Entering Publishing: Step 1

The Art of Doing Nothing

I thought I’d make this post to kick off documenting my journey into publishing, even though it hasn’t exactly started yet. I am currently half way through my final year at university, hoping to graduate in July 2020 (fingers crossed) and very on edge about having no concrete plans in place beyond that.

That’s not to say I don’t know what I want to be doing come July, I just currently have no significant way of getting there. Once I graduate I am hoping to be starting either an entry-level job or some form of internship within or related to the book publishing industry, but this is easier said than done.

Not only is this a very competitive industry to get into, but it also means that because I can’t start working until June 2020, I can’t start applying for jobs before April 2020 and this is proving incredibly frustrating. While everyone around me is applying for grad schemes or masters programmes, I feel very much like I am sitting on my hands, playing the waiting game and trying not to check for available jobs that I cannot start applying for yet.

I have always been someone who likes to plan and prepare to the nth degree and I am definitely struggling with the art of doing nothing but waiting. However, in the mean time I am still trying to do what I can, even if it’s not a lot. I have started this blog, which has not only proven to be a great motivator to find more time to read but I am also really enjoying doing, signed up to edit for my university’s newspaper, I researched various different internships I can eventually apply for, created a LinkedIn to keep up to date with job opportunities and started following the twitter accounts of different publishing houses and literary agents to get all their news, both with regard to career options and general changes within the industry.

While this may sound like a fair bit to be getting on with, it unfortunately hasn’t satisfied my need to know what I’ll be doing in 6 months time, other than potentially having to move back home for a bit. So for now I can do nothing but wait, and hope that when I can apply the wait will pay off and getting in my applications early will increase my odds.