Navigating the Rocky Road to Publishing: My First Years in NYC

Just last week you were lost in the chaos of New York City amp160You were just a kid spit out of a university fairy tale fantastical travels abroad or your parentsamp8217 basement amp160You wandered into a horrifying and incoherent world of unpaid internships parttime jobs and an endless stream of people between the ages of 20 and 70 trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives You were working at a cafamp233 where the owners were stealing your tips and ignoring a rat infestation in the basement kitchen amp160But now youamp8217ve pulled yourself up by your boot straps and can proudly answer anybodyamp8217s pestering inquiry amp8220I work in publishingamp8221All of this happened to me for the most part amp160I got my first job in publishing after spending two years bouncing around the service industry in Brooklyn and begrudgingly working through a couple of unpaid internships amp160This timeline adhered to what several people told me upon my arrival in New York Two years to get established amp160At one point I was working seven days a week to get by which as many young newcomers to the city know is normal amp160The upside is that New York offers endless opportunity amp160I thought my opportunity was in publishingAfter a seemingly endless job search I had made it to the mythical Manhattan office building Feeling that I had finally reached a career path I spent a year and a half as an editorial assistant at an academic press amp160Unfortunately my illusions about publishing were ultimately shattered and I left with a negative impression overall amp160Fortunately I gained valuable skills insights and friendshipsMany people who are not wise to the industry myself included tend to romanticize the idea of publishing books amp160In truth there is really nothing romantic about it for me the job felt like an icecold shower a dose of unpleasant reality amp160This was for two reasons the extremely bureaucratic and impersonal publishing process and the low pay for an excessive amount of responsibility amp160The cause amp160The economic model of the publishing businessWhile my experience was with academic publishing which is inherently more standardized and impersonal the realities of the industry are generally the same whether you work at a prestigious literary press or an academic press that publishes thousands of books each year This is because almost every publishing house you have ever heard of is likely owned by a large international conglomerate amp160You might not be aware if three of your favorite publishers operate under the same umbrella company amp160It goes further that company is likely owned by a conglomeratesized publishing firm in Europe amp160Yet this firm is barely the majority stakeholder as it is paired with private equity amp160All paths seem to lead to the same place as the industry model is increasingly moving in the direction of consolidationPublishing houses canamp8217t afford to stay afloat on their own amp160It took me a long time to realize that the company I worked for was under the same ownership as one of my favorite fiction publishers amp160Who knew amp160And what does this mean on the ground floor for the puny editorial assistant amp160What I experienced was a constantly changing workflow new rules coming from the top down that required consistent adjustment increasingly draconian quarterly numbers to meet a massive transfer of information from one inscrutable database to another conflict between the editorial and production departments and a shrinking US office as jobs like copy editing were offshored to IndiaAll this made it difficult to attend to the needs of the 75 authors I was responsible for and little time to give their books the thorough attention they deserved amp160It was stressful and depressing amp160I felt disconnected from both the client and the product amp160However there is a happy touch to the ending I worked closely with some truly amazing people and developed skills Iamp8217ll take with me for the rest of my life amp160The industry is changing the romance is gone with only a few years in I canamp8217t verify if it was there before and the job is undervalued but I can honestly say that the editors were passionate and my fellow editorial assistants were smart interesting and kindIamp8217m thankful for the experience even if I never go back amp160I wouldnamp8217t discourage other lost English majors from jumping into the publishing fray just make sure to curb your expectations and get ready for that dose of realityClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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Navigating the Rocky Road to Publishing: My First Years in NYC

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Ben Bailey

Breaking Barriers: Nada Bradbury’s AD-ID Strategy for Advertising Effectiveness and Women in Tech - By E.B. Moss

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Navigating the Rocky Road to Publishing: My First Years in NYC

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