Editorial Placement at Bloomsbury Academic

By Benedict Welch, CHASE funded doctoral researcher at University of Sussex

My experience at Bloomsbury provided me with an extremely useful insight into the workings of an academic publisher. From organisational culture and how the company sustains relationships with academics, to the nitty gritty processes that get a book published, this placement enabled me to see the bigger picture of academic publishing while providing experience of the various processes and stages involved in the dissemination of research.

I joined Bloomsbury at a busy time: it was the lead up to Christmas and a member of the team I was joining, an editorial apprentice, was off on long term sick leave. This meant that I was delegated a number of his responsibilities and had to learn quickly how to do these as well as where they fit into the publishing process. These tasks were mostly administrative and included seeking endorsements from academics, creating contracts for the contributors of edited collections, and contacting authors and editors whose books were about to be published (along with these books endorsers) so they could be sent their gratuity copies.

As a new apprentice was appointed, I gradually became more involved with the peer review process which allowed me to see commissioning first-hand. Coming into contact with a range of book proposals revealed to me the tricky art of proposal writing, of the importance of getting the tone right as you pitch your ideas to those in the publishing industry who might not be as much as expert as you (I certainly didn’t always feel at home reading philosophy proposals!) while at the same time outlining your potential market and how your work is in conversation with the wider research landscape. I particularly enjoyed researching and making connections with academics from disciplines across the world in the peer review process and seeing how each reviewer approached and read the proposals and subsequently manuscripts was always eye-opening.

At Bloomsbury, I was also able to talk to editors in lists more closely aligned to my own research. I was able to ask them what they looked for in a proposal and in a finished manuscript which, as I approach the end of my PhD, was a significant insight I can hopefully put to use. I was also able to ask them for career advice on how best to tackle job applications in academic publishing, another practical outcome of the placement. It was, also, important to learn that the entry roles in publishing are administrative heavy and require excellent organisational skills to guide the titles through to publication.

A project I was particularly proud of completing while at Bloomsbury was a market research task on a future history series. This enabled me to talk to colleagues across the company who were publishing similar titles and complete in-depth research in current publishing and pedagogical trends. I was pleased with the response to this project from the Bloomsbury staff and it will hopefully assist future commissioning in the list.

If you are interested in publishing careers, or in eventually publishing your own work, I would thoroughly recommend this placement as it will provide you with a direct insight into the workings of both.