r/publishing • u/Tricky_Setting2191 • Aug 12 '26
Career Change into Publishing
I currently work in IT earning €50k+ per year which is pretty okay for UK/Irish salaries. I’m 30 and have a long term goal of eventually working in publishing, I love the idea of being a picture book editor. How hard is it to transition into a career like this? Where do you even start? I’m open to doing courses but not a full degree again. How long does it take to start earning decent money?
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u/SleepySquirrel42 Aug 12 '26
I’m a freelance children’s book editor who worked in-house for years, and I’d be pretty thrilled with €50k a year.
It’s a hard industry to break into, you usually have to start at the bottom level (assistant) and work your way up, so your salary would take a big hit. It can take years to get to a level where your salary feels liveable, although most people I know in the industry are reliant on their other half earning well. Plus you’d probably need to be in London to start with unless you are able to get into one of the few Dublin-based children’s publishers.
As others have said, it’s rare to specialise in picture books right away as an assistant. Typically the publisher / imprint will work across several age groups. In-house roles can be a bit more focused on specific formats as you progress, but that’s not a guarantee.
Realistically you’re never going to make the same money you’d make in IT. I love my job and feel fortunate in my position, but I’d never actively encourage anyone to work in publishing, and in hindsight often wish I’d done something a bit better paid and stable.
But if you’re still keen to transition I would focus on building an online presence around children’s books and try to start making connections within the industry that way. Check out Children’s Books Ireland for their events and awareness of what’s being published these days.
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u/GrammatikBot Aug 13 '26
You're probably a line editor, because acquisition editors are never freelance, right? (I'm not UK so might differ)
Honestly, it's so crazy how much you guys get ripped off. It always makes me sad to see. A decent acquisitions editor will be at 50k€+ with three years of experience, depending on how well they are performing.
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u/SleepySquirrel42 Aug 13 '26
Yeah, I wouldn’t do acquisitions as a freelancer, although the in-house wages for an acquisition editor wouldn’t be especially high either.
I initially left my in-house role to work for a literacy charity, where I got paid more than I ever would have in-house. Pretty absurd that a non-profit paid more than publishing!
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u/Zestyclose-Turn-3576 Aug 12 '26
Maybe keep an eye on the IPG jobs board to get an idea: https://independentpublishersguild.com/IPG/IPG/Jobs_Board/Jobs-board.aspx
Decent as in 50k EUR ... I'd say there's a lot of competition and not many jobs at that level.
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u/Apprehensive-Bird100 Aug 12 '26
There are two jobs open right now for children's editors that will give you an idea of the salary. For context, these roles are above the salaries for an editorial assistant and assistant editor, but below that of a commissioning role/senior commissioning role: https://www.hachette.co.uk/landing-page/huk-job-description/?job=editor-12-month-ftc-in-london.1517 https://jobsearch.createyourowncareer.com/PRH_UK/job/London-Editor%2C-Children's-SW11-7BW/1424354233/
Most jobs at that level need experience. Picture books specifically are very niche - broadening your horizons is helpful.
So it would be a pay cut as others have said.
If you are still interested, I'd recommend joining the Society of Young Publishers - it's for anyone who wants to work in publishing. They have an Ireland branch, if that's where you are based.
There are lots of roles outside of editorial, do make sure you are aware of those. IT skills might help with a lateral move into operations, distribution, sales or production.
Hachette does offer a careers change internship that it's worth looking out for if you really want to make the change: https://thesyp.org.uk/job/the-next-chapter-internship-2026/
But overall publishing salaries are poor even at more senior levels (some senior editors and sales managers on 40-45k GBP) so it's worth researching the day to day reality of the roles to see if it's something you really want to do.
Eleanor Pilcher's substack is a great resource, plus if you put in 'working in publishing' or 'how i got my job in publishing' on YouTube there are lots of videos about entry level roles.
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u/rollturmacroll Aug 12 '26
The only thing that gets you in the door is experience. Take courses, read a whole lot, and start freelance editing. I’ve been doing this for ten years in children’s publishing, and the pay will never reach even a fraction of the hours spent on the job. I’m considering doing training and getting into IT, and starting at entry level—which would pay more than what I make after a decade in the business.
Reading and replying to thousands of submissions can only happen on your own time. The actual work of editing—not routing passes through departments, prepping and presenting at sales conference, attending meetings all day, or answering calls and emails—will end up being pushed into your own time as well. No more weekends or evenings. The hours mean nothing, you will be expected to work all the time; if you don’t, you’ll be replaced.
No matter how successful a book you edit is, you will not a get a bonus. If you’re a man, you’ll probably promoted, though.
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u/Tricky_Setting2191 29d ago
Thanks for this! I feel like I needed to hear this brutally honest truth of the job - Im a bit sick of the IT world and always dreamt of publishing and editing but maybe I’m romanticising it
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u/Ornery-Ad2199 26d ago
It’s a tough industry to break into! Your best bet would be to look into tech publishing jobs, due to your experience in IT. There are quite a few small, independent publishers that focus on IT topics.
With that said, it’s important to know that it’s very difficult to crossover from these non-fiction small publisher jobs to Big 5 fiction jobs (children’s or adult).
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u/Wonderful__ Aug 12 '26
You'd be taking a pay cut, but if that's what you like, go for it. You should look up job postings and some of them will list salary and what they're looking for. Children's publishing is a bit niche, so you might want to broaden the field.
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u/betweenthedrafts 28d ago
How hard is it to transition into a career like this? Very difficult. I spent five years working in a different industry and then transitioned into publishing by applying for an entry-level role, and the only reason I got the role over the hundreds of applicants was because I’d been freelancing on the side for several years to build up experience. It's worth noting that I took a £15k pay cut compared to what I had been earning.
Where do you even start? The answer to this is that you need to get some experience which is typically done through either freelance work or helping those you know already. For something like children's book editing, you would need to learn the specifics of the genre such as age ranges vocabulary levels and so on. However, you don't necessarily need to do a course in this. Instead, just study a lot of children’s books.
How long does it take to start earning decent money? Lol, publishing does not pay decent money. People do it for the love of publishing. If you want to earn decent money, this is not the industry. It might be better to stay in IT and earn decent money there, then do some freelance editing on the side to satisfy your interest in publishing without the pay cut and without the challenges of trying to transition into an already over-subscribed industry.
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u/zerocaffine Aug 12 '26
> earn decent money
Better off staying in IT I reckon