This is a very basic introduction to XML (extensible markup language). If you think that XML is exclusively for techie people or you don’t really know what it is at all, this post is for you.

Note from the editor: If you’re free on Thursday 23rd May, please do join us at BookMachine Unplugged, as our top speakers discuss collaboration and what they have learned from the projects they have worked on in publishing. Tickets are here.

Publishing gets a lot of stick about being an incredibly old industry, being fusty and insular and old fashioned. Maybe the young up-and-coming tech companies are about a million times cooler than we are, with their boardrooms that double as pool tables, desk garnish that looks like a rainforest, and cocktail Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. But in our heritage and lives something incredibly powerful – international relationships. While I feel it would be wrong to compare publishing to the mafia, fact is we are a network of likeminded people, a lot of whom know each other perhaps a little too well, with a common goal. I say we should tap that network a little more often.

Paul Rhodes is one of our top speakers at BookMachine Unplugged. He currently runs Orb Entertainment, and previously spent around 15 years across HarperCollins and Walker Books in a variety of strategic, Business Development and digital roles. We interviewed him to find out more.

With BookMachine Unplugged, our event which celebrates the culture of collaboration in publishing, kicking off in a couple of weeks, we’ve been thinking about the collaborative process and how this works from an author’s perspective. Maggie Eckel interviewed Rob Weston (children’s and YA author) about publishing trends back in March; and we thought we’d interview him again, to find out why he says that ‘collaboration has been a great experience’.

Here at BookMachine we are passionate about what we do – BookMachine is fun, interesting, great for making connections, all about collaboration, cool, all-inclusive, informative, forward-thinking, welcoming, mega, bookish, digital, international, community-focused, innovative, friendly, driven… there are endless words to describe it!

So we’d like to set you a challenge.

Charly Ford described BookMachine as “Fantastic publishing goodness. For all.” What strapline would you suggest for BookMachine, using only 5 words?

Leave them as a comment below, or tweet us @BookMachine or @charly_ford!

The best entry* will win a free pair of tickets to the party that is taking place in Oxford on 27 March.

*extra marks will be awarded for creativity!

Lynette Owen is a leading authority on Copyright.  She is Copyright Director at Pearson Education and has a particular interest in establishing licensing business in developing and transitional countries.  She’s taught and written widely on these topics.  Lynette was awarded an OBE for services to publishing and international trade in 2009.  She was also the inaugural recipient of the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize.  Here, she reflects on what it was like to receive the award.

In the last two years, a lot of publishers have been buying into self-published ebook successes in a big way. There’s the Amanda Hocking trilogy, John Locke (the first man to really “crack” the KDP system and sell one million kindle ebooks), 50 Shades of Grey, and, quite recently, Wool by Hugh Cowey to name a few of the main deals. Some of these have earned seven-figure advances, something debut authors would only dream of. But are they worth it?

Helen is a ‘Teen fiction fiend’. She works as a  Sales and Marketing Assistant for McGraw-Hill Education by day and is a rugby player and all-round dreamer by night. She has strong ideas on tea and civil rights! This was her third Bookmachine event.

“Overdue a BookMachine fix, it was time I headed to an event outside of London.  I’d been missing out – £5 cocktails and space at the bar? Oxford, we’ll get along fine. As usual, an intriguing mix of people and a welcoming atmosphere made for absorbing conversation. The time flew and I left full of radical digital possibilities, clutching a proudly customised Santa hat.

Katie Stileman has recently graduated from Jesus College, Oxford, where she studied Medieval History. She has worked in schools since the summer teaching study skills and is now looking to pursue a career in publishing. Last week she attended BookMachine Oxford. Here is her review.

In the run up to BookMachine New York, we’re running a set of interviews with publishing professionals connected to the City, with an interesting story to tell.

Marisa A. Corvisiero is a practicing attorney in New York City and a literary consultant, who started agenting a few years ago and recently founded the Corvisiero Literary Agency. The agency now has a staff of 8 strong, who together represent a wide spectrum of genres for very talented authors worldwide.