How to get into publishing

Posted on July 6, 2014 in Uncategorized

by Jasmine Joynson

I work as an assistant in the publicity department of a children’s book publisher and have done for just over a year. I’m going to run over some things I hope will be useful for anyone who’s looking to get into publishing. In this article I’m writing about entry –level positions. Obviously it is possible to transfer in higher up from other industries, if you have relevant and useful skills (such as other PR, sales, marketing, educational positions), but this is not something I did and I’m going to stick within my area of knowledge!

Ground work

Work experience seems to be almost the only way to get into publishing at the moment and this does make sense for both candidates and recruiters (even if it seems a little unfair). Completing a work experience placement should help you decide if you actually want to work in publishing at all by giving you an idea of the day-to-day workings of whichever department you’re in. Do use the opportunity to ask questions you have about the industry. Work experience also gives you an opportunity to make contacts (and impress people) within the publishing world and this could be very useful when a job comes up! It is not unusual for people to email around their friends in other divisions or publishers, when there’s a job going in their department, to check if they have had any really good work experience people in recently. Finally, work experience will give you something relevant to put on your CV and talk about when you get to an interview…

Applications

Your CV – there are not strict rules on how to structure your CV but mine is skills-based. People often recommend skills-based CVs for creative industries because they focus on what you CAN DO, not what you have done. To give you a better idea of what I mean, after my contact information and introductory paragraph (which you should tailor – even if it’s just including the position your applying for), my CV jumps straight to my skills. So, I picked out five key skills I think are important for the job and briefly explained how I have these, including succinct examples that demonstrate them. After this section I list my relevant experience (personally I think it’s better to elaborate on how a couple of roles developed relevant skills than list every position of responsibility you’ve ever had). I’ve included a link to an example of a skills-based CV in case my explanation doesn’t make much sense to you. My CV does draw out relevant skills from my previous roles though, which the below example doesn’t:

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/assets/assets/documents/cv_skills_based.pdf

Interviews – these will vary in structure and if the interviewers want you to prepare anything specific then they should tell you. The most important thing is probably to get familiar with the publisher’s list so that you can talk about the books and authors they publish knowledgably and passionately. Sometimes you will be set little exercises in these interviews like prioritisation tests (which may be as simple as asking you which order you would complete a list of tasks in) or scheduling tests (giving you some people’s diaries and asking you to find a time for them all to have a meeting). These will depend on the role you’re applying for and the best thing to do is ask for clarification if you don’t understand the task and then explain the decisions you make. Along with the standard questions (along the ‘Why are you a suitable candidate?’ and ‘Why do you want the job?’ line) it’s also worth preparing something to say to more fashionable questions like ‘How do you deal with stress?’ I will make the point that I am not senior enough to be involved in recruitment so I am just going on my interview experiences and conversations with colleagues!

Publishing in general…

I truly believe that being part of this industry is a privilege – we spend our time working with authors and books. On a good day at work I feel like I have made really positive contribution to the world. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard work – often with evenings and weekends and not particularly great pay. It’s also not that glamorous – sometimes you find yourself at a launch party but a lot of the time you find yourself in front of an excel spreadsheet. The people who do these jobs do them because they love books. As this is the case, though, it usually means that you are working with lovely, motivated, passionate people which can only be a good thing! Also, meeting your idols is an occupational hazard – since I started I’ve met Jacqueline Wilson, Malorie Blackman and John Boyne!

I’m very aware that it can take some people quite a long time to break into this industry. I know people who got offered their first job during their first work experience placement and others who did unpaid on and off for years before finally landing a job in publishing. This has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time. If you want to work in the industry, just persevere!

Ok, think that’s me done so (if I haven’t put you off) good luck!