London Book Fair 2010: How to Get Into Publishing

This April saw the annual key trade fair for the book and journal publishing industry - the London Book Fair. Hit hard by the ash spewing out of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano, it was sad to see so many empty stands. Literary agents, editors and sales people alike reported many cancellations. Most tried to make the best of it, following up by phone and using the free time to walk round and have conversations they would not normally be able to.

However, there was one part of the Fair that still thrived, fuelled by the students and booksellers who want to get into the publishing industry.

The Society of Young Publishers has developed a strong partnership with the Fair’s organisers. They now run the careers drop-in surgery, a full day where one room is reserved for experts from industry, recruitment, careers advisors and publishing studies courses to sit at tables and provide one to one advice to those looking for guidance on how to organise their CV, what job they should go for or which kind of publisher might suit their aspirations and skills best. Both Louise and I spent a couple of hours there and it was very rewarding to meet the publishers of the future.

They also run a seminar programme which included sessions on ‘How to Get Into Publishing’ and ‘How to Get Ahead in Publishing’, which are notoriously well-attended. I was asked to speak on the panel at the first session. My remit? To explain what skills publishers look for in new recruits, based on our research with industry.

The panellists' view of 160 people who wanted to get into publishing.

Once I’d got over the fear of presenting to an audience of over 160 people (one of the largest for the whole event) it was more a question of keeping to time as I rattled through nine skills that publishing companies have repeatedly said they look for in new entrants. I tried to include likely scenarios that someone fresh out of college might have that demonstrate the relevant experience, knowledge and skills.

There were some particularly thoughtful and challenging questions to the panel at the end around unpaid work experience, age discrimination and breaking out of the negative cycle of getting experience to get into the industry. I’ve included our guidelines on work placements here and a link to Diversity in Publishing Network’s draft Equalities Charter here. Both are projects that have the potential to address the issues raised in the long term if we can gain enough industry support.

My slide presentation can be found below.  I hope you find it useful and I’d welcome comments on any of the points raised.