Alison McHugh, on a virtual ‘bring your daughter to work’ day, discusses the authoring process….

I was chatting to my six-year old daughter recently about what mummies and daddies do, and of course she asked the question I had been dreading: ‘So where do they come from?’!

‘Well’, I carefully explained. ‘there are lots of different types and it all depends on the type you want to make. Sometimes it can take just two people to make one, but sometimes lots of people are involved. Some people have been doing it for a long time but still really enjoy it, some do it all day long in the office, other people do it at home - quite often when their children are at school or in bed. Mummy has to chase some of them sometimes because they haven’t got them out on time, and on occasions we have to drop everything and help someone else get theirs out!’

‘That sounds soooo exciting’ she said. ‘Will I be able to do it when I’m a big girl?

‘Make books?’ I replied. ‘But I thought you wanted to be a hairdresser?’

Oh come on, what did you think I was talking about??? My daughter and I were discussing what her parents do at work!

If you’ve had problems grasping my child-based explanation of how we produce our ‘learning media’ perhaps I ought to provide a different take on the subject?

What are the learning media?

So, let’s start with the basics. Learning media sounds very hi-tech, doesn’t it? I told my daughter ‘there are lots of different types’, which is very true:

In case you’re not familiar with them and think a kit might be something you mend a puncture with, here’s a bit of information about the principal published product formats.

There will be more to come….

And who buys them, and how?

What’s the product range?

Although I sometimes like to introduce myself as an author, in the hope that someone might think I am in the process of writing the next Booker Prize winner or this summer’s bonk-buster beach-read top seller, unfortunately the reality does not have quite the same street cred! Obviously we produce material for all the main accountancy qualifications (ACCA, AAT, CAT, CIMA, ICAEW), but BPP LM also produces a wide range of Financial Services products such as those for CFA, SII Certs and Diplomas and a whole of host of other products for:

Now I could tell you what all these initials stand for, but it would be boring, you’d probably forget two minutes later and we always use initials anyway (as we’re far too busy to have the time to say Chartered Institute of Management Accountants when CIMA will do!).

And I bet you didn’t know that we don’t just produce products in boring old English. Dip FM products are produced in French and Spanish and CAT products and exams are produced in Mandarin Chinese.

BPP LM actually produces about 2,500 products each year, most of which are updates of existing material, though many more new products are expected.

Who does all this stuff?

Now you’d think that with so many products there must be a huge pool of people churning the stuff out, but surprisingly few people are involved in originating BPP LM products.

And it’s just as I told my daughter… Some people have been doing it for a long time but still really enjoy it (I’ve been doing it for nearly 15 years, and some people have been doing it for even longer), some do it all day long in the office (the in-house team), other people do it at home - quite often when their children are at school or in bed (the freelancers).

BPP LM classroom courseware products are produced by tutors and subject managers, many in the Education Team, but based all over the country (and overseas, too) , making the Notes second to none in courseware market.

Published products and home study material are produced by the in-house team and an ever-increasing number of freelancers. Here’s a list of the in-house authors and other members of the origination team and a rough guide to the areas they specialise in, and their areas of responsibility.

And how far do they take it?

When I told my daughter that ‘sometimes it can take just two people to make one, but sometimes lots of people are involved’I guess I was using a bit of artistic license as sometimes in BPP LM we do it all on our own! Most ‘normal’ publishing companies - and our competitors – tend to use one person to write material, another to proof it and a possibly a third to edit it. But the members of the BPP LM in-house author team take it all the way: the BPP LM in-house author has the technical ability, subject knowledge and language skills to enable them to write, proof and edit – they’re real Jacks/Jacquelines of all trades (and, of course, masters of many too!!).

Products written by freelancers tend to be proofed and edited by someone from the in-house team or may be taken over by one of Diane’s editorial team (Sarah Barnes and Jo Greenwood) to ensure BPP LM’s high standards are applied consistently across all products.

What about the future?

But however a product has been produced, and whoever is involved, everyone in the in-house team is quite prepared to drop everything and help someone else get theirs out (of the door and off to the printers)!

And it’s a good job they are. We are a tremendously busy department, up against tight deadlines (which are determined by the market – when exams are sat, when BPP PE and other colleges run courses, when results released), very demanding customers and some crafty competitors (as well as the photocopier and e-bay!). And the volume of products, the range of products, and the demands of the market constantly increase.

Both the in-house team and a large proportion of our freelancers are currently glued to their desks producing material for the ACCA and ICAEW new syllabuses, and a range of brand new BPP LM products will be topping the best-seller lists in 2008 (ok, maybe not the Sunday Times best seller list but it’s quite an achievement to win ‘Most interesting and heavily read Business text book 2007’ or to be proclaimed ‘Stimulating product of the year 2007: Financial Services learning material’).