How time flies! Sam would have worked within publishing for 23 years this coming summer, and for her it’s been quite a journey. Looking back now, her first job certainly feels like it was a very long time ago – within the production department at Usborne Publishing (a children’s publisher) placing print and composition orders and checking CMYK film layers on a light box. Since then, her progression has been within the academic/scholarly space, and she feels privileged to be part of this important and often pioneering community.

Having worked with both books and journals, she has always been attracted to the actual ‘making’ of the publication – the editing, the composition, and supporting the compilation of an article, a monograph, or an issue. She has spent many years project managing (and then managing the project managers!) and has always enjoyed the role as the PM is the ‘linchpin’ of the content production process. A large part of the author’s publishing experience is the production and publication of the fruits of their hard work and the PM is crucial in ensuring that the process is smooth and that the author is supported.

Eight years ago, she made a switch in her career and moved from working in publishing houses to working for publishing services suppliers. This was a natural transition for her as she had worked with and managed suppliers for years and felt that she could really understand her publishing customers’ challenges and requirements.

She joined Newgen in 2021 in a business development role and she hasn’t looked back! She says, ‘Newgen is definitely “my kind of place” ’. First and foremost, she has many amazingly talented, smart and dedicated colleagues. What has really stood out to her about Newgen is the cohesion between teams both in terms of divisions and geography. Newgen is a truly global business, yet she still feels very much a part of things with both her UK and Indian colleagues.

Second, for her, Newgen doesn’t stand still – it can’t afford to as producing and publishing content have become increasingly digitised and customers’ needs and ambitions are aligned with this digitisation. Sam says that Newgen not only continues to improve its original core offerings such as typesetting, editorial and project management but also diversifies in the technology and systems spaces and helps its customers to make their content discoverable and accessible. According to Sam, it is this agility that makes Newgen an exciting place to work.

While she says that companies can pay lip service to the issue of work/life balance, at Newgen, she finds that the company sincerely supports its staff in trying to achieve that balance. Another core value of Newgen that she sees is honesty and she has found that there is a real culture of openness which is both refreshing and reassuring.