Meet the mentor | Iain MacGregor

Iain MacGregor has been a tremendous contributor to the SYP Mentoring Scheme over the past 2 years. Currently Publishing Director for the Collins imprint of HarperCollins, Iain was previously Associate Publisher at Mainstream in Edinburgh when I initially invited him to participate as a SYP mentor.

Iain has had extensive experience at Publisher level, with positions as Publishing Director at Cassell, Associate Publisher at Chrysalis Book Group and Publishing Director at Sanctuary Publishing. I consider any SYP mentoring student to be very fortunate to be under his tutelage -- Iain is very highly regarded in his field, an enthusiastic ambassador for the industry and displays a keen [taskmaster] interest in his students.

Iain is currently mentoring a SYP student whose goal is to make the transition from recent Literature graduate to marketing assistant in trade publishing. Iain has established an internship for the student in editorial, marketing and PR, which is currently ongoing, as well as guiding her in the direction of respected sources of industry news/information to further her development.

Thank you, Iain.

Meet the mentor | Rachel Lynch

I am sincerely grateful to Rachel Lynch, MD of Ashgate Publishing, for her sterling input into the SYP mentoring scheme. The student's mentoring goal is to complete a work experience placement with an academic publisher, with a view to full-time employment.

Rachel has guided the student on interview technique, recommended specific smaller publishers to approach, and advised her on promoting herself to independent publishers (whilst encouraging her to sound out local bookshops for work in the meantime). The student has recently completed an internship at HarperCollins, and had a number of interviews.

Thank you, Rachel!

Meet the mentor | Bethan Jones

I'm very grateful to Bethan Jones for accepting the invitation to be an SYP mentor; she is a highly-experienced marketing and publicity manager within the trade sector.

Bethan is Publicity Manager at Random House, on the Chatto & Windus, Harvill Secker, Yellow Jersey and Square Peg imprints. As such, as well as juggling the demands of a high-profile role, Bethan is mentoring a SYP student whose goal is to obtain an entry level publicity/marketing role within the trade sector. (Under Bethan's mentorship this student is now completing an internship at Orion, and is receiving vacancy information / interview guidance.)