it is the truth universally acknowledged that a single person trying to get into publishing
will struggle the publishing industry is known to be competitive please make sure to
like subscribe share comment all that jazz if you did find this useful make sure you stick around
for the whole this video as i will be sharing not just my tips to get into publishing but
those from 45 of our publishing professionals hope you find it useful and let's get into it
so every publishing hope wants to know what's the magic answer how do i get into publishing
how do i stand out and i get asked this question a lot of the time because they didn't have a
traditional route into publishing which you can find more about up here um but as i've said many
times before there is no real magic answer and but hopefully some of these tips will help you
so i joined the publishing industry in 2019 and my top tips are number one keep your options open
don't just apply for editorial i know that's what a lot of people go to apply for but think about
the other departments that are available as well such as rights also look at different types of
publishing as well book publishing isn't libya or endless there's magazines there's journals there's
academic etc so make sure to keep your options open number two subscribe to my channel i have new
videos every single week at least two a week every wednesday i have an interview with a published
publishing professional every weekend i have a new content video talking about tips and advice and
general knowledge of the industry make sure you subscribe so you don't miss another video number
three get familiar subscribe to the bookseller and read each article learn about the industry do your
research learn about different publishing systems like biblio number four is ask questions i am so
guilty of this i asked so many questions in my first few months at bloomsbury there's absolutely
no harm in it if you don't ask you don't get the answers ask people that work in publishing
ask people on twitter email me i'll leave all of my contact details in the description below
number five is get involved i know it's super tricky at the moment but see if there are any free
courses available online that you can attend any talks that people are doing follow all the right
people on twitter get some general experience get yourself involved number six be professional
but be personal of course impress them with your cv and your cover letter and your portfolio but
make sure that you show your personality across at the same time people that are
getting hundreds of applications for one role don't want to be hearing the same thing all
the time that you love books and you're hard working show a bit of your personality as well
number seven the most obvious one probably is love books i love publishing be fun and be enthusiastic
and show that you are really passionate about the industry everyone that works in publishing will
love books and will love publishing but how are you going to actually prove that do you
have a blog that's going to show that i say that to people all the time make sure that you have
proof that you can prove your passion and finally number eight is sharpen your transferable skills
any entry-level job within the industry could not survive without the people with transferable
skills this is organization time management etc but how can you also again prove that in your
cover letter in your cv what examples have you got of where you've shown those skills that are
crucial to entry level jobs transferable skills are arguably the most important expertise to have
in publishing to get an entry level job not just communication and people management skills as well
make sure that you're familiar with powerpoint microsoft word excel indesign etc if on the job
descriptions it specifically lists software such as indesign that you need to be familiar with
do a short course on that get involved a little bit more i'm doing a video very soon
on the specific skills that you need to work in publishing as well and i've asked a range of
different publishing professionals to vote on which ones they think are the most crucial so
make sure you don't miss that because i'm really excited to show you guys what skills we believe
from a publisher's point of view you need to have so those are my eight top tips but don't just take
it from me i had 45 people give me some amazing advice and i'm going to share that with you now
some were similar so i've tried to kind of condense it into the main points
so we had be open-minded again the editorial department is not beyond the end-all uh it's
better to spend more time on fewer applications to really research the companies and the roles don't
just hand your cv out really generically to a load of publishers make sure that you're narrowing it
down to why you want to work for that specific publishing house or that specific department
consider the jobs outside of publishing too as these may give you the skills that you need to
get a publishing job later as i said number eight of my top tips is get those transferable skills in
someone simply put read which is which i don't need to say any more about next is follow the book
trade on social media and network wherever you can networking is so so important for this industry
next one is get involved and engage with people as much as you can go along to events join groups
like the syp etc to increase your network the more people you know the more you'll know about what's
out there where to find the opportunities the next one is make sure you tailor any
applications to the companies the industry as a whole is fascinating but each company wants
to feel like they are in unique and important and that you want to work for them specifically
next one is patience perseverance and initiative the next one says don't get disheartened by
rejections keep plowing on with applications and remaining positive you will get the right role
eventually then let's create a brand for yourself that clearly shows how passionate you are about
books in the publishing world again have you got a bookstagram have you got a booktube have you got
a blog and then the last one is having good knowledge and understanding of all aspects
of the publishing journey not just the areas that you want to explore having well-rounded
knowledge is good and if you do stick around for my videos and you watch them you'll know that i
have videos on rights on design on production marketing publicity so make sure that you watch
all those videos that you know about publishing as a whole so that's it as i said i'm going to
be doing a video in future of the specific skills that you need to work in the publishing industry
more specifically to get an entry level job and so make sure you subscribe and turn the
notification belt on so you don't miss that video hope this video was beneficial to you in some way
please do let me know in the comments down below what piece of advice you found the most useful