How we got started in Publishing: Olivia Galyer

Posted on August 24, 2020 in UK

Olivia Galyer, English Literature graduate from the University of Exeter, shares her experiences within publishing industry.

Last year I volunteered at Barnes Children’s Literature Festival for the first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I rushed back from university just in time to get involved and I was glad I did. I had a really fun time meeting authors such as Christopher Lloyd and hearing my childhood hero, Francesca Simon, read her latest Horrid Henry book. I had such an enjoyable time volunteering at the festival that I couldn’t wait to volunteer again this year and then the coronavirus pandemic happened…

For a while it was unclear whether the festival would still be taking place, whether it would be rescheduled for later in the year or cancelled altogether. The organisers had to wait for government guidelines to be announced but it soon became clear that the festival could not go ahead as usual and the decision was made to move the festival online following in the footsteps of other literary festivals like Hay. I was so pleased that the festival would still be taking place, albeit virtually on Crowdcast, and was eager to help in any way I could in the smooth running of events. The festival organisers are lovely and so friendly, they were eager to accept help and quickly integrated me with the other volunteers. It was my responsibility to help run the Facebook page for the festival, creating the event pages for every online author session and promoting each event on the social media platform. I shared blog posts and press articles mentioning the events to the page to create a buzz leading up to the festival and replied to comments and questions from followers. I particularly enjoyed the creative aspects of the role, such as using Canva to create engaging posts encouraging followers to sign up to each event. I was also fortunate enough to introduce the author, Vashti Hardy, preceding her prerecorded session and enjoyed watching the events as they happened myself.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time volunteering at Barnes Children’s Literature Festival At Home, and I was able to learn useful new skills which will help me as I pursue a career in marketing books.  For example, it may seem trivial, but I had never created a Facebook story before and was able to learn how to create entertaining stories reminding followers when each event was about to begin. More generally, the experience provided me with the opportunity to learn how to manage running a big literary event on a social media platform, and it was really exciting to see how much engagement each post received. I loved volunteering at the festival and look forward to helping out again next year when the festival returns to its rightful home at Barnes Pond!