Hello,

I work as an Editor at an academic publisher but keep an eye out on the state of the industry by looking at what new roles are offered. In the past few months, I've seen a lot of entry level roles which have a specific salary of £23,140 which I thought a bit odd. It's taken me till today to realise that this is what 35 hours a week on minimum wage is - 35x52x12.71 = £23,132.21.

These roles usually involve working in the most expensive cities in the country, require at least one degree, and have an incredibly diverse range of tasks. I remember my most difficult years in the industry were as an Assistant Editor.

Publishing salaries have obviously not kept up with minimum wage. When I started, entry level positions were usually about £20,000 but minimum wage was £7.20 at the time so you at least felt you were sort of being rewarded a little bit.

I really feel for young people making their way into the industry now. It's appalling how low the pay is for these difficult roles.

Hi all, I have a screener for an editorial internship coming up. What should I be prepared for, and what should I bring to the table?

Quick question, is a publishing assistant basically an executive/administrative assistant? Is there room to pivot into different departments?

I saw Hachette post a Pub Assistant position at Little, Brown and am curious about the role.

Hi all, I was wondering if publishing houses have positions for proofreaders (not editors, just proofreading specifically), and if they do, is it a position you can do remotely as a WFH job? I'm based in the UK if that's at all relevant, just wondering what my options are.

This question is about what amounts to a luxury concern in academia these days. For university presses, how is a book in production distinct from a book under full contract (post peer review & editorial board vote)?

I ask because a tenure candidate in my department was told by the Chair & Exec Committee in writing for their first two years on tenure-track that the book must be in production before the tenure review year; then, in the last three years, this same candidate was told in writing by the Chair & Executive Com. that a book-in-production is defined as a book-under-full-contract. (In truth, the Chair did this on their own, but Exec Com members are unwitting accomplices because they failed to notice the revision of the written standards. Was the tenure candidate behind pace for tenure success in the year that the Chair first modified the standard? Yes, but two years later they'd landed a full contract.)

Department guidelines set the standard at book in production with no mention of contracts. The candidate is proceeding into tenure review this year with a full contract, but they do not intend to turn in their final manuscript to the publisher until a few months after the tenure votes commence this fall. They trust the Chair who re-worded the standard impermissibly and inexplicably midway through their time on tenure track. No one has ever been tenured in the Dept without a book either published or in production.

For those who know, how would you advise the tenure candidate?

​Hi everyone,

​I run a startup children’s book publishing company and I’m exploring what it takes to break into major retail chains. I’d be open to working with very tight margins if it meant securing high-volume orders.

​Has anyone here managed to supply productsof any type to retailers like Tesco, Poundland, Aldi, Lidl, or similar chains? (I'm based in the Uk, but open to listen about experiences from anywhere)

What was the process like? I’d love to hear about your experiences in special about tje expected margins, challenges, and dealing with competition to convice their buyers.

I am aware this sub is mostly visited by US publishing professionals, and this makes it interesting to me because my question preceding all of this would be: How could I find a job outside of Germany with my qualifications?

I've always dreamed to work abroad for at least a couple of years, or stay if I like it very much. At the same time, I'm aware that visa sponsorships for the UK (just as an example I've looked at more closely) are bound to an annual salary of the position of at least 40 grand. Penguin Random House publishes their UK position's salary on LinkedIn, and most of their editor roles are below 40k pounds. New Zealand has strict rules for work visas which I don't think I can make work at this moment (or in the next few years, if I'm being honest).

I've studied German literature and earned a very good Masters degree. After publishing a small collection of students essays, I decided it would be a good path to go down. After an internship at a small publishing company which I loved dearly but didn't have the financial means to employ another editor, I started the arduous process of applying for trainee positions.

For context, trainee positions in trad publishing and journalism in Germany are called Volontariate, and although the name suggests otherwise, it's simply a trainee position, but they don't have to pay the minimum wage. Most of them are one to two year contracts. When I finally found one after six months, I was ecstatic, even though it meant moving back to my home town.

Shortly after my onboarding, it dawned to me that the company had lied to me. Instead of splitting my time 50/50 between their trad publishing venture and the PaaS side of things, it was more like 10/90. My time was almost entirely spent on selling customers our publishing packages and preparing their shoddy texts for publication on Amazon or Books on Demand. After some particularly awful experiences (one older guy writing mostly about his sexual escapades in his 20s and one CEO proudly announcing his poems only took him three minutes a piece to write) I had an epiphany after a meeting with my boss and a prospective customer and her son. During that meeting, my boss and her son convinced her to finance a print run of her book which was entirely written in a facebook post style, emojis included, and using about 30 different typefaces, which she insisted on. I knew she was about to be out thousands of Euros, and probably sell only a couple copies of it. Her son was naive and thought she was fulfilling her life dream, my boss only had dollar signs in his eyes.

I left that company as quickly as I could and found another traineeship at German branch of one of the biggest publishing groups, headquartered in NY. As a trainee in non-fiction, I quickly acquired the necessary negotiation and networking skills and felt like a fish in the water, finally. I published some great books and acquired many more which will be published in the coming year or two. My track record has been described as impressive by other professionals and I'm proud of my work. Now, my traineeship is ending and I'm about to start another job at a different publisher. It's a dream job - very small team in a bigger house, I'm only one of two people designing the program and acquiring, the other being my direct superior.

At my current trainee job, I met a very nice colleague from New York. She's originally from Germany and was there to strengthen collaboration between her NY department and the German equivalent. She's the only person so far whom I've met who was even distantly doing the thing I would like to do at least once in my life. I'm the kind of person to always plan their next steps, so now I'm looking at options for going abroad in the next two to three years. If you have any information or experience, I would appreciate if you could share it.

A question for authors who had success in traditional publishing. I was on Tiktok and came across this person who claimed that. When an author signs a $50,000 contract. It's not all sunshine and rainbows because if your book doesn't make the money back. The publisher will stop sending out payments. Which confused me because I do know the payments are split and, that your book has to make that much in sales. Before the royalties start coming in you know but this is the first I'm hearing of about the publisher not paying out the full advance.

I know in this landscape the traditional publishing world is forever changing. So I just wanted to ask and be sure, but I will say the person who made the claim. Is a self-published author who runs her own self-publishing company. In the same video she points out that in traditional publishing. An author has to sell 100,000 copies before they start truly earning royalties. While a self-published author only has to sell 14,000 copies, and makes more money.

So the post did kind of scream to me I'm an self-published author bashing traditional publishing because self-publishing is superior or whatever. I see it happen a lot and to that I'll say isn't reaching 14,000 sold books in self-publishing just as hard as trying to reach 100,000 in traditional publishing?​

For those with knowledge of the program, are all attendees typically early 20s/undergraduate aged? I've been wanting to apply for years but could never reasonably dedicate the time while also staying afloat on the $200 monthly stipend. I'm in a much better financial position now and wanted to know if this program is suitable for someone in their 30s.

It's my dream to work in publishing, but ironically I've had to bust my ass in a different field to build up enough savings to subsidize this dream.

As the title suggests, I'm looking at the UC Berkeley, UCSD, and UChicago editing certification programs. I'm interested in going into fiction/fantasy editing, and from what I've read, UC Berkeley isn't the best for that, although their course focuses on more than just copyediting (unlike UCSD). There's also UChicago, though that course is significantly more expensive than the others.

If any fiction/fantasy editors here have had experiences with these programs, I'd love your input!

I feel genuinely embarrassed writing this but I need to know if I’m just not cut out for this industry.

I went to school for English writing but did not decide on publishing as my career goal until halfway through college so I never got a publishing internship. Instead I got internships with various magazines, literary and otherwise.

After I graduated I was unemployed for 8 months trying to break in and ended up taking the first job offered to me. I’m over three years in now and have risen to associate editor, but I work with B2B magazines. I very much feel like it’s time for a change but I haven’t been able to land a single interview.

I’ve seen the advice and have been trying all the things. I’ve been heavily networking via LinkedIn and have been attending in person networking events with business cards. My resume and cover letter(s) have been reviewed by numerous people in the industry. I made an online portfolio linking all of the 50+ publications I’ve either written or edited.

I have looked well beyond Big 5 and have applied to positions at lit mags, academic presses, and independent publishers. I have extended my search to include not just editorial, which I know is highly competitive, but also audio production, managing ed, production ed, and even subsidiary rights. For the record, I live in the tri-state area already and currently work in NYC.

I am not in a position to drop my full time role for an internship that pays $17/hr at 25/hrs a week and no health insurance nor job guarantee. I’m also not in a position to drop my job and thousands of dollars on a publishing certificate or masters. I’ve attempted to bolster my resume by taking on part time/unpaid positions (volunteer roles at lit mags, freelance grant writer, book seller, writing tutor) with little luck. The only thing I haven’t done yet is create a book review blog due to a crippling fear of being perceived lol.

I guess I’m writing to ask: will it get better, or did I shoot myself in the foot by not getting the “right” internship at 19 years old? Do I need to suck it up and take an internship in my late 20s and just sort of….deal with my adult expenses somehow? Are there other things I could be doing? Is there a light at the end of this cursed tunnel?

I am looking for sites where I can post a book application. Places which will accept sites that are focused on books, libraries, publishing, digital humanities, academic publishing, and similar things. The general directories are not focused enough for what I am doing. I am not going to list my application here. This is a general query. I have posted about this in two other places. I am hoping to find some acceptable places. The book application is a virtual ebook repository using threejs.org a form of 3 dimensional javascript. This is an example of a 3D Library https://discourse.threejs.org/t/myshelves-a-first-person-library-you-build-book-by-book/93870 It is a different than my app. I don't want to be seen as self promoting.

Might be looking for a unicorn, but that's ok.

Proficient in German, English, and Italian + intermediate in Arabic, with experience as Acquisitions Librarian (London). EU-based and NOT made for this pest that is the corporate world.

Can anyone advise on niche communities for remote jobs in publishing (esp. foreign rights), international comms, or other areas related to cultural production? Thank you.

I've been working in publishing my whole career and am finding it harder and harder to convince myself that the stress and burnout is worth it. I'm on the agency side, am building a list of clients but still expected to do so much company admin, and it just feels like the job keeps getting bigger without bigger payoff. I can't help but think that I'm holding out for an imaginary carrot...

For those who quit, or those who considered it but stuck it out, I'd love to know: what were the signs for you that it was time to move on? Or what convinced you to stay?

Hello fellow pub pro's. Out of curiosity: who is going to the Buchmesse this year, and in what role? It used to be so busy all week long. The past few years I've noticed the Hof is pretty quiet on Mondays and Tuesdays - people are arriving later, leaving earlier. Thoughts?

There are so many review sites and author oriented resources, I was wondering if Literary Titan has a good reputation or if they well known, that sort of thing.

hi everyone. i was recently offered a paid internship at a major publishing house. i graduated in may with a b.a. in english and a 4.0 GPA. however, i’m getting increasingly anxious leading up to the start date. i know that publishing is extremely competitive, and when i look at other interns on linkedin, i feel like they are so much more impressive than i am in terms of work and academic experience. i’m worried that the hiring team made a mistake, and that i’m not going to perform well in the role. am i just being silly? does anyone have any advice for me?

i've been working as a part-time intern for a very tiny niche academic publishing company that operates through my university for the last three years. most (basically all) of my coworkers are PhD candidates, postdoc fellows, and other PhDs like professors. because we're such a small group (less than 10 total employees), i've performed basically every step of digital and physical production on several texts, and my name has been included in 3 or 4 published editions at this point.

i'm an english literature student and currently considering applying for a MLIS program when i graduate and pursuing something within the realm of libraries long-term (i also have a lot of library experience). but i do love the publishing work that i've been doing too and i'm wondering whether my level of experience would grant me any kind of leg up if i were to pursue publishing instead.

i've heard that publishing is in a particularly dire situation for entry-level positions, so i've been hesitant to put too much thought into it. but i've also been told that i have a pretty high level of experience for an undergrad, so it would feel a waste to not try and see how i could potentially leverage it.

sorry this is a little all over the place, i'm typing this up quickly before work. does anyone have any thoughts or insight?

What are normal net receipt royalty rates for books that are mostly marketed in bulk to institutions? I decided to stop looking for an agent since my book isn't a trade book but is meant to be sold to schools. I know you need to ensure that net receipt is operationally defined as the gross revenue of the purchase minus shipping costs on your contract.

Just out of curiosity, because my book is extremely nuanced, if I find a publisher who's interested, can I then get an agent to negotiate on my behalf?

Hey everybody,

I decided to post this in hopes to get some advice and see if anyone else feels as if this raises any red flags for them. If this isn’t allowed on this forum, just let me know where I should ask instead!

My mom and I are both concerned my dad is being scammed by a “publishing company”, but I fear he’s just gonna think we’re speculating too much.

Just for some background… I am an English writing graduate with experience working with publishers directly. My dad decided within these last couple months that he wanted to publish a series of books. He has been writing for years on gaming websites and is just as in love with storytelling as I am.

For his first book, he decided to go through Amazon self-publishing. This second go around, after speaking to me about agents and such, he decided to go and find a “reputable company” to help him get his book out there. The company he went with is called New York Publishing Labs…. first red flags for me. He has signed a contract and sent them the initial amount of money (I believe somewhere around 900$). My mom said she has overheard him discussing with one of them on the phone asking for another $600. He declined in the moment, saying he needed to think about it. That is when my mom approached me, again, with concerns he is getting scammed.

Today, I ended up going to the website and it all just seems like buzz words to lure you in and very much “too good to be true” for someone that doesn’t know any better. To even access their website I had to turn off my private relay. Before that it kept popping up as “forbidden”. Once I was on there it immediately, I was sent into a live chat where I played along. For one, I can’t find the senior consultant ANYWHERE. Second, they claim to have been in business since 2015, but all of the reviews I can find (really from only one website) are from this year (and there is only 10). When I asked for more information on their company and team, they sent me a bunch of links to their published work and supposed “trustworthy reviews”. I didn’t follow the links just because of the feeling I had and let them know that I was going to pass. They immediately asked if it was due to bad reviews…

I’ve read a couple articles on scam publishing companies and that is truly the feeling I get from them.

I really just want some confirmation and maybe even advice on how to approach this and proceed.

I’m setting up a publishing press so I can publish books by myself and various other people I know. I’m an experienced entrepreneur and (academic) author looking to move into the popular field.

What tips would you give (other than don’t do it!)?

I’m particularly keen to build a production line in NW England so keen to find printers around that area for samples etc. I’m planning to start with the Amazon Kindle market but I’d like to have a small hard copy run as well.

There doesn’t seem to be any media coverage on this, only grumblings from authors and booksellers that Hachette Australia’s warehouse was compromised and they haven’t been able to distribute any books for weeks now.

Does anyone have the inside scoop?

Does anyone have any experience working in or with the design department at Sourcebooks?

Hi, If you work with Booksource, I'm looking for some general information and would appreciate a high level chat about how costs and charges work. I'm not going to ask for any sensitive information or discounts you may receive, I just need to understand the business a little bit.

If you think you could help, please add a comment below or drop me a DM.

Thanks in advance.