My experience working for Penguin Books.
I will be coming back on April 22' 2024 to share my first day and my experiences throughout my work experience. Disclaimer, I won't be sharing confidential information. I will share what has been approved by the team.
Today is 06/03/2024
Today I got a placement for Penguin Books.

If you know me I love books, I like to write, I'm good with people and I like to take on new challenges.
I am feeling like I'm ready to burst with excitement. Even though I can get a bit tongue tied, I'm not really a good writer and I can get overly excited. I am ready to learn as much as I can and ask as many questions as I possibly can. Grab a coffee & let's talk about the world of Publishing.
*Just for fun, I have a penguin teddy bear at home, we call him Benny*

During the 2 weeks you will be

1. Publishing Tasks from your Team

You'll spend the majority of your time shadowing a department and getting an understanding of what they get up to day to day.
They'll also ask you to complete publishing tasks like research, writing copy and updating databases.

2. Joining Team Meetings

You'll join all of the meetings that your team has in the 2 weeks you're with them.
This will allow you to see and hear how collaborative decisions, how the publishing process works and how the team works together.

3. Publishing Q&A Sessions

You'll be invited to Q&A sessions with our colleagues from around the company to find out more about what they do. Departments involved often include Editorial, Sales, Marketing & Publicity and Publishing Operations.

Skills you’ll develop:
-Communication
-Data analysis
-Collaboration and relationship building
-Creative sales ideas
-Trend following
-Market research

My main questions I want to ask before I pop by keeping everything in.
I am interested in Brand & Sales.

1.) I'm great working in admin, 2.) I have worked with clients and customer facing roles for 7 years now, coming across effectively comes natural 3.) Creativity is an essence of who I am. My work is super versatile.
Over coffee I want to ask

1.) How did you get into Publishing, why penguin books and where do you see yourself growing the most in? Career growth?

2.) Is there a particular part of your job you find challenging and how do you resolve this?

3.) As a fellow creative, what advice can you give me to get into this industry.

For more useful information -

https://www.bonnierbooks.co.uk/careers/work-in-publishing/useful-resources/
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/company-article/publishing-jargon-buster

My advice for myself and others, take note of what you are learning and understand what you are doing. I tend to find myself in a cloud floating, whilst working fast not taking the experience in fully. I want this time to give myself an opportunity to find the balance between taking enough time to completely understand what I am doing and finishing work.

You can still be productive while giving yourself an opportunity to research gaps in your knowledge base or reach out to others to explain what is confusing you. I found this little handy advice from another applicant back in 2023 - it’s nice to observe and see what your strongest and weakest skill sets are & take note to get as much as you can out of the experience.
-Ada 21/04/2024

Hello, I am back.
Today is 30/04/2024
Let's talk about my experience, BOOKS.... BOOKS everywhere, in a large building filled with 2000 people doing their job > Publishing is not just one thing, there is so much more to publishing than what I thought. It all starts with
Acquisition > the manuscript (with the writer); buying the book; understanding cost/ concept/ producing. They stay throughout the whole entire process to re-run cost and to ensure everyone is still on the same page.
Editorial > Involved all the way through. They enquire; edit; publish; they can seek talent > goes directly to the source; we have exclusive access. Work with design department for the jacket; work closely with legal.
International Sales. Sales > Works across all divisions; whole territories; very present in the process; export customers; attend book fairs; travel > face time with customers;
Deals with customer requests, prices> content/ new books/ export pub dates/ manuscripts/ sample copies/ presentations.
Deals with admin; taking minutes; booking rooms; sending newsletters

Basically the process starts with acquisition all the way through to delivery, to customers and so on.

What I learnt from my experience

Using Biblio > This is a particular software used in publishing, the gentleman sharing all the ins&outs of biblio was very passionate and happy. Emotion tends to rub off on me too and it made me feel excited, I love seeing enthusiasm. I saw the joy talking to the mail room staff coming round to pick up packages and the quick chat I had on my last day. The joy they had when they found out I was coming back again made me feel so happy.
So
Biblio can be very difficult to understand if you haven' t heard of it before or have never been taught.
Biblio; used for books, authors.
I have the ability to make reports, receive jackets (group download or solo)
Knowledge about -
- Pub dates
- ISBN; able to receive data for relevant documents.
- Able to customise templates on Biblio > customised reports > re-order columns on ISBN

If a particular book isn't selling as much, to reduce cost and rather than pulling the whole book away, we pulp it in an eco friendly way.
Let's quickly jump on the eco waggon at Penguin Random House, they love being environmental friendly and being eco friendly.
It is something I'm particularly passionate about so when a company actually follows through with their values it really makes a difference.
( Giving lots of heart and love to this part )

What I took from my experience

When you are starting an internship don't go in with a clear mind, go in with a "what do I want to take from this experience attitude" for me I was still a little unclear what I wanted. My skills are transferable, I'm great using excel, word, powerpoint (Microsoft Tools) I can use photoshop, InDesign, I have exceptional eye for detail from working as an assistant in a bookbinding studio. I am very creative but also a nerd for data. I have a clear understanding about the world of publishing, I can use biblio now and people are very passionate about their job. I love connecting with people and having a real conversation about their particular job, especially in Publishing I think it's very special to have this. Even though my experience was only 1 week, I took a-lot from this experience and I am very excited to go back in June/August time.
Overall what I took from my experience is a better understanding about PRH and how important relationships are. You get to meet many people and you can build connections from this. You can ask questions & feedback and understand what strengths and weaknesses you have. This will help you to have a better understanding about yourself.

My lovely collection of books I got to take home ❤️