5 Things I’ve Learned Working in a Publishing House
Truthfully, I didn’t know what to expect when starting in a student-run publishing house. We are one of only a few in all of Australia, or even in the world, and while I was eager to spread my wings and dip my toes into the industry – be a big girl, if you will – I had a lot to learn.
Firstly, working in a team was more beneficial than I had initially expected. As a writing student, I had grown used to the loads of independent work I had completed throughout my degree, with the only teamwork aspect coming in during frequent workshopping sessions. Any university student would agree – teamwork sounds terrifying! Imagine giving up control like that! Imagine having to listen to other people’s ideas! (what if they’re terrible?) Imagine having to contact people all the time and wait for responses for work!
But what really happened, was that our work was of higher quality due to increased input of different ideas stemming from different histories, age groups and skills. I was able to connect better with my peers because work became less competitive. Working in a team has become one of my favourite things about working at Elephant Page Publishing.
Secondly, along a similar vein, I learned that a lot of work goes into the books on my bookshelf. As an avid reader, seeing all the books pumped out constantly in bookshops or online, you imagine that the actual process of publishing the book (once it’s already been written) would be relatively straightforward. However, we have 25 students working here tirelessly to publish only one book at a time, and there’s a lot involved.
While some are working on effective book covers or the interior of the book (what the pages will look like, choosing a font, etc.), others are editing everything from the story to the blurb to letters to authors. More students are working on getting the word out on what we have published, while others spend their hours reading endless submissions.
Our students are so passionate and excited about publishing. All the work that goes into publishing even one book at a time is done with so much love and passion that I’m sure that our work has to be better than everyone else’s, (I’m not biased or anything). Everyone is happy to bring forward what skills and interests they have to benefit others, or to challenge themselves with skills they have otherwise struggled with. Our shared interest and collaboration has bonded us well, and I’m excited to see where their passion and excitement takes them next, now that our chapter with Elephant Page Publishing is coming to a close.
The work that we’re doing and the choices we make matter more so than the work I’ve completed previously. By this I mean that because we work with real people, and our words and choices can affect a real audience, it’s important that we think through every choice that we make. This includes the fonts – how accessible is it? – to what or who we platform in our publishing house and social media. I had considered this as a writer beforehand, as ethics and accessibility are things we discuss and learn about from our first year, but hadn’t considered it to the same extent until now.
Before, what did it matter if I made a wrong choice? Only my teacher was going to read it. But now there are people who can be affected, and it’s important that we think through our choices and make sure that we harm as little people as possible with these decisions.
Among those effected by these choices are our wonderful authors. I learned that we collaborate with our authors more than I thought we would. As a writer, I had expected that should I pursue traditional publishing, I should be expected to give up all hope of creative input. While this is likely the case with larger publishing houses, we work intimately with our authors from frequent emailing to interviews and social media content. We have asked their opinions on book covers and blurbs and they have provided important feedback that we take into account where possible. This is not necessarily a standard in publishing, but as a small publishing house, we are excited to collaborate with real authors who have dedicated so much effort and passion to their words. Now, by the end of the semester, the books feel like they belong to all of us.
Olivia Rowcliffe
Design Associate