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Julie Matysik (Yamanashi-ken, 2006-07) is a freelance copy editor and aspiring in-house editor who recently moved to NYC with her husband (also a JET alum). She is the midst of an internship in editing/publishing/writing. Editorial Pursuits chronicles her job hunting efforts, experiences and lessons learned.Well, it’s official: I am in internship junkie!
My inability to land a full-time job in publishing has left me with little options but to continue to pile on the internships. And my newest addition: Skyhorse Publishing.
In mid-January I realized that I wanted to gain experience in an actual publishing company (in addition to my literary agency internship) and so I turned to Craigslist.com for help. Finding an add for Skyhorse Publishing, a company I’d never even heard of before, I wrote my letter of interest and forwarded my resume and heard back a few days later. After a brief phone interview, I was awarded the opportunity to become their intern and started the following Wednesday.
I guess I forgot how disorienting a new “job” could be, because after my first five hours there, I felt like a publishing virgin, despite my two months of hard work at the literary agency. This feeling, however, quickly subsided as I started to find my niche within the company.
I started to enjoy Skyhorse more when I was given my first “real” task – writing a press release for a book about European hunting. I know, I know, you are probably asking yourself what I know about hunting animals in Europe (me, the vegetarian and almost-exclusive literary snob) and I initially thought the same thing as well. However, I proved myself wrong and wrote a good release (thank you, English Major, for teaching me how to write persuasively about topics I know almost nothing about!). Then, about a week later, I was “assigned” to a senior editor and my internship experience increased almost ten-fold overnight! I went from writing press releases and doing mailings to copy editing and rewriting manuscripts all in a week’s time!
When I had my phone interview, prior to starting with Skyhorse, I asked the fateful question, “Is this a paid internship?” I expected a plain “No” to come from the interviewer’s lips, but instead, she gracefully (and rightfully) explained that “No, it is not, but we pay you in experience.” At the time, I was a little put-off, but now I have to agree with her-the experiences I’ve had at both Skyhorse Publishing and at the literary agency have increased my knowledge (and confidence) immensely, and I know that when I do go in to interview for jobs, I now have something substantial to “bring to the table.”
Now, the next (and probably toughest step) is getting someone in publishing to take a chance on me. It’s a hard road to travel-but I’m not giving up yet!
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