RightsZone

In 2017 I founded RightsZone with Ruth Tellis, Alex Kapp and Marc Defosse (owner of publishing technology experts Ribbonfish).  RightsZone is a new generation of rights licensing software which has been designed by rights people for rights people.  RightsZone was born out of a frustration that rights people were having to waste a lot of time updating databases, which meant they didn't have time to spend on what they were good at - negotiating rights deals.  RightsZone is designed to support rights people through the licensing process with clever workflow tools, to ensure that the data you enter is put to good use, allowing you to manage your rights business efficiently and increase revenue.
My role at RightsZone is extremely varied, from working on the system development and training new users to sales and marketing and a whole host of jobs that come with running your own business. 
The part I enjoy most is talking to rights people about rights problems, and then helping them solve them.

www.rightszone.co.uk

Director

rights2 Consultants

Experienced Rights and Licensing specialist supporting publishers and creators make the most of their rights, whether licensing or acquiring and providing support for a broad range of publishing projects where rights and licensing experience is beneficial.


Rights Licensing:
•	Auditing client’s existing processes to ensure licensing opportunities are maximised, and in tune with the client’s strategic goals
•	Mentoring and training for those working in licensing teams requiring additional support
•	Design and Specification of rights licensing systems 
 - making existing systems work more effectively
 - assisting with selection and/or implementation of new off-the-shelf products
 - working with clients on bespoke development
•	Assisting with recruitment of rights and licensing staff 

Rights Acquisition: 
•	Develop policies and frameworks to ensure strategic objectives are underpinned with compliant business practices
•	Content reviews to determine where additional rights clearances are required on specific projects 
•	Training (group/individual) covering copyright and rights acquisition principles

Broader Support:
Rights and Licensing expertise is often sought when developing new content, platforms or publishing systems.  I am experienced at providing input into such projects covering, contracts, rights/licensing and royalties aspects and working in a project team from inception to delivery.

Rights and Licensing Consultant

Palgrave Macmillan

Palgrave Macmillan is a leading publisher of academic content, specialising in humanities and social sciences.

Leadership
•	Led team to provide efficient, strategically sensible and profitable licensing solutions 
 - grew licensing revenues by 120% 
•	Chaired Publisher’s Association’s Academic and Professional Division Copyright Committee (2005 – 2014)
 - worked with British Academy on ‘Joint Guidelines on Academic Research’, instigated 'Publisher Guidelines for Meeting the Permissions Needs of People with a Print Disability in Further and Higher Education’, worked with TechDis to create the UK ‘Publisher LookUp’ service

Strategy
•	Identified inconsistencies in rights acquisition process and developed new strategies to resolve
 - streamlined workflows, improved license compliance, increased 
number of ebooks
•	Strategic input into projects such as Connect (e-book platform), Pivot (innovative, mid-length work imprint) and Open Access policy development
 - anticipated issues and proposed solutions, balancing commercial needs of business with broader market requirements

Business Analysis and Process Improvement
•	Analysis of core licensing areas to identify opportunities for growth
 - created focused objectives to build into team members’ performance plans, increasing revenue
•	Analysis of revenue figures and invoicing procedures
 - faster payments, significant decrease in bad debt

Rights Systems
•	Designed and developed rights licensing systems
 - reduced admin, sped up processes, increased business analysis, anticipated future requirements

Training and Mentoring
•	Developed and delivered global training on copyright and permissions alongside comprehensive policy and guidance documents
 - increased knowledge of staff in key teams, reducing non-compliance risk 
•	Gave regular guest lectures at publishing courses in UK universities
 - raised company profile amongst publishing graduates, inspired students to embark on careers in rights

Associate Director of Rights

•	Grew team and restructured roles within the team to maximise efficiency and grow revenue, which was achieved
•	Took on direct responsibility for some translation territories (French, Spanish, Portuguese and German), significantly increasing revenue from these areas
•	Continued to handle co-publications, reprints, serial and collective licensing 
•	Worked on a number of company-wide projects including developing the ebook platform and various internal systems

Head of Rights

•	Promoted to manage the department and oversee licensing on behalf of the business. 
•	Took responsibility for collective licensing, reprints and serial rights.
•	Assumed responsibility for backlist erights clearance to support the growing ebook business 
•	Supported editorial staff in relation to rights acquisition issues

Rights Manager

•	Managing the US Co-publication programme (see Rights Assistant below)
•	Bookclub sales 
•	Managing Permissions

Rights Executive

•	Assisting with US co-publication programme, this involved close liaison with US Publishers in addition to internal production and distribution staff
•	Handling permissions

Rights Assistant

The Creative Umbrella

The Creative Umbrella was a PR Consultancy primarily serving the publishing industry.  Clients included: V&A Publications, Little, Brown and Co.,The Running Press.

•	Creating Press Releases
•	Setting up author interviews with newspapers, radio and television channels
•	Assisting with launch events
•	General administrative work

Publicity Assistant

James Thin Ltd

James Thin Ltd (formerly Volume One Books) was a general interest high street bookseller.

•	customer service desk
 - dealing with customer orders and general enquiries
•	stock display
•	cashier duties

Bookseller (weekend)

Rights Consultant and Director at RightsZone

Rights and Licensing specialist with 25 years+ experience in the publishing industry, supporting publishers and rights professionals across all areas of rights and licensing to find new audiences for their content and grow their rights revenue.

Core strengths include:
•	An in depth understanding of the current challenges faced by those involved with rights and licensing
•	Finding practical, strategic solutions to copyright and licensing issues
•	Designing and developing systems and processes for efficient and effective rights management
•	Mentoring, training and developing rights professionals

In addition to being a Director of the 2 businesses I founded (RightsZone and Rights2) I run the rights2gether networking group and sit on the rights committees of Book Industry Study Group and Publishers Licensing Services, donating my time to a variety of rights related projects to drive growth in the publishing industry.

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