Meet Nick Bingham, Senior Production Editor in the UK Pre Press Team.
What led you to your current role at Boydell & Brewer?
Like many others I graduated from university without a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I briefly considered staying in education to do a masters, but after a bit of soul-searching I decided that I wanted to jump straight into employment. One of my friends from university had just started working in publishing and after a conversation with it became clear to me that publishing was the perfect industry to suit my skills and interests too. A couple of months later, after sending my CV to all the publishers I could find, an advert for a position at B&B popped up in the local paper. I applied and was thankfully offered the job; and here I am 5 years later!
What’s the absolute best part of your job?
The best part of my job is definitely the variety it involves. It’s a bit of a cliché I know, but no two days are ever the same! I’m responsible for co-ordinating the cover designs for all our UK titles and getting to share cover designs with authors for the first time is a particular highlight. I also love the range of different people I get to work with – from my colleagues (both here in the UK and across the pond in our US office) to copyeditors, designers, authors and more!
What’s the best day you’ve ever had at work?
A bit of an odd choice… but we actually had a great day a couple of years ago when our IT systems were down for the day. Although that meant we had to tackle all the dreaded housekeeping jobs like filing and shredding, there was a strong sense of solidarity as we all battled our respective piles of filing and helped maintain each other’s sanity!
What’s the view from your desk?
Unsurprisingly, books! Beyond the piles of books scattered around the office I can see passing trains and every now and then RAF helicopters, which frequently fly over the office!
What’s the best thing on your desk?
Tough question. One thing on my desk which is categorically NOT the best is my Ipswich Town FC mug, which at the moment is a daily source of shame and embarrassment. The best thing is probably a book of pantone swatches, the go-to for any and all matters concerning colour! I’m often referring to this when trying to find that exact shade of green that I once saw somewhere and desperately want to recreate for the cover of the latest book I’m working on!
EDIT: during the current lockdown my desk is now my dining room table: the best thing on it is my fancy new microphone for Zoom meetings!
What are you currently reading?
The Choice by Edith Eger. Very powerful and definitely a book I’d recommend adding to your reading list!
What’s your beverage of choice?
Coffee in working hours, at the weekend I can usually be tempted by a Ribena.
What’s one Boydell book that you’ve worked on?
One title I will always remember working on was our 4-book set The Sea in History. With a total of 3,752 pages and well over a hundred illustrations it was certainly one of the most challenging projects I’ve worked on in my time here, but seeing it all come together was extremely rewarding. I particularly enjoyed working on The Ancient World volume, as this was an area I studied at university.
If you could choose a book for us to publish on ANY subject, what would it be?
Ancient Greece – I’ve always been fascinated by Greek history and my undergrad dissertation was on Ancient Athenian and Spartan education, so something along these lines would be great!
What’s your favourite historical novel, film or play?
I thought the recent film 1917 was very good.
You can choose up to four people from history to join your dinner party: who are they?
I’d go for Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Elizabeth I and Albert Einstein.
The Arms and Armour of Death