Language Liberty

Over the past week I registered my new domain name and set up hosting through Really Simple Hosting. They have been great so far; quick to respond and there for support when needed, which comes in very handy as a solo freelancer!

They installed WordPress in my account upon my request so this week I have been exploring and investigating the best theme to use for my new website. So far I have been using Responsive but I am not entirely happy with the homepage layout so I am looking into the possibility of changing it.

I then set up my e-mail address and linked it to my personal webmail account so that it's easier to access. I added a signature and an automatic response saying "Thank you for your e-mail. I will endeavour to respond within 24 hours."

The website address I decided on was... *drum roll*... www.languageliberty.co.uk. As I am offering translation as well as editorial services, I wanted to keep the name generic. My blurb explaining the name Language Liberty is as follows:

Being able to communicate well gives you the freedom to reach more people and deliver your message with clarity.

At Language Liberty, we offer proofreading, copy editing and translation services to help you do exactly that. A polished text with no distracting errors. A clean translation by a native speaker.

Leave your words with us and feel free to concentrate on the rest, knowing it's in safe hands.

Open up your language to the world. 

The website is currently under construction but is slowly getting there. I'm learning about HTML and CSS, maybe Javascript too if I have time. There are lots of forums out there to help you and many people have probably asked the same question as you already, so often a quick Google on the subject leads to the answer or code that you need.

I must admit that progress is running slower than I thought (time to revise my Gantt chart again!) as WordPress is a little tricky to get the hang of with all of the different possibilities although it is very user-friendly - it just takes time.

Setting up the website

 
When I last finished blogging, I was about to join the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. I read on their website though that if I wait until September, I will receive a 50% discount on their membership fee so I think that I will wait for now as £50 is a lot of money!

Meanwhile, I continued to tick off the tasks in Gantter, albeit a little slower than planned (I blame the exceptional weather we've been having - over 30C every day! It's lovely but it has been boiling my brain a bit). The main task last week was to focus on researching:

• Blogs & websites about becoming a freelance proofreader & translator
• Costs for advertising
• Different societies to join.

There are more points I need to research but that can come later in the whole process.

I also wanted to create a website but a real stumbling block proved to be the domain name! What should I call my website (and therefore the 'company')? I didn't want to use my name even though that would be unique and easy, however (a) I don't like my name, (b) maybe the company will grow so that there will be more than just me as a freelancer and (c) it's a bit hard to spell, potentially making it hard for clients to remember or find.

So how did I decide on the name which I have now chosen? It took many days of brainstorming, mulling ideas over, flashes of genius one moment then discarding the ideas the next as rubbish, Googling to see what was available, Googling to check if there were any companies with the same or similar name. I thought about the concept of what I am offering and wrote a list of words associated with that idea and theme. You can also pick a noun and go with something random and unconnected and gimmicky eg Penguin Editorial & Translation Services. You can use an acronym eg PETS based on the previous example. I wanted something simple and memorable. Alliteration helps. I won't reveal it here just yet as I still need to register the domain!

Web hosting is another consideration and one that I am researching right now. Don't just go with the cheapest but look around to see what the different hosts provide - is there any support included? How about the space allowed for e-mails?

I better get back to it but I feel proud of my progress this week. Using a Gantt chart really helped me to focus on what needs to be done and the time pressure helped kick me into action.

I'm back!

Hi everyone, I'm back!

I decided to restart my blog not because I'm interning again but because I'm trying to launch myself as a freelancer offering copy editing, proofreading and translation services. I thought that it could be interesting for anyone else considering this path as a career to see what my experiences are. I decided to keep the same URL because I already have a small following here and also because the older blog posts give a fuller picture of my experience to date, so you can truly follow me on my journey!

I am in the very fortunate position of holding a part time position meaning that not only do I have a regular income but it also gives me plenty of free time to pursue my other interests. The job in itself is to do with publishing and involves some proofreading but is mostly administrative and I want more!

The first step was to brainstorm everything that I need to do, research and consider. I set myself half an hour to write down everything that came to mind (although in the end it took about 15 minutes as I'd been mulling over this for a few weeks already). After brainstorming, I typed up my notes and ordered them chronologically into the set up phase, ongoing tasks and points for the future.

Feeling very motivated, I then proceeded to do nothing for 2 weeks. Why? I was feeling overwhelmed at the amount of items I had brainstormed and even though it was useful that I had prioritised them according to which part of the process they needed to take place, I hadn't set up a timetable or deadline for any of the points. I work best under pressure so it became obvious that the next step would be to set some deadlines for each task. The best way to do this was to copy the list into a Gantt chart (I chose the free online tool Gantter).

Gantt charts are a great project management tool which I have heard of and looked at the theory behind but never put to use myself. They allow you to list individual tasks, write down how long you think they will take, set a start and finish date and also set up dependencies. For example, I want a website! First of all, I need to think of a domain name. This involves brainstorming and researching other websites with similar names. Then I need to create and write the website. As all of these tasks are linked, you can use the Gantt chart to link them so that if phase 1 (research & brainstorming) gets delayed, the chart automatically moves the subsequent tasks backwards too. Now that the Gantt chart is in place, I can also track my progress which is motivating when I cross things off the list.

I better get onto my next task: join the SfEP!

Last day of the internship

Pic by Vladimir Konovalov

Friday was my last day as an intern. It was one of the most hectic days as I had to organise an impromptu business trip to New York for the Director. I was also asked to transfer quite a few files from some CDs onto the server which the Art Designer had dropped off. I then printed off the new layouts for the Director and Editorial Director to look through.

I sent off another 20 invites for the London Book Fair - the 2 tables are almost full now, with back-to-back 30-minute appointments over 3 days - that's a lot of meetings!

The intern who left on my first day (I took over from her although she was primarily Sales) had been asked if she could return for a few weeks as a temp, like me. Friday was her first day back so I passed on a few tasks to her and brought her up to speed on a couple of projects. I'm quite relieved that we've been given this extra support - perhaps it won't be so crazily busy anymore! Although it's 3 weeks until the office move and 5 weeks until the London Book Fair, so I wouldn't count on it!

Most of the afternoon was spent on the office move. First we had a meeting to find out where everyone had got to with their individual tasks, then I started to sort out some documents, furniture and moving boxes. At 5.30pm the Director jokingly sent me home as I was still ill and lost my voice about 4 times in one day! I was looking forward to the weekend and excited about Monday as my first day as a freelance temp yet also nervous - would my role change? Would expectations be higher?

I've decided not to blog every day now that my internship is over - it simply takes up too much time! I may do the occasional post here and there so please do check back every now and then. I'm glad that I documented most of my day to day work so that I can read over how I've developed and see what I've learnt. I also hope that it's helped to shed some light on such a role for those interested in pursuing a career in publishing. Good luck to you and may your work experience lead to a contract!

Ill

Today I felt pretty ill so went home just before lunch.. Will report back again tomorrow.

Busy but optimistic

This morning I was called into the production meeting where everyone gave updates on the yet-to-be-released titles, such as which production deadlines had been met, if the translations were sent in time, if invoices have been paid or whether contracts were outstanding etc. The meeting created lots of work for me as I was asked to chase or research a few things. I was also told that I'd be working on another title, taking in amendments. I haven't heard anymore on that yet though.

After the meeting, I went through several territories (Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain etc) to check on pending business deals, seeing whether they were regarding any books we were about to publish. I marked them up to discuss with the Director tomorrow; not sure whether she will phone them up or ask me to, or perhaps send another e-mail.

For the impending move, I organised a site visit for IT support and picked up some spare boxes from the local Sainsburys and Rymans. I delegated the task of putting lots of books from some crates into the other boxes to an intern which I felt bad about but she had nothing to do so I think appreciated it, even if it was a rather mundane task.

I sent off more invites for the London Book Fair to various publishers around the world and then started to organise an impromptu trip for the Director to NYC next week to visit some US publishers who cannot make the book fair.

I was asked to created a few VCF cards which are electronic business cards/contacts. I hadn't done this before so checked online first and managed to do it.

I still have quite a long To Do list but am optimistic I can get it all done before the deadlines.

Just another day in the office

A representative from our external IT support company was coming in for a meeting first thing this morning. I had to run to work because the bus never showed up so I took a different one to the closest point possible and walked/ran from there. I arrived just as the IT guy did but unfortunately neither the Director nor the other intern who had arranged the meeting were there yet! The Editorial Director led the meeting until the others turned up and I dutifully took notes to type up later. We discussed the office move and the configuration of the new premises, whether to go wireless or get a cabled network, whether to choose VOIP etc.

I'd been asked to print off some more presentation material for a potential customer which of course took up most of the morning as my computer is pretty slow!

Then I worked on some more appointments for the London Book Fair - the calendar is pretty full now with around 18 appointments per person on each day (it lasts for 3 days).

I finished off the post redirection request and looked for originals of certain documents we need to provide. I could only find copies so hopefully tomorrow I'll manage to finish that off and send it to Royal Mail.

I worked through my inbox answering a few e-mails then received a phone call from Italy - it was from a publisher who was hoping to publish 2 of our books and they wanted a quote on a certain amount of copies. Good news!

Around mid-afternoon I continued on the proofreading. I think that this is the longest book I've proofread so far and I can tell it's going to take a long time to finish! Fortunately it's not urgent (yet) so I'll just do what I can during the week then bring it home every weekend to spend some more hours on. I'm still enjoying this side of the job though.

Thus the paperwork commences...

This evening I registered myself as self employed and read about self assessment tax returns, tax working credit, national insurance contributions, invoicing as a freelance etc. My head is spinning! So here's a quick run down on how today was in the office.

• I updated some of the customer contacts and whilst doing this, came across their database of freelance proofreaders/editors of which there were 25. I think that this is perhaps a job that I'd like to be doing ideally but I still need more experience to figure things out!
• I created this week's To Do list which was very cathartic and showed just how much I'd achieved last week.
• I typed up last week's meeting notes on the office move; we have a meeting with the external IT support team tomorrow morning.
• I finished preparing the production copies for storage.
• I amended 2 contracts as instructed, changing some of the finer details and correcting the format of the new book as it was wrong in the draft contract.
• I filled out a post redirection form to send to Royal Mail.
• I learnt how to process invoices.
• I removed staples from a huge stack of A4 paper so that we can use it as scrap paper to print on the other side.
• I finally located the phone number of a phone technician who will help us during the office move and called him to check availability and what services he can offer.
• I arranged a few more London Book Fair appointments, constantly cursing at how slow Excel is on the Mac! It took 6 minutes to edit 4 cells (all I was doing was typing 4 words in each cell).

The Gremlin Effect

"The Gremlin Effect causes devices to malfunction in strange and unpredictable ways..." 

Today was slower paced in general however quite frustrating regarding technology!

I started off by looking through the sales copies for some books which were missing from the production room for the stock check. We receive 20 books from each print, some are kept in the production room, in editorial and then around the office as 'sales' copies. I found about half of the missing titles and updated the list but didn't get a chance to ask about the others as I was then asked to provide an update on the London Book Fair appointments so I printed off the 3-day schedule along with the invitee list.

I was really battling all morning with Excel to update the stock list as the colourful swirly wheel would appear every other character or mouse click. I don't know what's wrong with my computer of late but last night it just froze and crashed. Today wasn't much better and it was only going to get worse.

At lunchtime I went to pick up the signed lease for the new office premises from the solicitors which I knew would make the Director very happy.

I had also been asked to prepare some materials for a publisher ie the spread/layouts, synopsis and jacket/cover. I spent over an hour on this and tried to print the documents from 4 different computers. Either the programme would crash or the computer would, or the printer would print the wrong thing even though it was fine on the 4th computer.. At one point the whole server went down and everyone lost connection. I was getting increasingly frustrated because of the time pressure and because nothing seemed to be working!

The day ended with me and another intern spending one hour tearing up folders and folders of old accounts - the office doesn't have a shredder so we had to do the honours. My back was pretty sore by the end of it but at least we got it done.

This weekend I'll continue to proofread the book I've been given as I cannot concentrate in the office when I'm interrupted every 5 minutes! I have to figure out what to do about that...

My first paid job in publishing

The day kicked off by processing lots of London Book Fair e-mails which had been sent overnight from around the world. I confirmed a couple but was mostly trying to fit in others like an advanced-level jigsaw puzzle!

We were then asked to meet to update the Director about our progress on organising the Office Move (which reminds me that I still need to type up those minutes). We're considering using VOIP instead of paying BT for our phone calls but we still want a BT line for the broadband so there's a lot to sort out.

The evening before I had proofread several pages of the vegetarian cookbook and I showed them to the Editorial Director who wanted to check how I was doing it. She seemed pleased with what I'd done so far but also asked me to check on some layout and image issues that may come up, as well as to write a 'general notes' sheet with information for the next person who would be taking in the changes to the document. I had had a thought the evening before about the cookbook. I plucked up enough courage to make my suggestion and see what she thought about it. I am vegan and quite a few recipes I find tend to be on vegetarian websites or in veggie cookbooks which are marked up as vegan. This particular cookbook however didn't mention at all whether the recipes were also vegan or not! I found this strange as it's kind of a standard thing to do but also it would widen their audience so that (if enough recipes were vegan, I have to check..) vegans could buy the cookbook for themselves too. Or relatives and friends may notice the vegan comment and think, "Ah, I should buy this for my niece Jane, she's vegan!" The Editorial Director said that she didn't really know what vegan meant but if she could leave it to me to mark up the vegan recipes and add a note to the general notes sheet, she can discuss it (if there are enough recipes to warrant it). I feel so proud of myself for a) voicing my own opinion and b) furthering the vegan cause!

Just before lunch, the Director asked if she could talk to me in private. My internship was due to finish next Wednesday so I thought she'd be giving me an assessment or hopefully asking me to stay! Indeed, it was the latter! She said she'd like to offer me a 6-week temping contract as a freelancer (for a very minimal amount, no holidays, no sick pays etc). I was flattered to have been asked and very happy to be offered a paid job within publishing - my first! It's a huge step for me. However I was really worried about money so I phoned my father who is an accountant to check on taxes and NI. I'll have to pay taxes but not as much as I thought however it still won't be enough wages to cover my rent, bills, transport and food (and food for my cat!). At least I still have a bit of redundancy money left to subsidise my living costs for a bit.

The afternoon started off rather mundane as I was asked to send out presentations to a couple of publishers - these are high quality A3 print outs of the layout/spreads, jacket covers and an A4 synopsis of the book. Except that there were so many options that I messed one up regarding the page scaling and had to re-do it all which the Director was understandably not happy about! In my defence, no one had actually shown me what to do.. but I could've checked.

I then made a non-refundable booking for a hotel during the Frankfurt Book Fair in October on her credit card. About an hour was wasted trying to print a 33-page PDF document which kept crashing my computer and my colleague's, when I tried it on hers. It worked on the 3rd colleague's computer though.

Towards the end of the day I was asked to draft 2 contracts which I'd never done before. I located the template and the COR (confirmed order report) and filled out the blanks as best I could with names, dates and payment terms then asked my colleague for help with the rest. It took a while as we discovered the template was wrong so I had to change the 2 contracts and the template as well. Then at the end of the day my computer crashed for another half hour so in the end I just left it and went home 20 minutes late.

Still, a good day overall ;) I feel very proud of my first paid job in publishing.

This does lead to the question though whether I should continue to blog once my internship is over.. would you like to read more about my daily tasks in this role? Thank you, also, for the 350 hits I now have on this blog! Spread the word :)

The woes of a malfunctioning printer

Yesterday I was asked to proofread the new vegetarian cookbook which is going to be published soon. Unfortunately I do not have InDesign on my laptop so I came in early this morning to print it on my colleague's computer. Except it wouldn't print. Whilst opening the file I was getting all sorts of error messages about missing links, fonts not being uploaded and plug in errors. I figured out how to print it but then the printer stopped working and restarted itself. 40 minutes later my colleague had arrived and I gave up, hoping someone could help me later.

Instead I sent out some more invitations to the London Book Fair, this time to Brazil, the UK, Australia and the US. The Book Fair is open from 9am - 6pm and each appointment lasts half an hour and runs back to back leaving no break for the attendant, not even for lunch! I don't know how they survive..

I returned back to the production room mid-morning to try and finish off the stock check of all of the production copies so we could empty out the room for storage and start getting rid of furniture for the office move. "Production room" sounds fancier than it really is; it's a meeting room with bookcases against the walls. There can be several versions of 1 book depending on the publisher and the print run and hardback or paperback. This is what I had to sort through and check against the inventory list.

Just before lunch I was asked to update the pending business deals, going through e-mails to find out whether any books had been rejected by other publishers - this means that they don't want to join our print run and publish a book in their own name.

In the afternoon I worked on the office move, trying (and failing) to persuade the current tenants of the new property to allow a BT technician in a week early to transfer the lines over so we'd have internet when we move in (it takes 7-10 days for BT to do this..). The move is planned for Easter Weekend which is just before the London Book Fair so it's not optimal to be without internet during that period!

I then started proofreading (after the Editorial Director converted the .indd files into .pdf so I could print the documents!). The printer crashed and restarted about 4 times today, frustrating the entire office. I've brought some proofreading home with me tonight to do as well so that I can finish it quickly. It's 10pm now so I'd better get cracking!

Vegetarian proofreading

This morning my MacBook had been given to another intern because it has QuarkXpress and Indesign on it which she would be needing and I wouldn't apparently! This is not a good sign.. So I spent about 4 hours today saving all of my e-mails onto the server then saving them into my new laptop as each e-mail address is computer-specific; you can't use your account on a different computer. It felt like such a waste of time because my internship is due to end next Wednesday and I have so much to do! But I bit my tongue and did my duty.

I was getting bored of dragging the e-mail folders over so after an hour or so I took a break and went downstairs into the production room to continue doing the stock check and packing away extra copies of each print for storage before we move office.

Then I had to check with the current tenants of our new property who their service provider was for phone and internet and check if they were keeping their number etc.

I also had to phone First Great Western Trains because we discovered that a receipt was missing whilst doing the weekly credit card expenses so I was trying to get them to re-send the e-mail confirmation for the booking. Unfortunately we had no record of a) who made the booking, b) which account was used and c) what the booking confirmation code was. The first guy in customer services was clueless how to help us but the second one was much more helpful and we figured it out together.

The new intern was still working on making the changes to the layouts in QuarkXpress (the project which had been taken from me) and I suddenly remembered that I'd been asked to proofread one of the chapters and keep it for later, which I had done. I asked the Editorial Director if perhaps the new intern should take in the proofreading mark ups and she flicked through what I'd done briefly and said that it was a good idea. I was so pleased, hoping that I'd redeemed myself slightly after the disappointment of yesterday!

At around 3pm I was asked to join the Director, Editorial Director and Designer as well as 2 other colleagues for the production meeting. They ran through a spreadsheet of all live books (ie about to be published), getting the latest news on if the other publishers had paid their invoices (they spread the payment into 3 throughout the publishing process), if the printers were meeting the deadlines, if the contracts were ready, if we'd secured another co-publisher for a foreign print of the book and so on. It was sort of interesting to listen to but I must admit that this side of publishing really doesn't appeal to me.. The 2nd book project which I'd been told at the beginning that I was to work on (but hadn't yet been given any work for) was given away to the new intern. Just as I was feeling thoroughly disheartened, the Editorial Director said that she'd like me to work on a vegetarian book that they're publishing! She wanted me to check the number of recipes as there was a discrepancy as well as to proofread the entire book! I was so happy as this is what I really enjoy doing. I'm certainly going to do my best and even work from home in the evenings if this is what it takes to finish it in time!

Tomorrow is another day

Today was the toughest day so far. It started off with the Editorial Director asking me about my progress on making the amendments to the modern art text, to which I replied that I'd completed chapters 1 and 2 but that I had been asked to prioritise other tasks over it by the Director. I was then told that as unfortunately the deadline is Tuesday (tomorrow) evening, which I didn't know about, that she'd be passing this project on to a new intern. I am really kicking myself for not answering that I could manage to finish it in time. I hadn't even had a chance to look through the remaining chapters to estimate how long the amendments would take. I'd been working late 3/5 days a week and working through a couple of lunch breaks too. However the fact remains that the only editorial task I'd been given was now being taken away from me. I felt like such a failure. I want to work as an Editorial Assistant; the current role is entitled Editorial & Rights Intern but in fact 90% of my workload comes from the Director and is either sales work or sorting out the impending office move. It feels more like my old PA job, a "career" which I am desperately trying to leave behind. We had a handover meeting where I explained what I'd done and what needed to be done and then the intern set to work. She kept asking me lots of questions which is understandable but as it turns out, there wasn't actually that much left to do. With the time it took for the handover meeting and with her questions, I could've done it myself. Annoying.

So I am feeling sad because a) I lost out on doing the interesting work, b) the Editorial Director has lost faith in me/my ability, c) I made a mistake not saying that I could do it before the deadline and give it a shot. I should have just tried, rather than be honest and replying that I didn't know whether I could finish it in time. I did offer to talk to the Director and ask which of my tasks were top priority but the Editorial Director didn't give me a chance.

The rest of the day was fairly miserable and stressed because the Director kept finding new things for us all to do. My colleague even commented in exasperation that she didn't know where to start with her workload.

I arranged some more London Book Fair appointments, checked the furniture inventory list for what we were keeping or getting rid of, and I went into the production room where there are copies of each print of each book, and I had to take one of each and put the rest into storage as well as label them and do a stock check. I haven't finished this task yet, I can tell it's going to take a while.

Tomorrow is another day, as they say.

Another week over!

Photo: View from my desk

Friday.. Halfway through my internship. I've been given a lot more responsibility than I thought I would be which I'm grateful for. I thought that I would be observing mostly and doing menial tasks - which I am, however I'm also responsible for more interesting work too.

I got in early today, partly to do the editorial job I'd been given and also because I had to pick up a delivery from the post office before work. I was looking forward to peace and quiet before the others arrived (working hours are 9.30am - 5.30pm although the Director tends to arrive between 9.45 - 10.30am). Of course, this morning, she arrives at 9.15am!! Fortunately I'm left alone so I finish 2 chapter amendments before continuing to arrange more London Book Fair appointments. It's a slow process because I was given the customers in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to liaise with so the time difference makes for very slow e-mail conversations!

The Director mentioned the Bologna Book Fair to me, which is focused on children's books. She may be attending so I need to start informing myself about this one too.

I continued to work on the furniture spreadsheet for the office move and wrote an ad for the desks which we're selling. I managed to finish contacting all of the German customers with pending deals! Then I was told that next week I'd be working on pending deals in Brazil, Portugual, Spain, Italy and Greece. *gulp* I was feeling pretty tired by mid-afternoon after a long week so I prepared my weekly To Do list for Monday morning as it didn't need much brain power. I also worked out that I'd made about 40 cups of tea for the office this week! Ah, the life of an intern.

21.02.13 ~ Thursday's post

I was feeling a little uneasy at work the past day or so as I really wanted to get cracking on taking in the amendments to the text of the modern art book which I'd been asked to do a few days earlier however I was constantly being set more and more work, each task being equally as important/urgent making it pretty difficult to prioritise. Thursday was no better; I sat down at my desk, checked my e-mails and found an urgent printing job that needed doing - I had to print off several chapters for a vegetarian recipe book. No mean feat when the printer gets a paper jam every 2nd or 3rd sheet. Instead of being able to work at my desk I had to stand guard and clear the paper jams.

Some more publishers had got back to me about meeting the Director at the London Book Fair so I added their appointments to the calendar.

The day before, the Director and her partner had visited the new office so today I had to go through her notes and action any points such as contacting the current tenants to check what furniture they were taking or leaving, informing them that we wanted the walls painting white and so on. I also was asked to change the furniture inventory spreadsheet which the previous intern had written. Quite a lot of furniture will be given away or dumped so I'm glad I'm involved in this project as I'm hoping to snaffle as much as I can because I know someone who could use desks, cabinets, tables & chairs for a converted warehouse. Although we're one bookshelf less now as I managed to break a bookcase by putting a parcel which was obviously too heavy for the shelf; books went flying everywhere!

The Director showed me the Frankfurt Book Fair folder - this fair takes place in October but it's so popular that their hotel is already booked. I was asked to check the cancellation policy on their hotel booking in case they want to switch hotels and the Director asked me to put a reminder in my calendar 1 week before the cancellation period ran out which is September time. It didn't twig until later but my internship is meant to end in 2 weeks - is this a good sign? Or perhaps the next intern would have access to the same calendar?

She was in a good mood and I was even asked to go buy some chocolates for the office.

I spent most of the afternoon working my way through the German pending deals again (top priority!), contacting customers to see if they wanted to join our print run for various titles.

As I hadn't had time all day to work on the editorial job for the modern art book, I decided to work late and limited myself to 1 hour overtime. However, the Director was still in her office and she continued to set me more and more tasks so that once again I didn't get to touch QuarkXpress.

Apologies...

... I left my notebook in the office so I'll have to do a double posting tomorrow! Meanwhile, here are some amusing but all-too-true cartoons. Enjoy.

The future part II

I've been thinking about my blog entry from yesterday. In particular, the question as to whether I would want to continue working for this publisher. I decided that whilst it's not the perfect fit for me, it's a great entry level job should I manage to secure it and that I would learn a lot in the position. I would still like to try work experience for another publisher or two ideally before settling in a job however this would be a great opportunity for me and would give me a bit of welcome security!

I sneakily tried to ask my lovely colleague if she knew whether there would be a position available and if any other interns had been lined up for when I'm due to leave. She didn't really know but said that she got the impression that I'd be asked to stay. Whether or not it's to continue as an unpaid intern or perhaps as a paid intern, or even to be offered a job (or work for them as freelance?) she didn't know. But the possibility that I may be asked to stay really cheered me up and motivated me to work even harder! It's always nice to get positive feedback anyway. Fingers crossed that she's right. I'm not sure I would stay another month as an unpaid intern but I'd have to check my financial situation and get back to them.

Anyway, today's tasks were:

• Typing up the meeting notes from when we discussed the furniture for the office move
• Revising the furniture inventory list 
• Processing more expenses
• Writing an eBay ad to sell 6 of the desks
• Filing author contracts
• Being a book model! (I was asked to pose for some photos for a new book, not sure if they'll be used though..)
• Emptying the bins (woo!)
• Wondering how on earth to type a £-sign on a Mac
• Spending most of the afternoon working my way through the pending Germany folder, writing to German customers about books they were reviewing, chasing them to send our copies back and sending them new layout versions.

The future

Today was about trying to reduce my To Do list! Only 2 weeks remain and I'd really like to do the best job that I can whilst I'm there. I am wondering about my future there.. whether there is a vacancy for an Editorial Assistant to replace the one who left, whether they're grooming me for the role, whether another intern is perhaps already lined up to take my place, whether I want the role, whether they'll ask me to extend my internship for another month or more. I'm also wondering whether to broach the subject or bide my time a little longer.

So I worked on more London Book Fair appointments, filing, taking in changes to the book in QuarkXpress, doing some expenses for the Director and slowly working my way through all pending business opportunities in Germany. Both Directors were away this afternoon so I could get on with the work rather than being given more new tasks! I hope tomorrow is peaceful too otherwise the sense of getting behind may become too much and I don't want to have to work overtime ;)

QuarkXpress cherry popped!

This morning I walked in to find a new face in the office. Today was the first day of a(nother) new Design Intern. Things aren't transparent in the office; we aren't told who's coming or going, who anyone is or how long people are staying for or what their role is! I introduced myself and we asked each other the usual questions.

The Editorial Director came over to my desk and handed me all of the notes from Friday's author meeting. She'd been through them to check they were coherent and up-to-date and she wanted me to type them up into one long document along with the older notes on the other finished chapters. I managed to finish the first chapter before lunch. It wasn't a matter of pure typing though as I had to make some decisions myself on options we'd left open about the text and I redrafted a couple of paragraphs too. The power!!

I'd been asked to buy a replacement cleaning product for the bathroom with money from the kitty - a task I really don't mind doing as it's nice to take a walk outside! I decided to go during my lunchbreak so I wouldn't have to make the trek to the shops twice. I was also happy at being asked because it means that I can slowly convert their supplies into eco-friendly, cruelty-free products, quite stealthily!

After lunch, I finished the notes for the 2nd chapter and was about to start the 3rd when I was told that the new layouts had arrived for the book from the Art Director, so I could make the amendments in QuarkXpress directly. I hadn't used Quark before so she showed me the basic functions. It was pretty exciting to see the text that I'd been working on for the past week to be in book format on the screen, in colour and with pictures! I made some changes but then was asked to help down in the production room for the office move. We had to do an inventory of the display books and put some into storage as the new office is smaller, so I helped out on that. When I returned to my desk, the day was almost over so I drafted an e-mail to a German customer about some outstanding project ideas, then I left.

TGIF

Iiiit's Friday!

I must mention that this is the first full week of work that I've done since the beginning of July last year so needless to say I'm pretty knackered!

This morning I finished off the preparation for the author meeting this afternoon and then was asked by the Director whether my other colleague had showed me the 'Germany pending folder'. I explained that as the chapters had been set as priority, I hadn't been shown the pending folder yet. What the Director had neglected to tell me was that this work was also a priority (of course!) so she was rather upset with me because the other colleague was off today so she could only show me on Monday. After a very brief explanation of what I should be doing, the Director left me to my own devices.

The task was basically to read through a folder of printed e-mails and make a list of all German customers where some kind of action was outstanding. This could be anything from, "We sent you some FCs of 3 books a month ago, have you had a chance to review them?" to sending out new synopses or pricing lists and printing schedules. The majority seemed to be to send chasers as we were waiting to hear back from the publishers whether they wanted to join the print run or whether they would reject the concept.

Co-edition publishing means that several publishers can publish the same book but in different territories and languages which renders the printing process cheaper overall because the coloured plates such as the pictures remain the same and the layout is the same; only the black plates ie the text changes (for different languages).

Anyway, I read through the folder and realised that it really wasn't up-to-date so I check the ca. 50 German e-mail folders which I had previously imported. This meant reading through the latest e-mails for each customer e.g. Random House. I made 6 pages of notes of all outstanding actions and then presented them to the Director. She was in a much better mood (either she had calmed down or she was pleased with what I'd done). She told me what to do for each customer (usually sending a chaser e-mail which I can do in German if I like!).

Lunchtime had come so I went for a bite to eat and then spent the remainder of my house queuing in the post office to post a letter for work as well as buying kitchen supplies and more toilet paper with money from the kitty.

Back at the office, I found an e-mail from the Director asking me to call a B&B in Lyon to see if they had an available room for her this weekend for a romantic weekend away. Oh well, it's a good excuse to practice French I guess. Turns out they were fully booked.

I sorted out some more London Book Fair appointments and sorted out some scrap A4 sheets for the photocopier until the Editorial Director asked for a run through of the points she needed to raise in the author meeting. This book is one on modern art for children. We sat down for an hour before the author arrived, and she stayed for an hour and a half! The meeting went well and I was glad that I had stayed late the evening before to work on the documents and preparation. There were quite a few queries from the Art Director for the photo shoot for the book which we had to clarify but also some text re-writes appeared to be missing so we requested those too.

All of a sudden it was 5.40pm and time for home! The poor Editorial Director was staying behind though to type up the notes for the Art Director - I'm so glad she didn't ask me to do it!

Day 6

Today was rather busy! I keep being given more and more tasks to do... which is great! I won't complain but initially I was worried about not being given enough things to do!

I spent the first couple of hours in the morning working on a chapter checking the rewrites. Unfortunately it was all a big mess; the author had send text back in 4 different attachments but not labelled each section with what the text referred to and she also included the old text version as well (but sometimes in slightly different wording) so I had to figure out (a) what was irrelevant and (b) where the next text should be pasted into.

I met the Editorial Director for the first time as she returned from her 3-week holiday. She was relaxed, friendly, open and even called me "hon" at one point! I am looking forward to working with her once she's caught up with her e-mails.

I spent 1.5 hours importing all of the German customer e-mails from my Director's inbox via the server then into my Outlook folders.

Next I chose to work on some more LBF appointments as a couple of people had got back to me saying they couldn't make the suggested time and had asked for alternatives. Unfortunately there weren't many as the remaining slots had meanwhile been suggested to the French customers. It really is like a jigsaw though and I'm sure that all of the pieces will eventually fall into place.

I started the copyediting of the chaper in the afternoon which was rather exciting and I enjoyed doing.

Afterwards, I went through the notes I'd made about the author rewrites for a chapter, and the Director was pleased with what I'd done. I then started to prepare all 3 chapters for the author meeting tomorrow. I left the office around 6.30pm thoroughly exhausted!

Getting better...

Wednesday 13th February

Yes, I'm posting this blog 1 day too late, however I was out all evening! And I may be a little tipsy now.

Wednesday went a lot better. Not only was the atmosphere a little more relaxed but I was given lots of things to do. I started off by finishing off the filing and beginning to consolidate all of the rather sparse files into just a few, creating indexes etc. I can only really do this when the Director is out of her office so it's best first thing.

I then checked my e-mails and worked through the replies I'd received after inviting around 30 companies to appointments at the London Book Fair.

I also discovered that the lady I had been communicating with about one of my assigned books was indeed the author and that I would be meeting her on Friday to discuss the outstanding chapter rewrites - my first author meeting, how exciting! A little dampened by the fact that she is the Director's sister, but exciting nonetheless.

I also had to save about 50 folders' worth of e-mails from the server into my inbox individually which took hours.

I was asked to compile all of the author rewrites from different e-mails and attachments into one document.

I was then invited to a meeting about the impending office move where we ran through an inventory of all current furniture and the Director decided what was staying and what would be sold or given away (I was assigned the task of writing the adverts!).

Afterwards, I worked a bit of the Frankfurt Book Fair confirming our stand. The FBF isn't until October but these things need to be confirmed early.

I started work on the next chapter in the book, checking which editorial points were outstanding, what had been corrected etc. I was also asked to copyedit the first chapter's rewrites which made me very happy indeed as I love correcting text! I even drafted subtitles for 2 books!

All in all, it was a good day.

Slight improvement

On Tuesday I had a nervous feeling until the day was over, worried that I would be set another new task which wasn't explained to me properly. Fortunately, day 4 went better.

I started off by inviting around 30 English-language publishers to the London Book Fair to meet with the Director. It took about an hour and a half to do this as firstly I had to fit them all into half-hour slots over 3 days however no one country could meet with her in consecutive appointments (i.e. if there was an American publisher, the next meeting could only be Australian, Canadian or from New Zealand). This took a bit of time but felt rather like doing a jigsaw puzzle. I had been sent an invitation template so then I sent off individual e-mails checking whether they were available on that day at that time. After doing this, I had to update the spreadsheet with the times I had suggested, as 2 other colleagues also arrange appointments; one for Francophone countries and the other for Scandanavian countries. At some point, I'll also be asked to do the German ones and someone else will invite the Asian contacts. It's a big job!

I then started on the next chapter of the book, again comparing the copyedited version with the rewritten version, and compiled an e-mail back to who I assume must be the author (maybe she's writing under a pen name?) whilst also including the Art Director's notes on the chapter. There seemed to be quite a few points missing and I am not sure whether I am overlooking something or whether those parts of the text hadn't been sent.

I was worried I was getting behind a bit in my work so I worked through my lunch break, only stopping for 15 mins to eat something (the interns have an hour lunch break).

I was asked to scan in, file, and send copies of new contracts to Indonesia. Unfortunately it's a laborious process to scan double-sided documents as you have to scan in each page individually, send them to a server, save them from the server in separate documents, then merge them in Acrobat!

Then I had to run a couple of errands, firstly to buy some teabags and secondly to go to the post office with a parcel for Turkey and then onto Rymans to buy some collapsable crates. These are for the FCs (finished copies) as the new office in Soho is apparently a lot smaller, so we cannot display as many books. Therefore, only one will be kept in the office the Director will store the rest in her flat.

I went through my notes on the chapter with the Director who seemed happy with them, then sent off a long email cutting and pasting the relevant points and parts of the text to the author (?).*

Because of the post office errand, I left the office late at 5.50pm (instead of 5.30pm). I'm happy to work late occasionally to get the work done and also to show some dedication but I hope that they don't expect it every day!

I feel like I got a lot of work done today so I left the office happier even though I had to rush to the centre of London otherwise I'd be late for a class which started at 6.30pm!

*I shall have to ask this at some point!

Thrown in at the deep end

This morning I started the day off by working on the London Book Fair appointments; revising the invitee list and confirming the first appointment and updating the spreadsheet. I also continued to work on the filing which I've almost finished but I was then asked to consolidate all of the folders so that task isn't quite over.

I finished working on the IT checlist where I had to go around the computers and note down which versions they had for the OS and various software programmes.

Over the weekend I had read the synopses of the 2 books which I will be working on so I also took a look at the spreads for one of them which is an A3 print out of the layout and basic design with a few sample pages of text.

The rota had been sent round so we knew who was to empty the bins, do the washing up and offer cups of tea this week! I also prepared my weekly To Do list and left a print out in the Director's in tray as required. There really is an awful lot of printing in this office! Coming from a "paperless" office it is quite striking.

I wanted to go to an early lunch so that I wouldn't have to wait so long in the post office as I had a few parcels to send, however I was asked to copy all of the Director's e-mails from German clients/publishers to my own inbox so I had to wait for her to go to lunch before I copied them over, which took about 40 minutes. I don't know if Macs are slow in general or if it's just their system!

After lunch (and queuing for 30 minutes in the aforemnetioned post office!) the Director asked me if I was ready to talk about one of the books which I shall refer to as Book-3. I wasn't quite sure what she meant about "being ready" but of course I said yes. I must've had a confused look on my face because she asked me if I had read the synopsis (yes) and read and printed out her e-mails about it (read yes, printed no as she never told me to!). I printed out the e-mails and went into her office. She asked where the copy editor's notes were and another colleague heard and found them on the old Editorial Assistant's desk in a folder. Unfortunately the folder wasn't complete and some sections were missing. The Director asked me to print them out from the server but I hadn't been explained (a) where to look, (b) what the files were called and (c) what I was looking for exactly! We found a couple together but it took a while. I was then asked to compare the different versions of one of the chapters. I had 3 documents to work with - a list of notes which should've been incorporated, the copy editor's notes which also should have been taken into account, and the latest version. However it wasn't really explained to me what the different versions were, who they were from and what I had to do so I sat at my desk rather confused for a while trying to do my best but in the end I had to ask her again for further instruction. I felt very frustrated and a bit annoyed that nothing was being explained and I was expected to be able to do it on my 3rd day of the internship without having worked at a publishers before! Maybe it was a test.. if so, I'm afraid that I failed! Afterwards, I thought I understood but when I sat down to do it, I realised I didn't understand.. so I kept having to go back to her to ask questions. Hopefully it will all be clearer tomorrow...

Farewells and welcomes

Friday, my second day, was the last day at the publishers for the Editorial Assistant and for another intern. This meant:

• There were cakes in the office
• We were all invited out to lunch at the local Thai by the Director (tasty but quite spicy!)
• I finally got set up at a desk and was given an e-mail account upon which the Director officially welcomed me!

The other intern wasn't leaving until lunchtime though so the morning was spent on filing (26 folders down, 4 to go!). The Director also asked me to remove some jacket sleeves from some FCs (finished copies) as the printer had used a wrong margin size so the title was a bit skewiff. I also found out that the main Editor is on holiday until mid February. I hope that I will get to support her!

Just before lunch we did a clean out of the office as they are moving premises in March to Soho, so we got rid of old equipment and I was asked to throw out about 20 dummies (blank books that had been made to the right size & format for a specific book to see if it's suitable). I snaffled a couple for myself then threw the rest out with a broken heart. In my last company, I was Secretary to the Environmental Committee and we introduced a recycling system to the office of over 350 people, so this was quite hard for me to just throw out perfectly good paper!

There was a slightly more stressed atmosphere in the office as Chinese New Year starts this weekend and the celebrations last for over a week in China, the place where the publisher's books are produced, so everyone was trying to finish off their projects and submit them before the Chinese offices closed.

Another thing I discovered was that the publisher where I am interning started off by selling sex books! The gift-style ones, tongue-in-cheek and coy that you can give to friends and have a giggle about.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we had the editoral handover meeting which the Editorial Assistant led. I was handed 2 books that I will be responsible for! I am not sure in what way yet but I was given weekend homework of reading the synopses so I know what they are about. Looking forward to getting stuck in!

Also, the ball has started rolling with the London Book Fair appointments. I am responsible for all German appointments (as I speak German) and the first confirmation has already come through! The LBF takes place in Earls Court in April but planning is already underway. Each meeting is scheduled for 30 minutes and they run back-to-back for the entire day, with only a half-hour break! It sounds like gruelling work but it's where the publisher can sell rights to their book concepts.

Day 1

Day 1 is over and what a day!

It started off how you'd expect; they had prepared well for my arrival and I was handed a few print outs with useful information about their computer system, a list of proofreaders' marks, guidelines for their interns (a list of usual duties & tasks such as bin and washing up rota etc!) as well as their book list and internal codes. I tried to familiarise myself with the codes as much as I could until I was handed an Excel spreadsheet of the previous year's appointment list for the London Book Fair. The spreadsheet had a few deletions and amendments which I was to alter and save. Apparently I will be responsible for the organisation of their appointments at the LBF.

The majority of my day was spent filing - I had to go through shelves of folders and remove all printed e-mail correspondence which was older than 2009 (this is most certainly not a paperless office!). It sounds mundane however I skim read a few e-mails and became acquainted with some of the different publishers that the Director is in contact with plus it was good to see the style of language people use to communicate with each other. I've previously worked in financial services and for a scientific NGO so I wasn't sure how formal or informal the language would be.

I was also told that every Monday morning everyone had to write their own To Do list for that week and save it in a folder that everyone can access. I can imagine this being a problem for some but for me and my passion in writing To Do lists, it was most welcome!

As 2 colleagues (the Editorial Assistant and another intern) are leaving tomorrow we had a handover meeting when they ran me through some tasks that I'll need to do such as chasing publishers in Brazil, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain for FCs (finished copies of books). FCs are sent to publishers to help them decide if they want to co-publish the books however if they decide to reject the pitch, we need the FCs back.

Another mini project was a general stock take of all Macs and what software versions they were using.I jotted down a few things that I need to practice or research a bit about such as different Mac software programmes as I'm not too familiar with Mac products, having only used Windows or Linux in the past. I noticed a distinct lack of stationery and general resources so tomorrow I shall go better equipped with a pencil case, notebook, divides and Post-it notes!

As to the office itself:

• The dress code is smart/casual (one of my worst nightmares!)
• There are around 8 people working there; 4 of whom are interns
• It's a spacious office in London with lots of shops close by.  

The other colleagues were very friendly yet somewhat subdued, or perhaps just really concentrated on their work! It's an international team - Portugal, Italy, France, the US, South Africa and Denmark are represented - in fact, the only other English person is the Director herself! Fortunately I had the occasion to talk to everyone on a more informal level after work as we went for leaving drinks to celebrate the Editorial Assistant's new job elsewhere. It was a great opportunity in fact as we all asked each other about where we were from, how we got into Publishing etc so it was pretty interesting. I was also asking tactful questions about potential job opportunities because it's hard to tell, as such a small company, if they have the resources. It seems as though internships can be extended for a few months however I cannot afford this option! One girl was taken on after working as an intern for 4 months. Unpaid labour is a contentious subject and I think that The Guardian sums it up quite well in this article.

Although I cannot tell how much of my work will actually be editorial, I am very much looking forward to learning more about the world of books and it's a great opportunity for me which I am so grateful for! The other intern described her experience there as "intense" and I cannot wait to get my teeth stuck into it!

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog! 

I have created it for 2 purposes. The first and main reason is to share with you my experiences during the course of my month-long internship. I have a dual role to support both Editorial and Rights for a book publisher in London and I am very excited about this opportunity! So excited in fact that it's almost midnight on the night before my first day and I cannot fall asleep. If, like me, you don't have many contacts in the world of publishing and you would like to know more about what working in publishing is really like, then you're in the right place.

My second reason is that I would like a diary of everything that I have learned from this internship and what better way than to make a public statement that I will be diarising my experiences in order to keep myself motivated to keep writing as often as I can! I shall not commit to it being a daily blog although I shall try my best.

I have been trying for a long time to get into publishing and this is really the first glimmer of hope that I've had. It sounds like a small step but for me, it's a very exciting opportunity and I'm happy to share it with you.

However for now I shall continue my preparation by reading the guidelines which were sent to me about the role which I shall commence tomorrow! Having been unemployed for half a year, you can imagine how enthusiastic I am and I really want to give this my best shot. I shall report back tomorrow!