Seasons Greetings

Well, we are now well and truly into the Christmas season. A time for family, for community and to celebrate the relationships that we have made over the years. Or possibly a time to crawl into bed, cover your head and hope it goes away soon (Bah humbug!)

So what does that mean for publishers and students alike?

Well, for students, it is a time to panic over deadlines and exams and struggle to complete the work before finally allowing themselves to keel over in a heap when the final page is printed or that last exam paper has been handed in.

For the publishers, it's a frantic time of trying to maintain the availability of their backlist and frontlist titles as people snatch up their books as gifts or take advantage of the post-Christmas sales. In addition, they are also getting ready for the New Year, and trying to get as much work done as possible before the Christmas break begins and so they can finally relax.

In other words, the publisher is doing what many people in a variety of professions are doing.

I am not trying to be cheeky, but I have found that since telling people what I am studying, I often get this blank look as if by doing this course and trying to enter this profession, I am somehow setting myself apart and that I am being dubbed as 'something else'. And while that can be fun, in an 'I-know-what-assumptions-you-are-making-and-they-make-me-look-good-so-I-will-bask-in-them-minion' way, it can get quite frustrating, especially when some of those assumptions are made with an element of coldness, as if a publisher (or publishing student) is somehow the devil to all creativity and we are lording over you all with our intelligence and judgements.

So if you give or receive a book this Christmas, remember the people who worked hard to get it into your hands. Remember the agent who had to persuade a publisher that the book was worth their time; the editor who had the difficult task of juggling and solving problems with people and product; the producer and designers who struggled and debated how it would look; the marketer who fought to bring it to your attention among all the others; those who had to decide on the budget and even those who used that budget the best way they could. And, of course, the author themselves who had to contend with writer's block, shaky inspiration and looming deadlines to create the world you are about to delve into.

May I take this opportunity to wish you very happy holidays, whatever you celebrate and may 2012 bring you all you desire.

And if nothing else...you get to rip pretty paper to pieces.