What our clients say

For our research and consultancy projects

‘Working with Mary is a breeze! Because she has such a deep and thorough understanding of our industry, briefing her takes minimal input and the outcomes are always exactly as desired.’ Heather Keltie, Head of UK Secondary Sales, OUP

‘Mary has worked on a number of projects with OUP Education recently. These have ranged from researching teacher motivation to interim management, and have included a process improvement project. Mary’s work is consistently thorough and incisive - providing illuminating new insights for the business. Her deep knowledge of the educational market and understanding of the needs of teachers and learners ensure that her work adds real value for us.’
Kate Harris, MD Education and Children's Division, OUP

‘Over the past two years, Mary has conducted a number of specific research projects for us, with the underlying objective of ensuring that we understood what would continue to make our French magazines indispensable to classrooms in the UK, despite challenging market conditions. Mary delivered recommendations that have led to a measurable difference in the financial performance of our magazines, and along the way greatly enhanced our understanding of teachers’ needs.’
Gordon Knowles, Managing Director, Mary Glasgow Magazines

‘I know that any project that I give to Mary will be of a high standard, thorough and well thought through. She is professional, reliable and a pleasure to work with.’
Rebecca Jones

‘Innoved carried out an extremely professional market research project, and provided a detailed, thoughtful, and very useful report; I would certainly consider commissioning Innoved again.’
Andrew Cannons, Commissioning Editor, OUP

‘Mary James worked on a substantial piece of market research for Nelson Thornes in late 2006 in two subjects in which the company is planning resources for the new 2008 A level specifications. She scoped the research projects and worked to an agreed brief, budget and schedule. She delivered two high quality and thorough reports, on time, and subsequently presented the key points and led a discussion on her findings, giving us the opportunity to consider the implications for the proposed products. In the temporary absence of a commissioning editor, Mary also made contact with key authors and advisers and helped to maintain momentum on the development of the resources.

Mary’s work provided Nelson Thornes with invaluable insights into customers’ needs in the two subjects concerned, and I am sure that the eventual products will meet the market requirements very closely as a result of the work that she did. I would not hesitate to recommend her services to other companies.’
Peter Oates, formerly Head of Vocational Publishing, Nelson Thornes

For our presentation/training projects

‘I just wanted to thank you for an excellent training course yesterday. I thought I’d send you my thoughts: I found the day incredibly useful and also very enjoyable. It was a really good mix of discussion, focused tasks and information, and you managed to cover a wide range of issues without rushing us. I felt very energised and inspired by the day, and have come away with lots of ideas about how to improve my own market research.’
Publisher (delegate on in-house, bespoke training course)

‘Mary James is an experienced, confident and innovative trainer. She holds the participants’ learning at the forefront of her objectives and focuses on their individual needs. She is a very welcome addition to the Publishing Training Centre’s pool of tutors.’
Orna O’ Brien, Head of Courses, Publishing Training Centre

‘I thought the course was well structured, interesting and the tutor was motivational, clear and competent.’
Delegate from Blackwell Publishing

‘Lots of helpful practical information.’
Delegate from IBO

‘Brilliant! I have learnt so much and will apply this to my daily job. Everything was presented in a clear format and was applicable to my current role.’
Delegate from Folens

‘I just wanted to send you a note to say thank you again for your practical, interesting and very informative presentation on Saturday, and for taking so much time to talk to members afterwards. The buzz was 100% positive.’
Elizabeth Haylett, The Society of Authors

‘As an everywoman preferred trainer, Mary is a delight to work with. Her knowledge and niche area of expertise is phenomenal. She always receives rave reviews from Everywoman delegates. I would highly recommend her!’
Louise Boyle, Everywoman Ltd