University of Central Lancashire
Navigation

Courses

Publishing

Publishing BA (Hons)

Apply Now

Love reading? Passionate about books? A career in publishing might be for you. 

You’ll be based in our student-led publishing house, UCLan Publishing, which produces and sells professional, commercial books and eBooks for sale on the high street and online, and have 24-hour access to your own, fully equipped space from which you can produce professional quality publications. You’ll benefit from our high level partnerships with publishers such as Egmont UK, Guinness, HarperCollins and Scholastic, with access to work placements throughout the country. 

Year One

  • Essentials of publishing: introduces the main roles in publishing, the changing nature of the industry and takes a close look at the most important businesses and people.
  • Creating a print book: an entirely practical module taught by professionals this module will give you all the skills you need to create a print book from concept to publication.
  • The role of the editor in practice: a hands-on module in which you learn all the basic editing skills from commissioning to proofing.
  • Issues and innovations: this module gives you the chance to design new products and solutions for the industry.
     

Year Two

  • Designing and producing a book: a practical module where you will have the chance to design your own book covers and layouts as well as learning how to brief illustrators and printers.
  • Creating a Digital Book: after giving you all the skills you need this module allows you to create an eBook, interactive eBook or audiobook of your own.
  • The Business of Publishing: this module gives you all the essential skills you will need to get people reading and buying books including marketing, sales and publicity.

Year Three

In your final year, you will have the opportunity to specialise in an area that interests you – for example, children’s books, literary fiction, poetry, science fiction . . . the choice is yours! You will also have the chance to undertake a work placement organised for you by our excellent tutors.

  • Major project: a significant and essential part of the course which brings together all the skills learnt on the other modules and gives you the chance to manage your very own book or eBook.
  • Dissertation: this is a chance to do an in depth study of what really interests you. For example, you could choose to examine why certain book covers work, if you could really predict a bestseller or what the next innovation in digital will be for books. With close consultation and support from your tutors, you will choose a topic that you are passionate about.
  • Professional practice: this module prepares you fully for the workplace. You will develop a professional CV, learn to write covering letters, prepare for an interview, network, get the most out of a work placement and other essential skills.
     

Northern Literary Festival

Location: University of Central Lancashire
Date and Time: 24 March 2018, 10-7pm

Download our flyer to find out about the days events

Register for Tickets

@NYALitFest | nyalitfest.wordpress.com

Opportunities

We organise work placements for students at many publishing houses including HarperCollins, Bloomsbury, Manchester University Press, Oxford University Press, Bounce, Priddy Books, Hachette, Thames and Hudson and many more.

To learn more about our School and the range of courses within it, go to our homepage. If you’d like to learn more about the successes and awards experienced by our students, staff and alumni, visit our news page.

The Quarter

The Quarter is a dedicated team located in the School of Art, Design and Fashion, representing the School's industry based activities. The team works with businesses who require creative support, to provide opportunities for students to work on live industry projects and long-term industrial placements as part of their degree.

Apply Now
Order a Prospectus
Visit UCLan

Key Information

  • Duration:

    Full time: 3 years Part time: 6 years

  • Level:

    Undergraduate

  • Delivery:

    Campus, Full-time and Part-time

  • Award Type:

    BA (Hons)

  • UCAS Code:

    P400

  • Campus:

    Preston (Campus code: U)

  • Start Date:

    September 2018

  • Fees 2018/19

    Full-time: £9,250* per year (UK/EU)
    Part-time: £1,540* per 20 credits studied (UK/EU)

  • View 2019/20 Fees

Scholarships and Bursaries

The University offers a range of scholarships and bursaries to support you through your studies.

Discover More

Entry Requirements

Our typical offer is 104 UCAS Points.  We operate a flexible admissions policy and treat everyone as an individual. This means that we will take into consideration your educational achievements and predicted grades (where applicable) together with your application as a whole, including work experience and personal statement. 

BTEC Extended Diploma: Merit, Merit, Merit
BTEC Diploma: Distinction, Distinction
Pass Access Course: 106 UCAS Points  
International Baccalaureate:Pass Diploma with 104 UCAS points from Higher Level Subjects
IELTS: 6.0 with no subscore lower than 5.5
GCSE: 5 at grade C/4 including Maths & English or equivalent 

Personal Statement Advice

It's never too early to start working on your personal statement. We've got some useful hints and tips to help you make a great first impression.

Advice & Guidance

Check your points

Not sure how many points you have? Use our handy calculator and find out.

Points calculator

Course Overview

Year 1

  • Essentials of publishing
  • Creating a print book
  • The role of the editor in practice
  • Issues and innovations

Year 2

  • Designing and producing a book
  • Creating a digital book
  • The business of publishing

Year 3

  • Major project
  • Dissertation
  • Professional Practice

Clearing 2018

Your UCLan

Virtual Experience

360 degree icon

Discover our
Preston Campus

Learning Environment and Assessment

A 3 year degree qualification typically comprises 360 credits and each 20 credit (a standard module) equates to 200 hours of study, which comprises of a mixture of lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical sessions and independent study. Independent study is an important aspect of your degree course. The exact combination of study time will be detailed within your module descriptors, and will depend on your option choices.

We are the only University with a fully operating, student-led publishing house, UCLan Publishing, which produces and sells professional, commercial books and eBooks for sale on the high street and online. The publishing house is a unique space which is entirely owned by the publishing students and which can be accessed 24 hours a day.

All students get the chance to be involved in the activities of the publishing house including making books, sales, marketing and events.

Publishing House

Industry Links

Our BA Publishing course has input from many industry professionals. All lecturers who teach on the course have come from an industry background and retain their links with the book business. For example, Debbie Williams spent most of her career as Head of Children’s Book Buying at Waterstones Head Office, a role which involved organising all of the midnight launches for Harry Potter as well as buying all of the children’s and educational books for the chain. Alexa Gregson has worked in the industry for many years and was Sales Executive for Palgrave Macmillan. Wayne Noble is an expert in digital publishing and is currently doing his PhD tracking online behaviours.

High-standing industry professionals visit the course regularly and sit on assessment panels. For example, Barry Cunningham (the man who discovered Harry Potter at Bloomsbury), David Roche (Chair of the London Book Fair) and Jane Johnson (Editorial Director of HarperCollins and Game of Thrones editor) are fellows of the University and visit the students several times a year.

We are currently involved in a high level research partnership with the largest children’s publisher in the world (Egmont) looking at the link between reading for pleasure and academic success.

Graduate Careers

Our unique undergraduate publishing course is designed to give you as much experience of working in a real publishing house as possible. UCLan Publishing is run entirely by students and is not for profit. Getting involved in all aspects of the publishing house gives students the training and experience they need to enter the competitive world of publishing.

We have a sister course – MA Publishing – which students can progress to after completing the BA Publishing programme

Important Information

Contact Us

This course is based in the School of Journalism, Media and Performance
Telephone us for further information +44(0)1772 892400
or email us at: cenquiries@uclan.ac.uk | Book a visit

Course Handbook

For detailed information about studying this course at UCLan, please see the course handbook for your year of entry:
For information on possible changes to course information, see our Essential and Important Course Information.

Tuition Fees & Finance

*Tuition Fees are per year unless otherwise stated.
For 2017/18 fees please refer to our fees page.

Further Information for students

You can find regulations and policies relating to student life at The University of Central Lancashire on our Student Contract page.

Entry Requirements

For changes to 2017 UCAS tariff entry requirements please see our Essential and Important Course Information. UCLan requires all undergraduate applicants to have a minimum attainment of five GCSEs at grade C and above, or equivalent, (including Maths and English). In 2017 and beyond we will view the new Grade 4 as being equivalent to a C grade and will therefore require students to achieve GCSE Grade 4 or above. However, if the subject is relevant to our degree programme and requires a higher GCSE grade (e.g. GCSE B grade), and/or includes a Professional body that governs the entry requirements, Grade 5 or above may be required.