Thoughts on my publishing internships

This is my last week as an editorial intern at the Arthur A. Levine Books imprint at Scholastic! So I thought now was as good a time as ever to talk a little bit about this and my other past internships, especially since I've never really done that before. I'll try to make this short and sweet (so that it won't read like a boring resume!), but feel free to comment or email me if you have any specific questions.

Lee & Low Books
This was my first ever internship in publishing. I was in my second semester of college, and all that I knew was that I wanted to do something with books (especially children's books) and to learn about the industry. Fortunately, Lee & Low Books gave me all that and more. Working in the publicity/marketing department, I got to be the person reaching out to bloggers instead of the other way around, and in editorial, I learned all about "reader reports," which are basically a compilation of all my thoughts on a submission to help the editor make a more informed decision about requesting the full manuscript. Learning to write reader reports was definitely my biggest takeaway from this internship—it's a huge part of any editorial internship and the editorial process in general!

Macmillan Children's Publishing Group
In preparing for the summer after my first year in college, I applied to tons of publishing internships because I wanted more than anything to learn more about publishing (okay, spending time in NYC was a goal, too). But nothing was happening until I got in contact with a Macmillan publicist I'd met once—she helped get my resume and cover letter to the right people, I interviewed, and then I got the internship! As a marketing intern, I did a lot of mailing (to bloggers, librarians, booksellers, industry people, etc.), but I also got create material for the teen website, which was a lot of fun. I think one of my favorite parts about this internship was that every week, Macmillan would host lunches for all of the company's interns; the week after BEA, after having mentioned that I had attended, some of the other interns thought that Macmillan had paid for me to go! I admit I felt a bit like a celebrity.

Fox Literary
I fell into this internship sort of by accident. I had just turned down another internship due to scheduling conflicts but really wanted to do some work, publishing-wise. A friend referred me, and things just sort of took off from there. As an editorial intern at a literary agency, I learned a lot about reading and writing—so, what makes a good story, what makes a good revision or rejection letter, and the like. It was really interesting to see the agency side of things; for once, I was helping prepare manuscripts to send to publishing houses instead of being on the receiving end of those manuscripts. I had an amazing experience at this internship, because I learned so much, but it also helped me realize that I want to be working in editorial at a publishing house instead of an agency. Which leads me to my next internship...

Scholastic
I turned down another internship to be an editorial intern at Arthur A. Levine Books, because Scholastic has always been one of my favorite children's publishers and because I knew that working with Cheryl Klein would be an amazing opportunity. And I have to say that I was completely right! I've learned so much at this internship, both in terms of just practicing reading and writing, but also because I've gotten to work a little bit with acquisitions—so basically, all the hurdles and approvals before an editor and buy and publish a book. Aside from all that, one of my favorite and most memorable tasks here was to read the manuscript of a sequel to a book that, at that time, had not yet been released; even though I had to read it over the weekend instead of in the office, I can't say that I complained, considering I really wanted to read this manuscript—it definitely didn't feel like work at all!


Well, having just looked at these huge paragraphs, I guess this post didn't turn out to be too short after all. But I hope it's been interesting and informative! As I said above, feel free to to comment or email about any specific questions—I am always happy to chat about my internships or publishing internships in general!