How to Get a Job in Publishing: Industry Tips & Tricks

Whether your dream is to edit bestsellers, craft killer marketing campaigns, or design book covers that fly off the shelves, publishing is an exciting and dynamic industry full of opportunities for you.

In this article, I’ll take a close look at what types of jobs are available in publishing — both the roles you’d anticipate and the more unexpected ones. I’ll also give you some tips on how to get into this competitive industry. 

The good news? You don’t need a fancy degree or insider connections to succeed in this field, just a strong understanding of the industry and a killer strategy. So let’s dive right in.

1. Take off your rose-colored glasses

The day-to-day business of publishing isn’t always as glamorous as it’s made out to be. Before you put all your eggs in this particular basket, ask yourself the following questions:

❓Do you love books... and are you okay with deadlines, spreadsheets, and business administration? 

Much more goes into publishing than simply reading for enjoyment. You’ll likely spend large amounts of your working day on non-book related tasks, like responding to emails and tedious but vital administrative work.

❓How do you feel about starting at the bottom? 

Entry-level salaries aren’t exactly generous, and hours can be brutal. Interns and editorial assistants will be in charge of tasks like reading the slush pile, running copies, and slugging — which means checking that corrections in previous sets of proofs have been properly made in the current pass.

❓Are you willing to put in the effort to network? 

Though you don’t have to know someone to get a foot in the door, networking will be a big part of your job once you’re “in.” Editors need to build strong relationships with agents and their authors, sales representatives with booksellers around the country, and so on. 

The level of networking required will vary according to what type of publishing job you get… but it might be tough to flourish in the industry if you spend all your time with your nose in a book.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to scare you off from pursuing a career in publishing. Working in publishing can be incredibly rewarding. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of discovering hidden gems among piles of manuscripts or seeing the cover of a book you worked on draw readers in. But as with any career, it’s important that you go in clear-eyed about what the job will entail.

If you’re still nodding, let’s get to the good stuff.

2. Familiarize yourself with the industry

When you think about working in publishing, the first thing that comes to mind is probably editors sitting at their desks, red pens in hand, marking up manuscripts. But there’s much more to publishing than just editing books.

The publishing sphere today

To start, keep in mind that publishing is and always has been a business — “traditional” publishing houses invest money to purchase promising manuscripts, edit and market them via their in-house teams, and then cash in on their investment when readers buy the finished product. Like any business, it takes a whole ecosystem to make it tick.

This ecosystem can be divided into four primary sectors:

📚 Print Publishing

Big presses like Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Hachette dominate print books. However, there are also independent presses and even self-published authors who engage in print publishing, since the majority of readers still prefer physical copies over digital.

🌐 Digital Publishing

Since the early 00s, ebooks and online content platforms have made reading more accessible for everyone. Far from replacing print books, digital publishing exists alongside the traditional market, distributing via outlets like Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and Google Play Books, without the hassle of printing and shipping costs.

🎧 Audiobooks

The audiobook industry is also growing rapidly, with platforms like Audible, Spotify, Libro.fm, and Everand making audio content easily available. With the addition of the audio market, the category of “publishing jobs” has expanded to include roles like audio engineering, audio editing, and narration.

👩‍💻 Self-Publishing

With more and more tools available to authors to publish their own books without intermediaries, many authors decide to bypass traditional publishers altogether. These authors hire freelance publishing professionals and use platforms like IngramSpark and Draft2Digital to get their books directly to readers, keeping the majority of earnings for themselves. (There’s a lot of overlap between self-pub and digital publishing — something I can confirm from working in both!)

So where do you fit in this ecosystem?

3. Pick the right path for you

It takes a lot of people to steer the publishing ship. Below deck at any publishing company is a dedicated team of editors, marketers, designers, sales and publicity officers, production professionals, distributors, rights lawyers, accountants, agents, and office assistants. 

And beyond the traditional publishing houses, there are also freelance professionals, such as translators, proofreaders, book coaches, and ghostwriters. The list goes on…

Let’s look at some of the main paths you can take in (traditional) publishing and the different earning potentials of each.

✍️ Editorial (Editors, Proofreaders, Copy Editors)

In traditional publishing, you can climb the editing ladder from assistant to associate to acquiring editor — the “Top Dog” who assesses whether a manuscript is worth publishing or who commissions new titles. Becoming an editor is a great path if you love the written word and want to help authors make their books the best they can be.

• • Entry-level: Editorial Assistant ($40K–$50K)
  • Mid-level: Associate Editor ($50K–$65K)
  • Senior-level: Acquisitions Editor ($70K+)

🎨 Production & Design (Typesetting, Cover Design, Print & Digital Production)

In addition to finessing the text of a book, you also need someone to wrap it all up in a professional-looking package. That’s where production and design come in — collaborating to make sure everything from the cover to the typesetting is perfect. This is the job for you if you have an eye for detail and/or a background in graphic design.

• • Entry-level: Production Assistant ($38K–$45K)
  • Mid-level: Cover Designer ($50K–$70K)
  • Senior-level: Art Director ($85K+)

✨ Marketing & Publicity (Book Publicists, Social Media Managers)

Behind nearly every successful book, you’ll find an effective marketing campaign. From devising social media strategy to creating eye-catching assets, book marketers are a key part of capturing the right audience for every book. If you have strong instincts for what readers want and you know how to use stats and data for reinforcement, this could be the role for you.

• • Entry-level: Marketing Assistant ($40K–$50K)
  • Mid-level: Marketing Associate ($50K–$70K)
  • Senior-level: Marketing Director ($80K+) 

💸 Sales & Distribution (Sales Representatives, Distribution Managers)

Of course, to get your books in front of IRL readers, you also need to make sure that they are stocked in bookshops; this is where sales and distribution comes in. In this job, you’ll be out in the field, boots on the ground, talking to booksellers and convincing them to order copies of your book. This is the job for you if you’re a people person who loves a dynamic workplace and, much like marketers, can back your claims up with numbers.

• • Entry-level: Sales Assistant ($40K–$50K)
  • Mid-level: Subsidiary Rights Manager ($60K–$75K)
  • Senior-level: Sales Director ($90K+)

👩‍💼 Literary Agents (Agent Assistants, Rights Managers)

The role of literary agents is to promote the author’s interests and make sure they are getting the best deals they can. They usually help edit manuscripts and query publishers, and take a commission based on the deals they close. 

Agents often also manage the foreign rights of a manuscript, selling it abroad for translation, as well as the TV and film rights. Agenting could be perfect for you if you love the idea of discovering and championing the next bestseller before anyone else believes in it — and if you know how to be persuasive.

• • Entry-level: Agency Assistant ($35K–$50K)
  • Mid-level: Associate Agent ($50K–$80K, often commission-based)
  • Senior-level: Literary Agent ($80K–$150K+, highly commission-based)

Oh, and let’s not forget freelance and remote roles. Most traditional publishing roles can also be done on a freelance basis — and editors, book coaches, proofreaders, and audiobook narrators are always in demand.

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4. Get the right skills & qualifications

The skills and qualifications you will need to succeed in publishing will vary depending on which path you decide to go down. A sales director will need to have strong people skills and a good sense for numbers, for instance, while an art director needs to be an expert in visual communication. 

There are, however, a few things I can tell you from experience are essential if you want to work in publishing:

Education

Most publishing jobs — particularly in traditional publishing — will require you to have at least an undergraduate degree. This does not have to be a publishing degree (though these can help you get an internship), but it should be relevant to the area in which you want to work.

On top of that, you will also be expected to show that you have some key transferable skills.

Transferable skills

When interviewing for pretty much any job in the publishing industry, you’ll need to prove that you have at least the following transferrable skills: 

• Strong understanding of the industry and the written word — Even if you’re not going into editorial, you need to know what makes a good story and what readers are looking for.
• Digital savvy — Depending on the field, you will need to be familiar with a host of digital tools and concepts such as SEO, email marketing, InDesign, and filesharing platforms.
• Organization and time management — This industry moves fast and deadlines are strict, so you’ll need to juggle many different tasks at once.
• Networking and communication skills — Relatively speaking, publishing is tiny; who you know matters. You will also work across departments to take the book from draft to finished product.

Ultimately, however, many of the most important skills in publishing are those you best learn by doing. Employers and clients will largely decide to hire you based on your track record, not what diploma you may or may not have — so next up, I’ll give some tips on how to gain the experience you need to break into this industry.

5. Gain early experience

The conundrum of any competitive field is how to get your foot in the door in the first place. Trust me: I’ve been there. It can sometimes feel like you’re expected to have 10 years of experience before you even start. To overcome that, here are a few ideas for how to build experience that will get you hired:

Internships & apprenticeships 

Internships and apprenticeships are your best bet to get the right type of experience — and contacts — to land a full-time publishing job.

Where to find them:

BookJobs.com, The Bookseller, Guardian Jobs, Publisher’s Weekly JobZone, Publishers Marketplace, publishing houses’ careers pages, social media.

Note that many publishing houses, especially smaller presses, either announce their internship opportunities only through their social media or not at all — so you may have to be proactive and send cold outreach to inquire about any openings.

Also keep in mind that many internships are unpaid (ugh), so you can also look for remote or part-time gigs while working elsewhere.

Freelance & remote work

Internships can be pretty competitive to land, though, so one other way to build experience is to accept gigs on a short-term or volunteer basis (that is, until you build a stronger paid-work portfolio). 

Here are a few more ideas to try out:

• Editing & proofreading: Look for gigs on Upwork, Fiverr, Reddit, and Facebook groups. Gain early experience through beta reading and correcting friends’ essays and stories.
• Book marketing gigs: Offer marketing services for a reduced fee in relevant forums online. Experiment with Meta and Google ads as well as Amazon algorithms to get a lay of the land.
• Design: Advertise your design services via portfolio platforms like Behance, Dribbble, or even Instagram. Share your creations in forums where authors are likely to hang out and offer bundles with cover design in different formats for a reduced fee at first.
• Audiobook narration: Check out ACX or reach out to self-publishing authors to see if they’re interested in your services (maybe free of charge, at first). Record public domain books and distribute them via services like LibriVox to bulk up your résumé, and/or post them on TikTok!

When it comes to getting early experience, be creative. A job that may seem unrelated to publishing could have opportunities to practice your copy editing skills or administrative acumen. Don’t get stuck on the idea of the internship-to-acquiring-editor pipeline.

6. Apply for jobs on publishing-specific platforms

Once you have some solid experience to back you up, your best bet for finding a publishing job is to look on platforms such as:

• Specialized job boards: BookJobs.com, The Bookseller, Guardian Jobs, Publisher’s Weekly JobZone, Publishers Marketplace, etc.
• Major publisher career pages: Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, etc. all have their own career pages on their websites where they announce all their opportunities in one place.
• Smaller publishers and indie presses: Again, small presses are more likely to advertise jobs via social media or not at all; consider emailing them directly if you are interested in working there. You can find an extensive list of publishing houses here.
• Freelance sites and remote job boards: Lastly, you can also look for freelance publishing jobs on sites like Reedsy Marketplace, Freelancing.com, WeWorkRemotely, and, to some extent, LinkedIn and Indeed.

Once you’ve found an exciting opportunity, I’ve got some additional tips on how to nail your application… 

7. Prepare for the hiring process

Like with any job, you’ll have to go through a competitive hiring process in order to land a job in publishing. Here are a few basic tips to keep in mind:

• Résumé: Keep it to 1 page, highlight relevant skills, and format it cleanly, with no typos.
• Cover letter: Don’t be generic. Show enthusiasm for the specific publishing house and their catalogue. Furthermore, demonstrate a realistic understanding of what the role will entail and what you bring to the table.
• Interviews: Beyond questions about your past experience and why you’re the right fit for the job, expect questions like:

• Why do you want to work in publishing
• What’s your favorite book and why?
• What’s a publishing trend you foresee in the coming year?
• Can you comment on some recent bookish news and its impact on the industry?
• How do you handle tight deadlines?

One last tip: follow up your interview with a thank-you email a day or two after the interview, to make sure you’re top of mind for the hiring manager.

8. Network and stay in the loop

Once more before I wrap this up, I want to emphasize that publishing is far from the introvert haven it might seem. This is an industry built around knowing the right people, and sharpening your networking skills can make all the difference — to that end, here’s some more networking advice.

Join publishing organizations

A good place to start is to join publishing organizations like the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), the Society of Young Publishers, Publishing Hopefuls, or other industry and vocational organizations. Not only do they host events and offer courses, but they also have job boards and networking opportunities. Follow them on social media, including and especially on LinkedIn, to keep a finger on the pulse.

Sign up for industry newsletters

To get insight into the industry and follow the latest news, sign up for relevant newsletters.

🗞️ Industry news & trends

1. Publishers Weekly – Industry news, bestseller lists, and book deals.
2. The Bookseller – UK-focused industry insights and book trade news.
3. Shelf Awareness – Daily news and reviews for booksellers, librarians, and publishers.
4. Publishing Perspectives – International publishing news and trends.

🪶 Self-publishing & indie author resources

1. Reedsy blog & newsletter (newsletter signup on the blog’s right-hand side) – Insights on self-publishing, writing, and marketing.
2. Jane Friedman’s blog $ newsletter (Bottom Line, previously The Hot Sheet) – In-depth analysis of the publishing industry with a focus on self-publishing.
3. The Creative Penn – Joanna Penn’s insights on indie publishing, book marketing, and writing.

💥 Marketing & book promotion

1. BookBub’s blog & newsletter – Strategies for book promotion and audience growth.
2. Written Word Media – Marketing insights for authors and publishers.
3. Book Riot’s “Today in Books” – Covers book news, industry shifts, and trends.
4. Ricardo Fayet’s How to Market a Book – A free ebook on everything you need to know about book marketing, especially for indie authors.

📝 Literary agent & querying resources

1. QueryTracker blog & newsletter – Agent news and querying advice.
2. Writer’s Digest – Writing craft, publishing tips, and agent interviews.

💰 Rights & deals

1. Publishers Marketplace (Lunch Deluxe) – Insider news on book deals, agent moves, and publishing trends.
2. Publishers Weekly “Global Rights Report” – Global rights and licensing news.

🤨 Book reviews & criticism

1. Kirkus Reviews – Reviews of upcoming books, often months ahead of release.
2. The New York Times Book Review – Highly influential book reviews.
3. Literary Hub (Lit Hub) – A mix of literary criticism, publishing news, and author insights.
4. Electric Literature — A mix of literary criticism, publishing news, and author insights.
5. Asymptote Journal — A literary magazine focused on literature in translation.

With this, you’re all equipped to get a job in publishing! Let’s recap.

9. Don’t wait — start today

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, here are a few actionable steps you can take today to get started in publishing: 

✅ Now that you’ve gone through all steps of this article, go back to step 1 and ask yourself the same questions again. If you still think publishing is the dream job for you, you can:

✅ Make a pros and cons list of the different publishing paths, and pick one that you think a) you will enjoy the most and b) fits your skills best.

✅ Sign up for publishing job alerts for jobs in that niche (LinkedIn, Publishers Weekly, Bookseller, Guardian Jobs, JobZone, etc.)

✅ Follow your favorite publishing houses on social media, and sign up to their newsletters to stay in the loop about new job opportunities.

✅ Join publishing communities on Reddit, Facebook, or Substack to get tips and advice from other publishing hopefuls and industry insiders.

✅ Look for ways to gain early experience through volunteering your services or taking on freelancing gigs.

Publishing is tough to break into, but if you’re persistent and strategic, you will get there. Now go make it happen. 🚀