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Working at Penguin To successfully bring a new book to the public takes the efforts of a number of departments with very distinct skills and experience. Working for each of these departments can be a very different experience, why not find out what it's like from the inside? Editorial Who are you and what do you do? I'm the Publisher of the Hamish Hamilton list, within Penguin's General Division. What's the first thing you do every morning? Check the daily sales figures and open my e-mail. What do you spend most of your time doing? Talking to authors, editing their writing, going to meetings, reading submissions, negotiating with agents, replying to e-mails, liaising with other departments here, briefing covers, writing blurbs, briefing contracts, answering the phone, talking to authors. What's the best thing about your job? Working with the Hamish Hamilton authors and the team here: trying to get as many people as possible to read the best writing possible. What's the worst thing about your job? Having to tell someone why the book they've spent all that time writing isn't right for us, whether for literary or commercial reasons. This never gets any easier. What's the department like? Busy, friendly. How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? The Publishing Director, Viking and Hamish Hamilton called me up when I was working at Hodder & Stoughton. But my first break into publishing was drawing pictures of rainforests for a book of my father's, in the summer after leaving university, as his publishers couldn't afford a professional illustrator! The editor of that book then helped me to get a job as an editorial assistant at a sister publishing house. Advice to someone who wants to start in the business Be prepared to get into publishing any way you can (see above!) . I also found book reviewing for newspapers very helpful. Best of all though is to get a job of some kind within a publishing company and get to know your colleagues, and with luck something perfect will come up. Contracts Who are you and what do you do? Contracts Manager, Penguin UK. What's the first thing you do every morning? Drink my latte whilst checking voice mail and e-mail messages. What do you spend most of your time doing? Working almost exclusively on subsidiary rights contracts, most of my time is spent negotiating, drafting and checking the agreements drawn up by US publishers when acquiring titles from us. What's the best thing about your job? I enjoy the negotiating side, particularly the latter stages, by which time it has become more 'personal', and the drafting to cover what has been agreed. What's the worst thing about your job? The more difficult contracts can take months to finalise, during which time it can become difficult remaining focussed on getting the best possible terms; especially as others are becoming anxious for the agreement to be signed and the advance paid! Once a 'boilerplate' has been agreed with a particular publisher, those sublicenses which follow proceed much more quickly. For the first sale, however, or the first sale after a new policy has been agreed, or which relates to a new and ever-changing area such as electronic publishing, they can take some time. What's the department like? Female! There are 7 of us - we get on well and the atmosphere is a friendly one. There is an element of teamwork but, on the whole, everyone has their own area of responsibility so we tend to work independently. How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? Having spent a number of years working in publishing in editorial, rights, licensing and eventually in copyright (by this time I had moved away from books into interactive video) I decided to study law. The year I graduated I moved with my husband and children to Mexico City, then Miami. During the six years overseas I studied for my Bar Finals. When we returned to London, with a new addition to the family, I completed the vocational side of my training. This was mainly advocacy coupled with yet more drafting and negotiating. I then came to the realisation that I ought to consider returning to the work-place, or rather the paid work-place. Two publishing companies were advertising in the Bookseller for Contracts Managers, both maternity covers and both part-time - the choice was easy, Penguin! At the end of her year away, the person whose position I was covering, decided not to return and I accepted the offer to stay. Advice to someone who wants to start in the business Be flexible and be prepared to work in any department. Once you're in and have got to know people and have a better understanding of the different aspects of publishing you will have a better idea of what interests you the most and where your talents lie. Be persistent, determined and prepared for rejection. It should be worth it in the end... Rights Who are you and what do you do? Foreign Rights Assistant: I assist the Senior Rights Manager in selling the right to translate books into foreign languages for publishers all over the world. What's the first thing you do every morning? Check emails, faxes & printouts, get a cup of tea and organise what needs to be done first - usually sending off urgent material to foreign publishers. What do you spend most of your time doing? Invoicing, loading agreements, dealing with rights inquiries, drawing up contracts, getting and sending off material, replying to emails & letters... What's the best thing about your job? Sending off foreign edition copies to the author knowing that they (usually!) love getting their books in a different language. What's the worst thing about your job? Dealing with ungrateful people, filing and having to use SAP. What's the department like? Friendly but quite separate as we all work on different kinds of rights - but there's always biscuits or cake. How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? Judy Fisher agency, more or less first job from uni. Advice to someone who wants to start in the business Be ready to start in a junior position, regularly check The Bookseller and contact publishing agencies. Design Who you are and what you do? Design Manager for Puffin Books. I manage the team responsible for cover and text design of children's fiction, media, non-fiction and poetry lists, reporting into the Art Director. What's the first thing you do every morning? Visit Pret for my cappuccino and pretzel and then check my emails. Either they prompt me into action or I start where I left off yesterday... What do you spend most of your time doing? Problem-solving, whether it be coming up with cover solutions or liaising with illustrators, other designers, and other departments to keep everything on schedule. What's the best thing about your job? Commissioning new illustrators and working with the team to create great covers and design solutions that are apt for the children's market. What's the worst thing about your job? A heavy workload which often stifles creativity. What's the department like? We're a very tight group with strong team spirit How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? I'm a Penguin recidivist, this is my third time around. The Creative Director, Penguin UK gave me a my original break on a student placement (I'm not telling you how long ago!), I freelanced for a while as a graduate and then enticed me back. Advice to someone who wants to start in the business It's really quite hard to break into design unless you've got a relevant qualification, there are just too many people out there trying to do the same thing. You have to be prepared to get experience wherever and however you can, unpaid if necessary. Any other comments? Publishing design is very different from working in other design environments, you very rarely work on one job at a time and so you need to be able to switch from one project to the other at the drop of a hat. You also have to understand the importance of co-operating with other departments, definitely no place for prima donnas! Production Who are you and what do you do? Production Controller Penguin General Production Responsible for the Backlist, PPI printings, Film and TV tie-ins, most Reissues, some special sales and a portion of the Frontlist. What's the first thing you do every morning? Check my emails and log onto the Internet to donate 1/4 cup of food to the starving, plant a tree and save a bit of rainforest. What do you spend most of your time doing? Nagging people. And squeezing schedule dates to accommodate last-minute changes without jeopardising release dates. What's the best thing about your job? Working alongside people from all aspects of book publishing to see a project through from manuscript to final product. What's the worst thing about your job? Being seen to be nagging all the time. I'm only prompting really! What's the department like? A witty, dry-humoured team who are really keen to make sure Penguin achieves its objectives. We have a lot to offer but sometimes feel we are underestimated. If that's too serious a point to make, we are quite a close team of Arts enthusiasts with a penchant for the Papaya Tree thai restaurant and copious cups of tea. Advice to someone who wants to start in the business You need three things: patience, determination and enthusiasm. Any other comments? Come and visit us! We like to talk and we don't bite... Marketing Who are you and what do you do? Marketing Executive for Ladybird; I provide general support to the Product Managers whilst also working on my own promotions and am responsible for the PR side of things. What's the first thing you do every morning? Check my e-mails. then update and check the Promotional Schedule which is what drives all the marketing activities in the department. This ties in with the Sales Schedule and is one long list of important deadlines that we have to meet for all marketing material. What do you spend most of your time doing? Working on marketing promotions, preparing advance material, liaising with Sales, sitting in meetings; however, I am looking to spend more time on PR. What's the best thing about your job? The scope and flexibility to get involved in any side of marketing & PR whilst giving a great overview of the whole publishing process. What's the worst thing about your job? Urgent enquiries for advanced materials. What's the department like? We have two Product Managers, one Marketing Director, one general assistant and myself. How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? I started off temping as PA to the Chief Executive, Penguin UK. Advice to someone who wants to start in the business: Any area in publishing is useful for marketing as it is vital to have a good understanding of how the business works. It also helps if you have some organisational skills and an ability to work on lots of things at the same time. Publishing has so many facets, it doesn't really matter where you start. Any other comments? CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) certificates are good for adding a bit of credibility on your CV. Sales Who are you and what do you do? Penguin General Sales Rep for Central London & Heathrow. What's the first thing you do every morning? Apart from ensuring that my laptop batteries are fully charged I check my diary to see which lucky shops will have the benefit of me visiting them that day. What do you spend most of your time doing? My time is split between subscribing new titles, ensuring good displays of our many, many bestsellers and also stockchecking backlist. What's the best thing about your job? The freedom and variety of being a Penguin rep certainly has its advantages over a 9-5 office job; two days are rarely the same. Generally booksellers are a pleasant group of people to work with. There's also a great deal of camaraderie with the other publisher's reps we meet. Despite the common misconception, we don't spend all our time in the coffee bars around Charring Cross Road, although it has to be said it does help occasionally to catch up with the gossip across our areas. What's the worst thing about your job? Getting stuck in traffic-jams, which are unfortunately becoming an all too frequent occurance in London. However they do allow me to listen to lots of Penguin audiobooks. What's the department like? General Sales have a truly great bunch of reps. Professional, knowledgeable, dedicated and all with a great sense of humour; undoubtedly the best sales force in the country. Yeah, I know I would say that but it's the truth!! Advice to someone who wants to start in the business? Be patient but persistent. If you're good enough you'll get there in the end. Failing that a bag of used £5 notes often helps! Finance Who are you and what do you do? Sales and Marketing Business Analyst. What's the first thing you do every morning? Get some caffeine... What do you spend most of your time doing? Helping the sales and marketing team look at the commercial side of what they do. What's the best thing about your job? Dealing with lots of interesting people who work in a variety of interesting areas. What's the worst thing about your job? Loss of eyesight from too much time spent staring at a computer... What's the department like? Doubt anyone will believe this of a Finance Dept, but a really fun group of people (but extraordinarily hard-working!) How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? Was asked by a recruitment consultant if I wanted to go for a interview here...(I'm in Finance, the process of getting a job isn't that exciting!) Advice to someone who wants to start in the business Be (genuinely) enthusiastic. Publicity Who are you and what do you do? Publicity Officer for Penguin General. What's the first thing you do every morning? First thing every morning I go through the papers, we each have a paper allocated to us. We also do the weekend papers on Monday. What do you spend most of your time doing? We spend most of our time on the phone talking to the press - spreading the news about a book or author - sending out books, writing press releases, setting up author interviews or tours, and then accompanying authors at interviews and on tours. What's the best thing about your job? The best thing about the job is meeting people - authors, agents, journalists - we make new contacts and meet new people for every book we work on. What's the department like? The department is very busy, especially when there's an author on tour. How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? I was working at Barbican Art Gallery, which was going through some changes at the time. My boss there had a friend at Penguin who was looking for a Publicity Assistant and recommended me to her. I came in for an interview and got the job! Advice to someone who wants to start in the business Look through all the publisher websites and in the Bookseller and see if you can do work experience. Human Resources Who are you and what do you do? Human Resources Assistant. I look after the Ladybird and Warne divisions, deal with temps and general admin and assist the HR manager. What's the first thing you do every morning? Open the filing cupboards, check my diary and 'to do' list and my emails. What do you spend most of your time doing? HR administration, offer letters, references, promotions, salary increases, contract extensions, producing vacancy ads, invoice processing, answering phone queries, responding to applications and dealing with direct temps. What's the best thing about your job? Apart from the substantial discount on Penguin books, the 'people' side of it is nice - dealing with the people in my divisions and interviewing job candidates are probably my favourite bits. What's the worst thing about your job? Cold calls from recruitment agencies (they're always very polite but there are just too many of them). What's the department like? Busy and friendly and always 'on-call'. How did you get into Penguin (what was your 'break')? Sent in a CV via the HR Director, who I've previously worked for. Advice to someone who wants to start in the business Publishing is extremely competitive - we get about a hundred speculative CVs in every week, the majority of which are from graduates. At entry level or for temping the best advantages are excellent secretarial skills and work experience in publishing. Purely from a personal point of view, spelling mistakes in application letters are a big error and I really resent getting letters addressed to Dear Sir or Sirs. I'm not a bloke. |
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