Archive for Internship
It’s that time of the year again! It’s time to apply for internships! Below are some tips for you future interns on what to do before applying and when you apply.
Yes, now is the time to start your search. Deadlines are coming up fast.
Before You Apply:
- Do your research! I’ve probably stressed this a million times before. Do your research about whatever publisher or agency you are applying for. Make sure it is a good fit. Make sure they publish books that you like to read or at least interested in working with. You are doing free labor (while learning something at the same time) – the least you can do is make sure that you enjoy the work that you’ll be doing. The atmosphere of a children’s publisher will definitely be quite different from an adult publisher.
- Check out the deadlines way in advance! This means checking up for internships an entire semester before. I knew I wanted a paid spring internship this year. I didn’t want to miss any deadlines because they vary across the board. I checked as early as mid-October for application deadlines to various publishing houses and wrote them on my calendar. You always have to think way ahead when applying for an internship. A deadline for the spring can be as early as January 1st.
When You Apply:
- Proofread your resume and cover letter! Typos are bad news. Especially when you want to work in publishing. Make sure your cover letter is addressed to the right people. You don’t want to miss an opportunity just because you didn’t look over your work. This is common sense, but it has to be addressed.
- Include social media and blogging! I already had my blog as part of my resume. I thought it was relevant to the field of publishing and I thought that it’s good to point out how dedicated I am to children’s literature and reading. It might seem silly to list it in a resume, but it isn’t! I’ve been asked about my blog every time I’ve come in for an interview. Trust me, it helps. Furthermore, if you have a section for Additional Skills, don’t hesitate to put down Social Networking as one of your skills. This was a tip that I learned from attending an internship information session of a Big Publisher.
- Do more research! Look up the specific publisher you are applying for. It helps to look at their titles and backlist. I always make sure to pick up at least 3 books from the publisher just so I know firsthand if I like the titles that they represent. Most likely, they will ask you the last few books that you’ve read and it always helps to mention a title that they have published.
- Don’t get discouraged! If it is the first time you are applying for an internship and your experience is limited, I would really encourage you to apply to as many as possible. During my initial search for an internship, I applied to 13 different companies – including many magazine publications. I heard back from maybe 2 or 3. I only got an interview from 1, which ended up being my first internship. If you don’t get an internship this semester, hopefully you’ll have a next one…
Good luck on the search, fellow future interns! I wish you the best of luck, and I’ll keep you updated in a few weeks to see how I fared.
Questions? Comments? I’ll address anything you’re wondering about internship-related things all at my next Internly Insights post!
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Internship | 
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No, I don’t have a new internship. I promised myself a break from working in publishing. This semester, I am actually learning about publishing in an entirely new way: from the classroom.
Promoting books is hard work! But it’s also an experiment. I know there’s lots of debate as to whether or not bloggers make a difference. My publishing classmates and I are working extremely hard outside the classroom to promote NAMELESS by Kyle Chais (Karen Hunter Publishing, January 2012). We were divided into three groups to see who can get the most Twitter / Facebook followers & Amazon views in the next three weeks. Week 1 is my group’s week to dominate Twitter.
Since book blogging is what I know, this is the market I decided to target. So it will be really interesting to see if reaching out book bloggers will make a difference. There is very, very little known about Kyle and NAMELESS. Can book bloggers really have an impact on this 20-year-old’s life? I guess we’ll have to find out.
Here’s what I learned during my first week as a “publicist”:
- Contact with the author is important! I’m not only selling the book; I’m also trying to sell the author.
- But after a while, the publicist really needs to be the one to take control of social media outlets (in my case Twitter). I have to work with what I have. Establish new connections, forge already existing connections (such as connections with Simon & Schuster imprints) to maximize Twitter exposure.
- Compiling a list of bloggers is actually really time-consuming. I don’t follow a lot of other fellow bloggers who review adult paranormal / urban fantasy so I actually had to go out and look for them. My favorite tool: The Book Blogger Directory.
- Writing a press release is kind of fun. But certain publishers follow certain formats when writing one up, so follow the template.
- Canned responses on GMail is my best friend. I don’t know what I would have done without it. It made sending 50+ press releases in one night manageable.
- Everything is easier said and done. Despite all my hard work, the only thing I can really do is sit back and try to see if my efforts paid off. And refresh every five seconds.
So the verdict? Twitter is actually a hard platform to make a jump-start out of. Not as many people use twitter at the moment, even if it doesn’t seem like it for non book blogger folks. People are still predominantly on Facebook. Maybe people are more inclined to follow a Facebook page after all.
But: I did learn that book bloggers do make an impact, even if it did reflect just a tiny bit, it was something. Based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme hosted at Breaking the Spine, we saw an increased interest of Nameless. We got comments from readers who were genuinely interested in picking up the book. Bloggers who tweeted about the giveaway did generate some traffic to our Twitter page, but it wasn’t as substantial as we hoped. Lastly, I didn’t really expect any response from book bloggers regarding review copies, but hey! I actually got replies. The prompt responses that I received truly made me excited that other people were excited about this book!
We didn’t get the amount of Twitter followers that we aimed for, but our team made a lot of progress of actually getting the word out to the people who care about books!
So want to help me out? This week, my group is in charge of the Nameless Facebook Page! Don’t forget to hit “LIKE!”
Like NAMELESS on Facebook
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Internship - Author: Kyle Chais, Book: Nameless, Publishing Class | 708 words
I guess if you’ve been following me on my twitter account you’ve had a glimpse of my internship life. I haven’t updated in a while so I decided to answer Romona’s question. I actually get this one a lot but I don’t remember if I’ve actually told the story on how exactly I got this internship at Big Publishing Company – a publisher some of you have already guessed, and if not: Simon & Schuster.
Romona asked:
It`s Romona from the YA fairy. & i was just wondering how did you go about getting your internship?
Way back in January during my really long winter break from school, I felt a bit productive. I was basically doing nothing every day for about a month so I felt inspired to look up some internships through BookJobs as well as the careers pages of publishers. I was planning on applying for a spring internship when I came across a listing for summer internships.
I sent in my cover letter and resume and filled out the application form online. I didn’t really expect to hear back from them since their website said that they mostly accepted juniors and seniors in college. At the time, I had only completed my first semester of college so I thought my chances were slim. It might have been in February or March that I received an email from Big Publishing Company that they wanted to interview me. I was a bit shocked. Me? Really?
When I submitted my resume, I had only done one internship since I did not know that I would have a spring internship at the time. I had no idea that one internship experience could count so much in my favor! I ended up going through a phone interview and then a face-to-face interview before I secured my position.
Eight weeks later, I am almost done with my third internship. This one has felt more official than the others because I am really in an office setting. I worked Monday – Friday, 9 to 5. I feel like I’ve been doing a bit less editorial stuff and more administrative jobs with this internship especially because I’m no longer reading slush. The materials I do get to read are going to be published. With this internship, I also have been doing more of the typical internly duties than my previous.
The Top 5 Things I Learned at Simon & Schuster
- Every (or just to be the safe side almost every) Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing book has their pub date somewhere on the book. Here are a few different examples: YA hardcover, YA paperback, and MG hardcover. I think the imprints are different as well. I don’t have an example of a picture book, but I can assure you that those have the pub dates as well.
- Everyone is addicted to the free books bookshelves. No matter how many times you pass by the shelf, you just have to take a peek.
- There’s only so much you can do to make the free coffee in the kitchens taste great. After that much experimentation, the other fellow interns and I are making our way to becoming great baristas.
- I know all my Dora and SpongeBob books. I guess one of the things that I’m walking away from this internship is the knowledge of the frontlist and backlist of Simon Spotlight and Little Simon – the two imprints I interned under. I read a lot of picture books.
- While the experience was great, this will most likely be the last unpaid internship I ever do. It felt like a job but it’s hard to feel proud of working so hard when there’s no reward of some sort. Yeah, yeah, experience but we’re talking about a whole summer here. The perks were great, but in the end I still spent a lot of money just to have this experience.
With that said, you probably won’t see Internly Insights for a while. I am officially taking a break for internship. Two semesters in a row has worn me out! I might try for a winter internship, but spring is probably more likely. But I can definitely say that I will have another internship next summer, but that one will be paid.
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Internship - Big Publishing House Internship, Publisher: Little Simon, Publisher: Simon Spotligt | 896 words
- Action Packed
- Borrow It
- Hahaha Funny
- Keeps You Guessing
- Heartwarmer
- Makes You Think
- Masterful World-Building
- Must Buy
- Page-Turner
- Poetic Prose
- Romantic Read
- Tear-Jerker
