Getting the most out of your work experience experience (Working in Publishing, part 2)

Almost everyone I know in publishing started out doing work experience, myself included. For some people it lasted for a couple of weeks, for others it stretched to months, and the merits/ethics of it have been debated for years. It’s an unfortunate reality that to land your dream job in publishing you sometimes have to work for free in one of the most expensive cities on the planet, but it can’t be denied that it’s an invaluable foot-in-the-door.

With the help of one of my colleagues at HC (as in, one of the lovely ladies who shares my open-plan pod), I have compiled what I hope is a helpful list of tips for people embarking on work experience for a publishing house.

This list presumes that you have a work experience placement already. In terms of getting a work placement, all I can say is keep an open mind and cast a wide net! I never expected to end up working on commercial non-fiction when my dream role was in SF/F, but I gained such valuable experience it’s worth doing whatever you can get your hands on! In the beginning, don’t worry about being pigeon-holed.

Not everyone is as picky as this mug... but one of my ex-bosses was!

And now, on to the tips…

1. Be Friendly
It might sound obvious, but being friendly and polite is so important. You don’t need to be a social butterfly but if you make the effort to get involved – offer to help out on other teams, go for lunch or drinks when you’re invited and make an effort to get to know people in other departments – it’s much easier to be memorable. Publishing involves working closely with lots of different people, and so you should show you can work well in a team. Don’t worry about being bothersome – especially the junior staff, we know how you feel – we were probably in your shoes recently!

My first job: Part One of Working in Publishing

Alongside my ‘Path to Publication’ series on the blog, I thought I’d start one up about how I got to work in publishing. A lot of the groundwork which inspired me to think of publishing as a career came from the time I spent researching queries.

I completed an English specialist degree at the University of Toronto, but I didn’t do anything particularly publishing-specific. I had a few friends who went on to do publishing MAs at Simon Fraser and Ryerson, but I wasn’t sure if that was the route for me. That being said, I’d heard plenty of stories of how hard publishing was to get into – especially in Toronto, which has a relatively small publishing scene – and that an MA is sometimes the best foot-in-the-door you could possibly have.

Still, after I got back from bumming around the world, I knew I wanted two things: a change, and a career. For a career in publishing, the two main centres are New York and London. I already had a British passport (and therefore no worries about immigration/work visas)… so my decision was made! Plus, I would get a change of scenery and the chance to live in London again.

Look, it's London! So pretty and full of history (and publishing houses!)

I arrived in London with the benefit of having friends and family here already. But what I didn’t have was a clue about how to get into publishing! I did some research, signed up for The Bookseller’s job board and contacted a few publishing-focused recruitment agencies. One of the agents called me up: what experience did I have? I yabbed on about my experience with the U of T English Student union journal, my research assistant experience, even my work as the editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook (yes, I was stretching!), but she repeated again: what experience do I have of publishing? The answer was, of course, none. I’d never stepped foot in a publishing house, or a literary agent’s office, or done any freelance work. I was a complete and utter novice.