Work In Publishing Week 2024

WorkInPublishing week is a campaign founded by The Publishers Association to inspire young people to pursue a career in publishing. To celebrate it and get involved; Inspired ran a series of Live Q&A sessions with industry experts across Education, EdTech, Academic, STM, Professional, B2B Media and Trade publishers to give their insights on what it’s like to work in publishing. In this blog we’ll be sharing below are our key takeaways from the entire series:

1. Building bridges to knowledge - In a rapidly changing industry, it’s important for leaders to allow their team to take on extra curricula activities or have the opportunity to shadow members of the team. If you’re just starting out, ask for these opportunities! It will allow you to see first-hand the challenges they face on a daily basis and think about what solutions you can bring to the table.  If you are already in an in-house role, give yourself the space to get mentorship and research on opportunities to upskill for the benefit of the business and for yourself, particularly in data literacy. Changing your mindset of one that is around continuous improvement rather than a skills gap is a powerful perspective to have.
2. Familiarise yourself with AI – The fearlessness of experimenting with AI can help you to understand the sector’s pain points and develop human judgement on what makes good content and/or product. By being critical and aware of AI, it will help you to think of ideas on how to streamline workflow, how to provide a safe and secure way for publishers to integrate and leverage on AI in a responsible and safe manner whilst improving their product to cater to the needs of their audience. Employers look for candidates who can help make a significant impact in a rapidly changing industry.
3. There are different entry points to working in publishing – All speakers have echoed that there is no one set roadmap to get into the publishing industry. For instance, scientists going into editorial if they don’t want to work in a lab! Publishing welcomes your expertise and practice so if you are coming in and out of the sector, you can bring a fresh perspective and drive which is valuable. There are so many that don’t start their career in editorial nor have an MA in Publishing so this is not the only way! There are many unsung departments such as sales if you enjoy talking to customers and travelling round the world; production if you want to play a pivotal role in putting the book together to get it published; digital resources and product are a huge growing department to make content more accessible for users. There are so many companies directly and indirectly working with publishers such as booksellers, printers, aggregators, design agencies just to name a few.
4. Networking – The most impactful career moves can be from networking and asking for advice. Attending webinars and industry events can help you proactively stay informed about industry trends. It is also an opportunity to speak to people in different fields and show an interest in different roles to get a good feel of what skills you might need to be in that position.
5. Authenticity – With the rise of AI and copyright management, being authentic in your application and during interviews is important more than ever. Hiring managers want to hear about your enthusiasm, passion and interest in your cover letter for the role. This will get you further than the technical profiling against a job spec. Be prepared to come and pitch your ideas during interviews as hiring managers are interested in hearing your thoughts on what could be done instead of stating what they’re doing.

We understand how competitive the publishing industry can be to break into so we hope this special series has been beneficial. #WorkInPublishing is a great reminder that Publishing is a rewarding space to work in and there is space for everyone in the industry. Thank you to all the speakers for their time and invaluable insight and all those who listened in. For those that missed the LinkedIn Live, the recordings can be found on the Inspired Selection LinkedIn Page. Get in touch today with the Inspired Selection team if you are looking to find a role in the publishing space and take a look at our Library where we have lots of resources on industry insights and tips on tailoring your application.

Thank you to all our speakers in no particular order; Jaskiren Kooner Senior Marketing Manager at Britnnica Education, Damian Beneyto Pajuelo, Head of Learning at FlashAcademy, Anami Kabir Group Marketing Communications Manager at Sage publishing, Daniel Miele Regional Sales Manager at Edinburgh University Press, Derek Tong Senior Content Manager at CIPD and Laura Priest, Head of Editorial Services at International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), Matt Haslum Publishing Consultant & Creative Industries Coach at The Agency of True Places and Sharon Marshall, Head of Recruitment at Bloomsbury. 

You can watch all our sessions back on our LinkedIn page or on our YouTube page here.