What is your personal experience like working in the publishing industry?
Hi, I'm interested in working in the publishing industry, so I really want to hear about the personal experiences of professionals in this industry, especially because I'm not sure which specific department I want to work in (e.g. editorial, marketing, production, sales, publicity, etc). If you don't mind, in your response, could you also answer how your department works with the other departments (e.g. as a publicist, how often do you interact with editors, and what do those interactions look like?) and describe what kind of traits are most important for an individual to succeed in your specific department? For example, I'm not confident in my math skills, so I don't think I could ever work in sales. I enjoy editing and have had extensive experience with it throughout my school years, but I've also worked a number of administrative/clerical jobs and enjoyed interacting with people a lot, so I have reason to believe I could thrive in other departments other than editorial as well. Thank you in advance for your time and input! #publishing #publishing-industry #publishing-company #editorial #marketing #production #sales #publicity #business #career #editor #editors #book-editors #book-editor #copy-editor #copy-editors #agents #agent #literary-agent #literary-agents #scouts #scout #literary-scout #literary-scouts #publicist #publicists #production-editors #production-editor #marketer #marketers #copy-writer #copy-writers #career-advice #advice #job #work #career-counseling #help #career-planning #career-path #student #student-advice #career-help #job-experience #work-experience
2 answers
Kelly’s Answer
Hello,
What area of publishing are you interested in? I work directly in the music licensing and publishing business. We focus on the placement of music in TV and film.
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Valerie’s Answer
Hi Catherine, I'm wondering if you have any opportunities to apply for internships with either a literary agency or a publishing house? I worked in book publishing years ago and it's an exciting, dynamic environment where you are exposed to such a great range of ideas, topics and personalities. At the time, we used to have what was called 'slush' parties where all the newbies would get together and review the unsolicited manuscripts that were mailed in without a literary agent, once a month. If there's a publishing house or literary agency near you, and/or if there are limited internship opportunities, perhaps you could see if you could sit in on a slush party or two and have a chance to chat with folks about their experiences.
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