Egg Box Escalator
In the Beginning
I was asked to describe my thoughts and experiences with PPD in the hope that this might be interesting or useful for people thinking about looking into some for themselves. So, here is my very own PPD Story.
A few years ago I was selected for an Escalator Leadership Award. Escalator is an Arts Council England personal development programme devised in the East of England and being considered as a model that may be rolled out nationally.
The process involves being earmarked as an ‘emerging talent’ in a given field and then being mentored through an Arts Council Grants for the Arts application for one to two years’ worth of personal development spending. I elected to focus on an emerging passion for all things literature and publishing, with a new media angle. The experience has been an extremely valuable one, in a number of ways.
The process involves being earmarked as an ‘emerging talent’ in a given field and then being mentored through an Arts Council Grants for the Arts application for one to two years’ worth of personal development spending. I elected to focus on an emerging passion for all things literature and publishing, with a new media angle. The experience has been an extremely valuable one, in a number of ways.
Practical Application
While initial consultations were a little directionless and rushed, later meetings with The New Writing Partnership (now Writers' Centre Norwich) and the regional Arts Council proved more useful in framing a relevant programme of work. Much of this early confusion was perhaps my own; the gradual clearing of a picture reflects much about the process in general: it gives you time to stop and think, target and reflect, when previously you may have just been ‘doing’. And it is a process of change, which can feel disruptive: I was initially sceptical and resistant for various reasons to do with relevance; purpose; perceived criticisms. But it is an important thing to bear in mind: a lot of what you can get out of a PPD programme might not feel of obvious benefit immediately. Indeed, some of it – some of the questioning it causes – can cause you to feel defensive. But this resistance or pressure or sense of disruption are a very useful part of the process. To plant seeds, first you have to dig up some earth.
I personally found the scheme very helpful for bridging a gap between university and the professional world. A gap I otherwise would not have crossed easily. At uni, I had been fairly hyper-active on the student paper, putting together fanzines and anthologies – general literary doings. As a result, I had a relatively healthy CV for the usual post-degree path of chasing voluntary work and internships at good publishing houses. However, while these are hugely worthwhile, they are not necessarily all that feasible without a significant network of help in kind behind you – usually in the form of a family home, preferably in London, and indulgent relatives; otherwise, your own savings. For various reasons, these were not in place.
So, with Arts Council help in the form of a year’s worth of organisation development grant, I set about revamping and rebranding Egg Box Publishing. Originally founded by Gordon Smith, I took the publisher on and incorporated it as a not for profit company, and then worked on increasing its reputation and standing. This effectively, along with the added back-up of the Escalator scheme and my own work, all helped me build my own independent industry internship, allowing me to learn ‘on the job’, ‘while doing’ with my own project – and this gave me insights way beyond what would have been possible otherwise. Practical application is a powerful way to learn.
Tools of Change
Also, the programme has allowed me to attend the Tools of Change for Publishing conference in New York for the last few years. This has probably been the single most useful aspect. It gave me early access to thoughts and advice from industry leaders and changers; early insights into the directions in which the industry was heading, and ways the media world would change, from leading entrepreneurs. People like Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, Cory Doctorow, Tim O’Reilly. They were ideas that were ahead of anything I’d learned at university or would have learned on an average publishing internship. They were also significantly ahead of where most UK publishers were at the time. A year earlier, at uni, I didn’t even know what a blog was, really (this was 2005) – a year later and I found myself able to out-argue Directors of major UK publishers or literature professionals. It was quite dizzying, on occasion.In some respects, as emboldening as this was, it has also been difficult to assimilate. Too much information too early can make you feel slightly powerless, or voiceless, or frustrated. Despite plenty of insight, I would still encounter frustrations of circumstance or confusion about what to ‘do’ with it all. And there was a lot of waiting for thinking over here to ‘catch up’, as everything people were predicting has slowly come to pass. Thinking back, it is remarkable how complacent some people were about the changes hurtling at the media industries – particularly that of television and book publishing. But the most enduring sense from having taken a step with some PPD training is one of distance travelled. If I look back to how things were and what I knew four years ago, and compare to now, it is remarkable.
I am now in a position of being able to help lead a company representing 30+ national presses (Inpress), offering ideas, advice, and guidance for the Managing Director and board as we take the company in some exciting new directions. And I have been able to help develop or have given advice to a number of other individuals, companies and schools. It is when you are sharing information with others in this way that you realize how much of it you have; how much you have learned yourself. So, I would say, if you are considering investing in some PPD yourself, go for it. I am not sure how, during a fairly intense period of change personally, I’d be where I am now professionally without it. So, thanks to the Arts Council and to the individuals who have helped along the way (you know who you are). A period of PPD work gave me the insights I needed to take my work and professional practice to the next level, and many of the personal tools I’ll need to continue that work myself.
Biog and Links
There's more from Nathan at his blog Curiosa Hamiltona and Twitter.Nathan Hamilton runs Egg Box and is Chairman of the Board of Directors for Inpress, an organisation that represents and supports 30+ independent UK presses. He also currently programmes and runs the Richmond Upon Thames 'Book Now!' Literature Festival. His poetry and criticism have been published in a number of places, in print and online, including Poetry London, the Manhattan Review, nth position, the Guardian, and the Spectator.
