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Topic: A way to go abroad & stay connected to publishing?
| Author | Message |
| interstella | Posted – 1/30/2008 1:53:06 AM | show profile Please excuse me if I'm being obnoxious. I didn't get any responses the first time I posted this, and I'm thinking that maybe my topic title was to blame. I'm seriously looking for advice. Here's my original post (promise not to post again): I'm currently working as an editorial assistant at a small book publisher in California. I have an intense desire to travel, and soon. I am looking for a way to go abroad for a year or so that will not hinder my career progress. Some background: I got a late start on my career, having completed my undergraduate degree at age 25. My prior jobs were admin positions in law offices. So, when I finished college, I immediately got an internship with the company I'm currently working for. After the internship, I was hired on as editorial assistant. I've been in that position now for about a year and a half. The official word is that I am "in training" for a promotion, but I have been told this for close to a year now. I have been given more editorial responsibilities as of late, which is great, but I'm starting to wonder how long i should hang on, waiting for a promotion that may not come anytime soon, while I'm languishing at a company I'm not really interested in working for long-term anyway. Part of me thinks that now that I have solid experience, I should start applying to other book publishers. But a large part of me is lamenting the fact that while my peers were traveling Europe, studying abroad, or teaching English after college, I was lumbering away at my office jobs and just sort of getting by, thinking "one day" I would see the world and get out there and do all the things I wanted to ever since I was tiny. Having turned 27 (and having begun to notice the fine lines appearing around my eyes..ha), I have begun to experience a sort of crisis. I want to get out of my humdrum existence, just for awhile, and have some experiences other than bed-car-cubicle-lunch-cubicle-home-dinner-bed. Perhaps I'm being flighty or idealistic. I don't expect to escape the daily grind of working, forever. But I wanna scrape some excitement from what remains of my twenties. So! Should I go to grad school abroad? Are publishing MA programs worth it? Or a waste? Would an MA in English be pointless if I just want to come back and get back into book editing? Or...and this sounds really good to me...is there any way I could get an actual publishing job somewhere in the UK for a year or so? Perhaps in conjunction with a masters program? Stuff like the peace corps and teaching English aren't really in my realm, because I want to remain connected to the publishing industry and I want to continue my progress in developing my editorial skills. Any advice is appreciated! |
| stinking prague | Posted – 1/30/2008 2:40:49 AM | show profile Get a job as a copy editor at the Stinking Prague Post or some other business paper on the stinking continent. While you're there, you can probably pick up other editing or writing gigs. its not that hard to do. teaching english is nowheresville careerwise. it sounds like you're in a position where any writing/editorial gigs would be beneficial. Just my opinion, but I've seen a zillion editorial types come through, and I can't see why you couldn't too. |
| rhino writer | Posted – 1/30/2008 1:06:54 PM | show profile | email poster Last year on a whim, I applied for a summer proofreading job in Tokyo. I ended up not pursuing it for several reasons (one: I'm married and would be leaving my HB for 3 months!), but that might be fun for you. It was proofreading financial reports, so boring work, but perhaps relevant, and they paid for housing. I may have their contact info around still, so if you can wait until the summer and have a burning desire to see Japan, e-mail me and I'll see if I can find it. I also had a quarter-life crisis at 27. I can sympathize. And here's another thought -- at the publishing company I used to work for, they let people occasionally take an unpaid leave of absence for a couple of months. You'd get a break, and would have a job to return to. Would that work as a compromise? |
| interstella | Posted – 1/31/2008 1:37:00 AM | show profile Hey, thanks! Those are some really promising suggestions. So I guess grad school isn't a great option? Even a publishing studies MA? |
| stinking prague | Posted – 1/31/2008 3:07:51 AM | show profile why do you consider paying a shitload of money for a degree for a profession which doesn't pay dick to begin with? |
| Seafarer | Posted – 1/31/2008 10:01:45 AM | show profile | email poster Do it and do it now - go overseas/outside the US I've lived in the Middle East, Asia and Europe; to gain international perspective and understanding, there is simply no comparison to living day-to-day in another culture. Going to the bank, taking out the trash, shopping for shoes -- everything is either slightly different or very different. It expands your mind like nothing else....if you can keep from going crazy. :) I would not spend all that money on grad school when you don't even know what you want to get out of it. Living abroad is a graduate education in life, and too many in the rather insular U.S. don't get that education. Find a publishing house job, anything halfway decent that pays the bills (I like one person's suggestion of something like her job in Japan - make sure your reasonable living expenses are covered) and get out there. Come back and tell us how it went! ------ My Web site Family Travel blog NHRA drag racing on Fast Machines |
| rhino writer | Posted – 1/31/2008 12:28:30 PM | show profile Here's another idea. (I got your e-mail and am ransacking my office trying to see if I still have the Japan info.) If your company is part of a larger, international one, like Thomson, apply for a job at one of their overseas offices. Or apply for a coporate communications job at a big multinational. You'll still be involved with publishing, more or less, and you'd have a steady overseas job at the same time. Look around industry giants (Coke, GE, and so on) and see what's out there. Thinking outside book publishing for overseas work might be your best option. Grad school for publishing is a waste of time, IMO, if you're working in publishing already. Think about it. In 2 years you could be just getting out of grad school and be 2 years behind job-wise from where you are now, or you could have 2 years cool experience under your belt. And definitely move, or at least, travel abroad. It's life-changing. |
| Jen480 | Posted – 2/3/2008 2:48:12 PM | show profile I agree w/ the above posters. You should travel the world NOW, while you're still young & not tied down. I'm kind of in the same position as you. I too am in my mid-20s, but I'm at a dead-end EA job at a local magazine. Been there for the past 2 yrs, love the people, but not the unchallenging job. I've wanted to move to NYC since college, but for whatever reason, I just never did it. It's been gnawing at me ever since, so I'm going to bite the bullet and move to NYC this spring. Even if it doesn't work out, I'll have gotten it out of my system, & won't regret that I never did it. I know far too many people who are middle-aged & just never got around to doing whatever it is they wanted to do, & now they regret it. I don't want to be like them 20-30 yrs from now, and I won't. |
| chucho | Posted – 2/4/2008 12:08:53 PM | show profile A lot of these posts seem to be confusing publishing with journalism. Working at the Prague Post is not going to keep you connected to the publishing industry. It's way easier to stay connected to the journalism industry by traveling, but I wouldn't be surprised if, after five years abroad jumping from one crappy English-language newspaper to another, a future book publishing employee isn't really going to see you as an asset. |
| write2rachel | Posted – 2/4/2008 6:18:01 PM | show profile Whatever you decide... make sure to write about your travels and take tons of pictures. I would definitely read a blog or book about someone in taking on different publishing jobs in other countries! ------ www.rachelcericola.com |
| interstella | Posted – 3/20/2008 2:32:06 AM | show profile | email poster Thank you for all the insightful replies. Yeah, I know this was over a month ago; I've been distracted. Anyway, I'm still thinking about my options. I plan to spend the summer in Chicago and take an editing course at the University of Chicago. Then, I have to figure out what to do next, but I really want it to involve time abroad. Jenn i would love to hear more about your move to New York. I too have become very comfortable in my job (don't love it, though) but am totally unsatisfied and need to do something dramatic. |
| stinking prague | Posted – 3/20/2008 3:44:55 AM | show profile Good luck to you, Interstella. You're still young and you've got a whole lot ahead of you. Taking an editing course sounds like a good idea, certainly more so than an entire program. I got into the biz a whole lot later than you. I found moving abroad was a good way to jump ahead and not get comfortable |
| womaninbooks | Posted – 3/20/2008 1:29:01 PM | show profile I left my book publishing job five years ago to travel Europe for three months. When I got back, the company let me proofread for them to keep my "in" while I went to grad school. And after grad school, I got a Fulbright to spend a year abroad doing "research." It was a nice way to get some traveling in and keep my resume looking okay without going broke. I don't know, though, how much a job at the prague post or the berlin ex-berliner will do for you. You could always look at one of the German headquarters (i.e. Bertlesmann or Von Holtzbrinck, which own many of the New York-based publishers) for a yearlong traineeship in editing, though the headquarters aren't the funnest locales. Just a thought. |
