W A CAREER IN PUBLISHING
- is it for you ? KATIE FORSYTHE
hen thinking about a job in publishing several images come to mind: long lunches with celebrity authors,
glamorous parties, discovering the next J.K Rowling, the list goes on. However, the reality is quite different!
The publishing industry is a significant contributor to the economy, despite the global recession. According to The Publishers Association, UK publishers sold £3.3bn worth of books in 2012 and this figure excludes the many journals and magazines that are also produced every year. It’s an exciting time to get involved in the industry with the relatively recent introduction of e-books and other technologies that are making reading a more high-tech experience than ever before.
When you’re starting out, be prepared to work long hours for low pay. When I was considering my career options at university a visiting lecturer said this and I didn’t take any notice, seduced by the idea of being surrounded by books all day long. She was right.
Competition for publishing jobs is fierce. If you can, do as much work experience as possible, even if it’s just a couple of days here and there. This is invaluable for finding out how publishing works and for making contacts as
well as seeing if this is the right career for you. Summer placements are the ideal opportunity to get your foot in the door, but try volunteering throughout the year too if you can. Writing for your student newspaper or website or getting involved in marketing, publicity or sales are all useful experiences to add to your CV and demonstrate that you are passionate about getting into the industry. Many publishers run an internship programme or graduate training schemes and these are also fantastic ways to get started.
The minimum entry level requirement for most positions is a degree. Although publishing is a popular career choice for English graduates, don’t be put off if your degree is from another discipline. For example, many people who work in STM (science, technical and medical) publishing have backgrounds in science and it’s common to find employees with degrees from the humanities and social sciences.
Excellent written English and communication skills are essential. Your cover letter and CV should not contain any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors; it sounds obvious but you would be surprised at how many people don’t proofread their job applications before submitting them! Computer skills are also essential for most positions and
you should be able to use Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) efficiently. Adobe InDesign and Illustrator are also useful if you are applying for some roles. For editing, proofreading and other publishing- related courses, a good place to start is the Publishing Training Centre
www.train4publishing.co.uk which offers a great range of short courses as well as a distance learning programme.
There are many departments within a typical publishing house and these usually consist of editorial, production, marketing, design, sales and rights. You might also want to think about working for a literary agency which works on behalf of writers to try and get their work published. The skills required for each of these areas are quite varied – The Society of Young Publishers has a really useful guide outlining the most popular entry-level jobs
http://thesyp.org.uk/types-of- publishing-job
Most vacancies are advertised on individual company websites as well as in The Guardian and The Bookseller and there are recruitment agencies that specialise in publishing roles. A career in publishing can be extremely rewarding – there is nothing quite like working on a book or magazine and seeing the final product, knowing that you helped to create it.
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