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Resources for Finding a Job in Publishing
Do you want to get into book publishing? Here are some questions to ask yourself: Do you know what area of publishing you want to work in? And are you moving to New York City, Boston, . . . ? Editorial assistant spots, usually working for one or two senior-level editors, are always sought after, but there are other fun areas to investigate. Publicity, marketing, and subsidiary rights (selling rights to a book to film companies, foreign publishers, etc.) are all very interesting and a great way to get your foot in the door. A contracts department may sound boring, but if you've spent 6 months in contracts then you are quite valuable to an editor as an editorial assistant when a position opens up. A literary agency is another good way to get your start, as you’ll learn about the book market and contracts as you gain some editing skills. You might want to spend your career there!
Signing up for the Publishers Lunch free newsletter will also help to keep you up to date on the contemporary publishing scene. So will subscribing to, or reading a few recent issues of, the New York Times Book Review. Publishers will be impressed if you have a pretty good idea what's on the various best-seller lists, like the one published by the Times. They'll also want to know what you've read lately, so be sure to read a few fiction and nonfiction best-sellers before you interview.
If you're a college student, you'll want to wait till fairly close to graduation to search for a full-time job, since if they're advertising now they probably want to interview in the next couple of weeks and hire within a month or so. There are a couple of main job listing web sites to look at:
Publishers Marketplace Job Board: www.publishersmarketplace.com/jobs
Publishers Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/jobzone/index.html
Major Publishers in NYC
HarperCollins includes adult and children’s imprints and has an internship for college juniors and seniors. Their website has an excellent breakdown of the responsibilities of each department in the company: https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/careers
Penguin Random House combines the former Penguin imprints (includes Dutton, Viking, New American Library, Penguin, and 7 children’s books imprints) and the former Random House imprints (Random House, Knopf, and several excellent children’s imprints); they have an internship program that runs spring, summer, or fall as well as regular jobs.
https://careers.penguinrandomhouse.com/
Simon and Schuster includes Simon and Schuster, Pocket Books, and several children’s books imprints:
https://about.simonandschuster.biz/careers-at-simon-schuster/
Sites of Interest – Children’s Books Publishing
The Purple Crayon (Writing, Illustrating, and Publishing Children’s Books)
Good introduction to the field: http://www.underdown.org
The Children’s Book Council
Lists the members of this children’s books special interest/lobby group:
http://www.cbcbooks.org
Some Publishing Courses for College Graduates
These are three extremely well regarded courses that provide a crash introduction to all aspects of publishing and provide invaluable contacts for gaining an entry-level position. Be aware that tuition alone will cost you thousands of dollars, and additional fees for room and board may also apply.
The University of Denver Publishing Institute: four-week course.
(303) 871-2570
http://www.du.edu/publishinginstitute/
Columbia Publishing Course: six-week course.
(212) 854-1898
https://journalism.columbia.edu/cpc-ny
New York University Summer Publishing Institute: six-week course.
(212) 998-7100
https://www.sps.nyu.edu/homepage/academics/divisions-and-departments/center-for-publishing-and-applied-liberal-arts/summer-publishing-institute.html
Good luck!
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