Top Ten Takeaways from Our Panel: Beyond the Book: Hidden Careers in Publishing

As part of Work in Publishing Week, Inspired were delighted to host an expert panel to shine a light on some often overlooked but vital roles that power our industry behind the scenes. 

Our fantastic panel, hosted by Inspired’s CEO Suzy, included:

Sophie Amos, Publisher Support Manager at Stison

Daniela Quintero, Rights Assistant at Harper Collins

Salena Pudaruth, HR Administrator at Bloomsbury Publishing 

Here are our top 10 takeaways from the discussion: 

1.Explore different areas of publishing

Publishing isn’t just about editorial and marketing. There are roles in operations, production, rights, sales, HR, and technology that offer exciting opportunities.

Sophie shared how she began in editorial, but then combined this with some SaaS experience for her current role at Stison, where she partners with publishing clients to maximise their use of the platform. 

HR roles, as Salena explained, involve everything to do with taking care of humans from recruitment, onboarding and training, payroll and freelancer contracts, requiring strong administrative, communication, and problem solving skills.

2. Transferable skills may open unexpected doors! 

Not every candidate starts in the industry with direct publishing experience, and the panel emphasised that skills gained in other sectors can be highly valuable.

Salena shared her journey from retail and administrative roles into publishing, highlighting how organisational skills, copywriting experience, and editorial work with voluntary organisations all helped her stand out. Employers look for competencies such as teamwork, communication, and adaptability, which can come from any professional background.

3. Building your personal brand and profile

When entry level roles are very competitive, it helps to look at how you can stand out and what you can be doing to build up your professional profile. 

Whilst still studying, working on things like student newspapers or magazines can be a great way to build up publishing skills. The Society of Young Publishing is a brilliant organisation to get involved with, and Daniela has spent nearly 3 years on the committee and noted that many SYP committee members started without a publishing job but now have one - talking to people and getting advice is really helpful in that process. 

4. Persistence and resilience are essential

Breaking into publishing takes time and effort. Suzy advised candidates not to pause their career while waiting for a publishing role, but instead keep building skills in other industries and stay persistent.

Salena added that resilience and reflection are key: review your applications, refine your strategy, and try to stand out but doing things such as reaching out to the hiring team on LinkedIn after applying.

Both Salena and Sophie shared that their job searches took months and required multiple CV and cover letter iterations, and that tailoring applications to each company is crucial.

5. Networking matters

Building authentic relationships can make a real difference. Suzy highlighted networking as a critical factor to being remembered as someone people want to work with. 

Engage with industry events, online communities, and professional groups to grow your network organically.

6. Showcase your experience creatively

Sophie highlighted how you can give examples in interviews from your personal life, hobbies or university, if you don’t have a full time role yet. Daniela recommended using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure examples, whether they are coming from inside or outside of publishing, to show those relevant or transferable skills; things like customer service, marketing or sales can be particularly relevant from outside of the industry. 

7. Skills in high demand 

The panel agreed on some top skills publishers seek in entry level positions:

• Organisation and prioritisation - managing competing deadlines and workloads.
• Teamwork - they will want to know they can work well with you.
• Communication - essential across all roles.
• Problem-solving and adaptability – key for thriving in a fast-changing industry with pressing deadlines.

So these are some great ones to have STAR examples prepared for! 

8. What the panellists love about their roles

Salena enjoys being part of the creative process, and be the one issuing contracts that bring exciting titles to life and seeing them on shelves.

Daniela loves the global perspective rights work offers, and challenging assumptions about international markets.

Sophie values variety, working with publishers of all sizes and types, and seeing how practices differ across countries.

9. Rights vs. International Sales: what’s the difference?

Daniela gave some helpful distinctions between the two: 

International Sales: Selling English-language books to overseas markets or affiliates.

Rights: Selling translation rights so other publishers can create editions in their language.

Both areas require adaptability, attention to detail, and strong communication skills — especially when working across cultures.

10. Advice for those hoping to break into publishing

Salena reiterated the important of resilience, and applying for jobs is a job in itself so be prepared to invest a lot of time and effort. A long with being resilient it’s also about being reflective and the strategy should be improving - if you are getting rejections, look at what is not working and needs to be refined.

For more advice on getting into publishing, you can download our free guide here! https://www.inspiredselection.com/insights/career-advice/how-get-publishing

If you missed this episode of Inspired Live, you can watch this and all our other live sessions with guest speakers here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8siUN2Hi9EU