We take for granted that books contain no mistakes, but the absence of mistakes is no small achievement. It takes care, commitment, and very, very good processes.

In publishing, even a small mistake can spell disaster. Luckily, there are people who spend careers helping us avoid those disasters, by giving us the words and the tools to care about the details. Their work is not glamorous, but it is fascinating. Much of that work is about metadata: the information about books that makes up the circulatory system of the book industry.

In this episode, Arthur talks to one of the smartest people in the field: Emma Barnes, the founder of the publishing-management system Consonance, and the managing director of indie publisher Snowbooks. She’s also a university lecturer, and the creator of the online platform Make Our Book, which schools use for their kids to make beautiful books from their own stories.

Links from the show:

• Consonance
• Snowbooks
• Make Our Book
• A video of Emma Barnes speaking about publishing a thousand children’s stories on Make Our Book, innovation in the publishing industry, and the future of publishing.
• Book Machine’s interview with Emma Barnes, where she speaks about ‘not working for the man’.
• Article on Publishing Perspectives about Emma’s journey in coding and publishing.
• Electric Book Works