My experience on the Careers in Publishing Insight Day
On 4 July 2025, New Writing North and Hachette held a careers event at Northumbria University to provide an insight into publishing to current school students. It also aimed to show that publishing as a career is now significantly more accessible than what it was, due to publishing companies spreading outside London and opening offices further north to create opportunities there. I attended the event as a student with my school, and found it incredibly useful.
Our day began with ‘An Introduction to Publishing with Hachette’ – a panel discussion chaired by Anna Disley, executive director of NWN, that featured a Q&A with Richard Kelly, programme leader on the Publishing MA at Northumbria University. This showed an overview of what it’s like to work in publishing, and allowed me to grasp that there’s not just one route into the various roles within.
Throughout the day, groups of students were taken through four workshops to introduce us to various roles within publishing. My group began with the sales and contracts workshop. Hachette staff members Tabitha Gresty and Rachel Lowth had students reflect on what is key in the creation of contracts for debut and established authors, which included things like royalties, expected media coverage and copyright ownership. What really struck me about this was the extent of what gets discussed by authors and publishers at this stage – like the author’s advance and marketing strategies – which was much wider than I realised!
We were introduced to the process of designing book covers by Caroline Priestley and Alice Clark, who shared their journeys into designing book covers for Hachette. They took us through their approaches to designing covers, and how they used the cover information sheet to come up with ideas. They highlighted some of their personal favourite cover designing techniques, like using fine art or photographing pieces themselves.
In the editorial workshop, Hachette staff members Tierney Witty and Georgina Mitchell took students through the process of editing a book, from receiving the early drafts to publishing the final copy, covering everything from working with agents to showcasing celebrity books they had published.
Students were given the opportunity to create a cover information sheet for an original book idea with the support of Witty and Mitchell. We were advised to consider what type of book is popular now, so our ideas would sell. All students then presented their ideas and cover information sheet to the group. There was an incredibly broad range of ideas, notably an Ant and Dec biography called Are You Ready to Rumble? and a time-travelling crime YA novel.
The last workshop we attended was marketing and publicity, where staff members Lucy Martin and Emily Harrison encouraged students to think about different forms of media coverage for an author and their book.
We had to prepare a ‘goodie box’ for an up-and-coming book about a witch that owns an inn. Many of these boxes featured candles, bath bombs, and herbal teas to adhere to the book’s theme, and all remained within the allocated budget! After planning these boxes, students had to then plan the best public appearances of the author to maximise publicity of the book. This allowed us to understand how vital marketing is for authors to generate publicity and excitement for their newest novel – something I hadn’t even thought of before attending the careers event.
What I really enjoyed about the event was that all the workshops were engaging, and we were learning about the roles within publishing in a practical way, gaining snippets of experience in all departments which helped broaden my interest in the many roles within. I left the event with a new insight into publishing, and a plan to pursue further information surrounding this career!