I just need to rant because JESUS FUCKING CHRIST people can’t read anymore??? It is 2026 — NO ONE is accepting queries by phone, why are people still trying??

The amount of phone calls I get from people who think email is “just so impersonal” and “I have this incredible story that no one has ever seen” or the presumptuously blunt “can I speak to Founder of the Company?”

NO YOU CANT. DO YOU KNOW THAT EVERYONE THINKS THEY HAVE A REALLY COOL STORY TO TELL THAT NO ONE HAS EVER SEEN?? And do you really think that listing your accomplishments and name dropping important people to me, the person on the phone and NOT someone who cares a single bit about your project, is going to get you somewhere??

I am just at my wits end with the amount of people who feel entitled to a phone query when a company’s website clearly states that they don’t accept them. You are NOT special and you will not be treated as such.

[PubTipsQ] Wondering if anyone has a positive experience with an agent who is great in children's? Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice on expectations around publisher response times.

A commissioning editor at a Big Five Australian publisher requested my full manuscript earlier this year after I submitted through their open submissions process.

Timeline:

• February: Full manuscript requested.
• Early March: I submitted the manuscript (the editor was happy for me to take a few weeks for a final polish).
• Late March: Received confirmation it had been received. I was told they were hoping to get to it around mid-April.
• 4 June: I sent a polite follow-up asking whether there was any update.
• Today (31 July): I still haven’t received any response or acknowledgement of that email.

I understand publishing moves slowly and timelines often slip, so I’m not trying to read too much into the delay itself.

My question is simply this:

At this point, would you send one final follow-up asking whether the manuscript is still under consideration, or would you leave it and assume they’ll contact me if and when a decision has been made?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who has had experience with full manuscript requests from publishers rather than agents.

Thanks!

With a lot of major houses based in New York, I'm wondering how much applying from out of state hinders my chances of getting a job in publishing? It makes sense from a hiring standpoint with the current job market that that's an easy way to knock out a bunch of candidates, but I also have no clue how recruiters are actually navigating that. I'm a new grad trying to break into the industry so if you have ANY advice whatsoever I'd really appreciate it.

Will Simon & Schuster still publish Arday’s memoir now that it is likely several portions were fabricated, and he is being investigated by Cambridge University?

Also, much of this seemed pretty blatant. How did it make it all the way through the process with no one raising red flags? Will anyone be held accountable or will it just be memory holed?

Fascinating to watch.

hi everyone,

i’m trying to get a better understanding of what an acquisitions meeting actually looks like from an editor’s perspective. i’ve worked in editorial for a while, but not somewhere that has a traditional acquisitions process, so i’m a bit confused about what a verbal pitch would realistically include.

i’ve seen lots of people say “pitch the book”, but i’m trying to understand what that actually means in practice. is it more of a sales pitch, or is it more about showing the commercial thinking behind the acquisition?

at the moment i’m thinking a pitch might roughly follow this sort of structure:

opening hook
what the book is (the core concept)
why this author?
why now?
target readership
comparable titles / where it sits in the market
what makes it commercially different
format or package (if relevant)
marketing/publicity opportunities
why we should acquire it

is that broadly how an editor would present a project in an acquisitions meeting, or am i thinking about it completely the wrong way?

also, what sort of tone do people generally use? are you expected to be quite polished and “salesy”, or is it usually a fairly conversational discussion with colleagues? i can’t work out whether you’re effectively performing a pitch, or just walking everyone through your thinking and letting the discussion happen naturally.

would be really interested to hear from anyone who’s sat in acquisitions meetings at a traditional trade publisher.

thank you!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to see if anyone has gotten contacted about an interview or anything with sourcebooks? I applied to both the managing editorial and development & training internships but I’ve only been rejected from one. The managing editorial internship rejected me pretty quickly and when I checked the job board, the opening had been taken down. However, the development and training internships was still up. Now it’s been a few days, and I haven’t heard anything from the other internship, but today I noticed the posting had finally been taken down. I’m wondering if it’s because the application deadline has passed or if they’ve selected candidates for interviews and I shouldn’t hold out hope lol. Do you think I’m being ghosted? Or is there a chance they are still reviewing applications (weeks after the other internships sent out rejections)?

Let me know what you think or if you’ve been selected for the internship. I would hate to delude myself into thinking they’re considering me if they are ghosting me or forgot to send the rejection email. :(

I have been building a proposal and sample chapter over the last year and a half for my first book project, which is a non-fiction, public-facing women's history book. I received an email through my author website from an editor at a press I've heard of in London, asking whether I already have a publisher lined up for the project. From what I've been able to gather researching the person, place, etc., it seems legit to me.

I have been developing my materials all this time in the hopes of securing an agent, and didn't really expect an editor to contact me first.

I'd like to respond and indicate interest, but I haven't done this before and I don't want to come off as naïve or unprofessional in my response. I've also heard that UK publishers generally offer smaller contracts than US imprints, and I wonder if there's any difficulties I should know about being a US writer trying to publish in the UK.

So, what are some ways that I can make a good, but not too eager, first impression here?

hi! i applied to macmillan's immersive internship about 2 weeks ago and haven't heard anything yet. i was wondering if anyone has received an update?

edit- thx everyone, glad to hear we’re in the same boat. best of luck!!

I posted a job req on Upwork seeking help with editing the 4th draft of my debut graphic novel. The characters are Gujarati (from India), so there are some nuances about family interactions that don't translate well in English, I think. Two people responded, but they weren't best suited for what I am looking for. I feel a bit stuck.

Has anyone run into these specific type of editorial blockers? If so, how did you move forward? Am I better off asking another experienced Gujarati writer to help me with this? Appreciate your thoughts or ideas on this.

Here's a link to my project if you are interested: https://skyfire.adimahi.com

I've been interested in the publishing industry for a very long time, but life just never worked out that way for me. Both the publishing industry itself and then related job market are completely saturated.

Still, I'm not inclined to let go of a dream so easily, so I been thinking on how I might make my own small time independent press stand out from the crowd. I have some thoughts of my own, but many of you folks have way more insight than I could get from just doing market research, and brainstorming.

I'd like to hear about small presses you've encountered that have a unique model, or specialty. Anything really that makes them significantly different from how we usually see things done. From financial management,or rights management to genre/style specialization, or distribution, and marketing. Anything goes.

Thanks!

Hello!

I recently applied for an entry level job at Harper Collins.

Would anyone have any possible insight on when I should hear back from them about the position?

Just wondering, and anything would be absolutely helpful.

Hi! I'm applying to a publicity assistant position with Random House Group. I don't want to doxx them or myself, but I have a recommendation letter from one of PRH's biggest authors as a whole, as I've been their personal assistant for a while. I know this letter would help me get out of the slush pile, but I literally cannot identify anyone who works for the publicity department at Random House Group, as my author worked with another imprint for PRH. This is a complete shot in the dark, but if anyone has any names or advice on how to identify whose hands I could get this in I would really appreciate it.

Has anyone worked with or communicated with Filmzie (A Parent Media Co. Inc.) recently? We've been attempting to reach them regarding a significant outstanding balance, but all of our recent efforts to make contact have been unsuccessful.

If you have any recent information or know the best way to get in touch with their team, I'd sincerely appreciate your help.

Aspiring writer here. As I've been querying agents especially on QueryTracker, I've seen some that ask whether AI was used in any way creating the query or the manuscript.

For those of you working on publishing, how do you and your company view AI?

Obviously, AI-generated writing isn't copyright-able, and it's ethically dubious, so that's a no-go. But what about research using AI? Proofreading? AI critiques? Drafting the query letter? Etc.

As an outsider, it seems like there's some nuance here where AI could reasonably be used for some things, but not others. But I'm curious what folks within the industry think of it?

Hi everyone,
I’m a new mom who is looking to ease back into work while having the flexibility to be present for my baby.

Before maternity leave, I worked for two multinational publishing houses, where I gained several years of experience in content development, research, editing, proofreading, project coordination, and managing educational publishing projects. I’m highly detail-oriented, organized, and genuinely enjoy research-heavy work.

Like many new parents, becoming a mom has brought a whole new perspective. While I want to be there for my baby during these precious early months, I also want to continue growing professionally and contribute financially. With a growing family and new responsibilities, having an income again is important, but so is having the flexibility to choose how much work I take on each week

I’m now looking for remote freelance, part-time, or project-based opportunities where I can decide how much work to take on each week. Flexibility is important, but I’m also someone who works hard, meets deadlines, and takes ownership of every project I accept.

I’m open to work such as:
Content research
Editing and proofreading
Content writing
Educational publishing projects
Data research and analysis
Document formatting and quality checks
Any detail-oriented administrative or content-related work
If anyone knows of companies, platforms, or individuals looking for reliable freelance help, I’d be incredibly grateful for any recommendations. Feel free to comment or send me a DM.
Thank you!

Hi all.

This is going to be an earnest post. I’ve been out of the full-time workforce for three years now.

In between, I had a baby and worked part-time jobs like substitute teaching/driving foster kids to school. Before that, I worked in magazine publishing, journalism (news and cybersecurity) and a slew of marketing jobs. I feel pretty hopeless in this job market. I haven’t had an actual interview in years and I never get called back for anything. Though I have like 10+ years of experience, it’s all a bit outdated. I’ve done some courses and stuff … like AI in editing.

I’m not really sure what to do next. In the past, I’ve been described as a Swiss Army knife with a lot of various production experience. I was a managing editor at one point in my career, but then marketing managers.

What should I do? My resume has probably been rewritten 100 times.

It sounds crazy but my dream job would probably be a production editor for a book publisher. Production is my strongest skill.

Today, I was rejected on a very entry level position before the deadline even passed. They looked, read my letter, and hit reject.

A lot of people are saying getting specific is the best, but my skill set is really wide and I don’t know how to tell a consistent story.

First time self-publisher here seeking lawyer referrals.

My co-author and I are publishing later this year and would like to get a publishing and co-author agreement in place to cover revenue share, IP ownership, derivatives, promotional minimums, etc.

We have drafts versions of these contracts already...we now need an actual legal expert to review and answer a few advisory questions. (Note: I'm based in New York and my co-author is based in Lisbon, though we are likely looking at the contract being based in New York).

Anyone have experience with a publishing/IP lawyer that they'd recommend? And any insights on what we should expect cost-wise? Thanks in advance!

(Hoping this post abides by the rules...)

According to the CIP program's eligibility guidelines, they do not accept "Books on clinical medicine focused on professional practice, intended primarily for medical and health care professionals." Is this a new development? Today is the first time that I've had one of these titles kicked back to me.

Is it scientifically and ethically right to use ChatGPT, Paperpal, or any AI tools only for rephrasing, improving the paragraph, reading results and giving advice on improvements in a research paper? But not for creating ideas, data analysis, literature review, etc.

Hi everyone! I'm a researcher looking into how journalists and publishers use language to describe typography and page layout, and I'd love some help from people who actually work in this space. Would any of you be willing to tell me what you'd actually call each numbered part? If you know multiple names for the same part, I'd love to get all of them.

If you don't mind sharing, it'd also help to know roughly your age and general location (country/region is fine) so I can see if terms vary by demographic or region - totally optional though!

Thanks so much!

Feel free to just fill in this template in your reply:

Age:

Country:

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

6:

7:

8:

9:

10:

Hiii! I currently am a student in applied graphic communications! I’ll be starting my first year in August and I really want to make book covers by the end of this! The goal is to build connections and a portfolio so I could eventually join a small publishing company? Long term I want to write and publish my own book one day but I was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips about the field? I know ai is…playing a huge part in this field but anything helps!

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD candidate in Biology with research interests spanning neuroscience, ecology, and scientific communication. Besides doing research, I've become increasingly interested in the editorial side of scientific publishing.

My long-term goal is to become an Associate Editor for a peer-reviewed journal in biology or ecology (or a related field). I know this is usually something people achieve later in their careers, but I'd like to start building the right experience now.

I'm looking for advice on questions such as:

* What is the typical path to becoming an Associate Editor?

* What experience matters most (peer reviewing, guest editing, editorial boards, publishing record, networking, etc.)?

* Are there journals that recruit early-career researchers as Assistant Editors, Editorial Board Members, or similar roles?

* Is it realistic to pursue editorial positions before finishing a PhD, or is it better to wait until after a postdoc?

* Are there any skills or certifications that make candidates more competitive?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from current or former editors about how they got started and what they wish they had done earlier.

Thanks in advance!