Miya Elkerton
I am currently in the final month of my undergraduate English degree and am writing my last two essays. This moment feels surreal, but I am so excited for what the future holds. Post university, I would love the opportunity to work in the publishing industry. I did work experience at Penguin during the summer of my first year at university as I was fortunate enough to be randomly selected for the two-week placement that Penguin offer. I would obviously recommend the opportunity to every publishing hopeful and would encourage not giving up hope, as in this case particularly, securing this placement can be just chance and the experience is amazing! This opportunity definitely confirmed my desire to work in the publishing industry and I am now spending my last months at university applying for as many roles as possible and will continue to do this throughout the summer. Although this application process can be daunting and at times does of course knock my confidence, I am still excited for the prospect of working in the industry and try to change my application for each specific role and the questions that are asked. For any publishing hopefuls in a similar situation, we are all here for each other and I look forward to meeting you in the industry!
Kayley Stanbridge
I am in the final term of my Publishing MA at City University London and I cannot believe how fast it has gone and how much I have learnt about the publishing industry in such a short space of time. After my undergraduate degree, I was a little lost. I knew my dream job was in publishing, but I was still unsure what area would be the most suitable for me. With COVID-19 shutting the world down for a while and making it harder to apply for jobs, I thought doing a masters degree would be the best course of action, to let me figure out what field I wanted to pursue and learn more about how the industry works. My MA has been invaluable so far and I have discovered that production or sales would be my preferred field to work in at the moment. I am looking forward to applying for jobs in publishing, alongside writing my dissertation. It feels like there is so much to look forward to. Working for The Publishing Post has been an invaluable experience for me and the publishing hopefuls community is amazing at helping me to stay in the job hunting loop. I am currently working on developing my skills in coding and Excel with the hope that these will be useful for future roles. I encourage other publishing hopefuls to stay motivated and to further your skills where you can!
Kelly Hides
With two more deadlines and concluding a placement with Enchanted Forest Publishing, I am about to finish the second year of my English with Publishing degree at Plymouth University at the ripe old age of 25. Before coming to university, I worked as a bookseller and Events Coordinator at Waterstones which opened my eyes to the publishing industry and made me want to pursue it as a career. Maybe it’s the second-year slog, or maybe it’s due to the fact all of my lectures have been online, but this year has been challenging.
Despite the obstacles I’ve been able to undertake some amazing opportunities, such as my placement and work here at The Publishing Post, that I otherwise wouldn’t have had time for. I’m now more focused and driven to achieve my aspiration of working as a publicist. I’m so excited for third year, but also daunted by the fact that I’ll soon be joining the majority just trying to break into the publishing industry. I’ve been incredibly lucky with the experience I’ve gained and my advice to other hopefuls is just say yes to everything! All experience is beneficial and if you stay motivated, despite the setbacks, it will eventually pay off. The publishing industry is changing for the better I think and I can’t wait to be working alongside you one day!
Sophie Everett
I am in the process of finishing the second year of English Literature degree. It is a very unusual moment to know that in September my university adventure is almost over. Getting close to the end of my degree means that a lot of thought starts to go toward what I would like to do when my degree is over. I would love for my future career to be within the publishing industry and so I am preparing to hopefully do an MA in Publishing. I believe that gaining experience is hugely important and so would strongly recommend applying for placements and internships. Although it can be hard to find this experience, with some perseverance, confidence in your skills and a keen interest to learn more you will definitely find something. For me, The Publishing Post has really helped open my eyes to the range of jobs within the publishing industry, while allowing me the opportunity to gain or improve skills that I never considered that important in the industry. I wish all publishing hopefuls good luck and hope that your passion for the publishing industry will motivate you to become the best at whatever your dream role is!
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