Doug Paterson- Open Source Publisher

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Douglas Paterson, and I’m the Publisher of the Open Source brand. I have overall responsibility for the books that we publish on Open Source projects – working with the Acquisition Editors to identify new projects where we can see a desire from the community for information to help them get the most from the project.

What do you enjoy about your role?

Providing new information for an Open Source project that we haven’t dealt with before to make life easier for users of that project. We are often dealing with projects that no other publisher has felt the need to engage with before, and there is great satisfaction from the community enjoying our book and responding.

How important is the Open Source community to Packt and to your role?

My role is only about Open Source, and of course it is very important. Packt’s first titles were about Open Source technologies, and we continue to contribute to the funding of Open Source projects through our Open Source Project Royalty Scheme and the Open Source Awards, a unique position among publishers.

What are your hobbies outside of your role?

Right now I’m currently enjoying have my hair pulled by my 4 month old daughter, that takes up most of my time these days. It even gets in the way of reading a new zombie novel.

 

 

Julian Copes- Open Source Marketing Executive

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Julian Copes and I am the Marketing Executive who works on Open Source books and organizes the annual Open Source Awards. My role involves building relationships with projects and experienced figures within Open Source. A huge part of my role involves ensuring that the various Open Source communities are aware of relevant books when published.

What do you enjoy about your role?

The thing I really enjoy about my role is the opportunity to meet lots of different people from different walks of life over the internet or face to face through conferences. I am a real people person and my role allows me to build relationships with people on a worldwide scale. I also love being part of the Open Source community as I get to work with and meet the readers of Packt books, finding out ways to provide a greater service to the Open Source community in the future.

How important is the Open Source community to Packt and to your role?

The Open Source community is vital, not only the publication of Packt books but the level of quality books available in the Open Source book market. I work with various individuals within Open Source from project leaders to respected community members. All members of the Open Source community are important and we find we are provided with great assistance during our annual Open Source Awards from authorities in the industry who offer to be judges.

What are your hobbies outside of your role?

In my spare time I enjoy reading, listening to music, playing sports (especially soccer) and reading/writing poetry. I love travelling and spending time with my family.

Thanks for your time Julian, lastly what projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

At present, I’m working on the new range of Packt mini books and completing some early preparation for the 2011 Open Source Awards.

 

 

Sarah Cullington- Open Source Acquisition Editor

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Sarah and I am one of Packt’s Open Source Acquisition Editors. My role is to research Open Source technologies to see if there are any potential opportunities for new books to be created. If I find an interesting topic area, I will put together a title proposal to get a better idea of what the book will be about and who the audience will be. From there, I find authors to write the books, help them to develop an outline for the book, then work with them on perfecting their first few chapters.

What do you enjoy about your role?

One of my favourite things to do is to help new authors to develop a book idea and outline, and to really make it their own. It’s exciting to see a book idea turn into an actual outline, it makes the book seem much more real.

How important is the Open Source community to Packt and to your role?

Everyone in the Open Source community is incredibly friendly and helpful. I have approached many people over the years about writing a book for us, or to discuss books ideas that I have. Even if people don’t have time to write a book, they will always have time to discuss my ideas with me, to suggest book ideas of their own, or to introduce me to friends and colleagues who are also very friendly and great to chat to about Open Source topics.

What are your hobbies outside of your role?

I try to go to the gym three times a week, although it often turns out to be a lot less frequent! I also enjoy reading, listening to music (and often singing along), and spending time with my friends and family.

Thanks for your time Sarah, lastly what projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

I am helping to put together the Packt mini-books and am working on updating a number of our Drupal, Moodle, and jQuery books.

 

 

Usha Iyer- Open Source Acquisition Editor

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Usha Iyer, an Acquisition Editor working with Packt and I work on Packt Open Source books. My job is to find book ideas with good potential and write book proposals on them. Once the publisher approves the book proposal, I find suitable authors for the book and contract them. I work on the initial chapters of the book, the structure of the book and I also aid the author to ensure the content is at the required standard before I pass the book on to other editors.

What do you enjoy about your role?

I like to research for new book ideas which have a good market and write title proposals on them. I love to see books getting published after a long process and definitely enjoy the success when a book sells well.

How important is the Open Source community to Packt and to your role?

Packt is the biggest publisher of Open Source books, so Open Source books are vital to Packt and how I perform in my role. As I work only on Open Source books, the growth of the Open Source community is very important to me. It feels good to work on books published on Open Source topics in areas where there is a real need for accesible books.

What are your hobbies outside of your role?

My hobbies are cooking, listening to music, and watching TV. I like to read fiction when I get time for it.

Thanks for your time Usha, lastly what projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

Nothing special, I am basically spending time on researching for more good Open Source book ideas!

 

 

Robin de Jongh – Open Source Acquisition Editor

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Robin, one of the Open Source Acquisition Editors at Packt. I started off as one of their authors, and found writing two books with them an excellent route into editing. I now investigate current and future trends in the software landscape so that I can match our books to future demand of our readers. Books take a long time to write and edit before they appear on the bookshelves, so I have to try and line up the titles you want, for when you want them, before you know you do!

What do you enjoy about your role?

I enjoy being part of a vibrant company, a supportive and talented team, and being brought cakes and biscuits by the CEO every time I press the big red cake button under my desk. Also it’s great to be in a role where thinking outside the box is encouraged and valued.

How important is the Open Source community to Packt and to your role?

Open Source has completely changed the software landscape for the better, allowing users to decide on which projects win, and which to quietly forget. Software is now driven by need, rather than by what makes money in the short term. And that’s very good for books too. It means that we, an Open Source focused publisher, directly address needs and wants, rather than just where the money is. Other publishers are catching on slowly to what that means – but Packt is blazing the trial. I see Open Source as no-tie-in software. It costs you nothing to install it, so there’s zero disincentive to trying it out. And because people are happy to experiment with Open Source software they learn to do things they never thought they could. Lack of user documentation is often the one factor stopping people benefitting from the software, stunting the growth of a project, and so Packt books can often be the catalyst to success.

What are your hobbies outside of your role?

I’m a committed Bible student. That’s probably not a popular thing to be right now, but I find that having a higher wisdom to draw on is vital to living a contented life. I also continue to write when I have the time.

Thanks for your time Robin, lastly what projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

I’m working hard on building a list of talented, enthusiastic, hard working, Dutch authors to write books for me. If you fit at least three of those criteria, you should get in touch 😉

 

 

Aaron Nash- Editorial Quality Executive

 

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Aaron and I work as an Editorial Quality Executive at Packt, trying to maintain a high standard of quality across our range of books. This mainly consists of checking over the books and making sure that they meet our in-house style.

What do you enjoy about your role?

I enjoy getting to see a finished book, knowing that I’m usually the last person who has had any input on its content. Also, my role lets me exercise my unhealthy obsession with grammar in a way that isn’t just annoying.

How important is the Open Source community to Packt and to your role?

As part of my job to ensure good editorial quality, I’ve hired several freelance proofreaders. Quite a few of these have come from within the Open Source community – members of the community have been really helpful in this role, since they already have a familiarity with the material and technical terms used in our books.

What are your hobbies outside of your role?

I like to travel as much as possible, but when I’m stuck in the UK, I generally like reading (trashy crime novels in particular) and listening to music in my free time. I’m interested in current affairs, history, politics and other such exciting topics. This year I also finally discovered the Xbox 360 – it’s changed my life.

Thanks for your time Aaron, lastly what projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

Currently I’m working with our copy editors on new ways to maintain the high quality of our books.

 

 

The Online PR Team

Who are you and what do you do?

We are Packt’s Online PR Team, and work closely with the people and communities surrounding the technologies on which Packt publishes.

What do you enjoy about your role?

We enjoy discussing our books with experts in different fields, and working with them to have our books reviewed. This helps to give us an understanding on the quality of our books, as well as promoting them to potential customers.

How important is the Open Source community within Packt to you and your role?

The Open Source community plays a very vital role within Packt since we publish a significant amount of Open Source titles. As the communities surrounding Open Source projects are so welcoming, it’s usually a pleasure to work with them, and we are always happy to support them with books or content.

What are your hobbies outside of your role?

Hanging out with friends, watching movies, and traveling.

Lastly what projects, if any, are you/the MREs working on at the moment?

We have recently worked on promoting the Microsoft Monday and IBM Tuesday campaigns, and are also helping to promote Packt’s online digital book library, PacktLib. Most of our time and focus revolves around the core of Packt’s business though, the books themselves.