Publishing MA
Why choose this course?
This course examines all aspects of the global publishing industry, such as structure, business models, production, legal, acquisition, idea creation, product development, editing, marketing, publicity, copyright, rights, and sales and distribution of physical and digital products.
You will put your skills into practice through a dissertation or practical project and a 10-day work placement.
You will produce books for commercial publication through Kingston University Press and collaborate with authors and partner organisations.
| Mode | Duration | Start date |
|---|---|---|
| Full time | 1 year | September 2025 |
| Full time | 2 years including professional placement | September 2025 |
| Part time | 2 years | September 2025 |
| Main Location | Penrhyn Road |
Reasons to choose Kingston University
- Teaching staff are active practitioners, each with at least 20 years commercial publishing experience.
- Input from industry practitioners helps this course give you skills for the workplace. Masterclasses and guest lectures keep you informed of current issues in the industry.
- The course includes practical training in using Nielsen BookScan, BSI proofreading symbols, Adobe InDesign and PremierPro.
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged.
Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
What you will study
You will learn everything you need to know about the publishing industry: its structure, acquisition and development of content, print and digital production processes, sales, marketing and distribution.
You will also develop and demonstrate your analytical skills and competence through discussions, assignments and the culminating dissertation or practical project.
Your experienced teaching team is supported by expert guest speakers and a widely envied masterclass series featuring leading publishers and publishing professionals to keep you up to date with industry developments.
You'll need to take two compulsory modules, totalling 60 credits. You can then choose two optional taught modules, totalling 60 credits, as well as either a dissertation or practical project (worth another 60 credits).
Year 1
Optional placement year
This course meets the needs of commercial publishers, allowing you to gain key skills and to learn how processes work in a practical context. Its relevance is ensured by input about employers' needs from our advisory board of publishing professionals, resulting in a course that evolves alongside the industry.
Throughout your studies, you'll develop key skills and get prepared for a career in all sectors of the book and journal industries, and across all specialisms.
Core modules
Create: The Business of Publishing
30 credits
This module initiates you into the collaborative, creative business of commercial publishing and facilitates the development of your research, critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills. From books and magazines to apps and websites, you will explore the structure and operation of successful publishing companies, the stakeholders, tools and processes crucial to the development of profitable multi-platform products and services and the fundamental and disruptive business models used by both traditional companies and new industry-entrants.
After an immersive introduction to the complex and challenging nature of 21st century publishing, the module offers the opportunity for the generation and critical evaluation of your own publishing ideas. This involves using industry-standard sources and approaches to research and analyse markets, identify appropriate business models and operational strategies and build and present persuasive business cases.
Throughout, there is an emphasis on building robust and well-evidenced arguments to win support for theoretical assertions and practical publishing concepts. You also have the opportunity to work with your peers, and to critically evaluate each other's publishing proposals.
Do: Work Placements, Networking and Career Planning
30 credits
The Kingston Publishing MA aims to equip you to participate actively in the current, fast-changing creative economy, and this module provides the opportunity to develop your employability and plan your future. It offers you the chance to network with industry professionals, and to learn hands-on through placement in a real publishing environment – experiences which are vital in understanding how the business operates, and in securing employment.
The module begins with a series of masterclasses by a wide range of experts on key contemporary issues. The seminar which follows each event allows you to further engage in these critical debates, increasing the confidence and insight essential for networking and job seeking.
Placements offer you the opportunity to match your interests with the diversity of situations in which publishing expertise is needed. During the module you will undertake a minimum of ten days with a host organisation. An active programme of preparation support is offered during this process. The work experience allows you to apply the knowledge and skills acquired through academic study. Critical reflection on the placement and on personal and professional development throughout the module ensures that you capitalize on your experiences.
Throughout the module you will be guided through practice in all aspects of career planning – from examining industry roles, sector and entrepreneurial opportunities, to the practical honing of skills in job searching, producing successful CVs and job applications, and interview preparation.
Make: Content Development and Production
30 credits
This hands-on module gives students the key theory and the core practical skills needed to effectively manage content from raw material to finished print and digital presentation. Working in teams, students will carry out essential editorial and production tasks to produce a live published product. This group publication project enables students to collaborate to demonstrate the teamwork skills required for timely delivery, and to develop a thorough understanding of workflow and the associated processes. It also enables students to show how material gets turned into a market-appropriate product, ready for stakeholder approval and launch. The module enables students to illustrate how value gets added within the publishing supply chain, and to appreciate the content management systems and metadata vital in today's publishing environment.
By working on in-class exercises and assignment projects students will acquire and apply the key skills necessary to operate within a professional publishing context. Students will engage with project management, budgeting and costing, briefing, the different types of editing, design and layout, proofreading, and delivery. This module enhances employability by allowing students to use industry standard tools and packages, such as HTML, InDesign and Photoshop, and to improve understanding of basic typographic and design principles, the application of typesetting/mark-up skills, and production of publication ready files. Practising these hands-on skills will enhance students' understanding of how attention to detail can improve a product, make it the best it can be, and ensure it is presented profitably to its intended market.
Share: Strategic Marketing and Sales
30 credits
This module considers the various individuals and communities (colleagues, shareholders, retailers, distributors, customers and other stakeholders) involved in the business of content delivery, and how most effectively to disseminate information and influence their behaviour, in order to promote effective marketing and sales.
This module will enable students to understand the principles of marketing and sales, and develop associated skills in applying them to meet the demands of modern publishing. Students will undertake exercises and discussions about the various applications of sales and marketing within the publishing industry and consider their relevance through all stages of the publishing process.
Through this process students will learn how best to investigate the market for demand, how to predict that demand, and how to prepare, market and distribute information about a product or service, whether in whole or part, to promote profitable fulfilment of that demand.
Publishers operate in an international context and so must market and sell their products to customers around the globe. Students will therefore consider how publishers organise themselves to deliver international operations successfully, and explore associated cultural, pricing and communication issues.
Choose one of the following
Practical Publishing Project
60 credits
The Practical publishing project provides students with the opportunity to conceive, plan, manage and deliver a substantial publishing-related output in order to achieve specified goals. Examples of potential projects include producing and publishing a book, app or magazine, researching and presenting a start-up business plan or developing and implementing a major market research exercise. In all instances, students are expected to define a specific audience and relevant stakeholders, as well as personal development and project objectives. Students will also develop a structured project plan and a post-project critical evaluation, in order to identify personal goals for future professional development.
Depending on the nature of the chosen project, students will engage with different ranges of knowledge and skills, from practical print or digital production methods and processes to software expertise, market research (including questionnaire design, data analysis and interpretation) and business planning. Although students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, they are supported and mentored by an individual supervisor at key points in the process.
Publishing Dissertation
60 credits
The Publishing dissertation module provides students with the opportunity to independently conceive, explore, investigate and then deliver a significant study within the publishing industry and allied fields. The theoretical underpinning may vary according to the approach taken and the research questions chosen, but the outcome should be a sustained and coherent piece of detailed work, capable of publication and wider dissemination.
Depending on the issue chosen, students will engage with a range of professionals within the industry, and within related fields. Although students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning, they are supported and mentored by an individual supervisor during the process.
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route 4 visa.
This has proven popular with Publishing students, with the majority securing a placement within publishing or a related industry.
Please note
Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.
Entry requirements
Teaching and assessment
You will be taught via a variety of methods, including lectures, seminars, one-to-one tutorials and hands-on workshops.
You will undertake individual and group assignments including presentations, critical reflections, blogs, an exam as well as industry-specific tasks such as pitching your own publishing idea, developing a marketing communications strategy and analysing the business model of a publisher of your choice. You will be given opportunities to practise and receive feedback in preparation for all assignments.
The course content evolves each year. For example, with video becoming one of the most important marketing tools, we have recently added practical workshops in video creation to the marketing module, with input from industry professionals.
Who teaches this course?
You will learn from a mixture of permanent teaching staff, masterclass speakers and guest lecturers. All are publishing professionals with many years of experience.
Lecturers have each worked in publishing for at least two decades. They include the well-known industry commentator and author of How to Market Books, Professor Alison Baverstock, and current practitioners Emma Tait and Clare Somerville. They are also experienced industry trainers and qualified higher education teachers.
Postgraduate students may also contribute to the teaching of seminars under the supervision of the module leader.
Fees for this course
Additional costs
Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs that are not covered by tuition fees which students will need to consider when planning their studies. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, access to shared IT equipment and other support services. Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees.
Where a course has additional expenses, we make every effort to highlight them. These may include optional field trips, materials (e.g. art, design, engineering), security checks such as DBS, uniforms, specialist clothing or professional memberships.
Facilities
The campus at Penrhyn Road, where this course is taught, is a hive of activity. It houses the main student restaurant, the learning resources centre (LRC), and a host of teaching rooms and lecture theatres.
The LRC offers:
- specialist resources for Publishing MA students including The Bookseller and a number of specialist journals
- subject libraries, plus a free inter-library loan scheme to other libraries in the Greater London area
- online database subscriptions
- a growing selection of resource materials
At the heart of the campus is the John Galsworthy building, a six-storey complex that brings together lecture theatres, flexible teaching space and information technology suites around a landscaped courtyard.
The Iris Murdoch Archives
Kingston University hosts two major archives relating to Iris Murdoch – a significant philosopher and one of the 20th century's greatest novelists. These archives currently comprise:
- Iris Murdoch's Oxford library (more than 1,000 volumes, many of them heavily annotated by Murdoch)
- the papers, tapes, interviews and manuscripts collected by Peter Conradi, Iris Murdoch's official biographer and Murdoch scholar
- various letter runs and documents donated by well-wishers
Resources in London
Kingston is just a 30-minute train journey from central London. Here you can access a wealth of additional libraries and archives, including the British Library.
After you graduate
Once you graduate from Kingston, you'll be part of a professional community of publishers, who keep in touch by meeting in person, or through our active social networks.
Read what some of our graduates have gone on to do and how studying at Kingston helped them kick-start their professional careers. You can also find out more about where our other graduates are working:
Graduate destinations
Our graduates have gone on to work in a range of roles in publishing and other industries. Here are just some examples:
- Blake Friedmann Literary, TV and Film Agency
- BMJ Publishing Group (journals)
- Brandwidth (digital production)
- City & Guilds Publishing (editorial)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (marketing)
- Hachette Children's Books (digital rights)
- Little Tiger Press (editorial and marketing)
- Montash Associates (recruitment)
- Nosy Crow (sales, production and marketing)
- Penguin (production, art department, marketing)
- Random House (marketing, production, digital publishing)
- Usborne Publishing (publicity)
- Wiley (production)
What our graduates say
Links with business and industry
Our close links with the publishing industry, including publishers, agents, literary festival organisers and authors, mean that you will benefit from:
- an academic teaching team that has both commercial publishing experience and contextual/theoretical knowledge of the industry
- input from guest speakers, who add an extra perspective to your studies
- masterclasses and other events with leading publishing professionals, commentators and authors on the latest trends
- input into the course from our Advisory Board
- work placements and the chance of winning an industry-sponsored prize
Advisory boards
The Publishing MA benefits from the input of two dynamic advisory boards, both of which are keen to support our students and advocate for our course.
The Publishing Advisory Board comprises a group of experienced professionals from throughout all sectors of the industry.
The Alumni Advisory Board comprises Kingston graduates with successful careers in publishing who are keen to give back to Kingston.
Each member gives guest lectures and contributes to placement and dissertation study, as well as advising on their area of specialism to ensure the course continues to equip students with the skills and knowledge they need.
Publishing Advisory Board
- Dr Christopher Fletcher, Keeper of Special Collections, Bodleian Library
- Andrew Hansen, Vice-President, Prestel Publishing
- Nicholas Jones, Founder and Chairman, Strathmore Publishing
- Philip Jones, Editor, The Bookseller
- Emma Lowe, Publishing Account Director, Glassboxx
- Alicia Lui, Founder and Managing Director, Singing Grass Communications
- Georgina Moore, Director of Books and Publishing, Midas Public Relations
- Sophie O'Neill, Managing Director, Inpress
- Diane Spivey, Publishing and Rights Consultant
- Jeremy Trevathan, Managing Director, Macmillan Adult Division
- Simon Trewin, CEO, Literary Agent and Creative Director, Simon Trewin Ltd
- Andrew Welham, Non-Executive Director, Flame Tree Publishing; Executive Consultant, Think Selection
- Kate Wilson, Founder and CEO, Nosy Crow
- Gordon Wise, Senior Literary Agent, Curtis Brown Group
Alumni Advisory Board
- John Baker (MA Publishing, 2018), Literary and Screen Agent, Bell Lomax Moreton
- Laura Battle (MA Publishing, 2019), Key Account Manager, Abrams and Chronicle
- Elle Brenton-Rounding (BA English, 2015; MA Publishing, 2016; London Book Fair Trailblazer 2022), Senior Sales and Business Development Manager, Bonnier Books
- Jessica Dunn (MA Publishing, 2012), Complex Ebook Producer, Penguin Random House
- Charlotte Rogers (MA Publishing, 2016), Membership Engagement Manager, Independent Publishers Guild
- Joe Sedgwick (MA Publishing, 2015), Head of Writing Services, The Literary Consultancy
- Kimberley Sheehan (MA Creative Writing and Publishing, 2016), Campaign Manager, The Reading Agency
- Tanuja Shelar (MA Publishing with Professional Placement, 2019; Bookseller Rising Star, 2020), Marketing Manager, Joffe Books
- Jaclyn Swope (MA Publishing, 2013), Senior Account Manager, Nielsen Book Research
Research areas
Publishing at Kingston University has a vibrant culture of both research and professional practice. Our lecturers publish all the time – academic research, industry-leading text books and writing for the national or trade press. Applications for research study with us are very welcome.
We have a vibrant programme of industry supervision for masters dissertations. This has led to collaboration between Kingston students and industry tutors. In 2018 a Kingston MA student won the prestigious Association for Publishing Education Award for the best dissertation at masters level for her work on publishing for children with autism.
Associate professor Alison Baverstock has carried out groundbreaking work into the nature of self-publishing and how it is impacting the wider industry. This has been published in book (The Naked Author, Bloomsbury) and journal form. Alison is currently overseeing four PhD students, who are working on: what attracts young adults to the books they choose, cover design in women's commercial fiction, the history of Virago and the publication of fairy tales. She also has extensive experience of overseeing PhD by publication.
The University has a pre-arrival shared reading scheme – The Kingston University Big Read. This won a prestigious Times Higher Education Award in 2017 for Best University Initiative for Widening Participation. This has now developed into a dynamic research project, across a range of other universities, concentrating on how universities can make their students feel welcome, encouraging both engagement and retention. In 2018-19 we worked with The University of Wolverhampton, Edge Hill University and University of the West of Scotland. Most of our findings are published in Logos – the journal of the world publishing community and there are regular blogs on progress. To discuss these or potential collaborations, please contact Alison Baverstock.
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Course changes explained.
Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
