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Preston Campus
Publishing BA (Hons)
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.
UCLan Publishing
UCLan Publishing, the only student-run, trade but not-for-profit publishing house in the world - winners in the 2018 T.H.E. Excellence and Innovation in the Arts award.
UCLan Publishing is breaking the mould of how a publisher usually operates, empowering students to ‘learn on the job’. This year the team has enlisted big name authors such as Jaqueline Wilson, Jane Johnson and A J Hartley, to give the students experience of big trade, commercial publishing. A J Hartley’s book, Cold Bath Street, was promoted through UCLan Publishing PR and has become a national bestseller, with Waterstones taking it as a promotional title nationally.
Publishing House
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.
UCLan Publishing won the award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts at the Times Higher Education Awards 2018 for UCLan Publishing, the only student-run, trade but not-for-profit publishing house in the world.
Key Information
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Duration:
Full time: 3 years Part time: 6 years
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Level:
Undergraduate
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Delivery:
Campus, Full-time and Part-time
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Award Type:
BA (Hons)
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UCAS Code:
P400
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Campus:
Preston (Campus code: U)
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Start Date:
September 2018
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Fees 2019/20
Full-time: £9,250* per year (UK/EU)
Part-time: £1,540* per 20 credits studied (UK/EU)
Scholarships and Bursaries
The University offers a range of scholarships and bursaries to support you through your studies.
Discover MoreEntry 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 & GuidanceCheck your points
Not sure how many points you have? Use our handy calculator and find out.
Points calculatorCourse 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
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.
cJAM
Final year undergraduate and postgraduate journalism students have the opportunity to get involved in our annual cJAM employability event. cJAM shakes-up the traditional career fair format and gives UCLan students face-to-face time with up to 30 successful industry professionals all of whom have come to the event with the offer of valuable work placement opportunities. The cJAM event format consists of four main components:
- Students hear from keynote industry speakers who share their personal career journey and how they got to where they are now.
- The industry Q&A session allows students to ask questions to gain further advice and insight.
- Informal networking opportunities during the breaks and lunch.
- The key element of cJAM is the giant speed pitching session. The students have eight minutes one-to-one time to pitch to selected industry guests to try and win a placement. Students can choose to pitch an idea, their reasons for wanting a placement with that particular company or to showcase their enthusiasm, skills and talent. Immediately following the pitching session, placements are decided on and the event closes with all the winning students being presented with their placement awards.
In 2018, there were four cJAM events and a total of 320 placements were awarded. All of which enabled our students to establish credible links in line with their career aspirations. To find out more about cJAM: Journalism, see the video and read the press release.
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:
| 2019 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 2018/19 fees please refer to our fees page.
Further Information for students
- Information for international students |
- Accreditation of prior learning |
- Student Support Information
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.