I had a job interview last Thursday (for an EA role with a major academic publisher), as they said they’d appreciate it if I could interview before my prospective line manager went on holiday this week.

I am in their talent pool and unsuccessfully interviewed for another role with them. They said my last interviewers had recommended me for this role. During the interview, they said they were only interviewing to confirm an idea they had, and must have only asked me one experiences-based question, the others were about what I knew about them, as well as rudimentary, housekeeping ones.

They said there’s still a few candidates who needed to be interviewed this week just gone - but that they’d get back by end of this week (so today a few hours ago - I’m in the UK). For the last role, they got back exactly when they said they would. I’ve checked online and they never ghost - why the delay? I’m thinking it’s cos they want to wait until the line manager’s back to feed back to him, but surely they could have anticipated this?

I am working on and almost finalizing the user equilibrium studies for electric bus scheduling and travel behavior analysis and consider publishing journal papers with my advisor, and other academic partnered collaborators (Post-doc and another cooperative faculty in other department in my university), and is electric bus and user equilibrium paper topic a good fit to be submitted and accepted into transport research part B or C journal or special issue ?

Hey all so I am new to publishing and while I was in jail I wrote a poetry book and the company i'm publishing with has agreed after a review of it to publish it. Tomorrow they are sending me a contract to look over and then we are having a meeting next Thursday to review the contract.

What should i be expecting to see in this contract, what are good rates etc.

Is there anything that I shouldn't accept in a contract?

Any resources on this would be appreciated.

Thank you

Hi! I applied for the Writers House Spring Intern Program in September. It said in his email that if you got an NDA you were selected to advance but that it wasn’t guaranteed that you would receive a test manuscript to edit. I completed the NDA and the head of the program got back and completed it as well but I haven’t heard anything back for a couple days. I was, wondering if anyone who applied in the past or has experience with the program knows the typical wait times? Are there any tells that you haven’t made it? Any guidance is greatly appreciated! 😊

Hello! I am currently applying to graduate programs in the UK (will be an international student). Anyone have advice/tips on writing a personal statement for publishing programs?

Hello everyone!

I’m currently working as a children’s book editor in Turkey, and I’m passionate about continuing my career in another country in Europe. I’d love to find professional programs, workshops, or courses specifically for children’s publishing or editing that could provide networking and potential job opportunities afterward.

If you have any recommendations on programs, courses, or even insights about transitioning into the children’s publishing industry abroad, I’d greatly appreciate it! Any guidance on language requirements, visa tips, or notable organizations to connect with would also be really helpful.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Hi! I have been invited for an interview with Hachette for a sales role. I've been applying for ages, and this is my first major interview and I'm a little nervous. I was wondering if anyone had any general tips for first stage interviews esp in sales, in terms of what is typically asked, as I'm not sure what to expect.

hi folks! i recently posted in this sub and got a lot of helpful info regarding salary, so i thought i would pop back in with another question! (yes, i am an anxious 20-something who is job hunting…sorry about how many posts we make). i did my final interview with a big 5 publisher in a small department recently, for a entry-level sales and marketing position. they contacted me for a first interview within 3 days, and it took 8 days for them to reach out for the next round. about how long do you think it will take, in average, to reach a decision regarding my employment? do rejections come faster that hires? any insight is appreciated :) and thanks so much again for all the help on my previous post!

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot, but I was wondering what the thoughts were on WW Norton? I applied for some internships with their publishing and editing team, and I wanted to know if anyone here had done that before. If I need to move this post feel free to let me know.

For a major book project with a very large French publishing company, we are facing a ridiculour situation where one person is blocking everything. The book is in English and it includes a translation of a major French author. The rights are owned by the French company.

We started asking for the rights in May 2023 and we're still working on it because the 1 person in charge is always on vacations or working remotely and unreachable by phone and never answer emails. The person claims that it is normal for it to take that long.

The first answer back in May 2023 was "the author will be in public domain in 2026 -- just wait for it." But this translation is the first definitive translation ever and it's a big deal that can't wait. It is prefaced and postfaced by prominent French academics (one of them from the Académie Française). Now, we're getting closer and closer to 2026 as a matter of fact...

The person keeps holding us in hostage by always taking forever to answer. The only way we've been able to make things move forward is by calling the office everyday and ask the colleagues about it (the person in charge was in the office only once out of 30 calls). Then things start to move again. But it's very complicated to do so from the US with 8h time difference!! By the time, I start my day, people in the office are gone.

I honestly don't know if the person doesn't like the author or what is going on. Two people told us that they don't have a problem with that person. But the content of the negociation could have taken maybe 1 month at most to arrive at an agreement and signature. We're now at 18 months!!! And there is nothing that the British publisher or the author can do to accelerate things.

The executive heir of the famous author herself wrote an email to inquire about the ridiculous delay to which the person answered that this is a complicated situation that takes time:
"The discussion now focuses more on "technical" details, such as the number of copies of their edition they will need to send us (they are only offering one) or the conditions for possible sublicenses. I have no doubt we will find compromises, but unfortunately, this is taking time."

Can this justify we're still at it 18 months later? Am I being unreasonable by thinking there is some abuse of power here? Is there any recourse of action? The thing is that this lady has no supervisor, apparently. At least, it seems impossible to get to someone who can help.

UPDATE: After my call and the heir of the author's email, the person responded immediately to a 7-week old email from the publisher (+ 4 gentle reminders).

Hi all,

So I work in a publishing role in the UK, and I am actually probably overpaid. I work for an academic institution in their publishing department, doing a bit of everything, though the work can be frustrating as it's not a very professional workplace. When I look to move to the bigger publishers (Bloomsbury etc) jobs I am not 100% qualified for pay about 3k less than I am on. If I could jump and be on a real career track that would be good, but I can't afford a step back.

I've been in the industry about 15 years (good lord...) and I am at my wits end. I can barely make ends meet and cover my mortgage as a single parent. I do a lot of freelance in the evenings still to ensure I can get my kid nice things sometimes and actually live a bit. But I think I need to pivot careers.

I used to work in finance editing, and wonder about trying to get back on that track, but I might have been out too long (I left in Covid). People have mentioned UX writing but I don't have any experience in that field. I've not got a lot of recent writing experience, either. More volunteer roles when I was in my early 20s.

Any suggestions or success stories?

I know to avoid hybrid publishers.

Has anyone worked with She Writes? I have a writer friend (and I trust him!) who says She Writes is different. But I've read all of the warnings about hybrid publishers, so I assume they are all the same.

Hi everyone! I will be a graduating senior this upcoming December and am looking for a publishing entry-level position. The kicker is that alongside my English degree, I have a Business degree. I’m getting way more hits with the latter but my heart is in publishing. If I was to work in project management or the like for an entry level position, how difficult would it be to enter the publication industry in the future? Should I just wait on the right opportunity or jump into another field? Thank you!!

Hello everyone!

I applied for the PRH summer 2025 adult editorial internship about 2-3 weeks ago. I can only imagine the massive volume of applicants they receive, but I am curious in seeing when/if anyone has been contacted by them!

I saw a thread started by 2024 applicants a year ago, but it seems there’s been no activity since. Any fellow applicants out there who are interested in keeping an updated thread? Wishing luck to everyone who has applied!!

Long story short, I had an agent trying to sell my reported nonfic book, who then quit her job about a year ago and dropped me and most of her clients. I couldn't find a new agent, so I started pitching medium-to-large publishers (not the same ones she pitched) with my book and it looks like now I might be getting a decent 5-figure offer.

For reasons not worth getting into, I don't really trust myself to be able to optimized the book contract to my advantage (I'm not a lawyer and don't have negotiating skills). I have an acquaintance who is a friend and an agent (but not for books like mine typically) and I was considering asking him to come in and look at the contract and negotiate on my behalf with the publisher. I wouldn't mind getting less money and giving him a 15% cut for this tiny bit of work it if means I get a more protected and better deal. Specifically there are complications regarding legal liability, movie/podcast rights, and whether I get to keep the money from excerpts and adapted excerpts published in magazines, and I'd like to be able to have someone advocate for me in this regard.

My question for this community is if this is a normal thing to do, i.e. bring in an agent at this point (after the writer has independently gotten an offer) to negotiate a little on their behalf. I don't really understand the mores of this industry and don't know if this is frowned upon or something.

I recently translated a short story, which was published by an online literary magazine. Since the magazine is run by volunteers and I produced the translation for free, it wasn't a formal licensing deal and I didn't pay anything for translation rights. Permission to publish came from the author in an email. There were further emails from the author's agent in which they confirmed more than once that I'm allowed to publish a translation.

Soon after the translation was published, the agent asked me if they can limit this permission to a duration of 5 years. Seeing as this short story is not so short and the translation process was quite protracted, I'm loath to agree.

Rights to the translation reverted to me after publication (the magazine's policy), so am I correct in assuming that I, as the translator, am basically the only rights holder of this English translation? In other words, would the author or their agent even be able, legally, to force me to take down this translation after 5 years? Note that the agent only made this demand after publication (which they explicitly gave permission for and encouraged). I dearly want to turn down this request and it seems to me, legally speaking, that it's within my rights to reject it. Any thoughts or insights much appreciated!

Does the NYT run online only full reviews of books?

I'm currently in high school, and my dream job is to be a line editor, or something similar in the publishing industry. It seems really interesting to me, and I have always loved to read ever since I was kid, and I also live in NYC, which I know is the place with the big publishing companies. Does anyone have any advice for the right path to take during/after college to become a line editor, or any advice? I also have heard that publishing doesn't make a lot of money, so if anyone knows of similar jobs that are more lucrative, I would be happy to hear of them. Any ideas/comments would be welcome!

I’ve had several issues with my publisher, specifically towards the end of getting my book released. I approved the manuscript and found no errors. When they sent me a physical copy of my book, I really only looked at the style of the cover and overall feel of the book. However, after publishing, I’ve found a glaring typo on the first page of the book (which was not in the manuscript I approved). Now, my publisher will not contact me back on how or if this can be fixed. Any advice is welcome.

I'm especially interested in knowing for those in Canada!

Hi all,

I'm a few months into the job search and received an assessment from a Big 5 imprint a few days ago. I completed the assessment and am waiting to hear back now, but the publisher has posted another position at a different imprint that I am also interested in. So, would it be bad form to send in an application while actively in the recruiting process at the company? I have been ghosted many times now and am just trying to hedge my bets, but I don't want to do anything to hurt my chances at the first imprint.

Also, if anyone has any experience with the time between assessment and next steps, I would love to know that as well; no time table was given in the email. Thanks in advance!

If I need to start as an assistant so be it, but I would rather be an associate editor or just plain "editor" mostly because there is more probability of being able to work remotely (but please correct me if I'm wrong).

Thank you!

Has anyone heard anything about a Macmillan Winter Internship? I was wondering if they had winter internships and if they are also going to do remote positions. Also when do these internships usually start?

Hi all,

Super new to all this, but do people know the general times that summer internship applications open up for various publishing companies?

So my boss wants to become an author and work on a book about his experience in the industry, he asked me to check if the name we are thinking about is available to use and if it also will be available to use for website, domain, social media and like properly publish a book . How do i check for everything? How do i check if thename can be registered?

Hello! I've lurked here for awhile, but I finally got brave and joined. I've been published once before aside from being in short story anthologies here and there, and it was through a vanity press as a teen (and so obviously I received no royalties, lol). Old news - I don't care enough to fight them over the silly novella.

Now, though, I'm a little older + more educated (mildly), and I'm trying to be careful to protect my work. I found a small indie press in my home region which frequents craft fairs, conventions, etc! They have a small following on Facebook but hey, their Kickstarters are basically always successful, so the books get made. I'm well aware that this is not how bigger, traditional publishers do things, but I thought that this would be a small step to trying to sell locally and build a name up. I signed a contract, talks were had, and now the editors are finishing their second round of drafts with cover ideas being tossed up. By November, I'll have my own little book Kickstarter!

But MAN, there were red flags. Tons of em. Super poor editing (replacing commas with ellipses, THEN blaming me for the ellipses and replacing them a second time), unprofessional behavior such as calling my protagonist a dick and then saying it's "constructive feedback", only putting the staff's books on Amazon and not the authors, as well as other concerns. The big concern is none of them (while not required) have an education in English/writing/editing/, nor do any of them have experience beyond self publishing a book or two. One editor even previously owned an indue press, but her author's books were published under HER name. It feels scummy. They're also SUPER pushing a very .... unattractive cover onto my book, and vetoing my ideas. I was also asked to rewrite my ending and add an epilogue, but I'm getting no feedback as to what the book needs. No input on why the current ending isn't good enough (Sure, I'm not a huge fan, but I at least need to know what part is broken so I can fix it). It's just ... really a terrible experience and I feel like I'm sitting in a sinking ship. There's just, realistically, no way my book will get beyond maybe ten sells.

So... I've tried to discreetly ask for a copy of the contract, because for some reason, I cannot find my copy anywhere - not IRL, not in any computer, phone, file explorer, email, etc. And, of course, this indie press is dragging their feet. It's been over a week and I still don't have the digital contract. At this point I'm worried they know I want out, but I don't want the drama of trying to get out and not having the contract as legal backing. Has anyone dipped out of an indie press before?? Just asking for input from those wiser than me, but to please be kind because honestly, this hasn't been a great time.

TLDR - This particular indie press is inexperienced and not completely honest. Please help a guy get out when the owner of the press keeps "forgetting" to hand me my contract. I just don't want to have to pay a fee or get sued, lol.

I recently published the second issue of my magazine, but it was much thicker than the first (150 pages vs 75ish) and I noticed that the text near the centrefold is tricky to read, as it goes too close to the fold.

When publishing my next issue, I want to avoid this, but I’m not sure how to align the text. Is it best to keep things centred, or can I have text further to the outside (which would be unsymmetrical, but might look okay with the centrefold). I’m not sure if I explained this well, so I’ve attached an image of what I mean. It’s just hard to visualise without seeing a copy, so if anyone has any experience with this, please let me know!

Thanks,

I'm gettimg nowhere in my current field, and considering changing careers. I saw a job opening in the publishing industry and think it's something I could do.

I've been doing a lot of research, and most things I see talk about how little publishing pays, but pretty much most if not all of the posts, articles, etc. I've seen talk about the conditions of working in publishing and living in NYC (as that's the most prolific area for working in publishing). However, I do not live in NYC; I live in Philadelphia. I know there are some publishers in Philly, and was wondering if anyone here has insight into the Philly publishing industry? Is it a livable career choice here compared to working in NYC?

I feel like from some of the other reasearch I've done, it seems that in Pennsylvania, entry/lower-level positions in publishing make about 40k-41.6k or more a year. Which is not much, but considering I currently make $17.50 an hour at my current job, it's more than I'm currently making ($36.4k) and I'm considering it. As for other living expenses, I still live at home, and my only monthly expenses are student loans, credit card, and one or two streaming services (still on parent's phone plan, have no other bills) as for getting to work: it would by a hybrid position, with one day in office, so if I got it, I'd really only have to commute one day a week.

Maybe my situation is unique, but I'm wondering if publishing is a completely different experience in Philly compared to NYC?.

Hey everyone!

I’m finishing my degree in English, less than a year to go. My ultimate goal after would be to work in editing with a publishing company or work with a literary agency.

I’d love to get an internship for this spring or summer and then again after I graduate.

My only problem … I don’t have any experience.

How do you get an internship in these areas without experience?

Help a girl out!!!! Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi everyone! I just learned that I got through to the interview portion for Penguin’s summer internship. For people who have interviewed with Penguin or other publishers in the past, are there any questions I should be prepared to be asked? And is there any advice you would recommend before the upcoming interview? Thank you all so much and have a great day!❤️❤️