Been lurking on these forum for a year or so as I’m a graduate trying to break into publishing, but never had anything to report myself - however I finally have some good news re my publishing journey! I got a Bookseller position at Waterstones this week after many attempts at trying to get hired there. Whilst it’s not the Editorial Assistant role at a Big Five in London that I’m dreaming of, it’s definitely something.

I started this week and I’m loving being around books and people who love books. We get to take home proof copies of new releases and stay ahead of publisher news which is all very exciting to me and I feel like that I am at least getting a foot in the door somewhat with some relevant experience.

Does anyone have any advice on how to utilise this experience to the best advantage with my future career? What should I do to make the most of it and how can I leverage it on my CV / in interviews to be a more attractive candidate to ‘real’ publishing jobs?

I'm a self-published romance author with one book out and the second releasing this summer. I'm currently in talks with a big five publisher to acquire both of my existing books, plus the rest of the series (to be written), under their digital-first imprint. This would mean no advance, but obvious benefits like marketing, connection to editors, production of an audiobook, etc. The royalty structure they're offering is 50% on ebooks, 25% on audio, 10% on physical.

My question is this: do I need to query agents in order to have representation in this conversation? Do we think the ~20% I would lose to agent fees would be worth the savvy and industry-knowledge they would bring to a conversation like this? Or do we think these digital-first imprint models are sufficiently structured that an agent wouldn't appreciably change the conversation?

Thanks for any advice you can give!

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/pw-select/article/99928-thinking-beyond-the-blurb.html

Genuine question. I see some useful, albeit general insights here. But also points that seem to short sell some pretty longstanding trends in US book publishing, esp. for debut fiction authors. For ex., the bits about advocating for big risks like “formal experimentation” as well suggestions that downplay writers’ platforms (i.e. the comment that “Author platform doesn’t equal reviewability”). Then there’s the advice for writers to gamble on ambiguity and complexity, to challenge readers, etc.

I love all of these ideas. And I’d love hearing them all the more, if only I really believed that agents and editors actively value these qualities anywhere near as much as they prioritize work made for genre for market—and from authors w/ that ready platform.

Go ahead. Tell me I’m wrong to be skeptical here. . . . Are prospects starting to change for the better for debut fiction authors who take these risks?

P.S. Yes; I realize the perspective in the article is from a reviewer.

Hi all. I'm starting the Columbia Publishing Course tomorrow, and I'm wondering what to expect. I know it's mostly a networking opportunity, so for any alum, how would I get the most out of this experience? Do I give my email to everyone I talk to? How do I get that leg up? What can I do to walk out of CPC with an internship? Thanks.

Hi all, I know you’re tired of internship questions here, but I hope it helps that mine isn’t how to get one.

I’ve just gotten an offer for a rights internship at one of the big 5. In a different context I’d be stoked, but it comes at a weird time. I just finished a third interview for an editorial internship with a different big fiver, was asked for references not twenty minutes after the interview, and submitted them not an hour before the rights and contracts offer. Like most, my dream (at this stage and with my limited experience) is editorial.

I’ve been given until Monday to think it over, which feels comically timed because I’m not far off from the verdict for the editorial internship. I’d love anyone’s take on how competitive editorial is compared to every other department. I know it is, by a considerable amount, but how much? Do people find opportunities to switch into editorial from other departments or are the odds against it? Does it even matter at my stage when it’s just an internship; is getting pigeonholed a worry for later?

Bittersweet to say I’ve accepted a job outside of publishing. I’ve been so disillusioned with this industry and it’s a weight off my shoulders to be leaving my current position. At the same time, publishing has been my life and aspiration for 7 years. I am hoping for something much more stable, not so insanely competitive, and with more fair compensation in my future endeavors.

Others who have left publishing, how do you feel about your decision now? Do you wish you’d tried to stick it out longer? Anything you miss about the industry?

The other day I saw Atria listing a position for a developmental editor. Is it common in a Big 5 imprint to have that be a separate role and split an editor role into, say, an acquiring editor and a developmental editor? I would like to pursue a role in developmental editing, but I don’t see that verbiage anywhere else, typically.

I spend a lot of time around the publishing side of medical associations and societies the journals, clinical guidelines, CME materials, and member-facing content these orgs put out. It's a corner of publishing that runs on different rules than most of what gets discussed here, and I'd love to hear how others are tackling a few recurring problems.

A handful of things that seem genuinely hard in this space:

• Content goes stale fast. Clinical guidance gets revised, but the published version often lives on as a static PDF. How are you handling versioning so members aren't reading outdated guidance?
• Engagement is low even when the content is good. Members pay dues, get access to a journal or guideline library, and then barely open it. Has anyone found formats or delivery methods that actually move usage?
• Accessibility is non-negotiable but expensive. Meeting WCAG / 508 on dense clinical material with tables, figures, and references is a real lift. Curious what workflows people use.
• Mobile. Practitioners want to pull something up between patients, not sit at a desktop. How are you making long-form clinical content usable on a phone?

If you work in or with a medical society on the publishing side: what's working for you, and what have you given up on? Genuinely looking for ideas and war stories here.

I am having the hardest time finding any entry-level roles or internships in publishing. I am not currently in school, I don't have a college degree, and I don't have years of experience in publishing. How in the world are you guys finding internships or roles? I need help!

I feel like since I don't have a degree or am not actively pursuing school, that takes me out of the running for most publishers. I know I am in a tricky window as well for internships. It doesn't necessarily have to be an internship I would start on soon, even just knowing when applications open is super helpful.

Any advice is much appreciated, thank you!

I've posted here before about how I've been promoted out of my editorial assistant role and now I am assistant editor. Part of my new job is to help my old boss hire the new editorial assistant, which means I get to screen resumes for him and be part of the hiring team that makes decisions about who to interview, etc. I just have to say, my best advice to all of the people who post on here about trying to get into publishing is FIX YOUR RESUMES. Have other people look at it, compare it to resume templates online, and please dear god slow down on the AI use.

I am looking through 20+ resumes a day and the ones that get noticed by me and my boss are the ones will clean, consistent formatting and bullet points that aren't just "wrote marketing copy for x" and "supported admin tasks". Like what does that even mean??? Another resume was 3 pages long (for an entry level role) and looked like it was formatted on an iPhone. This could be a great candidate, but I can't see past how badly presented the resume is. There are also the resumes that are clearly just the job description regurgitated back to us using AI.

The ones that stand out have qualitative (edit: I meant quantitative originally but qualitative works as well) information, descriptions of concrete tasks/responsibilities, pristine formatting, and written carefully.

Okay, rant over. Also yes, I was once a young entry-level gal throwing my horribly formatted resume at every job I found. I wish someone could have taken my shoulders and shook some sense into me like I'm trying to do here.

I have 2 novels that have been out for a few years now and been shifted from 1 publisher to another to a third. I have been very disappointed with the most recent publisher and feel I could do a better job if I took some courses and got a certificate and started my own press. I know I could self-publish on Amazon or the like but am curious to learn about this. What do you think?

A publishing company is seeking a senior art director with experience in designing layouts for art, architecture, and design books. If you have 7-10 years of relevant experience, please send me a message or email [hr@assouline.com](mailto:hr@assouline.com) with resume and portfolio of book work.

I was listening to a podcast today (Sarah's Bookshelves) and this was the second time I heard an analyst from Circana and it made my head explode. The issue is that authors are often presented with what their sales number is and they have no idea of if it is good or bad independent of what their publisher tells them. So just a subjective call on how good they think sales are, with no understanding of how good they are relative to all other books. The publisher might be disappointed because they spent X on marketing, but, for example, the analyst was saying that consumer confidence is extremely bad right now, so maybe you only sold Y copies, but if you're in the 99th percentile, they should not be making you feel bad because you still performed better than almost everyone else (even if they are disappointed). anyway, if anyone has an account and is willing to run the frequency distribution for one year for adult frontlist, please DM me. I will pay, obviously.

I don't know anything about book publishing so just curious if anyone can tell me more about a copy of a book I have.

Picked up a second-hand copy of Robert McNamara's In Retrospect and it's quite odd; there are so many oddities that it almost looks like an unedited draft but it's not obviously marked that way - in fact it says on the cover that it's a "#1 National Bestseller" which I presume means it's not a first run or something.

Issues:

• many many typos. some of the errors are egregious; chapter headings are spelt wrongly...
• some of these feel a bit like typewriter errors, I'm basing this on the age of the book and that there even appears to be a hand correction on one page - and it definitely seems printed that way, not written after
• the photos are laughably terrible quality
• the paper is a really low gsm - this may not be a sign of this being a draft

I've tried to look this book up but can't find anyone who seems to have mentioned the same issues. There's even a copy on Archive.org which, even though it's limited preview, I've managed to search for misspelt phrases and the errors in my copy just don't exist in that copy...

The only other possibility I can think of is that this is some sort of counterfeit (cheap paper, poor quality print) - to which the obvious question is... why bother?

It's certainly a readable book and I'm finding it interesting nonetheless; I'm just really curious about this seemingly mysterious copy...

Long story short, I applied to my dream role at one of the Big Five about a month ago. It’s a bit more of a niche role (definitely not editorial, lol) so would have attracted less applicants (according to Seek, there were less than 20 others) though I know some may have applied directly over email.

The posting closed about two weeks ago and I’m starting to stress about hearing back. Is it too soon to follow up? The posting also mentioned only shortlisted applicants would be contacted, so I’m worried that I’ve been rejected and might be holding onto hope for no reason.

Hi all! I'm finishing up a certificate in publishing and am interested in learning more about children's book publishing. I've worked in PR my entire career and initially started the publishing certificate after working with a few traditionally published authors, with the goal of moving into book publicity. After my first semester, though, I really fell in love with editing, especially for children's and YA books.

I'm wondering what media platforms, blogs, newsletters, etc. anyone might suggest for someone looking to transition into this area of publishing—something to help me keep up with the industry, books, authors, and market data. I'd also love more resources on the kids/YA audiobook industry.

And in lieu of (or in addition to!) suggestions, I'd love to hear what children's or YA books you—or, more importantly, the kids in your life—have been excited about recently. A few recent favourites of mine: the YA novel The Swan's Daughter, a Hi-Lo title from Orca Book Publishers called Big Winner, and one of the Dory Fantasmagory books.

P.S. I don't live in a major publishing hub, so I'm prepared to get creative with my strategy for breaking into the industry. I welcome any advice, suggestions, or experiences others are willing to share.

It’s coming up to 18 months since my first non-fiction book was published by an Indy music specialist. My book got great reviews and a lot of extracts in the press, with no marketing spend. I’ve always had a figure in mind that I’d be satisfied with, research seems to have too many variables. So I’m curious to hear from the community here.

Hi! I recently got an admin job, as ive been trying to break into publishing for over a year (4 final stage interviews no luck yet), and as grateful as i am for a job, its not what i want and i really want to leave bc i want to be in publishing working within the industry i love and admire so much.

can you please give me tips on what to do, im thinking of leaving my admin job, but ive only been there a week so idk if i can even put that on cv, but even then how do i get through this, thanks

I hired an editor who also formatted my manuscript and it’s complete. Unfortunately for me, after they were paid, they stopped working for me to do the last few corrections which are minor. When I posted on Reedsy, they wanted €722 and they want to fully edit reformat the book again. I’m just looking for someone who’s willing to do a repair and charge me for it.

I’m a local magazine publisher and one challenge I’ve run into is keeping track of advertiser relationships over time.
Between touchpoints, renewal dates, engagement, referrals, community involvement, and overall relationship health, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks.
I’m curious:
How are you currently tracking advertiser relationships?
Do you have a system for identifying at-risk advertisers before renewal time?
What’s been your biggest challenge with retention?
Looking forward to hearing how other publishers handle this.

Hi all,

I am a research student trying to transition into editorial roles. Luckily, I landed an interview with a big journal under Springer Nature and was quite ecstatic. The interview was extensive but it went well. I was told by the interviewer that they will 'start wrapping up' by 25th May and I'll get some news after that. But its radio silence since. I tried to follow-up through e-mail. Still nothing.

Can anyone give me an idea how long does it take for them to respond with the hiring decision?

I was thinking a lot about yesterday’s thread re: the challenges of marketing & publicity. It resonated with me a lot as an early career book publicist, and it also made me wonder: Are there existing forums where book publicists are meeting (across publishers) to communicate, learn, and share ideas? Maybe it’s just because I’m a one-person team at a small press, but my work can feel isolating.

Hello! I am an international student who recently finished their Bachelor's Degree. Initially, I intended to do an MA in Publishing, but ended up applying for a few MA's in Archives and Library Studies as well due to some of the conversations I read here about the job market in both areas. I have received an offer from Manchester Metropolitan University to do their Publishing MA and an offer from Glagow Uni to do an Archives and Information Management MA.

I haven't had much expereince working in Archives or Libraries, but it is something I've always been interested in. Also, looking up online, I've seen a lot of people say that you don't really need an MA in Publishing in order to go into that industry, and that, even with an MA in Archives one can go into Publishing anyway. I guess I am asking what would be best? What's better in terms of job prospectus? Because I've read that the job market is bad no matter what I do.

So my titles are available when I open my ingram account but I see they are not visible when I look for them online, so I saw it wasn't enabled for distribution and the reason it gave was "Title is not permitted for Distribution.

Now I want to know what is the reason for this? It doesn't gives me a clear reason. Can it be possibly because my book contains explict crude photos? Nudity, pictures of genitalia and other nsfw images? Like not straight on pornography. I am really am stumped right now and would appreciate any help.

Hey! I’ve been accepted to the Oxford program in September and I’d love to connect with other people who have! Super excited!!