Reflections on Two Weeks in Publishing, Part 3

And now we come to the last of these posts, in which I'll sort of sum up what I got out of the experience, how it affected me, and whether I think it's a good idea for a writer.

First, as I've said before, I learned boatloads. To use the phrasing of the inimitable Donald Rumsfeld, I not only learned some known unknowns, but quite a few unknown unknowns as well. Things like the pace of the industry (fast, but not too fast), the feel of a publishing office (friendly, with everyone genuinely interested in what they're doing--but also a bit overstressed), and what it's like to work with other people's books all day and then come home and try to work on your own.

Which brings me to my next point: how it affected my writing. I was a bit leery going into it, as I know that when I spend all day working with books at school, I don't want to see another, not even my own, until at least the next day. I was very afraid that the same or worse would happen while I was working in publishing.

That said, I'm happy to report that it was actually quite good for my writing. Being a part of the process of other people getting published was very inspirational, and every day I was excited to come home and get my own writing to the point where it would be undergoing the same process. Despite losing about ten hours of the day to work and the commute, I got more writing done during the past two weeks than I did when I was only spending 4-6 hours a day in class and studying. So my advice to others would be to not be afraid that it will impact your writing negatively, as for both me and the novelist/publisher I talked to (see my last post), it had a positive effect.

And finally, whether I think it's a good idea: yes! Absolutely, 100%, yes. I'm not sure whether I'd like to make a career of it, as there are a lot of negatives to offset the positives (you're pretty much limited to New York or London if you want to work at a big, commercial press, you don't really get paid enough to live in either city until you're well up the career ladder, and at the entry levels it's a business of a little bit of very enjoyable work and a whole lot of drudgery), but for a short time at least I think it's invaluable. You can gain experience not to be had elsewhere, not even from the most effective speaker or the most well-written book, and the people in the publishing industry are (for the most part ;-p) genuinely interesting, friendly, and a pleasure to get to know.

And one more thing---I met another intern while I was there who was in his late twenties. So it's never (well, maybe almost never ;-p) too late to intern for a short period of time, and if you can save up the money to not get paid for awhile, it may be worth thinking of it like a vocational training program--one at the end of which you'll be much more likely to get a job either as an author or a publisher.