What It’s Like Working At Elephant Page

I had no idea what to expect when I started working at Elephant Page in March of 2025. I was halfway through my master's degree and had never had the pleasure of working in the publishing business before. I also knew Elephant Page was only a year old and still making a name for itself. Even though I was unsure how the semester would play out, I was still excited to get the experience of working for a real publishing house.   

One of the biggest differences between working at Elephant Page and another publishing house is that the work occurs in a university computer lab. Our head publisher, Per Henningsgaard, is also our teacher, and we still have assignments and due dates. The other main difference is that usually, when you start at a new job, you get to meet the existing staff, and they run you through how everything works and get you up to speed on the current projects. However, at Elephant Page, each cohort of staff currently only exists for one semester, so there is no official handover. The previous staff left us a welcome letter and several guides explaining what they had been working on and planned to continue with. Per provided us with guidance throughout the semester, but ultimately, we were Elephant Page's staff. It was up to us to decide how to move forward with existing projects and which new projects we wanted to take on.   

While we continued with some projects, we made others our own. As we changed the previous cohort's work, I wondered how they would feel about seeing their work go in a different direction. And now, at the end of the semester, after spending over three months pouring my heart and soul into the projects I worked on, I'm struggling with the idea of handing over that work to people I won't get to meet. I know there is a chance they won't agree with some of my decisions, and they will take the projects in their own direction. While they will do an amazing job with it, giving up that control is still hard. I would also miss the amazing team I had been working with and the bonds we had formed over the semester.   

One of my favourite things about working at Elephant Page was the autonomy we had to try and do anything we wanted to, and we were even encouraged to do some work with every department. I'm completing my degree in professional writing and publishing with the goal of being an editor once I graduate. However, I spent this semester in the marketing department and learnt skills I wouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity to learn. I also took the lead on running the blog for our website, and while I did get experience editing blog posts, I wish I spent some time working with the editing department on the novels we have coming.   

By the time you are reading this article, I will no longer be working at Elephant Page. I will be in the middle of my uni break, preparing for my next units and wondering what exciting things the new staff at Elephant Page will be getting up to when the new semester starts. While I wish to stay with Elephant Page for another semester, even another year, I know the future staff will do a great job and have a lot of fun. My advice to them would be to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. It's great to get experience in the area you are interested in, and it's an amazing experience to add to your resume. But don't be afraid to work in another department. We even had a student change departments halfway through this semester. Elephant Page is about finding and growing the talent of the staff and the authors we collaborate with, so take advantage of that.   

I knew I couldn't be the only one feeling this way about leaving Elephant Page, so during the last class of the semester, I set out to interview my fellow staff members. While I was unable to interview someone from the design department, I was able to interview some amazing people from the other three departments.   

Kel McDonough, from the marketing department, who is completing her Bachelor of Art in professional writing and publishing, with specialisations in photography and digital  

Christina Ostaszewskyj, from the marketing department, who is completing her Bachelor of Commerce in marketing and web media.  

Samantha Newton, from the acquisitions department, who is completing her Bachelor of Commerce in human resources with a minor in creative writing. 

Gabriel Harrison, from the editing department, who is completing their Bachelor of Art in professional writing and publishing and creative writing 

Indara Gentle, from the editing department, who is completing her Bachelor of Art in creative writing.  

How do you feel now about working at Elephant Page, compared to how you felt at the beginning of the semester? 

Kel: At the beginning, I didn’t know what was expected it was like a bit of a mystery coming into the unit and now I feel like I could walk into a ground level position in a publishing house in the marketing department and I would sort of know what I was doing.  

Christina: I feel like we have our heads wrapped around what we are doing here a lot more. At the start it was exciting but also obviously daunting, with a lot to think about and understand about the context of publishing as well. But now I feel like I still love it, and we are in a really good place as a team, and all the other departments. Everyone has really good flow going.  

Samantha: At the beginning of semester, it was very stressful, and I felt like a fish out of water. There was also a lot of imposter syndrome. Because I was like, how am I here right now actually doing things? But now it’s a lot more relaxed, especially towards the very end of semester in acquisitions we’ve definitely got a handle of things a lot better. It’s a lot nicer and runs a lot smoother.  

Indara: It felt pretty intimidating, having your work have significance compared to normal assignments, where you just kind of write something and it doesn’t really have a greater impact than on yourself. But now I feel a lot more confident in my skills and abilities. It’s helped me grow.  

Gabriel: I was pretty nervous to begin with, but as the semester went on, I felt way more confident in my abilities. I have a whole new skillset that I never would have had before taking this unit. It gives you good practical knowledge, so now I feel confident going into the workforce.    

What was it like coming into a publishing house and having to pick up where the last team left off?  

Kel: They had done a lot of work getting Henry up and going. But we had to sort of start walking our own path, because there wasn’t a lot of stuff done. There was some branding and some logos but there was no real direction for us. I mean, they did a lot of work doing all the prep work, but they didn’t get the opportunity to start moving forward with it either because they only had thirteen weeks. So, I feel like we’ve really marked our path and made a bit of an impact, and we’re getting there.  

Christina: It was hard to just navigate Teams, and they [previous cohort] did some really great handover stuff, but just getting used to how to navigate the app itself, that was probably the hardest part.  
I think our team had a lot of new ideas and we were excited to pick up from where they left off and make it our own version.  

Samantha: quite scary to be honest. I know that Josie, our director, had a lot on her plate. In like week she had to get a handle on everything. I know she did a very good job at that, and it helped us a lot. But yeah, it was very scary because for us there was a lot of manuscripts that were there, and we had no idea what was going on. 

Indara: It felt like we were a bit lost at first because I think Per wanted us to form our own opinions on the manuscript and bring something unique to the table. So, we didn’t really look at anything the last cohort had done for that reason... it felt like we were picking up something, but we didn’t know what. We felt a little bit lost at first, but I think it’s also good that we didn’t rely on any of the last cohort's things because we are competent and we are able to stand on our own feet. 

Gabriel: A bit nerve wracking. We weren’t particularly left with much [in terms of handover sheet?] but we picked up on things really fast. And it was useful that they had already done one structural edit, because it meant we had a platform to go off from there, and then we could do a second structural edit and copy editing. 

How are you feeling about it being the last day and having to hand over your work to someone else? 

Kel: It’s like your baby isn’t it. I mean, a lot of my work was sort of specific to this cohort, especially with the photographs and the blog post. And they’re going to be there forever. So, I’m really proud of that and I’m proud that we had a lot of traction with the LinkedIn posts that I wrote. It’s gonna be weird not coming into this next semester. And I’m going to be keeping an eye on how things are going, because it’s our baby now. I hope that they find the templates that we made useful.  

Christina: I’m sad! And I don’t want to let go of my work. Because I feel like especially because at first we focused more on social media and promoting our book and everything but we’re only getting to more so like those distribution and approaching stores now. But yeah, I would volunteer to keep working here because I just really like it. 

Samantha: I’m excited about it. I’ve actually really enjoyed it. I know I’ve definitely had to improve a lot over this semester with some things. But it is quite sad [that] I only had thirteen weeks. You only get to do so much in thirteen weeks, and I really wish we had more time to do it.   

Gabirel: Devastating! I don’t want to leave. If I could stay at Elephant Page forever, I would. I loved the experience and I don’t want to stop working with the people that I’ve worked with. Like, I’ve made bonds in this unit that I would not have made otherwise. 

Indara: I feel the same [as Gabriel]. I just wish I could keep retaking this unit over and over. It’s such a good environment. I’m going to be really sad. I’m going to miss Per. I’m going to miss everyone. 

What was your favourite thing about working at Elephant Page?   

Kel: I got to play a lot with my camera, which was great. I actually wrote blog posts which were published, which was a bit of a buzz. I learnt a lot about sticking to a brand. 

Christina: Working in a team. My other marketing internships have been more like me just running their marketing, or me and one person. Whereas I really like the whole team and departments and everything. 

Samantha: Getting to read all of the shortlisted manuscripts and getting to talk to Phil, who is our newest author.   

Gabriel: practical copy editing experience. That’s something I really wanted to do and now I’ve gotten to do it.   

Indara: Yeah, definitely the practical side of things. It was interesting coming to class but having that work environment, where you have departmental meetings. It felt really official, but it wasn’t like we were just given a template. We had to work out how we worked together as a department. 

Is there anything you would have wanted to dothat you didn't get to? 

Kel: honestly, our books go on shelves. That’s what I’d love to see, I’d love to see that happen. But that’s for the next cohort. They’re gonna hopefully hit the ground running.   

Christina: I think I would have loved to have more experiences making a sale and to actually get to pitch the book. That would have been cool. But I think it’s good because the next semester will be quite prepared for that based off the notes and the stage that we have left off at.  

Samantha: I think doing more editorial work. I know that I definitely could of, but I chose not to. But that’s just because, again, such limited time, there's only so much you could do.   

Indara: most of my experience was in editing, because I was in that department. When it comes to working with other departments, I did a little bit of design, but it was mostly marketing. I didn’t have any experience with the acquisitions process. So, if I could take the unit again, I would do that as well.   

Gabriel: The only thing I wish I could have done was like internal design of a book. I feel like that would be really fun. I love InDesign. (Shoutout InDesign). But we just weren’t really at that stage for the manuscript and there was so much editing work to be done that I didn’t get a chance to do that.   

What advice would you give to the next cohort of staff?   

Kel: Just go headfirst. Don’t get nervous. You’re gonna make mistakes. That’s what this publishing house is for. It’s so that you can iron out those kinks before you go into the industry. So, go out there, give it your best, give it your all, and just enjoy the experience.   

Christina: Just get right into it. Don’t be nervous. Because I feel like it took us a couple of weeks to sort of get on our feet and get going. We had a lot of ideas but getting content out there and getting started was a bit hesitant. But once we got started, we were on a role.   

Samantha: Specifically for acquisitions but hang in there. If there are a lot of submissions and you’re wondering “oh my god, how are we going to get through all of this?”. You will get through it. It will be okay. It looks like a lot to begin with but assuming... there’s at least 5 of you in acquisitions, you will be okay. It will all work out in the end. Just be very mindful of your notes, and if you ask anyone else to write notes on manuscripts, make sure that they’re detailed, otherwise you are just going to have to go back and read it again, and it makes the crossover very confusing. 

Gabriel: The oxford comma is a good thing. 
Don’t be nervous. Don’t spend too long in your meetings. Try and get things organised before the end of your meetings. 

Indara: destroy it. Destroy the oxford comma unless it’s absolutely necessary. 
Try, as much as possible, do the work that you have to do in class. Because you’ll accomplish a lot more in the time that you have. You have six hours in total each week, if three hours of that is discussion you’re losing a lot. 

Siobhan O’Connor
Marketing & Digital Associate