Marcus Hardy

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to apply for the role of Bookseller. My career to date has been in commercial book and professional publishing - so I have a love of books and also an understanding of book production, marketing and sales. Below is an account of all my work experience, which may be of interest.

Until recently, I was working for RICS, as a project manager responsible for the conception, development and publication of a portfolio of technical surveying standards. The role involved initial planning of new publications, research and development, developing business cost proposals, creating schedules, developing and adhering to house-style and work-stream protocols, commissioning and meeting regularly with a broad panel of expert authors and key internal and external stakeholders, review and management of copy and other content, briefing an in-house editorial team, leading and reporting on all ‘in production’ materials, and final publication in print and digital formats. I also liaised with internal departments: from sign off on new projects — through various project streams, such as looking at ways to support promoting our products in the relevant professional environment — through to publication. Liaison with internal and external teams was through online meetings, to share progress reports (generated as Excel documents from Trello, our main project management tool) and Powerpoint presentations, and through other comms: email, social media etc. I also put manuscripts out to peer review using our digital platform, and reviewed and actioned feedback. I also drafted, edited, fact-checked and posted content and promotional copy for forthcoming consultations and publications onto RICS’s main digital channels using CMS. Most of my day-to-day work at RICS involved monitoring and finding creative solutions to the ‘risks’ attached to the delivery of a complex portfolio of publications, and extensively supporting my contributors, stakeholders and other team members.

Prior to working at RICS, I worked at BSI as a programme manager on a portfolio of sustainable energy standards relating to petroleum, solar, wind and water, liaising with energy professionals on a number of ISO and CEN standards, and facilitating the sharing of their input with international standards bodies. As part of the role, I ran large committee meetings, including plenary meetings with stakeholders from the European partners of the BSI committees that I worked with.

Before working at BSI, I had a number of temporary and freelance editorial contracts, including for: Flame Tree Publishing as senior editor, on a list of art, culture, cookery and lifestyle titles; for EdenCo editing magazines; and for IHS Global Insight on their same-day-analysis, on-line news feed, editing and posting telecommunications and finance news stories. Other contracts I have undertaken have included working as an editor on CAMRA publications and for HIT Entertainment on their Guinness World Records listing. I have also written a number of travel books and articles.

I have also had many years’ experience planning, developing, commissioning and project managing complex creative programmes at a number of well-regarded book publishers. In particular DK, where I was a senior editor on their Travel Guides series, and at Quantum Publishing, where I was editorial manager on a portfolio of lifestyle, reference, culture and art titles. During my time at these two publishers, I contracted, liaised with and managed teams of authors, editors, proofreaders, designers, illustrators, photographers and cartographers (both in-house and third-party out-of-house teams), liaised with sales/marketing teams, production departments and foreign language co-edition partners, and implemented strict deadlines and budgets. I also learnt: IT skills, including using Adobe InDesign, Quark and Microsoft Office; and editorial skills, including commissioning, copyediting, subbing layouts, setting house style, proofreading, fact-checking, and commissioning and checking illustrations and maps. I also produced promotional copy for covers and a range of other materials, such as advance information sheets, for the major book fairs.

I also speak conversational French and Spanish, and some German and Italian. Overall, I would say that my career has given me a broad book and publishing-related skill set that may serve me well working for the Dartington Trust book shop. 

See About Me document

See attached CV document