Hi, I never worked in publishing before but last year I got interviews with HarperCollins and PRH. The roles were not in publishing itself. I did not get either roles but now I work somewhere that is not entirely fulfilling. I wanted to try applying again for non-publishing roles at publishing companies so I have two main questions:

- for non-publishing roles, does hr/hiring managers/recruiters actually care if you demonstrate interest in publishing? For both my previous interviews, i acknowledged that I had no experience in publishing (duh I was 21, and I still don’t).

- is it possible to negotiate my salary? In New York, the salaries are incredibly low for everyone, but if I were to negotiate 65k to 68k, would it be doable?

I submitted to a publisher who offers both traditional and hybrid publishing. They got back to me requesting the full manuscript and then responded saying they'd want to work with me but on a hybrid basis. I do not want to work with them on this basis but can I use this to nudge agents who have not yet responded?

I have had rejections from agents so far but have roughly 20 outstanding queries.

(Please do not scare me with the dangers of hybrid publishing, I'm well aware, I simply want to know if I have any leverage with this or if it essentially means nothing)

Hi everyone :) So I just recently hit the one-year mark in my perpetual job search. I have a BA in English and an MA in Creative Writing and Publishing with two publishing internships and work as a writer and book reviewer, yet I haven't so much as gotten an interview. I apply for every entry level publishing role I stumble upon, using sites like bookjobs, Publisher's Marketplace, Publisher's Weekly, Shelf Awareness, and of course direct career pages for Big 5 and independent publishers. I reach out to people through LinkedIn and other industry connections I've made, but literally no one has been able to help in any way. If anyone has some advice or suggestions for other publishing-adjacent roles I can check out, I'd really appreciate it. I feel like I'm missing something important, because how can I have all the right credentials and no prospects?!

For people who work in publishing, especially as EAs or who have worked as EAs, how do you handle the constant stress? For context, this is my second publishing job and it is my dream job. But I’m about eight months in and have already cried once about it. It’s relentless! In my team, there’s me and then everyone else is at senior level or higher which is quite isolating and does make me feel a bit like a child at the parents table. I feel like it doesn’t stop and, despite being constantly told “we’re not trying to catch you out” or “feel free to ask questions”, I feel like I only get noticed when I do something wrong. I really want to enjoy my job as it is my dream but, when I went to my manager about the stress a few days ago, his response was very much along the lines of “that’s publishing for you”.

FOR AGENTS

I do social media growth. Mostly coaches and creators.

And I helped a client build an audience and list over 6 months and she got signed with Hay House.

So the Canon revision caught my eye. Section D lets an agency employ specialists for marketing and social. Section E covers non-clients.

I have no idea what agents actually think of it.

Things I keep circling:

Is platform building something you'd want to sell, or does it sit too far outside the job?

Do clients already ask you for this?

Say an agency offers it. Who delivers, someone in-house or outside?

Does charging a client for marketing change the relationship in a way you'd rather avoid?

I'm on the delivery side of this, so I have an obvious interest. Saying that up front.

Happy to hear it's a bad idea.

Hello all, I'm not certain where to post this, but essentially here it goes. A few years back, I self-published a short poetry chapbook. The timing of the publication wasn't great, and because of personal circumstances I chose not to announce the publication or do any advertising. In the past year or so I put some posts up that included a link to my poetry publication, but still no big advertising or anything, and I've not gotten any sales.

I'm now working on a larger collection, which I think could benefit from including many of the works included in the original chapbook. I'm not worried about copyright, because in self-publishing I maintained the copyright of my work. What I'm wondering is how it comes off to have what is essentially the first section in my new publication be almost exclusively work from the previous collection. All further sections expand upon those poems and are composed of almost exclusively new works.

Any advice, suggestions, or considerations are helpful. Thank you.

For context this is a fantasy novel, nearly 40k words. I know it's quite short, but I've had a lot of read throughs and there's nothing else to add. I've emailed this lady with positive reviews and who takes on fantasy, and the price is around £720 inc non-refundable deposit. That's the price for a mini-assessment which she offers, not an in depth one.

I'm just looking for advice on if you guys think I should pay for it not not. I'm in my last year of secondary school, and would really like for my second novel to be traditionally published as my first novel was vanity publishing.

It would be really helpful if anyone could share their experience regarding their first novel and paying for manuscript assessments!

Hi everyone,

I'm an indie developer and author, and over the last few years I've built tools for the self-publishing community. Some of you may have come across KDPStudio.net, which I created to help authors format manuscripts, create covers, and simplify publishing.

Over the past few months, I've also built another platform called BookNami.net, and it's now in beta.

Before I spend more time adding new features, I'd really like to hear what actual authors and readers think.

One thing I want to make clear is that BookNami is not trying to compete with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or any other retailer. Those platforms are where people buy books, and that's not what I'm trying to replace.

Instead, BookNami focuses on organic discovery. The goal is to give authors another opportunity to be found online through SEO while giving readers an easier way to discover books they'll enjoy.

The platform includes:

SEO-optimized author pages

SEO-optimized book pages

Publisher pages

Series pages

Genre, topic, and theme pages

Reader bookshelves

Follow your favorite authors

Author updates

Personalized recommendations

An ARC (Advance Review Copy) Marketplace, where authors can find readers willing to review their books and readers can apply for review copies.

Direct links to retailers where books are sold

Everything is already built and working. At this point, I'm not looking to sell anything—I honestly want feedback from people who read and write books.

If you have a few minutes, I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a look and tell me what you honestly think.

Is the concept useful?

Is there anything that immediately confuses you?

Would you use it as an author or a reader?

What's missing?

What would make you come back instead of visiting just once?

You can check it out here:

https://booknami.net⁠

I genuinely appreciate honest feedback—good or bad. If something doesn't make sense or could be improved, I'd much rather hear it now than after launch.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out. I'm looking forward to hearing what you think.

I'm an author who writes somewhat stylized prose, and copyeditors usually send me a boatload of corrections that disregard stylistic choices. I consider each one carefully, but I end up rejecting many of them because they ruin an intended effect. So far, no one has pushed back on this, so are copyedits purely a suggestion for me to consider? I assume there is a limit somewhere if I ever got truly flagrant, but is it generally accepted that authors will reject a lot of copyedits, even if they are technically correct according to the style manual?

I recently interviewed for a really good role - Peer Review Editor but I didn't get past the first interview. The feedback they gave was '...However, we are looking for someone with stronger research integrity and peer review experience at this time. I would recommend looking into different peer review network and special interest groups if you are interested in pursuing this specialism further as you may get the experience necessary through these.'

I am not sure how to get this experience, are there online courses? I really want to work for Emerald and if another posting comes up I want to be prepared.

Any help from others in academic publishing or who currently works at Emerald, I would love to connect.

in december 2025 i posted sharing that i hadnt been selected for an assistant role at the imprint where i was interning and that i was feeling super bummed and sad about it. everyone offered me really lovely, kind advice and told me to keep striving and keep pushing forward and i am so thrilled to say that it paid off! i'm roughly five months into my first full-time job in publishing (same company, different imprint) and i could NOT be happier. i genuinely can't believe i'm finally here but AHHHHH!!!! thank you all for your support when i needed it most!

(side note: i met the person who got the december job over me. she is lovely and we're actually friends now lol--plus her role is a lot more administrative and i get to really dig into the meat and potatoes of my department, which i'm very grateful for)

Dear forum members, I want to describe a situation I personally encountered and ask for your advice.

I submitted a few of my texts to almost all sci-fi and fantasy magazines and open-submission contests that Google could find for me.

Here is the situation: only from the Writers of the Future contest did I receive a message from the editor stating that I made it to the second stage of consideration. A few other times there were rejections saying something like, "your unique world is very cool, but it doesn't fit our magazine and lacks the pacing/dynamics we need," etc. In all other cases, it was either an automated rejection like "unfortunately, your text is not a fit," or no response at all.

Of course, the question arises: maybe I am worth nothing as an author, and the magazines are right to ignore me? This is a completely valid question, but even from the few seemingly non-automated replies, I formed a well-founded impression that the editors didn't read past pages 1–2. And not because they are poorly written—on the contrary, they have too much poetic tone and unusual elements, while they publish for the 100700th time stories about guilds and mages that everyone is sick of. And despite all that, they are the ones asking for new, unique stories—which, apparently, they don't even read if there are no mages and guilds on the first page.

Have you encountered such a situation, and what advice can you share?

Maybe there are still some resources where one can get at least normal feedback, let alone publication?

I am posting this because I wish someone had warned me before I trusted a paid publishing company with my work and my granddaughter's name.

I dealt with Oxford Book Writers, and I have spent months going back through my contracts, emails, payments, book files, refund records, and communications.

Here is what I can document.

I paid for professional publishing services. Their written agreement promised professional proofreading and editing, formatting and typesetting, publishing, ISBN and barcode services, a dedicated project manager, and other services.

What I received was a children's book containing serious mistakes. The book carried my name and the full legal name of my seven year old granddaughter.

This was not simply a draft sitting on someone's computer.

The book was published. A physical copy was purchased.

I have the original files I provided. I have the book that was published. I have the emails where I complained about the problems. I have the payment records. I have the refund communications.

I eventually had to remove the book.

I was also told things during the sales and publishing process that I later began questioning.

One of the biggest issues for me involved the ISBN. I understood from my initial telephone conversation that a Bowker ISBN would be obtained. What I later found was an ISBN associated with Amazon's publishing system instead. Because the original representation was made verbally, I am describing this as what I was told and understood, not pretending I have a written promise that I do not have.

Then there is the money.

The company I believed I was paying was Oxford Book Writers.

But when I later examined my financial records, the merchant descriptions did not simply say Oxford Book Writers.

That made me start asking a very basic question:

Who did I actually pay?

I am still investigating that question.

I also discovered inconsistencies in the public information surrounding the business, including different locations, business history information, and other publishing brands appearing to share contact information.

Again, I am not going to call those companies the same company unless I can prove it.

But I am asking questions.

Then something happened that made this much bigger for me.

The daughter of an elderly Canadian author contacted me after seeing a discussion about vanity publishing. She told me about her father's experience with Oxford and mentioned David Reeds.

I recognized the name.

I went back through my own old records.

David Reeds was also someone I had dealt with at Oxford.

That is when I started documenting everything.

I later called Oxford and recorded the conversation with their knowledge. During that conversation, Oxford confirmed that David Reeds worked there. I also heard statements that I considered inconsistent enough that I preserved the entire recording.

I am not asking Reddit to decide whether anyone committed fraud.

I am not claiming that every allegation another family has made is true.

I am saying that authors need to be extremely careful.

Do not accept a sales representative's statements without getting important promises in writing.

Do not assume the name on a website is necessarily the legal business receiving your payment.

Check your credit card statement.

Verify who owns your ISBN.

Keep the manuscript you originally submitted.

Keep every version they return to you.

Keep your contract.

Keep every email.

Keep every invoice.

Keep every refund promise.

And when someone tells you that you need another service, another marketing package, another registration, or another upgrade before your book can succeed, stop and investigate before paying again.

I learned that lesson the hard way.

This is no longer about the remaining money for me.

It is about what happens when someone takes an author's dream, gains their trust, and then the author discovers that things were not what they believed they were buying.

If you have personally dealt with Oxford Book Writers, I want to hear from you.

Good experience or bad experience.

I especially want to hear from people who still have original contracts, invoices, emails, payment records, ISBN information, refund communications, or communications with David Reeds, Mark J. Cooper, Daniel Hayes, or Jake Austin.

Please do not post account numbers or private financial information.

I am looking for documents and facts, not rumors.

Because the more I have gone back through my own records, the more I have realized something very important:

Authors need to know who they are actually doing business with before they hand over their money, their manuscript, their name, and sometimes even their family's name.

Hey guys, I have recently finished a 32 page picture book manuscript. I’ve approached a few emerging illustrators for quotes and am unfortunately not able to afford them. I’m now considering the use of Ai and doing it myself. What have your experiences been? How does it work with copyright and self publishing? Need ideas for next steps.

Hello everyone! i am considering to pursue masters in publishing as an international student in the UK but i need some guidance on the job realities in the country. Is it true that publishing jobs are almost always not receptive to international candidates who might require sponsorship?
It’s worth mentioning that I am a former journalist and have 4+ years working as a news writer at a reputable media company, but I am not sure if this stint would be counted as an experience in publishing roles.

((Looking for some positive advices although i am not seeking delusional suggestions :p))

It's already been 3 months since i sended my book proposal about a Horror-Thriller book named NEIF not to One, but there publishers! It Is normal that It require so much time without receiving an answer or this Is Just needed time?

I work in Rights and Permissions at a publishing company and I’m interested in potentially doing freelance work. I was wondering if anyone in this thread does similar freelance work and how they got started/find work. Any help is greatly appreciated :)

Hi everyone,

So I've submitted a group of my poems to a competition. I've gotten shortlisted for publishing but it's considerably expensive. It includes an ISBN number registration for my poems and a number of other things. But given the price, I want to know if my publishing the poems actually helps me in terms of college admissions? ​​​​ Any and all help would be appreciated.

PS. All my poems are about empowerment and academics. Just an FYI.

Will self-publishing a cozy fantasy now hurt my chances of trad publishing a gothic speculative fiction later under a new pseudonym? Will losing "debut author" status work against me?

I've been querying my cozy fantasy novel for a few months and have gotten about 4 full request from agents, three which have already resulted in rejections, and 2 full request from mid-size publishing companies (waiting on those). Given the number of queries I've sent and the amount of interest I've received, I'm getting the sinking feeling trad won't work out for this book.

I decided to then pay for a lit agent to evaluate my query letter. The lit agent told me what I suspected: there's nothing wrong with the query itself, the premise is just difficult to market. This is a book I created for my audience, which is large, but niche, and I really want to get this book out there for them. I made the cover and illustrations myself.

The next book I'm planning to write is in a darker and more mainstream. It's just a completely different vibe. I plan on using a pseudonym because it will need a completely different audience from the cozy fantasy I wrote. My confusion is, if I self-publish this cozy fantasy, will it be harder to get an agent later for my gothic spec novel because I'll no longer be a debut author and will then have a sales history? The genres are different, but on Query Tracker agents always ask if you've published before anyway, and I have this sinking feeling it's to weed people out. Should I wait and query this gothic novel, see if I get an agent, to only then publish my cozy fantasy? I hate to think that self-publishing this cozy novel will hurt my future querying. Every decision in the publishing space feels so loaded 😔

Curious about the alleged bump in book sales after a film/tv show that isn't a breakout hit. Obviously Heated Rivalry, Big Little Lies, Project Hail Mary, Bridgerton translated into huge book sales, but what about less successful TV shows and movies? Thinking about Apples Never Fall, Lucky and others that came out to little fanfare. Do those move books, too? Or is it just a wash? Does anyone have any experience with this?