Work Experience with Simon & Schuster UK

For a while now, it has been my dream to work in publishing. I have been applying for work placements and internships at various publishers, but haven't got anywhere, so I decided to try using my contacts, and emailed Simon & Schuster UK - and got a placement for this week! You have no idea how excited I have been about this placement! I'm so thrilled, and I feel so lucky! The guys at S&S UK have no idea how much I appreciate this placement!

I started the placement with the Children's Marketing and Publicity department yesterday, and most of my work is admin based, but it's great! It's so cool to be able to watch the people - mainly in the department I'm working in - on the publishing side of things go about their work, it's so interesting!

So here's what I have been doing over the last two days. Yesterday:

• Photocopied several copies of a Vampirates manuscript.
• Bound said manuscripts using binding machine.
• Stamp a fair amount of bags and filled 21 with Sophie McKenzie promotional material.
• Filled and addressed 39 envelopes with 137 competition prizes (A Mummy for Owen/Spiderwick Chronicles/The Time Quake).

Today:

• Photocopied and filed press cuttings.
• Saved extract quotes in a doc from cuttings for future use.
• Coded 400 The Medusa Project postcards.
• Created six showcards for The Medusa Project event on xyron machine.
• Filled and addressed four envelopes with the postcards and showcards for four different locations.
• Filled and addressed three envelopes with 24 competition prizes (Spiderwick Chronicles).
• Filled and addressed four envelopes with new promotional bookmarks to authors.

I may not have been doing the most amazing jobs, but I've enjoyed it! The Children's Marketing and Publicity department is only three people strong, so I'm doing what they would have to do themselves. What's unbelievable is is that thes publicists are so busy, yet I've also been busy; I can't imagine what their day is like having to do what they have been doing, PLUS what I've been doing. Seriously, I have had something to do all day, on both days; they're not having to find tasks for me to do to help me out, they're giving me their own tasks to help me out, and lighten their own workloads. These people work so hard!

It's been really good so far! I've enjoyed meeting everyone, and the experience of working in the publishing environment. I'll edit this post over the next few days with what I do next.

UPDATE - 20/01/10:

You know, I came to a realisation yesterday; while I'm working there, I now have a S&S log in for a computer, and I get emailed by Kat with addresses, etc for the work I do, and it occurred to me that I now have - though temporarily - a Simon & Schuster email address! I got all excited when I realised it! Haha. Here's a list of things I did today:

• Sent the press cuttings from yesterday to authors and agents.
• Sent certificates to the new members of the Beastly Boys website, with promo materials.
• Sent a lot of Beastly Boys promo material to a school librarian who requested some.
• Created three showcards for a Neal Shusterman event next week.
• Went out to buy some place cards for the Shusterman event, and then named them.
• Photocopied another Vampirates manuscript, bound it, and sent it on.
• Photocopied press cuttings for Vampirates: Black Heart for Justin Somper for appointment tomorrow.
• Emailed competition winners, and arranged address labels.

Another cool day! It was quite cool when I had a list of tasks to complete, and was able to do it as I knew where to find things and how to use certain software, so points 3 - 5 I was able to just get on with without asking Kat anything once I got started. It was great to be able to know I could do it and get on with it, to have the confidence to do it, even though it was nothing major in the great scheme of things. It was a good day! :) Another update will come tomorrow.

UPDATE - 21/01/10:

Another brilliant day at S&S UK today! I was fortunate enough to be allowed to sit in on the Children's Publishing Meeting this morning, and it was so interesting! I didn't understand most of it, but it was great to learn a little more about what is involved in getting just one book on the shelves in the bookshops. Rights, Design, Editorial, Marketing, etc, all teaming together to discuss what they think as a whole is the way to go about things for a book. It was just so great! Here's a list of what I did today:

• Printed 24 posters - 12 each of Malcolm Rose's Hurricane Force and The Death Gene - and sent them to 12 libraries for a Malcolm Rose tour.
• Sent around 13 stock teen posters to a school library.
• Sent 5 bundles of various stock bookmarks to a (different) school library.
• Sent out the 60 prizes to the Facebook group winners, who I emailed and sorted labels out for yesterday.
• Created press releases for Scandal by Kate Brian, Stunt Bunny: A Showbiz Sensation by Tamsyn Murray, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (paperback version), Hush, Hush by Becca Fiztpatrick (paperback version), The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan, and The Medusa Project: The Rescue by Sophie McKenzie.

So at some point in the future, the S&S UK reviewers may receive a book with a press release that I put together! I asked Children's Marketing & Publicity team some general advice questions about getting into publicity, what I can do to help myself, and was told to keep going with my blog, get as much work experience as I can, and be pushy/bold about it. I also asked about whether the London Book Fair would be a good idea, and it would be, just to see how many publishers there are out there, big and small, and to pick up catalogues from them to see what kind of books they publish. I also found out that a Proof Reading and Copy Editing course that I had seen advertised isn't as well known as it claims to be, and was advised to try another one instead, by someone from the Children's Editorial department. Aaaand, you are now reading the blog of a Simon & Schuster UK Children's Marketing & Publicity volunteer! I'll be going in one day a week from now on, doing things like I have been doing over the last few days, and I am SO chuffed! It's going to look good on my CV, an it'll be really helpful to them too to have someone coming in fairly regularly to do some of the marketing/publicity admin. I was also told today that I've done brilliantly over the past week, and I've been a great help to them all, which is just so cool! I am a happy, happy girl! I'll give the final update tomorrow! :)

UPDATE 22/01/10:

Today was a pretty good day, though busier than the others. As it was my final day of work experience, I decided to say thank you with a box of chocolates, though only one of the team were in today. And funnily enough, I was bought a box of chocolates to say cheers to me too! We swapped chocolates :) Here's a list of what I did today:

• Sent booksmark and postcards to someone for three sixth form colleges.
• Made two showcards, and printed five posters and sent them, along with two bundles of bookmarks, for a Sarah Singleton event at a school.
• Sent Hush, Hush competition prizes to 30 people.
• Sent Sophie McKenzie bookmarks to a school for World Book Day.
• Sent 1,000 Sophie McKenzie bookmarks, 500 SM postcards, and 20 copies of reading notes, and 500 Justin Somper bookmarks to a WHSmith branch for World Book Day.
• Photocopied 12 copies of a Vampirates manuscript (same one as before), and sent six copies to reviewers, one with a copy of Black Heart, and another with the full series.
• Sent press releases of the book to the reviewers from last point once they were ready to go.
• Sent picture books to a reviewer.
• Sent Justin Somper promo matierial to a library for a four school event.
• Sent some review copies to a certain book reviewer I chat to fairly often ;)

Busy busy! But it was pretty cool to chat generally about books, whether or not certain books were enjoyed, etc. Was great! Organised what day I'll be going in for my voluntary work, which will be Fridays. Also, I forgot to say yesterday that I saw two authors! Justin Somper came in for a meeting, and I saw him on his way out, and I had to help make tea and coffee for a meeting with Cathy Hopkins! Pretty cool, eh? Well, I think so. I ended the day by writing an email to all three of the people I was working with, to say thank you for eerything they'd done and for giving me a chance.

So that's the end of my work experience, but the beginning of my voluntary work! It's been absolutely brilliant, and I'm really looking forward to continuing working there.