PPC launches fourth year of publicist mentoring scheme

The Publishers’ Publicity Circle has announced the fourth year of its mentoring scheme, which is open to publicists of all levels and will start after the enrolment process in January 2020.

The programme has been devised by the PPC committee to create a platform that will give publicists a chance to learn from some of the best in the business. Spanning campaign to personal development, the aim of the scheme is “to give each publicist who enrols the opportunity to advance their understanding and realise full potential,” the committee said. “This year eight new mentors with exceptional campaign experience from across the industry will be selected for the 2020 scheme.”

All applicants must be PPC members and the deadline is 5.30pm on Monday 2nd December. Successful applicants will be matched with their mentor by the end of December ready to start the scheme in January 2020.

Sophie Calder, PPC chair, said: “Publicists in publishing are exceptional communicators, enormously imaginative and tirelessly resilient. Our mentoring scheme aims to foster these qualities in future generations, and to create a culture of collaboration, creativity and confidence across the industry. We hope our mentees will be empowered to visualise and move towards their future careers. And that our mentors will develop their coaching and management skills.”

Mia Quibell-Smith, senior press officer at Vintage, described the experience as “invaluable”. She added: “I’ve really enjoyed working with my brilliant PPC mentor this year. I’ve learnt so much, from career development, to working with freelancers and perfecting my pitches.”

Paul Black, publicity director of Anderson Press, said of his engagement with the initiative: “It’s been great to work with the PPC on their mentoring scheme, it’s an opportunity to help new publicists and also a good excuse to get out of your head and campaigns and look at things from another angle. I’ve worked with two publicists starting out in their career and hope I’ve been able to guide them a little on the path which is children’s book PR.”

For more information, visit the PPC website.