Feature Rising Stars
Clarissa Pabi is a member of the most recent cohort of Rising Stars. Motivated by a desire to “get books into as many people’s hands as possible”, she is noted for her innovative approach to marketing and clever use of digital. As an undergraduate at Oxford Universit, Pabi worked on a number of extracurricular projects with youth-led creative network Livit, aſter which she secured a year-long internship via Creative Access at Ebury, Penguin Random House’s non-fiction specialist. Six months into her time there she was offered a permanent role and, in the following five years, continued her upward trajectory to become senior marketing executive. Pabi has an eclectic range of marketing campaigns under her belt, including her work on Dan and Phil’s The Amazing Book is Not on Fire, which earned her a Book Marketing Societ award.
CLARISSA’S TIP
You should continually look to learn from others to improve your own skills and expertise. Go to events, read books and articles, listen to podcasts...
Clarissa continued her stellar work at Ebury while spreading her marketing wings. She now executive-produces and manages podcast Mostly Lit, cited by the Guardian as one of the best podcasts of 2017.
And, on the eve of LBF, she was poached by Bonnier Publishing to take on a new role as senior marketing manager. All this hasn’t gone unnoticed: Pabi has also been named one of the FutureBook 40.
Jack Smyth was tipped for success among 2017’s Rising Stars. Despite falling into a career in design “by accident”, his work quickly picked up awards. Last year, for example, he recieved plaudits for his work on Jennifer Ackerman’s The Genius of Birds and Robin Wasserman’s Girls on Fire at the Academy of British Cover Design’s annual awards. Smyth’s first foray into design involved a stint at Dublin’s Tower Records, but it was a personal project, redesign- ing classic books’ jackets, that kindled his passion for publishing. He started out in publishing as an intern with Litle, Brown’s art department, where as a junior designer he worked on a series of eye-catching covers. From Litle, Brown Smyth moved to Simon & Schuster, show- casing his skills as a senior designer on titles such as F Scot Fitzgerald’s I’d Die For You..., which proved to be one of 2017’s most note- worthy jackets.
JACK’S TIP
There are no shortcuts to producing a good cover... You need to be willing to stare at a blank portrait rectangle and keep working at it with all the tools you have until you’ve got something right
Jack, who has picked up an occasional teaching gig at Kingston University, was nabbed from his position at Simon & Schuster by
HarperCollins; he now works on the publisher’s jacketing for titles on its William Collins and 4th Estate imprints.
Jasmine Denholm was named a Book- seller Rising Star in 2016, in recognition of the outstanding contribution she made to Shropshire-based independent Wenlock Books in her role as a bookseller. She first started working in her local shop on Satur- days, before undertaking an apprentice- ship in retail. During her A-Levels Denholm struggled with depression and agorapho- bia, and she credits her time working at the bookshop with having a positive impact on her mental health. At Wenlock Books, Denholm was respon- sible for the day-to-day running of the shop, as well as its website, social media, chil- dren’s storytime sessions and book clubs. Her particular high points while there included organising some very successful Books Are My Bag celebrations.
JASMINE’S TIP
Visit your local bookshop and get to know the staff and other customers, take part in as much as you can and get some work experience
Jasmine was shortlisted for Young Retailer of the Year at the British Book Awards, before she moved across the aisle
in January 2017 to work
for David Fickling Books, where she is currently sales and publicity assistant.
www.thebookseller.com
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