Hi everyone, I’m considering switching my career from academic publishing to another domain, mainly because of the relatively low pay and limited growth opportunities in publishing.

I have 13 years of experience in publishing and have worked as a Project Manager for various clients, including Springer, Wiley, Cambridge University Press and SPIE.

For those of you who have made a career switch from publishing, I would love to hear about your experience. Which domain did you move into, and what position are you currently working in? Any suggestions on suitable career paths for someone with my experience would also be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I’m a recent English lit/Journalism grad (May 2026) and I was lucky enough to get a job as seasonal Production Assistant at a local academic publisher one month post-grad. Although most of my college internship experience was in journalism, I am most passionate about editing, which is why I wanted to explore publishing opportunities after college.

While I enjoy the work I am doing and the pay is decent (although still part time), I definitely want to transition to literary publishing in the future — specifically a role more focused on traditional editing. Also, because my role is seasonal and depends solely on how busy the company is, it is pushing me to want a more secure, steady position.

Has anyone made this transition before? If so, is there anything you’d recommend/avoid? I am open to any and all suggestions.

Thank you!

Does anyone have any insight into what the publishing industry is like in Cleveland, OH? I'm interested in just about any job in the industry, especially entry level.

Very random and specific question. There is a contemporary publisher I'm trying to find. They have standardized cover designs, the books are white and the first line of the book is printed in large type on the cover. Anyone have any idea who I'm talking about? Google and ChatGPT have failed me and this is a chance to prove humanity can still beat the machine. 😂

I was recently laid off from my job in sales and looking to pivot careers.

I’m 28, and the sales world was killing my motivation. I’ve always had an interest in writing and publishing, but 18 year old me chose a degree that doesn’t 100% translate to the book editing space (media studies).

I have some social media management experience which included copywriting, and my last job had me do some minor copywriting/copyediting.

My question is, what are the best online courses to get into editing in the publishing world? I definitely can use skills I’ve learned in previous roles on my resume for a new editing position, but I know even a certificate would help.

Would even just love some recommendations if you think this isn’t the right path to take. Thank you!

Any thoughts on why my release date would be October 14th on amazon, but books from amazon not ordered until oct 9th, and delivery to customers delayed until late November? The book was Self published with bookbaby. Is there a long lag time between bookbaby getting the order fulfilled and sent to amazon and amazon ingesting them into the system?? Could it be 8 weeks late? Does amazon penalize authors not self publishing with them? Any thoughts on why this is so delayed and if there's any resolution? Also, I'm curious --when people order in the future, once the first order has been fulfilled, how long it will take. Does amazon keep any inventory at all?

I’m a French to English translator and proofreader, marketing to direct clients. One of my current agency clients participated in and won a large EU tender for proofreading, and I was part of their initial bid. Do freelancers (in my case the sole member of an LLC) ever submit bids directly? I have done some research on the TED portal but not started any applications.

And before anyone says "there's not much money in publishing" I know. I've been told.

I come from a very creative field so it'll be a learning curve going to 9-5. Wondering if there is publishing specific advice.

Hello! I am a graduating senior at looking to work in the publishing industry (editing in particular) post grad. However, I have been struggling to find any copy editing jobs in particular in the area. Do any Detroit editors have any suggestions or places to look? I've tried LinkedIn, Handshake and PublishersWeekly and had no luck.

I come across more and more of this recently. How are they even getting paid for this AI crap??

It’s also nuts how they want to frame a certain angle to create sensational mood to the article.

Newspaper : Times of India

Hi there, I have a degree in graphic design but have been working in large format print production for the past year. Coming out of college I really wanted to work in some sort of publication design, but could not find many jobs in that field, hence me taking my current role. I recently interviewed for a job as "Composition & Production Assistant" with the UT Press but if offered will take a substantial pay cut. Trying to find out if the publishing industry is good to get into for the long haul? What is it like with moving up titles? Could there eventually be enough money to justify this pay decrease? Are there publication production jobs outside of NYC? Professionals, please share your advice and experience!

Dear all. One of my authors recently sent me an artwork she wanted to propose we use for the cover design of her newest novel. She's published eleven before, has won many awards with her work, translations worldwide (some novels in over fourteen languages), so not a newbie. She has a great eye for what works visually and what doesn't, so she's one of these (few, lol) authors I take very seriously when she has a concrete idea. Amazing image! Lettering works great on it, sales is totally onboard, etc. Then we found out it's made by an ai artist. So not randomly generated ai slop, but an artist who uses ai as an integral part of their artistic practice. My question is: do we run the risk that if we do use this image, it might be marked as ai generated online? Anyone got experience with this?

just wanted to hear people's thoughts on timeline for the harpercollins 2027 internships. i applied for the summer 2027 avon editorial, and im just wondering if anyone else has applied/heard back about interviews. i know the deadline was only a little over a week ago, so i figured now is a good time to discuss and have a community to talk about it before interviews and everything!

Hi! I’m an English MA student (23F) who wants to break into the publishing industry. The one thing that I’d like advice on is what should a general portfolio contain for me to use when publishing companies ask for one alongside my resume and cover letter?

The one I currently have is a Google Drive with a style guide I worked on for an internship, social media captions document, and several pieces I wrote for academic assignments and a couple pieces I wrote for my community college school newspaper. Each has a description at the top of what it is and when it was written.

I’m mostly looking for advice on how/if this can translate to a more professional format, layout advice, what it should contain. I’ve done some copy editing for a previous internship as well, but would that be something to represent in a portfolio and if so, how? Any and all advice is appreciated!

(Or just all-round editing)

I'm not talking about finding work to put in a portfolio but more because I'd be using other people's work. Do I include before and afters?? Show my client's work with my notes on top? Or just the finished product?

Clueless lol

Hi! I am looking for advice. (And I’m sorry if this isn’t the right subreddit!)

I studied Film/TV at university, then realized after graduating that my career aspirations were more closely aligned with writing & editing. I have some experience with various forms of professional writing + experience with academic & open-source editing. I want to have a career doing writing and/or editing (not in corporate or marketing domains).

I have a non-writing, non-editing job offer that would last until June and would still allow me time outside of work for studies. I know that people often say that it's better to pursue actual work experience in these fields, rather than getting a master's degree, but nevertheless:

Are there any online/self-paced master's programs in the field of writing, editing, or publishing that people might recommend? Ideally, I'd be looking for something that might offer a good alumni/connection network, or that might offer internships during/after the program is finished. Any and all advice is so appreciated!

Hi y’all, I just wanted a bit of insight. I also am aware that this is company and department dependent, but again just wanted to open the room.

I started off as a sales assistant, and then got promoted to sales associate after about 2 years. Another 1 1/2 years pushing 2 years goes by, and I’m trying to move upward into a senior associate or assistant manager role and looking at descriptions with 3-4 years requirement.

It’s. Been. Awful. I’ve been rejected from internal applications, had a whole breakdown and applied to a sales assistant position (so much overlap just a different team), interviewed but didn’t get past round one.

I’m sure there’s tons of publishing veterans here, or those that have double my experience. May I ask when faced with this sort of brick wall, how did you overcome it? I opened up to my manager that I feel like I’ve grown out of my role, that I can’t have full autonomy as an associate since it’s always (for my role as least) support work but never full ownership.

I work at a Big 5, and am doubtful of myself since I can’t even move internally, how would a different company value me, if you know what I mean?

TLDR: What steps did you take to move upwards in your current company? Did you find a mentor, internal resources, networking, etc. Thank you!

i hate this!!!!!

I’m currently editing my book and I’m looking for places to publish it, however my only problem is that everyone I’ve talked to strongly recommends Amazon KDP, which I’m not too comfortable with using as I’m boycotting amazon. Are there any other sites I can use that are just as easy as Amazon KDP?

Hi everyone, hope you all had a nice Frankfurt if you attended or nice week overall!
I am coming here for advice because I am miserable in my job and I don’t know what to do honestly. So two months ago I got hired for what I thought was my dream job at a indie but big publisher. I’m a foreign rights assistant for adult titles and I mostly help out for a language territory as that language is my mother tongue (I was pretty much hired because I’m native and wanted to work in rights). When I started the job I was finishing my publishing MA and never really took a break and that is taking its toll on me I can feel it. About one month in I realised that I really don’t like the job, we do mostly co-editions and my job other than general team admin is customer liaison and I hate it. As much as I’m aware most jobs have that, having to translate in my head and with the use of the internet all day and getting my managers to check all my emails because they go out to customers is exhausting. I also wish it was more creative? I had interned at a very small press and all I did was their rights catalogue which I loved doing, I also really truly thought I wanted to do a job in relation to languages as I speak a few fluently but clearly I was wrong.
My issue is that everyone at work is so kind and helpful and wants me to succeed and stay a while. I’m also feeling enormous guilt about hating my job and wanting to quit because of how competitive the industry is and how all my friends who did a publishing MA with me are still struggling to find jobs. I want to give it 6months minimum and ideally a year before I quit, I’m worried if I don’t give it minimum 10months no one will want to hire me afterwards because I’d seem flaky/not loyal? I’m thinking of looking towards editorial or marketing for a more creative side of the industry (I have an advertising and media BA) but idk if I should wait to have another job lined up before quitting when the time is right or if I can actually take a break between the two I’m just so lost at the moment. I also know moving internally is possible but one of the editorial assistants had a role in rights before moving and I can see that it’s frowned upon, everyone I’ve mentioned my feelings to has said to honestly avoid doing that. I’m aware editorial still has a lot of author relation rather than customer relation but I think I wouldn’t mind it as much? I interned at a literary agency for a couple of weeks and quite enjoyed it.
I know a lot of this is for me to worry about next year but right now I keep getting stomach aches in the evenings or when going to work and my first Frankfurt sucked as I got COVID on day 2 and I feel like absolute crap. Again the staff/colleagues aren’t the issue, they are lovely, caring and helpful the work itself truly is the issue and I feel guilty feeling this way, I was hired for that language because the previous assistant left to pursue her studies (she also felt like rights wasn’t right for her). I feel like my reasons aren’t legitimate enough but I need to care for myself and I can feel my mental health declining already. Anyways here is my sad stupid little rant thank you for listening and any advice!! Please be kind, I already feel very vulnerable about all this!!

TLDR: rights isn’t what I thought and its too early to quit but I’m so miserable and guilty I feel at a loss. When is it okay to leave and under what conditions?

What is your day to day like? Do you enjoy it? Is it worth it? What is the pay like? I was thinking of pursuing this as a career path as I love reading and am chronically ill and would like a work from home job.

The paperback edition of my first (trad published) novel is for sale in a few dozen Barnes & Noble stores in my region of Florida. I think each store only has one copy. I was planning to drive around the state for a day or so, signing as many of these single copies as I can, hoping that it might help them sell. Does that sound silly? Pointless?

What questions do you typically ask a recruiter after an initial phone screening? They aren’t the hiring manager so you can’t really ask specific job related question because they aren’t from that team.

UPDATE: Hi guys, thank you sm for your replies — I forwarded the email thread to PRH’s fraud email address just to be safe and they confirmed with HR that they do use smartrecruiters for their application system. :)

Hi all,
I applied to a job at PRH and to my total surprise, I received an email the day after asking me to provide additional info to my application so they could get a more comprehensive profile on me. I thought I had accidentally missed something, but it wasn’t a prompt that was included in the job description nor was it an application question, so it seemed like a recruiter sending a screener(?) question.

I did what I could to ensure this email was real because I’ve applied to PRH countless number of times over the years and it’s my first time ever receiving an email like this.

I determined that the person is a real person (found their linkedin) and the email seems to be real (it’s a smartrecruiters email and according to some posts in other subreddits with application portals powered by smartrecruiters, the email is legit) - so I responded to the email, received a response + uploaded to the application portal.

I wanted to know if this is standard for PRH and if so, how long would it normally take to hear back if they wanted to move forward with an interview? or did I just totally fall for a scam email, lol?

Thanks in advance!!