Troubador Information Day Roundup July 2024

We hold information days usually around once a year to ensure that we continue to give our authors the best possible service, stay ahead of the curve with industry developments and continue to develop the Troubador team. On these days, we shut the office and focus on many prominent core topics at the time and bring the team together to discuss them. They are a great way to step out of the day-to-day and focus on improving how we do things moving into the future.

In early July we hosted the latest instalment. The whole team attended to learn and discuss various topics regarding our business, the industry and our authors. It was a dynamic and informative event, designed to align our team with the current goals and future direction of the company. The day was structured to provide comprehensive updates on our performance, discuss growth strategies, and enhance team knowledge through interactive workshops and sessions. Here's a detailed summary of the day’s activities and discussions.

Introduction

First, our Managing Director Jeremy Thompson opened the day with a reflection on our progress since the last Information Day in February 2023. He also shared insights from the recent Heads of Department team training trip, highlighting how those discussions have shaped today’s agenda. The message from Jeremy was clear - we’ve made leaps and bounds over the last 18 months and are working with more authors than ever, but there are many areas in which we want to enhance and grow our service offering into the future.

Marketing and Financial Performance

Keeping the whole team updated on how we are doing as a business is important to the Troubador leadership team. It gives the team a black-and-white picture of how the business is performing. As a small business with around 30 team members, it is important for us that the team is kept in the loop with how we are performing and understand where we want to go moving forward. 

To this end, Alex Thompson provided an update on our marketing and financial performance in the financial year to date, noting key achievements and challenges so far this year. The story was an overwhelmingly positive one, with us having seen growth throughout the year as a result of working with more fantastic authors than in the same period last year. He also presented our financial predictions for the end of the year, setting a realistic yet optimistic tone for our future efforts.

Growth Strategies

In a joint session, Business Development Manager Alex Thompson and Assistant Production Manager Fern Bushnell focused on our growth strategies. They shared insights from the Heads of Department trip, the theme of which was the leadership team stepping away from the office for a short time to focus solely on growth.

They offered the prioritised quick wins that we want to focus on over the next 6 months, like introducing new services and increasing our community-focused projects, but also outlined some major projects that we want to start working on soon. While there is a lot of work to do with some of those projects, there was a sense of excitement and positivity around what they could mean for the evolution of Troubador Publishing. Watch this space!

Attracting a New Audience

As mentioned above, this year we are working with more authors than ever, but we know that there are loads more out there that we could help get their books produced to the highest possible quality and sold and distributed to the market. The challenge posed to Publishing Manager Rosie Lowe was to run a session where the team could discuss how we could engage with other author audiences. 

The team was divided into 4 genre-specific groups (historical fiction, crime, sci-fi and business) to brainstorm strategies. Each team’s spokesperson presented their ideas, sparking a lively discussion on innovative ways to engage readers in these genres. As well as allowing the team to share ideas, the session was a great way for those who would typically not be confident with public speaking to give it a go, and the whole team excelled in that area.

Selling More Books

While we are a publisher that works directly with authors to produce and sell beautiful books, a large part of how we help our authors is to sell as many of their books on their behalf as possible. Focusing on the questions of how we can do even better, Operations Director Jane Rowland and Sales and Marketing Manager Jonathan White shared valuable insights into the changes in the book trade that we have seen over the last 18 months as well as new trends that we think we are likely to see in the future. 

They then focused heavily on ways in which we can boost our sales, taking even more advantage of our excellent relationships with key retailers like Amazon and Gardners, but also developing our newer direct-supply relationship we have with Waterstones to make that an even more lucrative sales channel for our authors. This session provided practical knowledge and strategies that everyone could apply to their roles.

Contract Review

Following a tasty lunch, our Customer Services Manager Chloe May facilitated a review of our contracts, splitting the room into groups focused on both the Troubador Publishing contract and that of our sister company The Book Guild. Over the past 18 months, we’ve had several new faces join the team, and this session was useful for any newbies, but also long-standing members of the team, to reflect on their understanding of the agreement that our authors enter into with Troubador when publishing their book, and also what obligations we have to those authors.

The session encouraged team members to highlight unfamiliar aspects, discuss the importance of certain clauses and allow those newer to the team to make sure they were completely comfortable with the details of the contract we share with our authors.

Sustainability in Publishing

A topic that is front and centre within the publishing industry at the moment, and has been for some time, is sustainability. Jane Rowland and Jeremy Thompson led this session, and a large part of it was to discuss the impact of the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulations on our operations and discuss the likely actions we will need to take to comply.

As well as that, they went back to basics, discussing how we as a team can build sustainability into our working days as much as possible. We discussed the measures already in place, like the solar panels on our roof that provide the majority of our building’s power, the electric forklift in our warehouse and the motion sensor lights that ensure lights are off when not in use. However, there is always more we can do, and this session was a great opportunity to share ideas and reiterate our commitment to sustainability. The session included breakout tasks, with feedback due at the end of July.

Customer Service ‘Wheel of Destiny’

Despite the slightly odd name, this session was a great way to end the day. After a day of looking at the industry, the company and our authors, Alex closed the day with a session where the team took part in some self-reflection. He introduced the Customer Service ‘Wheel of Destiny’, an interactive self-assessment tool that gave team members 8 categories within customer service (such as empathy, communication and flexibility among others), and then gave them time to assess their customer service strengths and areas for improvement.

Following some lengthy discussions and conversations among their groups, some members of the team shared their thoughts on one of the categories and explained to the room why they rated themselves as they did and any reflections on things they would like to work on moving forward. This session rounded off the day nicely and gave everyone in the team some self-reflection to bring away with them.

Closing Remarks

Jeremy Thompson wrapped up the day by highlighting his top five takeaways, ensuring everyone left with a clear understanding of our current position and future direction. Our team Information Day was a productive and engaging way to spend a day away from our desks. It provided important updates, fostered team collaboration, and equipped us with strategies to achieve our goals. We leave this day better informed, more cohesive, and motivated to drive our company forward and ensure that our authors receive the best possible publishing experiences.