Hi everyone! I've been invited to a virtual interview for a production assistant role at Hachette UK and I would appreciate some advice. It's a 50 minute interview with two of the senior production team members. I'm nervous because 50 minutes seems like a long time with a lot of potential questions. I saw somewhere else on the internet someone mentioned having to do a live task on the interview, but the email inviting me to the interview didn't mention this.

Does anyone have any experience with the company or the role/ department of production that could give me some pointers? Specific things I should prepare? I've created a list of potential questions and have practiced some answers for them but still very nervous as this is my dream job.

Thanks!

Edit: Quick edit to say this is an entry level position. I recently graduated with a first in English and have some unpaid experience in magazine publications through university and one other part-time role. :)

Hello all, I'm doing a deep dive into some trade editorial history for a research paper, and I'm having trouble finding even a vague timeline as to when the role of the trade editor was split into Developmental/Copyediting/Proofreading. I have some interesting findings from the field of textual criticism, like W. W. Greg who came up with this idea of "editorial variants" and basically differentiating between different kinds of edits. I've also found a paper on how we can apply some textual criticism fundamentals to trade editing...but I can't seem to find out if the model of textual critics was an influence on this split model, and if it wasn't textual criticism, well, then what exactly influenced us to take on this trade editing model? Could it have been during the advent of conglomeration perhaps? Any sources on the subject would be appreciated, or if there's another sub worth asking, let me know! This is a very niche ask, I know, haha. Not an easy field to research, I'll tell ya that much.

As an Independent Contractor,(being a Ghostwriter👻) this is my first time someone stiffed me half-way through a project. I'm a very honest and hardworking person, but was acussed of working an hour or two, for a three week project, basically accusing me of lying about my hours, so they didnt have to pay for service rendered. AFTER TURNING IT IN, the client refused to pay for my last week of work and any further work on the project (and it was only 1/3 done). But after the structure was turned in, he could do anything with it. I am obviously going to file with all the proper avenues, and apparently they will end up paying double plus legal payments (in my state). I just don't understand this, unless they were so broke they couldn't afford to pay. So, I told them that we could do a payment plan, but now they're just trying to ghost me. Has something like this happened to anyone else before? What did you do?😳

Been using issuu to publish pdf of my layout designs on my squarespace portfolio forever now, but as a small time designer I can not afford the new price hike by any means. As there any alternatives yall can suggest? They are very large designs like 200+ full color pages

Hi! I’m a soon to be graduate looking to get into publishing, specifically in production management. I have a pretty vague idea of what the role involves, so I would really appreciate it if anyone working in production could answer a few questions :)

What’s it like working in production?

How did you get started?

What skills are most important for this role according to you?

Any advice for someone just starting out?

Thanks so much!

Do I need permission to use graphics such as graphs or charts from articles to post in my own blog? I guess my intuition is that, if I can just re-create the graphs or charts in excel (or some other software) on my own, can their graphics really be considered copyright / IP?

For example, for the attached images (if posting these images here is considered infringement, please let me know)

https://preview.redd.it/hk8gza8x744e1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=faa47d08f18b6474059ec51d934c776a13c8e1fa

https://preview.redd.it/hiwb6ras744e1.png?width=618&format=png&auto=webp&s=ce599873c8e1e7256a442dbbe8951bad6ee71865

Does anyone know what is the standard commission/cut that book sales reps ask from distributors or publishers?

...on ALL new books.

Hi all,

Recently been contacted by a reputable publisher. I like their terms, especially as I'm a new author. Problem is, one of their clauses seems very restrictive to me.

Essentially (and I've checked this with them) they want right of first refusal on ANY books I publish within the contract term - even books that are not part of the series I'm publishing with them. I have to give them written notice of a month from when I create anything new before I negotiate with anyone else OR even just self publish.

Since the term of the contract is 5 years, this sounds to me more like a 'loyalty clause' than anything else. I don't see why a publisher should have a right to see anything beyond the series I'm signing with them.

Is this ordinary practice and, if so, how would it work if you wanted to sign a different series with another publisher who ALSO had this same clause? Is that basically impossible?

I’m wondering if anyone has any information/feedback/advice/experiences to share about the CCNY publishing certificate? I am applying ahead of the Sunday deadline and I am just wondering if anyone has had any success with this program? Also, is it as competitive as some of the other courses like the NYU and Columbia courses? For some background I graduated from undergrad in May with my BA in English and minor in journalism. I have yet to land an internship or entry level position but I am really not ready to give up my dream of working in publishing. I’ve been working at Barnes and Noble since graduation to get some hands on experience working around books/readers but I know it’s nowhere near as impressive as an internship. I’m just really struggling with what to do lately so if anyone has any info on the program to share I would greatly appreciate it!

So I can’t believe it but I actually managed to land an interview at Macmillan for St. Martins Press! The interview is next week and I am TERRIFIED. It’s editorial.

What should I know, say/not say, and present in the interview? I cannot express how much I really want to land this opportunity.. it would be a dream for me.. if anyone has any advice please let me know. I would be extremely grateful for any advice you can give me!

(Writing from the UK, for legal context)

Hypothetically, what is the process for acquiring and publishing an out of copyright book in a new edition? Setting aside logistics, cost etc of editing and printing, is it a case of reviewing the copyright, liaising with an author’s estate (if there is one), creating a copytext from previous editions and going from there?

When companies publish items like textbooks, are the works that are cited within paid for their us or are they covered under Fair Use laws because they're educational in nature?

In a similar vein, when video content creators make educational content (e.g. video essays) that require citations (such as Abby Cox's video on the history of Thanksgiving) do they have to pay to use those works? Are they prevented from monetizing those works because of the use of others' works?

Anyone have any advice for interviewing for an internship at Macmillan? What details should I prepare in my head?

Specifically for the Author Events internship, does anyone have experience with that and can speak more about it? I'm super excited and really want to nail the interview!

Hi all, any thoughts on the MA Publishing program at Exeter? Culture, life as a postgrad at Exeter, hiring prospects, rigor, etc?

Also considering UCL, Brooks, Kingston.

Thank you in advance.

I am a software engineer who loves writing and books. I was wondering what kind of tech jobs are still available in the publishing industry. The things I read about it were years out of date. I'm aware that the jobs "won't pay as much" as working for a tech company, but this is an area I want to work in.

What is a good way to find these jobs, if they exist? Are there certain networking events that publishers mingle in? What skills are they looking for?

I did historical research for my undergrad instead of straight STEM. I just love programming and made that my job for a few years instead of solely writing papers. A lot of my tech background is in full stack web development. Is there a route for me to working in publishing? Do I need certain certificates, or something else?

I'm an AI programmer and a writer, and I will tell you straight-up that AI writing is terrible, at least if you're talking about the standard of serious artistic fiction. Query letter? LLM away. We can probably all agree, though, that "writers" who would use LLMs to do their writing—to do their job—are charlatans that should stop clogging up the works.

This all said, I do believe there are aspects of publishing that can be improved by AI. If nothing else, it can actually make publishing accessible. You won't need access to a prep-school favor network to get your work reviewed by the New York Times—the AIs will just figure out which emails to send, to whom, as whom, for $75 of GPU credits. Carbon-based people will be heard again, rather than being put behind a query wall and called chuds because they don't live in Manhattan. Everyone will win.

I hope this is allowed, I am not sure what subreddit to post this question on...

Hello, I work in a publishing company in the UK and I really want to check jobs abroad inside this field, unfortunately my company does not advertise open positions within our branches in Europe and in this field job descriptions can be quite weird and hard to search on normal portals like Indeed or Glassdoor... Therefore my question is: is there a platform/portal for jobs only inside the publishing world or strictly related to this kind of media? Or any other specific Web page where to find resources to grow and gain even just general knowledge for people working with publishing companies?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or advice!

Title. These people have at this point abandoned the rhetoric of even trying to aid writers and now just seek to denigrate marginalized people for their agendas all the time, while claiming we aren’t “smart enough” to write unassisted (with their perhaps most notable contributions to society being dry lakes and Elon Musk).

They’re making this place unpleasant even if they “just ask questions” and spew legitimate misogyny and racism at every turn. Can we just tell them the truth: they are not writers, and won’t be until they listen to real ones? There’s no “paradox of tolerance” they are just always rude at best.

Hi all!

I apologise if this is a silly question and I am overthinking it.

I am applying for a role in production (entry role, as a complete novice), and I want to clarify the meaning of '2nd format' specifically. Would this be in reference to a reprint? Or a second format i.e. now publishing as an ebook instead of print?

The full context is "[take] control of 2nd format mono production projects"

Thank you!

Hello! Looking to break into publishing, specifically publicity, and was wondering when Summer 2025 or Winter 2025 internships begin to open. I already applied to the HarperCollins summer 2025 internships that closed on Nov 20. Any additional tips/guidance on how to break into this industry is much appreciated!

Info about me: Graduated English Lit/Rhetoric & Writing in 2022, was the fiction editor for English deparment's undergraduate publication, pivoted to law/publishing law and worked as legal assistant for a lawyer and then communications coordinator for a legal nonprofit. Don't want to be a lawyer anymore, going back to original plan of working in publishing - with my experience in marketing and communications publicity is a better route than editorial for me. Will be moving to NYC in the summer/fall.

Hi. I'm writing a review article and I'm the only author. Is it ok to refer to my as a plurar like "We are discussing this topic because..." Or "To our knowledge,.... " ? Is there any alternative? Thanks in advance 🙏

Does anyone happen to know of any indie publishers in the uk who sometimes hire? I feel like all the ones I’ve found are too small to bring on any more people.

I’ve been trying repeatedly to apply for jobs on Bloomsbury’s website and it will not let me submit because it says there’s an issue with the address I’ve entered for a job. It’s the full address it prompted when I typed the street address. It later did this to my home address. I’ve tried on Chrome, browser and iOS, and Firefox browser. Has anyone else managed to fix this? It’s literally impossible. Their site is awful.