The panelists, who were drawn from a cross-section of book publishing in the national capital area, began by describing their careers.

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Panelists' Entry into the Field

Debra Weiner, editorial and production manager at Georgetown University Press, has worked at the university press for 12 years out of a total of 36 years in publishing in general. She got her first publications job in the District of Columbia by marching into the office of a music education journal and announcing that she would like to work there.

Patricia Shyne, director of publications and marketing at the World Watch Institute, enrolled in the George Washington University course in editing and was recommended for her first job in publishing by one of her professors. She worked her way up the ladder from copywriter to managerial positions in production, marketing, and acquisitions before being downsized. She has been at World Watch Institute for 7 years.

Laura Lawson, acquisitions editor for the ASCD, turned down a job offer in publishing at the dawn of her career for a secretarial job because the secretarial position paid better. After finding secretarial work boring, she switched to publishing and has since worked in journals and magazines as well as in book acquisitions.

Cathy Frye, owner of The Fresh Eye, a sole proprietorship, is “freelance by choice.” She writes and edits for a wide variety of clients. Unlike most of the other panelists, she has a degree in writing.

Jessica Kemp, acquisitions editor at the International City/County Management Association, turned to publishing after becoming disillusioned with public relations. She spent 1 year at a magazine and 3 years working on journals before moving to ICMA.

Jack Bruggeman, vice president of Washington Book Publishers and moderator of the panel, has worked in book publishing for 30 years and began his Washington book publishing career in a job at Aspen Publishers. When he was downsized (along with the rest of his office), he moved to the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is now director of Special Publishing at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Q & A

Responding to the moderator’s questions, panelists discussed various aspects of publishing careers in the national capital area. All panelists agreed that the biggest change in publishing in recent years was the huge increase in electronic publication, which requires whole new techniques for marketing and distribution.  “I used to tell people we published books,” said Debra Weiner.  “Now I tell them I convert content.” 

Several panelists noted that the opportunities for electronic publishing, digital distribution, and social media are so abundant that few publishers have the time, money, and labor to exploit those resources as much as they would like. Not surprisingly, financial constraints on distributing digital media are as strict as those that apply to traditional book publishing. “We can’t do projects we’d like to,” said Jessica Kemp, “because the return isn’t sufficient.”

Panelists described some of the ways they found jobs, often after lengthy searches. Most had gotten jobs when friends or co-workers had told them about available positions. Jessica Kemp took a job for which she was overqualified to get a foot in the door. Debra Weiner started a quarterly journal; the resulting experience, listed on her resume, helped her get her next job.

Laura Lawson volunteered to edit a nonprofit’s newsletter to get editing credits for her résumé. A friend told Jack Bruggeman that she was leaving a desirable job; he called the employer before the position was advertised and was promptly hired. None of the panelists had gotten a job through LinkedIn, though several used the service to keep up with friends and colleagues.

Panelists’ employers have used free media to advertise for new positions. Other attendees have sought new employees and freelancers through the Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Mediabistro.com, Idealist.org, Craig’s List, and the Washington Book Publishers’ website. Networking and word of mouth remain the most popular recruiting tools.

Resources

Panel members recommended that anyone who wants a career in book publishing should stay current on developments in publishing in general, should continue to acquire new skills, and should network. All six participants mentioned resources they used to keep well informed, including Publishers Weekly, Publishers Lunch, O’Reilly Media, Library Journal, and three e-mail lists (DCPubs, DCWebwomen, and PublishingDC).

The consensus among all panelists was that they were happy with their choice of a career in book publishing in the national capital area, in spite of the difficulty in getting into the profession and the somewhat precarious state of the current job market.

—Constance Warner