Over the last couple of decades, I have made a lot of useful contacts in the educational publishing industry. This never seems to end, as new talented people come up to replace those who have finally had enough!
In my role of publishing consultant, I am regularly being contacted about new projects, mainly to see if I have capacity to work on them. I will accept as many as I can, but often have to decline work because I do not have the time due to other commitments. In these instances, rather than just a flat rejection, I tend to turn to my freelance network to see if anyone else can take them on. In doing this, I often consider the philosophy that I held when I was an in-house publisher – that authors and editors are to be nurtured with a view to becoming excellent (or even more excellent), rather than just existing to perform a single closed task. I do not have direct reports anymore, but I still enjoy being able to secure work for someone who I hope will learn from the experience and then go on to do great things.
