#PaidInPublishing: Worthwhile* Paid and Unpaid Opportunities in Publishing
* I’ve defined worthwhile here as “to be worthy of pursuit in advancing one’s career in publishing or gaining the necessary skills to do well in a publishing job”.
First compiled on February 13, 2024.
Last updated March 13, 2024.
Happy belated birthday to me, and happy birthday to you if it’s your birthday as well.
A few days ago, while browsing Bookjobs.com, I was appalled by the lack of paid internship opportunities within the publishing industry among those that were listed. Essentially, these unpaid internships require their interns to do the work of hired professionals for free over an average of three to six months—many of them requiring to be there in person.
And to that, I say, “No. Not for me.” It’s the year 2024, and it’s time to pay all interns in cold, hard cash—preferably at the living wage and no lower than the minimum for the state they’d be classified to work in, but I wouldn’t write it off necessarily if the monetary amount is on the lower end of things. However much money you want or need is up to you, but you should get paid regardless. And this monetary compensation would be in addition to school credit if you’re enrolled in a college or university, transportation reimbursement if you’re working on-site, and a letter of reference if you hit things off well with your employers. Many internships offer these things as though they’re adequate payment, and they’re not.
Secondly, any and every internship or other professional working opportunity should clearly list how much an intern will be paid and at what frequency it will pay its interns. Such information should be on the internship’s information page or on the job listing itself. Companies do an extreme disservice to potential qualified applicants when they are not upfront about the details of the position, and if a candidate gets all the way through to the interview stage only to be told that the company can only pay peanuts, everybody’s time will have been unnecessarily wasted.
And this also isn’t to say that every unpaid opportunity in publishing is bad. If you’d like to volunteer for a non-profit organization, for example, then it’s up to you to decide whether or not you give your time and energy into that organization and weigh it against the benefits you’d be getting. If you have enough money to move to New York, work for free, and be comfortable at an internship, good for you. But for BIPOC, QUILTBAG+, and other marginalized publishing professionals in the making, we need more. I’ve benefitted from both paid and unpaid opportunities only because I had the privilege, resources, and support available to where not being paid wouldn’t significantly affect me. Now that I’m set to get my MFA this year, it’s time for me to get serious about my financial and professional future.
So, I’ve decided to make a list of all the paid and unpaid publishing opportunities that I’ve found across the Internet and put them right here for others to see—emphasizing transparency in payment rates and updating things periodically as needed. I’m not going to list every entry-level publishing position at every major publishing house here because those are clearly full-time, paid jobs, and they’re usually listed on company websites anyway. This list is primarily for those who want a leg up in their careers before they even apply for full-time opportunities by getting experience and skills through fellowships, internships, training programs, mentorships, and organizations. I’m also not going to include a bunch of freelance editing opportunities because those are more periodical and less predictable. If there’s one I haven’t mentioned on the list or the list needs to be updated, feel free to let me know at hello@karenparker.com.
Best of luck to you!
Paid Opportunities
FellowshipS
Author Accelerator offers Impact Fellowships to three recipients who identify as “BIPOC” and/or from “groups that are traditionally underrepresented in publishing”. Upon acceptance, a, Impact Fellowship Recipient enrolls in the book coaching certification course of their choice—typically worth $3,600 for fiction or nonfiction plus additional materials—for free, and they receive ongoing mentorship and support throughout their time in the program and after. The Application Period opens in December every year and closes when it reaches fifteen submissions. I am a recipient of their fellowship and am projected to complete my certification in December 2024.
Chronicle Books has year-long Editorial Fellowships in their Art, Entertainment, and Children’s departments from July every year paying from $20-$21.64/hour. According to one of their most recent listings, “Fellows will follow a hybrid schedule of working a minimum of 3 days per week and up to 4 days per week in [their] San Francisco office.” This would be a great opportunity for anyone who wants to test out what it’s like to be an Editorial Assistant before taking the plunge into a more permanent position at a Big Five publishing house.
Grants
We Need Diverse Books partners with children’s and adult publishers as well as literary agencies to help summer interns with the high cost of living in New York City and other major publishing hubs. In 2024, WNDB will award “sixteen grants of $3,000 to expand WNDB efforts to diversify the publishing industry,” and “[i]nternship positions must take place over the summer between June 1st and August 31st, 2024. In addition to the grant award, grantees are expected to attend various events throughout the summer, including an introductory Internship Grant Bootcamp, various professional development and networking events, publishing panels, organized partner mentor/mentee meetings, and an exit interview/testimonial of the program.” Applications are open from March 1 to April 30 every year. WNDB partners in this list will have “(WNDB)” next to their name.
Internships
Literary Agencies
BookEnds Literary (WNDB) offers a remote, paid internship position to one successful candidate every summer. According to their website, interns “help keep the office running smoothly, manage social media, and make creative decisions,” providing hands-on “administrative support,” “assessing/answering queries,” and “[p]erforming special projects with or for the Literary Assistant. Interns are paid $16 per hour and work during the June 1—August 31 window.
Liza Dawson Associates appears to have paid, remote internships in the fall, spring, and summer, but the positions are not always guaranteed. However, their Bookjobs.com listing for a past Winter 2023 internship positions lists a whopping $1,500 honorarium at the end of the internship. Accordingly, literary agent interns will “assist in reading queries, requesting partials, reading partials, preparing reader reports and other projects as requested.”. They are also happy to approve academic credit.
Folio Literary Management allows its interns to work at its New York offices or remotely. They also receive a stipend of $1,000 “payable half at the beginning of their internship and half at the end of the internship.” Ideal interns will be “interested in both the business and editorial side of publishing,” “should exhibit strong research and writing skills,” and “have a keen editorial eye”. A minimum of sixteen hours per week for both in-office and remote interns is required.
The Andrea Brown Literary Agency (WNDB) has a remote, paid summer mentorship for any ten-week period within the summer of the year they offer it. As a part-time position for seventeen-plus hours per week, the internship “focused on the agenting side of children's book publishing (including picture books, middle grade, and YA).” The entire ABLA team engages with the mentee to “introduce the career of agenting, offering hands-on experience with evaluating queries, networking with editors, and guidance on how to provide editorial feedback, write pitches, and negotiate.” Applications open each year spring, and while not compensation is listed on their website, Handshake.com—a website for undergraduate- and graduate-level job seekers—has a listing for the internship with a payrate of $20 per hour.
Writers House has an Intern Program that is “both a publishing course and a practical internship. The WHIP aims to train and educate its participants in the ways of publishing through the lens of a literary agency. To that end, participants engage a robust curriculum that takes twelve to sixteen weeks to complete and includes the 8-week ‘Editorial Bootcamp,’ the 8-week job search skills workshop, and a series of tutorials, seminars, and one-on-one career consultations.” It is offered “three times a year: Autumn (October-January), Spring (February-May), and Summer (June-August). Interns participate twenty-four hours a week for the length of the term and receive a $200 monthly stipend.”
publishing houses
Astra Publishing House (WNDB) offers an marketing internship position to “a student (rising junior or senior in college) or recent college graduate” within its imprint, Astra Books for Young Readers. It is a preferred hybrid position for those can work in their New York office on or two days per week and three days remotely, but full remote candidates will be considered. Interns are expected to work 2-028 hours per week, Monday-Thursday, from 9:00am-5:00pm, and they will be paid $16 per hour.
Coffee House Press is “a nationally known and renowned nonprofit publishing house located in Northeast Minneapolis” that introduces interns to all aspects of a small literary publisher, and will give you skills that can also easily transfer to larger publishing houses and other careers, both in the arts and elsewhere” at their Minneapolis office. Although their internship is currently on hiatus, it is worth noting that their internship hours “are flexible, averaging 7 to 10 hours per week over the course of four months for a total of 120 hours” and that interns receive “a stipend of $1800, $100 worth of discounted Coffee House titles, and a discount on all future purchases.”
Hachette Book Group (WNDB) has a ten-week internship program that lets interns “gain a comprehensive overview of the publishing industry through hands-on work experience, networking, mentoring relationships, and individualized professional development. This robust program provides interns with the necessary experience and knowledge to assist them in landing full-time positions in the industry upon graduation. Positions are available across offices on a hybrid model, or fully remote,” but applicants should check individual listings for more detail. “Candidates can apply for roles in departments such as editorial, marketing, communications, publicity, finance, rights, contracts, audio, production, and sales.” In terms of pay, a summer 2024 Publicity Intern listing for Little, Brown has payment at $16 per hour at twenty-eight hours per week.
HarperCollins (WNDB) offers paid, ten-week internships for spring, summer, and fall each year. Summer interns work Monday through Thursday for a total of 28 hours per week, while fall and spring interns are scheduled to work fourteen hours per week. To quote from their website, “While these programs are primarily focused on editorial, marketing, publicity, design, and managing editorial, we also offer professional development programming to give our interns a broad understanding of the entire publishing process.” Applications for the fall internship open in late July/early August, and applications for spring open in December, and current internship position listings from their website have $18 per hour as their rate.
Lee & Low Books (WNDB) has a paid Editorial and Marketing Internship for remote applicants or those living in New York City and can come to the office on a three-day hybrid schedule. Interns are expected to work full-time (35 hours per week) from June through August 2024. Since it’s not solely an editorial position, intern responsibilities include reading manuscript submissions in addition to assisting in “various preparations for conferences and events”. Compensation is listed at $17 per hour, and they are a partner of We Need Diverse Books’ internship grant program.
Macmillan (WNDB) has paid, part-time and full-time, remote internships in during the summer in a wide variety of fields. To quote from their website, “Internships in our Shared Services division will be available in areas such as: Legal, Human Resources, and DEI. Internships in our Trade Publishing will be available in areas such as Editorial, Marketing/Digital Marketing and Central Marketing, Publicity, Art & Design, Sales, Managing + Production Editorial, Trade Production (Adult & Children’s), Publishing Operations, Subsidiary Rights, Audio, and Author Events”. Inters are paid $16 per hour and will work no more than 40 hours per week with some flexibility on the duration of the internship if needed.
North Star Editions (WNDB) has a summer Editorial Intern position for its nonfiction department in partnership with We Need Diverse Books’ internship grant program. The internship “has a hybrid schedule, with a mix of remote work and working onsite” in their “Mendota Heights office, 20 hours a week during office hours” from the months of June through August, though an exact schedule is yet to be determined. “Applicants local to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area are strongly preferred. Compensation is $12.50/hour, payable semi-monthly as a stipend.”
OR Books offers “seasonal internship applications from undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates.” Applicants should be familiar with “the ever-shifting social media landscape as it relates to publishing,” “assisting with sales,” “MailChimp,” and other things. All internships take place in our New York office, and according to their Bookjobs.com listing, interns are paid a stipend of $50 per day. For how long and for how many days a week is uncertain.
Penguin Random House (WNDB) has paid, fully-remote internships throughout the year that are available in their adult, children’s, and corporate divisions that can be performed from anywhere in the United States—meaning that you must be residing in the United States for the duration of the internship. The Fall/Spring session has twenty-one-hour work weeks and is divided into two segments, each ten-weeks long. The Summer session is twenty-eight hours per week for ten weeks. According to a recent listing for a fall 2024/spring 2025 internship, interns are paid $20 per hour regardless of division.
Seven Stories Press is a press that publishes “uncompromising political books, fiction, and poetry” and offers seasonal internships to students and recent graduates. According to a Bookjobs.com listing for a past spring 2023 internship, interns are required to work two-to-three days a week for three months minimum and are paid $17 per hour.
Simon & Schuster (WNDB) offers three, eight-week programs in spring, fall, and summer to currently enrolled undergraduates (Juniors and Seniors preferred) or graduate students and those who are legally permitted to work in the United States. Accordingly, “Interns are placed within specific imprints or divisions on either the adult or children’s side of the business based on interest, experience, academic coursework, and the Simon & Schuster business needs. Past assignments have typically been within editorial, marketing, and publicity departments. Interns will both shadow and work alongside publishing professionals. They will also attend meetings and events and participate in weekly lunch and learn programs designed specifically for the intern class.” Past internship listings have the hourly pay listed as $15 per hour.
Sourcebooks has ten-week long internships every summer from early June through August at their Naperville headquarters. Interns would work “20-24 hours per week over Tuesday-Thursday each week” and be “compensated $15/hour”. Interns can also apply to work in a wide range of departments such as children’s editorial, impact marketing for adult fiction, marketing for kids and YA, legal and administrative, metadata and analytics, production and content delivery, publishing design, and subsidiary rights. Applications typically open in February and are accepted until mid-April.
Teacher Created Materials (WNDB) hosts a paid, fully-remote publishing internship through Free Spirit Publishing, an imprint of Teacher Created Materials and “the leading publisher of learning tools that support young people’s social and emotional health and educational needs.” Interns will be introduced to “all aspects of acquiring and editing Free Spirit children’s books and expose the intern to a range of areas of publishing at Free Spirit and Teacher Created Materials, including production, design, marketing, and publicity.” The press is in partnership with We Need Diverse Books’ internship grant program and pays it interns $21 per hour.
The New Press offers a paid development internship in spring, summer, and fall of each year. Although it has a not-for-profit mission, “it functions in many ways like a commercial trade publisher: it identifies new authors, generally pays standard advances and royalties, and distributes its books nationwide. However, as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, The New Press uses foundation and donor support to publish innovative works of educational, cultural, and community value that, despite their intellectual merits, may be deemed insufficiently profitable by commercial publishers. Any excess profit earned on a particular title is then dedicated toward the production of other books.” Interns are paid $20 per hour and are expected to work fourteen hours a week on-site at their office.
W.W. Norton & Company has internships that are “designed to introduce motivated college students and recent graduates to publishing and to Norton. Internships provide valuable hands-on experience with the day-to-day business of bookmaking, as well as opportunities to network with employees at the company and with fellow interns who frequently go on to become colleagues in the field. Interns at W. W. Norton are paid $15 per hour, subject to applicable law, and work a maximum of 20 hours weekly. Specific work hours are flexible, but interns are expected to work three or four days per week. All interns must be able to work during regular business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST).”
Yale University Press has a summer internship program in many business areas such as acquisitions, editorial, art workshop, marketing/publicity, manuscript editorial, new business and product development, and sales. According to their webpage, “[t]he Summer Publishing Internship Program requires a commitment of [thirty] hours a week for [nine] consecutive weeks from June 3 to August 2, 2024. Applicants must commit to the full [nine] weeks for consideration in the program. Each summer intern is paid at a rate of $15.75 per hour, the Connecticut minimum wage. Internships may be in person, remote, or hybrid depending on the position and current Yale guidelines.”
TRaining Programs
Sourcebooks also has a ten-week BIPOC Editorial Training Program, which is a “fully remote, paid editorial training program for BIPOC editors, designed to provide a broad overview of the day-to-day work of an editor. Broken down into three parts, the training program combines key editorial skills with valuable hands-on experience, guiding trainees through the editorial process while also giving them the opportunity to add a live project to their resume. There are weekly summits from Sourcebooks employees in all areas of publishing about how they work with editorial to bring books to the shelf. The program ends with a three-week intensive with the production department to get experience with copyediting, proofreading, and production editing.” Trainees also receive a $1,000 stipend and are given the opportunity join the freelance hiring pipeline. I highly, highly recommend this program for all BIPOC publishing professional who want to take a look at editorial acquisitions. I graduated from this program, and it has been instrumental in developing my skillset and knowledge of the publishing industry.
unPaid Opportunities
Mentorships
Simon and Schuster appears to offer a free, five-day, virtual, “careers in book publishing lecture series” to recent graduates from an undergraduate or graduate program. “This program,” their listing says, “will offer a glimpse into every aspect of the business through the voices and stories of our own employees in a wide assortment of departments.” There are ten unique sessions, “two each day (11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. EST and 2:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. EST).”
Tessera Editorial has three BIPOC Editorial Mentorship Programs each year that last a little over three months. Straight from their website, “Webinars are held most Saturday mornings at 10am CST. Webinars consist of editorial training (developmental, copyediting, proofreading) as well as Q&A’s with industry professionals. There are editorial assignments given throughout the mentorship for which mentees will receive feedback,” and mentees are given the chance to join Tessera Editorial as freelance editors if they pass the final assignment. As of January 2024, I graduated from the program and serve as a freelance copyeditor and developmental editor for the all-BIPOC editorial agency.
The Writers of the Future Online Workshop is a free, self-paced, intermediate level, online writing course for aspiring publishing professionals that are interested in writing speculative fiction. With a mix of essays, practical articles, and videos from esteemed authors such as David Farland, Tim Powers, and Orson Scott Card, editorial professionals who want to have a better understanding of the writing process as a craft would do well to consider such a course to expand their knowledge. Upon completion of the program, participants are awarded a certificate of completion.
Organizations
Free Membership
The LGBTQ+ Editors Association is a free, non-profit organization based in Slack that fosters networking between LGBTQ+ editorial veterans and up-and-coming professionals. They are actively seeking additional volunteers, regularly hos meetings in alternating time zones, and hold mentorship sessions in group and individual settings.
paid membership
ACES: The Society for Editing is an “international members’ alliance of editors working in digital media, traditional print media, corporate communications, book publishing, academia, government, and beyond.” Annual membership fees vary from $50-$100 depending on whether or not you’re a student, full member, corporate member, or associate member.
The Editorial Freelancers Association is a professional organization dedicated to supporting “editors, writers, indexers, proofreaders, researchers, desktop publishers, translators, and others who offer a broad range of skills and specialties”. They provide resources for freelancers and clients, some of which are occasionally free. “Member dues are $145 for one year and $260 for two years,” and have apparently not changed since 2011.
POtential opportunities?
Candlewick Press (WNDB) is a children’s press that offers internships design, editorial, marketing, publishing technologies, and sales on its website. For summer and fall 2024, they even offer hybrid internships. Yet because these internships are offered on an at-need basis, a particular department night not hose an intern ever semester. All of the internship positions claim that they are “paid,” but since they are a WNDB internship grant partner, they might be trying to pay the interns with the grant instead of from their own payroll.
Hannigan Getzler Literary Agency, or HG Literary, “offers part-time spring, summer, and fall internships” at their office in Manhattan. “Interns work directly with…agents to get a hands-on feel for what daily life at a literary agency entails. Responsibilities include reading manuscripts from both potential clients and current agency clients, assessing quality of submissions, and providing editorial feedback. Interns also also learn to write reader's reports, rejection letters, editorial letters, and pitch letters.” According to their Bookjobs.com listing, a “stipend” would be “dispensed at the end of the session,” but it does not list the amount of the stipend. Tread carefully with this one.
InkWell Management (WNDB) “offers paid, part-time internships in the spring, summer and fall seasons. Interns will assist with the reading and evaluation of queries and manuscripts and help with administrative and research tasks which are designed to better understand the workings of a literary agency. Interns will also contribute to various projects within the agency involving foreign and subsidiary rights, contracts, royalties and social media.” However, neither their website nor their Bookjobs.com listing says how much an intern will be paid.
North Star Editions (WNDB) also offers an unpaid, remote, “year-round fiction internship program, in which editorial interns assist with submissions of young adult and middle grade fiction books, including helping to review initial submission materials and evaluating selected full manuscripts. Under the leadership of the managing editor, editorial interns will be trained in how to review submissions based on imprint wish lists and other requirements.” Spring internship round hires in February and runs from March through August; the fall round hires in August and runs from September through February.
Soho Press accepts applications on a rolling basis for its seasonal internships “from students and adults at any stage in their career on a rolling basis. Deadlines for each season can be found below. Our interns commit to 20 hours per week either in our NYC office or virtually. The internship is divided into two halves, one half led by our editorial department and the other led by our marketing/publicity department. Interns will have the opportunity to sit in on company meetings and participate in staff-led learning units that cover multiple aspects of the book publishing industry throughout each season.” On the webpage, it says that each intern will receive a bimonthly stipend, but it does not list the amount.
The Book Group is a literary agency that claims to offer “paid internships to current college students and recent graduates throughout the year. Interns typically start in September, January, or June and will ideally stay with us for the entirety of the semester, with the opportunity to extend.” However, it does not list how much interns are paid on its website.
The Nancy Yost Literary Agency lists seasonal internship opportunities through Bookjobs.com. Interns working for them “will have the opportunity to learn more about: the query process, query evaluation, editorial work pre-submission, submission lists, submission letter writing, royalties, contracts, the current state of publishing and the differences between traditional and indie publishing, how-to on creating POD books, eBooks, and cover design if desired, discussions on industry trends, sub rights including both audio and foreign rights, and much more.” Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and offer flexible start times, but payment is listed as a “modest semester” stipend with no exact amount.