Live webchat: A creative director answers your questions

Ben North will be revealing the secrets of his his job from 1pm to 2pm this Friday, 27 May. Post your questions now

Continuing the series of webchats with industry insiders suggested by Degrus, UnpublishedWriter and RolandKempston, this week we will be opening up the world of the creative director in the company of HarperCollins's Ben North. Probably less understood than most jobs in publishing, it's nonetheless an extremely influential role.

At HarperCollins, North works on a range of books including literary novels, commercial thrillers, women's fiction, popular non-fiction, and celebrity memoirs. His role involves writing copy, titling books, producing creative strategy, giving cover art direction and making advertising: if that sounds a little confusing, fear not: we thought he was a designer until a few days ago. He has worked on books by Jonathan Franzen, Hilary Mantel, Chris Evans and Lionel Shriver.

Here's North's own explanation of his job: "I began my career in publishing as a back cover copy writer at Penguin, something I still do - outside of cover design the blurb remains one of the most effective ways to convince someone to open up a book and then, hopefully, buy it.

As I trained as an advertising copywriter I was always aware that the design context my copy appeared in made a huge difference to how it worked or didn't. Consequently, I quickly learnt how annoyed designers get when you offer 'helpful' comments. Despite (or because of) this, over the years I became a self-taught art director, eventually reaching a point where I can now work closely with designers without actually coming to blows.

"For several years now directing cover design has been a sizeable part of my day-to-day work. This can involve everything from briefing and feeding back on designs, right through to making laughably bad sketches and then insisting that someone with some talent makes it a reality. It's usually a lot of fun."

He'll be here to answer your questions from 1pm to 2pm this Friday, 27 May. Feel free to start posting questions now, so he'll have plenty to get to grips with, and come back on Friday to read his replies.

Next week: Independent bookseller Patrick Neale of Jaff & Neale


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