Working in Publishing – 3 out of 3 …

Third in a series of three posts, the final instalment of links you may find useful when considering a career in publishing. The links below are some professional organisations allied to publishing:

You may find vacancies here, but you can also use these links to increase your knowledge of the publishing industry.

• Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) Association for not-for-profit publishers
• Association of Online Publishers (AOP) Representing digital publishing companies that create original, branded, quality content
• Bookellers Association Represents and promotes the retail bookselling industry in the UK. Shops in membership range from large chains to small independent booksellers
• British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) Trade association for UK picture libraries. Members include the major news and production agencies and cultural heritage institutions. News, events, image search facility, vacancies
• British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) The principal business support organisation for the UK print, printed packaging and graphic communication industry
• Music Publishers Association Representing the interests of music publishers to government, the music industry, the media and the public
• Picture Research Association Professional organisation for picture researchers, picture editors, and anyone specifically involved in the research, management and supply of visual material to the media industry
• Publishing Scotland The network body for the book publishing industry in Scotland
• Publishers Association The leading trade organisation serving book, journal and electronic publishers in the UK
• Society of Authors Information, help and advice for authors in the UK
• Society for Editors and Proofreaders Professional organisation based in the UK for editors and proofreaders
• Society of Indexers Promotes indexing, the quality of indexes and the profession of indexing. Has information on training
• Society of Young Publishers (SYP) SYP caters especially for anyone with less than ten years’ publishing experience. Aim is to assist people in publishing with information, contacts, events, jobs and training
• Women in Publishing Works to promote the status of women working in publishing and related trades by helping them to develop their careers

Working in Publishing – part 2 – more useful links

Try these sources for potential publishing vacancies:

• Inspired Selection Specialist recruitment consultancy for the publishing industry – including trade, professional, academic, educational, medical communications, as well as corporate and charitable publications – both in traditional print and digital media. Offices in central London and Oxford
• JFL Search & Selection Specialist recruitment consultancy for the communications sector – PR, publishing, corporate communications, digital
• Media Guardian Press and publishing jobs
• Publishing Jobs1 Jobsite for publishing jobs

…/part 3 next week

Working in publishing – some useful links (1st of 3 posts)

First, research your sector

• Authonomy Community site for writers, readers and publishers. By becoming a member you’ll be able to comment on books you find here, talk to the authors, and share advice in the community forums. If you’re looking to get published or just self-publish you can submit your manuscript to the site and showcase your work to the community and the publishing world
• Book Careers.com Information about working in publishing and bookselling, job vacancies and careers information
• Bookseller (The) Journal for the publishing trade (weekly). Contains job vacancies
• Dipnet Diversity in Publishing Network. Promotes the status and contribution of social groups traditionally underrepresented within all areas of publishing, as well as supporting those seeking to enter the industry. The network provides a forum for discussion and information sharing
• Electric Editors Online community for editors, proofreaders, indexers, translators and publishers
• Industry insight Agcas publication providing information about publishing (view as pdf)
• London College of Communication Part of University of the Arts, London
• London School of Publishing Providing professional training for publishing
• Periodicals Publishers Association (PPA) The organisation for magazine and professional media publishers in the UK
• Prospects Job Sectors An overview of the media and publishing sectors
• Publishing Training Centre Training provider for book and journal publishers, but also offers a large number of short courses for all kinds of publishers including digital publishing, web skills, legal subjects and marketing courses

Creative writing: Get advice

Tim Lott answered questions about creative writing (Friday 26 October 2012).

How do you write a novel in 30 days? If you’ve read The Guardian’s how-to guide, you may well have a better notion of how to achieve such a seemlingy impossible task. You may even be following the day-by-day tasks – but sometimes, of course, things don’t go according to the textbook and you need someone to lend an ear and offer some advice on how to move on to the next step.

TARGETjobs on Twitter: 3

Twitter feed dedicated solely to marketing, media, publishing, PR and advertising with the latest industry news and careers advice,the latest jobs and deadline alerts.

Follow them @TjobsMarketing

Career options in book publishing:

top 10 tips (Guardian article, 23 April 2012)

Career Q&As from the Guardian

Find out what questions were put to a panel of industry experts

Catch up on:

• 10 January 2011: Careers in magazine publishing
• 11 January 2011: Routes into copywriting
• 12 January 2011: Social media surgery

Doing digital

Check out this post on the Guardian Careers blog:

Digital publishing: how the publishing job spec is changing

It’s anticipated that ‘publishers will be keen to hear from anyone who can maximise their chances of embracing, and profiting from, the digital age’.

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The new media age graduate section offers information on how to get into the digital industry, industry profiles and views of students studying digital courses.  You can sign up to receive a newsletter with news, opinion and graduate jobs emailed straight to you.

Currently at university? Register on nma.co.uk with your university email address.

Diary of a publishing intern

Check it out

Writers’ Zone

Writers & Artists (companion website for the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook) – A resource for writers who want to get their work published, or who want to develop their careers. There’s a mix of practical articles, FAQs, and lists of useful websites.

While you’re on the site check out the Events, Insider interviews and Blog.  The site also features an Artists’ Zone.

Chick lit publishing tips from Kinsella and Jewell

Sophie Kinsella and Lisa Jewell share their tips at Stylist magazine’s  ‘how to get your book published’ event at the Royal Institute of Architects.

Note:  Not just for chick lit authors!

The art of the book review

Check out these tips from Stylist magazine.

How to get published

Check out these tips from Stylist magazine.

Calling all creatives …

Looking at the two job profiles from Skillset we mentioned yesterday on the blog reminded me -

If you haven’t already, take a look at the  Skillset website.  It may be useful for students interested in the creative industries – TV, film, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, facilities, photo imaging, publishing, advertising and fashion and textiles.  

You’ll find information on the various sectors, including careers info, business development, news and events plus detailed job profiles for all sorts of creative-based jobs.  Or you can search the BFI/Skillset Media Courses Directory of over 8,000 UK television, film, publishing, radio, animation, interactive media and photo imaging courses.

 So, may be worth a look if you want to work in one of the creative sectors.

I want to work in publishing ….

Publishing has a glamorous image and can be an exciting, dynamic sector to work in. 

But ask yourself: 

What does a job in publishing actually involve doing day-to-day?

What different kinds of jobs are there to apply for in publishing? 

Working in publishing can mean book, magazine or journal publishing, newspapers, electronic media – all kinds of publishing on all kinds of subjects. 

Book publishing could mean working in editorial, sales, contracts and rights, marketing and publicity, production, design or administration.

 Magazine publishing could mean working in any of the above or in advertising, circulation and subscriptions. 

Do you know what a picture researcher does or a literary agent?

If you go for an interview in this competitive field you will be expected to be clued up on what these roles entail, not just to have a vague idea that you want to work with books or attend magazine launch parties! 

Some things to do:

Find out more about publishing by looking at the books in the Placement & Careers Centre.  Ask to see ‘How to get a job in Publishing’ by Alison Baverstock, Susannah Bowen and Steve Carey and ‘Inside Book Publishing’ by Giles Clark and Angus Phillips.  

Look at Explore types of jobs and the Industry insight - Publishing on the Prospects website. 

Look at ‘The Bookseller’ for book publishing vacancies and news on the book industry and look at MediaGuardian (on Mondays if you buy the newspaper) for newspaper, magazine and journal vacancies. 

Join the Society of Young Publishers or Women in Publishing as a student member.

Thinking of working in publishing?

If so, we have a couple of books in the Placement & Careers Centre that you may find helpful.  How to get a job in publishing by Alison Baverstock, Susannah Bowen and Steve Carey is useful if you want to work in either book publishing or magazines, or online publishing, with chapters on book, journal and magazine publishing, e-publishing and the future direction of publishing generally.  There are also sections on how to get your job in publishing – ie how to market yourself, put together a cv and job application and how to use a recruitment agency, plus how to handle a job offer and your first job in publishing. 

All three authors have extensive and wide-ranging publishing work experience and the book is written in a very practical, matter-of-fact style to tell you what working in publishing is really like, rather than the glamorous image people often have of working in this sector, which is not the whole story! 

The other book you may want to look at is called Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.  This is a useful all-in-one resource for finding contact addresses for all UK national newspapers and magazines, UK book publishers, literary agencies and media contacts such as TV, film and radio contacts.