ENMPBB-Publishing and the Business of Books

Module Provider: English Literature
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2023/4

Module Convenor: Dr Sophie Heywood
Email: S.L.Heywood@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module explores the place of the writer within the business of modern international publishing; or what Michael Bhaskar calls ‘the content machine’ (2013). Through a mixture of critical reading, seminars, and practice-based workshops in Reading’s unique Special Collections and publishers’ archives, we’ll explore a series of modern writers’ interactions with publishers, editors, agents, and translators, considering the journeys and revisions that texts undergo in order to reach diverse, global readerships. You will be able to critically evaluate how publishing rights are sold from one country to another, and how translations are commissioned and funded. The module will equip you with a robust, historical understanding of creative writing and modern international book publishing and will include contact with publishing professionals.

Aims:

• To introduce students to the role of the creative writer within the modern and contemporary publishing industry


• To facilitate links with professionals in the fields of publishing, rights and translation


• To encourage students to evaluate their own writing in the context of current developments in the publishing industries

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module it is expected that students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a good understanding of modern print culture and international publishing


• Understand how literary texts are made, circulated, and re-produced through complex, collaborative processes


• Think critically about debates around commerce, questions of taste, and the literary


• Engage critically with ideas presented in seminars and secondaryreading


• Develop independent research skills and understanding of research methods


• Develop ability to work collaboratively – with peers and other professionals

Additional outcomes:

The module will encourage students to develop their oral communication skills through discussions in seminars, think critically both within and across disciplines, and make connections between their academic studies and an industrial context.

Outline content:

The exact contents of the module will be settled in discussion with the students enrolled so as to take account of their particular interests. The module’s primary materials will vary from year to year, and student to student. Key texts and topics covered may include Feminist publishing and Virago Press, the Hogarth Press, Heinemann’s African Writers series, Allen & Unwin and Chatto & Windus archives, Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Inside Book Publishing, The Content Machine; Gisèle Sapiro on the transnational literary field; The Sociology of Translation; The World Republic of Letters.

Global context:

Discussions of global rights, translations, non-Anglophone writers and the international trade in books will be part of the module’s remit. 

Brief description of teaching and learning methods:

The module consists of ten weekly seminars, each two hours in length. Each seminar will involve the reading and writing of literary/critical/ theoretical texts, and consideration of the publishing context in which they are produced and sold. The module teacher will also be available for consultation with students on a one-to-one basis to discuss their work and the progress of the module as a whole.

Contact hours:

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Seminars		10
Tutorials		1
Practicals classes and workshops		10
Guided independent study:
Other		179
Total hours by term	0	200	0
Total hours for module	200

Summative Assessment Methods:

Method	Percentage
Written assignment including essay	100

Summative assessment- Examinations:

Summative assessment- Coursework and in-class tests:

The summative assessment will consist of an essay designed in consultation with the module convenors exploring one author/topic/publishing house explored on the course, totalling 5000 words. This can take the form of either a critical essay or creative response (with an accompanying essay), to be determined in consultation with the module convenor.  

Formative assessment methods:

Tutorial and supervision.

Penalties for late submission:

The below information applies to students on taught programmes except those on Postgraduate Flexible programmes. Penalties for late submission, and the associated procedures, which apply to Postgraduate Flexible programmes are specified in the policy 'Penalties for late submission for Postgraduate Flexible programmes', which can be found here: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmissionpgflexible.pdf
The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of five working days;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than five working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/cqsd-old-site-documents/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf
You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Assessment requirements for a pass:

50%

Reassessment arrangements:

Resubmission of coursework.

Additional Costs (specified where applicable):

Last updated: 14 April 2023