Although I thought I had a good impression of what the publishing industry might look like when working there, this week definitely provided some very valuable insight that changed my ideas about the career as a whole. Meeting with companies of different sizes helped me to realize that the publishing experience can look very different across the board. Even though I knew about indie publishing, I had mostly only considered the aspects of working at the ‘big five’ houses before. Visiting some smaller publishing houses really helped me to get a better idea of the workplace atmospheres in different places and the different types of work smaller companies might require.
Another thing this trip really highlighted for me was how much publishing relies on networking and teamwork in general. From the team you have to work with to get the book published, including the author, design team, and marketing, to the connections within the industry you need to find new projects to work on or help you promote an upcoming release, it really surprised me how many people you need to know. I have to admit that before this trip, I did think of editing as a somewhat solitary position, so I’m definitely glad to have been able to gain a better understanding of what kind of relationships are needed going forwards.
In the end, I am very grateful to have met so many professionals who were willing to share their experiences with us. I really enjoyed hearing everyone’s personal experiences of how they achieved their positions, and I feel like knowing that everyone took a different – and sometimes surprising – path is reassuring for publishing hopefuls like us. I feel much more confident about being able to find my own way into the publishing field knowing about things such as informational interviews and the types of experiences that seem promising on a resume. This trip overall was a wonderful combination of learning more about future career paths and seeing parts of New York I had never seen before, and I’m thankful for the experience.
What I learned about the Publishing Industry
