Below Kristi talks about her interest in publishing and her experiences at UPM.
Long before graduating from the Mississippi University for
Women with an English degree last May, there was a lot I didn't know about what
career I wanted to pursue or where to begin after college. When I entered my
senior year, I unfortunately still hadn't figured it out. As graduation approached, it felt more and more like I was about to be shoved off an
impossibly high cliff. Luckily, however,
it was then that the opportunity to apply for this internship came around.
I soon realized publishing was the only direction that made
sense for me. I first started at UPM as an editorial intern last summer, and I
will be forever glad that I did. Because of this, I was able to hit the ground
running as the McRae intern. I already had a sense of the kind of work I would
be doing and the people that I would be working with, which made the transition
and the job that much easier.
I've had experience as an editor and reviewer for both my
high school and college literary magazines, most recently I was co-editor of
MUW's The Dilettanti, and I enjoyed it very much. I took a lot of joy out
of working deeply with the material that was going into the magazines, doing
things such as proofreading and copy editing.
While my responsibilities as McRae intern didn't include a
lot of proofreading or copy editing, I got to see how a book is made on a
variety of different levels. Some days I would be contacting readers for
manuscripts, reading indexes, creating cost estimates, and preparing contracts
for readers and authors. Other days I would be preparing materials for launch
and board meetings.
The main thing that I've learned during my internship is
that in this business, hand-holding is not an option. I had to learn not only
how to do things quickly, but effectively. I think learning how to deal with
this kind of fast-paced environment will help me in any job that I will have in
the future.
I mostly worked with the Editorial Associate, Katie Keene,
and the Assistant Director/Editor-in-Chief, Craig Gill. I also worked with the
Production Manager, Shane Gong-Stewart and the Acquisitions Editor, Vijay Shah.
The staff here made sure that I knew not
only how to do something, but why I was doing it. This willingness by the staff to guide me
through the process made my time as the McRae intern one of the most valuable
experiences I will have in my career.
One other major thing that I have learned during my time at
UPM is that publishing is a business that involves working with an assortment
of people, all of whom need, want, and demand different things. Not knowing how
to do everything comes along with the job, but it’s also one of the reasons why
this business is so exciting. It was interesting to see that even people that
have been working here for decades still faced new problems all the time. All
in all, I am walking away from this experience with a lot more confidence and
certainty about where I’ll be going in the future.
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