML research on staff ethnic diversity in the publishing industry
Ruth Cairns and Jane Opoku (Colman Getty), Tania Wilmer (decibel) and John Hampson (Arts Council) on 2007 pilot 'Books for all' diversity promotion

Thursday, 20th July 2006

An Open Meeting was held on 20th July in the Gallery at Foyles. The programme for the evening was:

Presentation by Catherine Large of BookTrust evaluating of the 2006 Get London Reading Campaign, and plans for future campaigns.
Presentation by Penny Shapland, The Reading Agency on the broad range of marketing opportunities that exist through libraries, with case studies of recent campaigns.
Evaluation by Alastair Giles of the '50 best books made in to film' promotion run in May/June with The Guardian.
Sales evaluation by Ann Betts of BookScan of the '50 best books made in to film' promotion.
Announcement of second Quarterly Marketing Award winners
For PDFs of any of the above presentations, please email chini@bookmarketing.co.uk

Monday, 19th June 2006

A Forum Meeting was held on Monday 19th June in the boardroom at Macmillan. The meeting was a follow-up discussion to presentations made by Dr. Michelle Harrison of the Henley Centre and Steve Bohme of BML.

The meeting followed up key points from presentations at the BA Conference - specifically those from the opening presentations by Steve Bohme of BML and Michelle Harrison, Director of the Henley Centre Headlight Vision, who was guest speaker at the meeting.

Wednesday, 26th April 2006
An Open Meeting was held on Wednesday 26th April in the Gallery at Foyles in the Charing Cross Road. The programme for the evening was:

announcement of the First Quarterly Marketing Award winners
final briefing about the 50 best books ever made into film promotion running in Guardian from 5th May until the Guardian Hay Festival in early June
other forthcoming marketing opportunities
short presentation from Vineet Lal, VisitBritain on Storybook England, a major new campaign in September 2006 encouraging people to visit sites in England connected with children's literature
short presentation from Amir Khan, Txtfo.com, a mobile marketing company working with publishers such as Wiley, Orion and Bloomsbury. Amir spoke about the general texting market place, and how mobiles are and will be used in the book trade.
Presentations are available, please email Chini Ugboma to request

For more details on membership or meetings, please email jo@bookmarketing.co.uk or alastair@agile-ideas.com.

Book Marketing Society
St Andrew's House
18-20 St Andrew Street
London EC4A 3AG

Tel: 0207 832 1770
email: jo@bookmarketing.co.uk