Careers in Publishing Insight Day
Hachette UK and New Writing North bring together students and industry professionals to widen access to careers in publishing.
Our recent Careers in Publishing Insight Day at Northumbria University was designed to show young people in the North East the breadth of the jobs available in the publishing industry. And to show them that there are exciting and rewarding publishing jobs are available outside London.
Research from major UK publishers has shown that people from the North East are extremely underrepresented in publishing and only one in four young adults are told about careers in the creative industries at school. It’s why, at New Writing North, we create opportunities for young people to learn more about writing and publishing.
The relationship between New Writing North, Hachette UK and Northumbria University is critical to the success of events like the career insight day. Hachette UK’s All Together Network worked closely with our team to design the day and eight Hachette staff (based in London and several regional offices) came to deliver the workshops. Over 50 Key Stage 4 and 5 students, from four schools in the North East attended the day.
A longstanding relationship with Hachette UK means they understand the work New Writing North does with young people. Like us they want to change who gets to work in publishing by widening access (in part though events like this) and they knew exactly the right level to pitch the information. Publishing can often feel like an opaque industry, but they laid out as simply as possible many of the different jobs within the industry and talked about their own career paths. They paired this with the skills (communication, negotiation, organisation etc), relevant work experience (retail, hospitality etc) and interests (books!) which would all be useful for those roles.
There was no assumption made about how much the students knew about publishing and no reliance on industry jargon. All questions were encouraged and the format of four forty-minute workshops and two panel discussions kept everyone’s attention and encouraged creativity. The students were hearing first-hand from young people already having rewarding and interesting careers in publishing.
The staff all talked with real enthusiasm about their roles. And four workshops (editorial, marketing and publicity, design and production and rights and sales) meant that the students got the chance to think about: how they might persuade This Morning to have a debut author on the programme; what information they would put on a book cover; how they could connect with Book Tok influencers; and how they would pitch a book of their own creation to colleagues in an acquisition meeting. The four workshops left the students with a better idea of the range of skills and roles needed to get from an author’s imagination to a printed book. Many students fed back that the day was interesting and informative, and they loved the creative tasks, with some commenting that they now have the confidence to pursue a career in publishing.
One of the main points echoed throughout the day was that there are many pathways into publishing, and you can have a great career outside of London. Whilst you don’t need a degree; however, you can follow the route of an industry-led Master’s degree which offers invaluable insight and on-the-job learning within publishing. Course leader of the Northumbria University MA in Publishing (delivered in partnership with Hachette UK and New Writing North), Richard Kelly, spoke about his own personal experiences. Publishing was completely unknown to him as a young person, but the generosity and support of others led to a career at Faber as well as becoming a published novelist. This kind of support and access to knowledge is available now through the efforts of publishers like Hachette UK, universities like Northumbria and organisations like New Writing North. We hope that events like this mean more young people in the North East will see that they can have a rewarding and fulfilling career in publishing.
Amy Robson, Senior Programme Manager, Skills and Engagement, New Writing North