We apologise for taking so long to post up another one of these, but our Industry Interviews are back! From now on, we will make sure we post one a month because we know you all love them so much. Our latest Industry Interview is with the lovely Ally Glynn who works for Simon & Schuster. She’s been so lovely to Chloe and myself, keeping us up to date with books and covers and things as well as sending us some fab books to read! Enjoy!

Q1. You work as a web manager for Simon and Schuster publishers, can you tell us what that entails?

A bit of everything really! I manage the website www.simonandschuster.co.uk, update all of S&S UK’s social networks (so any spelling mistakes on Twitter are mine!), and liaise with bloggers about review copies and online competitions. I also manage and coordinate the digital campaigns for our brand authors such as Jennifer Weiner, Adriana Trigiani, Philippa Gregory and many more!

Q2. How did you come to work in the publishing industry? Is it something you have always wanted to do?

I fell into the book trade when I started working at Ottakar’s bookshop in Clapham Junction on Sundays when I was 17. I worked there during my A Levels and continued to work weekends when I was at university. I moved from store to store, working my way up to Assistant Manager at Waterstone’s Greenwich (Waterstone’s bought Ottakar’s in 2005). After seven years in bookshops, I decided to make the move into publishing, which was no easy feat! Luckily, I had made some contacts in the booktrade and learnt of a position in Simon & Schuster UK in Sales. I got the job in 2008 and quickly moved from sales into digital marketing once they realised what a geek I was!

When I was at school, I had never planned on working in Marketing or in Publishing. I always loved books and reading, but I never thought of a career in books! I was going off to University to study Art and become a teacher, but I just feel in love with Ottakar’s and got sucked into the book world from there!

Q3. For the job of web manager, did you have to have any special qualifications?

Ideally you would have a web programming qualification, but I don’t! I learnt everything I know myself, through my own social networking sites. For example, I learnt HTML to make my myspace page prettier, and CSS coding in order to create a new layout for my Livejournal. I think the most important thing is to enjoy what you do. I love social networking and creating new content for the website, and I think enthusiasm and a willingness to try new things and learn has taken me further than any qualification could have.

Q4. What is exactly is involved in a digital campaign?

A digital campaign basically involves anything with an online element. This could be arranging video or podcast recordings, adding content to our website, sending out review copies to bloggers, organising online competitions, linking to articles and blogs via our social networking sites, or creating widgets and chapter extracts to promote online. Some digital campaigns are bigger than this, especially if the book really lends itself to online promotion, for example DEAR ME – Letters to your sixteen year old self really took off and we created a blog at www.dearmebooks.com that allowed the book’s readers to post their own letters to the blog.

Q5. You say you have worked on many digital campaigns for S&S authors - do you have a favourite campaign you’ve done so far?

I love working on digital campaigns so picking a favourite is impossible! Here are a few of my recent favourites.

Philippa Gregory’s THE WHITE QUEEN hardback where Philippa basically re-wrote the book and produce a ‘tweetable’ version that we tweeted out for the five days before the publication of the hardback.

Jackie Collins’ POOR LITTLE BITCH GIRL hardback where I sat with Jackie eating leopard print cased cupcakes in our offices and we did a live q&a on twitter

Tara Hyland’s DAUGHTERS OF FORTUNE hardback, a fabulous bonkbuster of a read that was really well-received by bloggers and Tara was a dream to work with!

Those are just some! I work with some truly fantastic and online savvy authors from all genres, and I have a blast with one of them.

Q6. Can you tell us a fascinating fact about your job? What is the most fun thing about your job as web manager?

Hmmm… Fascinating fact… I learn about the most random things through our books! For example, yesterday I listened to our latest podcast (The Lost Battles – Jonathan Jones) and learnt that Leonardo and Michelangelo were commissioned to both paint frescos in the same room and used to shout and heckle each other while they painted!

The most fun thing is the team I work with. There are four of us in the Marketing department and we regularly burst into song as we work (current favourite is Journey’s Don’t stop believin’ – though Robbie will only sing the Glee version…).

Q7. What campaign/s are you currently working on?

I just launched S&S UK’s first free iphone app for THE WHITE QUEEN paperback campaign and am collating reviews and feedback for Alexey Pehov’s Russian fantasy book, SHADOW PROWLER. I’m also currently planning digital campaigns for Jackie Collins and for Dannii Minogue’s autobiography that’s coming this Autumn.

Q8. Who are some of your favourite authors and books?
For fun, I read a mixture of chick lit, young adult, Sci-Fi and fantasy. My favourite authors change on a daily basis, but at the moment the list includes Jane Costello, Adele Parks, Milly Johnson, Kevin J. Anderson, P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, Lisa Jewell, Robert Jordan and Stephenie Meyer.

Q9. Finally, if you could work on a digital campaign for any author EVER, who would you have most liked to have worked with?!

I do wonder how helpful Jane Austen would have been with the online promotion for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!

Thanks so much, Ally!

• Digg
• Stumble it!
• Reddit

• AW News: Woman's World Feature II
• Industry Interview: Maura Brickell, Headline
• American Saturdays: Woman's World Feature