Thread by @CarolineJHogg

20 years ago, at around about this point in September, I got my first job in publishing. I was such a green little graduate and my bosses kindly looked past that and started teaching me everything. So here’s what I know about publishing 🧵

Publishing is not about reading books sitting in cracked-leather armchairs. It’s a business. It’s a business about books, yes, but also about people - personalities, ideas, trends people love or hate, trying to second guess your reader’s opinions. It’s psychology.

Your friends and family quickly get fed up of free books for Christmas

Your friends and family suddenly have a long line of ‘friends who want to get published’ and they’ve already promised you’ll read their ms

You need all the ducks - every single duck - in a row for a successful publication. And sometimes the ducks will be there and then success *doesn’t* actually follow.

Sometimes just one massive duck can send it rocketing (metaphors what). There is logic and theory to publishing but there is also an unpredictable amount of random stuff too. You never stop learning.

The best bosses I’ve had taught me by example that we treat every author - regardless of how many books they’ve published, what their budget is, even whether they’re nice to us - with the utmost respect and care. It’s their name on the cover and that’s a vulnerable place to be.

Commercial publishing is the meeting of head and heart, like the biting point in a car. You’ve got to love it but it’s also got to make some profit. Every day you need to find your biting point and explain/pitch/defend it to others. That’s why you need your heart in the game.

Always Befriend Publicists.

They’re only books, at the end of the day. Don’t work yourself into a nub. Literally no one will thank you for it and you’ll miss out on *real* life.

(Everyone is horribly overworked. All the time.)

If a title only makes sense when you’re halfway through the book, it’s not a good title.

More people than you realise feel like imposters. Not because they haven’t worked hard or they have bad ideas, but because the industry tends to attract lots of people pleasers imo. Your ideas ARE good and worth sharing. The loudest voices in meetings aren’t always the wisest.

Midweek karaoke is the best kind of karaoke.

Don’t bother Production with a crash schedule until you know they’ve had time to absorb their morning coffee. Protect these real-world saints at all costs.

Everyone wants to cry in Covers meetings.

You don’t want those leftover Pret sandwiches in the kitchen that have started to go dry. You really don’t. Just leave them.

Triple check. Everything. Then go back in the morning and check it again.

Difficult conversations are hard but NECESSARY and actually a sign you’re doing your job to the fullest. We can all pop the corks for top ten successes but the real badasses are there to communicate the bad news with care and courage

End of thread. I’ve made some of the best friends of my life in publishing. I’ve met some heroes (Margaret Atwood for ten mins am I right?!). I’ve been incredibly proud of a lot of my work and have developed an incredible level of pedantic vigour that permeates my WHOLE life

Lots has changed but also sadly a lot is the same. Publishing has *a way* to go to sort itself out. But there are very good people pushing for change and the 20-something generation especially give me hope. Ps shop at indies.

Shout out to my OG bosses @JoDickinson36 @AntoniaHodgson @Timwhiting

For the love of Judith Butcher: readers’. It should be readers’.