By Leyla Mehmet, Elizabeth Guess and Aimee Whittle
For this issue, we interviewed Eleanor Marie Rose to find out more about her role as Production Assistant at Bloomsbury and about being a YouTuber.
Tell us about your journey into publishing and your apprenticeship.
I joined publishing in October 2019 through LDN’s first publishing apprenticeship scheme. Since qualifying, Bloomsbury kept me on as a permanent employee (the right move, Blooms.) The apprenticeship entailed attending monthly workshops based on different publishing modules such as sales, finance, editorial, etc. Alongside this, we had a dedicated amount of time each week to spend on ‘off-the-job’ training which allowed us to explore publishing as a whole. The qualification was gained through portfolio work and an End Point Assessment.
Watch me waffle about the apprenticeship here.
Find current LDN opportunities here.
You have a YouTube channel where you publish many videos about publishing. What inspired you to begin this channel and have there been challenges?
We all got bored in lockdown, myself included. I was loving learning on the apprenticeship and didn’t want that to stop. I spoke at an online event with New Writing North and Get Into Book Publishing, discussing my role as a Production Assistant. Afterwards, I was flooded with questions and new LinkedIn connection requests and realised there was something missing here. I debated starting a blog but soon realised nobody would read it! I sent my apprenticeship Skills Coach a message saying I was considering doing a YouTube channel about publishing. But before she had the chance to reply, my first video was planned and recorded.
I get challenges every week! Examples:
Delays: I do weekly interviews with publishing professionals. Sometimes they take a while to approve the final video, which means not being able to post on the scheduled date. Also-I’m busy! Sometimes I don’t have enough time in the day.
Motivation: As this is a side hustle/hobby, I’m doing it alone. I regularly feel very overwhelmed, stressed and unmotivated. It often requires a retweet or a comment for me to realise it’s worth it as I’m helping people!
Retention: I am constantly learning how to keep viewers engaged. It’s been a lot of Googling "how to do X on Adobe Premiere Pro" and watching others’ videos to improve.
I talk about the behind-the-scenes of having a YouTube channel in this video.
You also run a monthly newsletter which is filled with useful resources, especially for publishing hopefuls. How have you found producing this? Do you have any advice for readers considering doing this themselves?
Yes! I started my monthly newsletter as a way to remind people of all the videos I had posted that month, in case they hadn’t had the chance to catch up. I use Canva for my newsletter. I never had the intention for it to be super amazing (like The Publishing Post). I like to be as close to my viewers as possible, so sometimes I give a life update or ask some questions. For publishing hopefuls, I offer resources for developing skills and preparing for applications.
My advice: just do it. The first one doesn’t have to be perfect. The second one doesn’t have to be perfect. I’ve been doing it for 7 months and it’s still not. Who cares? By starting, you’re already doing more than you were yesterday.
(Email eleanormarierose@gmail.com to be added to the newsletter list).
What does a typical day as a Production Assistant look like?
My day-to-day responsibilities involve working on backlist reprints where I process P&Ls (profit and loss), POs (print orders) and send files to printers. I also work on POD (print on demand), NIPPOD (new in paperback print on demand) and HPOD titles, deal with production errors, contact authors, attend meetings, liaise with stakeholders and complete various admin tasks to support the team (check out Eleanor’s YouTube video for explanation of these terms). My role requires adhering to company standards and updating metadata, as well as being able to balance working in a team and managing my own workload.
Generally, the production team sees titles through from manuscript stage to printing. The roles require checking text and cover files, typesetting, pulling financial reports and processing invoices. The production teams make decisions on budgets and specifications of a book, to ensure the printed book is high quality.
Watch my day-in-the-life vlog about being a Production Assistant here.
What’s the main piece of advice you would give to a publishing hopeful?
One piece of advice will never be enough!
BUT… watch my videos! A shameless self-promo, but I cover all publishing departments there. I have interviews with other publishing professionals so you can hear what roles are on offer. I listen to video requests, so I do the work to help you succeed in getting into publishing! (You can suggest a video idea here.) On a serious note, publishing is hugely competitive. Any watching, sharing, retweeting etc. is great so that more people are exposed to these video resources.
Are there any organisations, groups, or resources that you would recommend to publishing hopefuls?
My YouTube channel - Obviously.
My Twitter - Promoting my videos, retweeting publishing job vacancies and sometimes pics of my dog.
The Publishing Post - duh.
Publishing Profile - behind the bookshelves of us bookish people.
BookMachine - connecting with professionals.
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