Career Options

“Publication is to thinking as childbirth is to the first kiss.”

(Friedrich Von Schlegel)

Career Options

To begin with, you might find it easier to find a job in an office that is not a publishing house. Here, you could work on company newsletters, help write advertising copy, layout various publications, proofread their website, or more. This kind of a job will give you the skills to move into book publishing or to a literary review. How do you know what kind of publishing is right for you? I’d say, try a couple of places until you find the right fit. In general, popular magazines & periodicals that come out monthly or more often will be the most bustling places to work. For-profit magazines are driven almost entirely by advertising revenue, so this can be a stressful environment if the revenue is not high. Book publishing is driven by season—usually fall & spring, sometimes summer or winter as well—& is generally busy in waves with some lulls in between. Scholarly journals are busier during the academic year or for shorter periods of time, as are literary magazines. With all this in mind, explore the various ways in which you might contribute to publishing.

Periodicals

f you work for a periodical, your office depends on the nature of the publication—whether it is a popular magazine, academic journal, or literary magazine; whether it features advertising or not; & whether the periodical is four-color, all text, or somewhere in-between. Here is a list of the different possible jobs, what you might do in each position, & what kinds of periodicals would offer these positions.

Marketing & Advertising: For any for-profit periodical, advertising is key. Look at the masthead of any major magazine & you will notice that the number of people working to secure advertisements is at least equal to those in any other department, if not larger. If you like to sell, this is the place for you. For limited-audience or specialty publications (e.g., academic journals or trade magazines), not a lot of resources are invested in marketing, especially if no ads are run in the publication.

Copyediting: These days, few copyeditors work in-house at periodicals; instead, many periodicals use freelancers. They work on the language of an article to make sure there are no mistakes (grammatical or factual), make it consistent, & ensure that it conforms to the magazine’s editorial style.

Design: Designers can make or break a publication in the for-profit world. Next time you’re at a newsst&, look at the differences between Architectural Digest & Publisher’s Weekly. Designers work with marketers to create the look that marketers think will attract buyers. Many designers have art degrees & training in computer design/graphics.

Production: People who work in the production department monitor & determine the physical results of the magazine/journal. They work with the typesetters & designers to layout the text & images, & they work with printers directly to ensure high-quality work. Those who work in production often also monitor the editorial aspect of the manuscript—copyediting, formatting, & contacting authors.

Books

Book publishing requires the skills of marketers, designers, production managers, editors, those who run the day-to-day business, & others, to make sure that the book is available to readers. In most publishing houses, there are a few key departments. Note, however, that not every company will use the same term for the same job.

Acquisitions: The job of acquisitions editors is to seek out books to publish in assigned fields. Usually they are given a set number of books that they must acquire per year. They consider a book from all angles: Is it well-written? Will it sell? Will the author be able to complete the book on time? Can we afford the author’s usual advance? They may also direct developmental editing, should their press use this process. Many editors also have assistants, especially at larger publishing houses.

Editorial & Production: The goal of this group of people is to produce the physical book. They include copyeditors, proofreaders, designers, & typesetters. Each of these specialists works with the other to create the product that the marketing & acquisitions have decided will sell, conducting quality control at every stage. Production receives the manuscript & works with it until there is a book in their h&s, which can take from six months (for camera-ready books, books that need no copyediting or layout) to over a year (for books that need to go through the full process).

Copyeditors & Proofreaders: It takes very specific skills to copyedit. You must know the rules of the style manual you’ve been asked to follow (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style or the Associated Press Style) & be able to follow them; know the rules of English grammar; be able to thoroughly underst& the subject (e.g., if you worked at JAMA, you would have to know about medicine); & have patience, among many other things. The best copyeditors do not alter the writer’s meaning or style. Instead they make the piece clearer & ensure that it conforms to the house style. Proofreaders are checkers. They compare the proofs of the manuscript with the clean edited copy to make sure that no text is missing & that everything is correct. The more electronic publishing becomes, the more proofreaders become necessary.

Marketing: Their job begins after the book is manufactured. To work in marketing, experience in a bookstore can be as important as an editing class. Any kind of selling requires ingenuity. People in marketing are constantly wracking their brains trying to figure out who would read a given book & how to reach the market for it. They also try to catch the media’s attention at all times. From publicists to exhibit managers & envelope-stuffers, marketing is full of action.