Clio Cornish, Editor at HarperCollins: My Journey into Publishing

Posted on June 4, 2018 in London

Clio Cornish is a current editor with HQ, HarperCollins. She has worked on a wide range of projects during her time with Harper but most recently she has published titles such Turn a Blind Eye by Vicky Newham, Give Me the Child by Mel McGrath and Ill Will: The Untold Story of Heathcliff by Michael Stewart.

Clio will be attending our Careers Speed Dating Event on Tuesday (5th of June), so please do come prepared with any questions you want to ask her about how she got into publishing and her current role.

How did you get into publishing?

I had a bit of an odd route into publishing as originally I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do once I finished my English degree at UCL. Whilst there I did some work experience at a magazine which led to them hiring me for some freelance pieces, but ultimately I decided journalism wasn’t for me, so once I graduated I still didn’t know what I wanted to do.

There was a place for me to do a MA in Shakespeare at UCL but when weighing up the cost of completing this I decided against it. So instead I got a job in Waterstones Gower Street whilst also working in a pub and café. This grew into a full-time job where I ran the Crime Room and then the Children’s department. It was in this role that I became interested in the publishing industry as a profession, so I began to look into it more. As with everyone I went to a few interviews, including one for a rights assistant, but wasn’t getting any offers.

When a vacancy came up, through a recruiter, at a publisher as a customer relations advisor, I felt this was definitely something that I could apply for, with my previous experience in a customer facing environment. I discovered that this was with Harlequin Mills & Boon and was then offered the job.

What made you decide that editorial was where you wanted to be?

As soon as I decided on publishing as a career path I had a rough idea that ideally I would like to be in editorial; I loved the creativity it offered. In my first role with Mills & Boon I was extremely lucky to have a very nurturing manager, who on my very first day took me aside and said that she knew I wanted to be in other areas of publishing so she’d do what she could to ensure I got experience in them.

Shortly before I arrived Harlequin had founded Carina UK, a digital first imprint, which I was then able to join as an acquisitions advisor. This allowed me to shadow on titles with senior editors.

M&B had an EA role come up in the Modern Tempted and Cherish lines. I was in this role under a year, and acquired an author as well as working with on several others. But I was interested in the wider role of trade publishing that would allow me to publish other genres. So, when a role came up with our MIRA team, which was Harlequin’s commercial publishing arm, I applied and became publishing assistant with them. Here I supported the editorial director and senior editors. I was then promoted to assistant editor and gradually my focus changed to acquiring outside of the digital list; then when we moved into the News Building and HQ was established I was promoted to editor in 2016 and won the inaugural trailblazer award with LBF.

I have acquired books that reflect HQs growth, so quite broadly, but my focus is Bookclub and crime and thrillers.

Advice to people in publishing:

My main advice is to be proactive and look for opportunities in any role that you do. Whenever an opportunity arises make sure to grab it and make yourself indispensable. This is a really small industry so this makes sure you’re noticed.

And this point goes for the working world in general, but always ask questions. In the end, you’ll feel less awkward than if you hadn’t asked the question and still didn’t know what you were doing. You don’t know everything immediately – think of asking questions as helping ‘future you’ succeed.

Finally, embrace opportunities to meet new people. Don’t see it as networking, which can be intimidating – publishing is full of lovely people who will look over your CV and mentor you/chat for coffee.