The IPG Skills Hub
Independent Publishers Guild
Independent Publishers Guild represents 600 independent publisher members
National
www.independentpublishersguild.com
Success achieved
Transforming access to training and professional development for independent publishers- Website
- https://www.ipgskillshub.com/
- Project dates
- 2016 - March 2017
Project team
- Clare Grist Taylor - Publisher, leader and non-executive
- Tom Holman - Writer and Head of Communications
- Charlotte Butler - Project Manager
- Charly Salvesen-Ford - Events and Sponsorship Manager
- Imogen Race - Events & Sponsorship Manager
Tools & Systems
The IPG Skills Hub features an array of resources, all intended to give independent publishers quick and easy access to the professional development they need. Learning tools include:
- Multi-module courses in important areas of publishing including publicity and financial management
- Masterclasses from experienced independent publishers revealing the secrets of successful publishing
- Bite-size pieces of advice in numerous aspects of publishing
- FAQs about specific publishing disciplines
- Comprehensive directories including links to useful organizations
- A major glossary of publishing terms to help demystify the industry.
The variety of tools helps our members make the most of their time on the Skills Hub. Whether they wish to undertake a full-length course over several hours or grab a few quick tips in a matter of minutes, they can dip in and out of the Skills Hub at their convenience.
Introduction
The IPG Skills Hub was launched to revolutionise training for independent publishers in the UK. By bringing together full-length training courses, masterclasses, bite-size tips, directories and much more, it sought to meet a huge demand for professional development in publishing.
The IPG has a membership of more than 600 companies working in all areas of books and journals, and while some have the resources for in-house or external training, many others struggle to find the time and money for it. But at a time of huge change, the IPG identified that the need for upskilling is greater than ever.
By making access to the Skills Hub free and open to all members of our association, we sought to break down barriers to training. Regardless of a company’s resources or geographical location, the launch of the Skills Hub means that all staff at all IPG members can access high quality professional development material—often for the first time.
The IPG also devised the Skills Hub as an archive of advice and support. Through its events and services, the IPG provides members with a vast array of knowledge and resources. The Skills Hub is the perfect way to capture and share them.
Discovery
The IPG’s surveys of members have consistently identified the pressing need for training. Our 2016 Harbottle & Lewis Independent Publishing Report, the biggest survey of independent publishing ever undertaken, found that fewer than half (48%) of our members offer their staff external training courses—a figure that falls to fewer than a quarter (23%) of small companies with a turnover of less than £100,000.
There are two key reasons for this shortage of training: money and time. Many independent publishers find it hard to spare budgets for external training, and time-pressed businesses with a small number of employees struggle to free up enough time to complete training, especially when travel is involved. By making its resources completely free, and available whenever publishers can spare time, the IPG Skills Hub has transformed access to training.
Our intensive research also helped us understand priority areas for training. A pre-launch survey of needs found that our members would most value training in publicity, marketing, rights and sales. We have responded by ensuring that resources on the Skills Hub reflect these priorities.
Our research continues well beyond the launch of the IPG Skills Hub. We have convened a focus group of a publishing staff of varied ages, experience and specialisms to provide feedback and strategise the development of the platform accordingly.
Objectives
The primary objective of the IPG Skills Hub has been to drastically improve our members’ access to training resources. The IPG’s core aim is to help independent publishers do better business, and the Skills Hub is already a central plank of our strategies for achieving that.
Internally, another objective was to make the Skills Hub one of the best IPG membership benefits to date. It adds enormous value to our members’ cost of subscription, and is a vital new selling point for independent publishers that are interested in joining the IPG. Membership of the IPG is at a record high, but the Skills Hub will help us to attract even more members and further increase our retention rate.
Innovation
The IPG Skills Hub has been an innovative addition to the IPG’s services to members. Until it launched, independent publishers’ training options were limited to specialist publishing consultants, whose fees are outside the reach of many small businesses; generic business training, which often has little direct relevance to publishing; or ad hoc, on-the-job tuition. Our Skills Hub provides an innovative alternative to the status quo.
Creative thinking has been at the heart of the project. We have sought to present all resources and tuition in a way that reflects the learning styles of our members and the constraints on their time. Content is eye-catching and interactive, and uses cutting-edge presentation tools to make it accessible and lively. We have drawn extensively on the creative talents of our platform provider, Thought Industries, to optimize the appearance of all material.
The launch of the Skills Hub has broken new ground in the publishing industry. There has been nothing like it before, and we are very proud of its impact on our members.
Marketing
The IPG Skills Hub has been promoted extensively to members before, during and after its launch in early 2017.
Logo - Skills Hub
We unveiled the project several months before it went live in order to build anticipation and allow time for our members to influence its content. We have used our website, weekly member ebulletins and social media channels to update publishers about new additions to the Skills Hub, and have generated interest from the publishing media from the moment we announced the project.
Live promotion of the Skills Hub at the IPG’s popular events has proved especially effective. We officially launched the platform at our 2017 Annual Spring Conference, explaining its development and showcasing its features. Then, at our Autumn Conference in September, two of our members presented their reflections on the Skills Hub and how it supports individuals and businesses.
Achievements
The IPG Skills Hub has emphatically achieved our primary objective: to provide our members with top quality training that improves their businesses.
The Skills Hub has proved the best way yet of disseminating the wealth of knowledge and experience within our association. It has successfully challenged the notion that training is unaffordable or too time- consuming. And in just six months it has become a pivotal part of our offer.
As the Skills Hub has bedded down, we have moved fast to iron out some minor glitches in registration and access, and gathered feedback from our members about improvements. Our challenge now is to further refine the functionality of the Skills Hub, attract new users to the site and add more compelling content. With continued input and the support of our members and contributors, we see the Skills Hub going from strength to strength.
The Skills Hub provides IPG members with an engaging and efficient way to learn. All content is designed to be:
- User-friendly. The intuitive and highly visual platform uses a wide range of presentation styles and tools for memorable learning
- Simple. Users can sign up to the Skills Hub with their standard membership log-ins, and navigation around the platform is fast and intuitive
- Authoritative. All content is authored by experts, including pioneering independent publishers and consultants who are renowned in their fields
- Flexible. Users can select content that is most relevant to their needs. Because the platform is available round the clock, they can learn at their own pace and fit training around their busy working lives
- Interactive. As well as instructing in the theories of successful publishing, the Skills Hub engages users with practical tasks, challenges and quizzes
- Up to date. Skills Hub content is constantly refreshed for relevance and accuracy, with new resources added every week.
One of the IPG’s paramount aims was to make the Skills Hub relevant to our members’ own businesses. Its content is useful in practice as well as theory, and ready to be applied to our members’ specific needs. The IPG has a rich diversity of members of all specialisms and sizes—from one-person start-ups to internationally-renowned publishing brands—and the Skills Hub has something to help all users.
Financials
The IPG’s total investment in the Skills Hub to date has been £30,000. Measuring the return on investment in financial terms is difficult, as the Skills Hub is free to all IPG members and non-revenue generating.
As such we prefer to measure returns in terms of the satisfaction and retention of our members and the recruitment of more independent publishers to our community. Membership of the IPG is now at a record high of 600 companies, and 100 new members have joined in 2017 alone. Membership retention rates are better than ever before. While we cannot claim that the IPG Skills Hub has been solely responsible for this success, we do feel that it has been a very significant factor in our recruitment and retention of members.
Feedback & Testimonials
“The IPG Skills Hub provides members with the training support they need to stay competitive"
Kathryn Earle, managing director, digital resources division, Bloomsbury
“The information on the IPG Skills Hub has been invaluable to us”
Gary Northfield, co-founder, Bog Eyed Books
“We’ve really benefited from the pool of knowledge in the Skills Hub”
Jessica Roberts, co-founder, Foe Publishing
“Our staff are particularly excited about the IPG Skills Hub”
Stephanie Cox, founder, Trigger Press
Wider impact
The IPG Skills Hub has radically improved our members’ training. It has given many independent publishers access to professional development resources for the first time, and improved their knowledge of their industry. At a time of change, it equips our members with the modern skills they need to thrive.
In less than six months, the IPG Skills Hub has gathered registered users from around 220 different publishing organisations. Course completions have averaged ten a day, and take-up of content has exceeded our expectations.
The Skills Hub is being used by our members in a variety of interesting ways, including:
- To deliver targeted training to individuals of all abilities and in all departments
- As the foundation of induction programmes for new recruits, providing them with an excellent grounding in publishing
- As an integral part of staff appraisals, allowing employers to respond to individuals’ specific training needs
- As part of in-house conference-style training events for groups of staff
- To help businesses reflect on their publishing achievements and knowledge and identify areas for future improvement.
For the IPG a trade association, the Skills Hub has cemented our role at the heart of publishing. It makes us an even more authoritative source of help to our members, and adds another compelling reason to belong to the IPG.
