Famous

Hamilton’s Career Center treats me like a celebrity.   First, they interviewed me and wrote up an article about my internship in 2008 at Bloomsbury Children’s Books.  Then they sent paparazzi to capture the alum-student moments.  Oh, and believe me, having someone take your picture while you’re at work and all the fellow employees are trying to be productive is awkward.  Anyways, now that I’ve graduated, the Career Center actually wanted to hear my own words, the article of which is included below:

How I Got My First Job with Laurel Symonds '10

January 20, 2011

I walked into Hamilton knowing I wanted to major in creative writing, and the summer following my sophomore year I realized what I would do with the degree. That summer I had the opportunity to intern in the editorial department of Bloomsbury Children’s Books in Manhattan, and it confirmed my belief that children’s book editorial was my dream job.


Then the economy crashed, and publishing was hit especially hard. Two years later, when I graduated, most companies were in a hiring freeze and learning to functioning with smaller staffs. My friends went to grad school or had temporary jobs that held them over until they found something more stable. Instead, I volunteered at my local library while writing emails, calling, and even traveling into NYC to connect with Hamilton alums in publishing who I had found through the Career Center, establishing contacts. The Hamilton alums’ contacts turned into mine, and soon enough I had a few interviews, but no luck. To find job openings, I used the job boards on mediabistro.com, publishersmarketplace.com, and bookjobs.com, which I checked daily. I also checked the individual publishers’ websites weekly, although oftentimes jobs have already been filled by the time they are listed online, which is why having contacts in the industry who can alert you to job openings early is key. I continued to talk to everyone I could about the publishing industry, book trends, and popular reads. I networked nonstop, because like so many industries, to be hired in publishing you need to be qualified, but to be considered for the job you need a personal recommendation.


I can’t deny how frustrating this summer was. I was qualified! I was enthusiastic! I was putting in so much effort! Why hasn’t anyone hired me yet? And then I repeated to myself again: I am qualified, I am enthusiastic, I am putting in a ton of effort, and it will pay off in the end.


In September I took a part-time unpaid internship at a literary agency. This wasn’t my ideal job; it was somewhere around plan-D. But by being involved in the industry I learned a lot and was presented with more networking opportunities. My advisors at the internship also supported my job search immensely: one day an agent came into the office and placed three books on my desk with, “There’s an opening at this company and I think you’ll really get along with the editor. Read these books and I’ll make a phone call today.” All those days working long hours for no pay became worthwhile because she knew that I was qualified, enthusiastic and dedicated. She could provide a personal recommendation and get my resume noticed.


I didn’t get that job. Or the several others I applied to and interviewed for that fall. But then I was offered an interview at Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books. I met with HR and the two editors I would work for. I was given a writing test. Two of the women I interned for made phone calls or wrote emails on my behalf. I received a second interview. I met with the two editors again, and their boss. A week later, I got the job, and was told that my passion for children’s books as well as writing skills made me the most desirable candidate for the position.


It wasn’t easy, or fun, but my efforts paid off in the end. I’m now happily employed in my dream job thanks to an amazing network of Hamilton alums, a lot of hard work, and patience.

Just remember, you can say “I knew her when…”

First Day

Today I had my first day of work as the Employed Book Lover at HarperCollins…and it went really well.  I couldn’t be happier!

The day started off with some important questions like: If I wore my best two outfits to my two interviews, what do I wear on my first day? The best answer, of course, is to go shopping…which I will absolutely do in due time…but today I wore an old standard.  Looking the part is important!

Thus dressed and a bit sleepy (having had my nerves wake me up at 4am), I headed to the office to arrive at 9am for an orientation.  Learning about the history of the company, some of the benefits and many systems, a fellow newly hired employee and I were able to go to our respective departments.

Sarah and Anne, the two editors whom I am working for, were lovely.  When they showed me my (surprisingly large) desk, there was a card, beautiful tulips, and a lamp they selected for me as my cubicle is a bit on the dark side.  There were also fifteen or so books that Sarah and Anne have worked on awaiting my read.  They promised me a bookshelf, which I know will get filled very quickly!  I also received Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom from the senior vice president, as a welcome to the company gift.  Ursula Nordstrom is a legendary editor who directed Harper’s Department of Books for Boys and Girls from 1940-1973.

After settling in, I met with Sarah and Anne separately to discuss the books that they’re working on, what needs to be done in the near future, and what tasks I should be performing.  I already have two books to read and one manuscript to read from Sarah, plus one book to read so I can write up a new copy for the reissue and another manuscript to copyedit while reading for Anne!  They’re going to keep me busy, which isn’t a bad thing at all!  I also spent my afternoon doing a few administrative tasks like compiling a calendar with all the important dates, delivering a galley to the managing editorial department, and learning how to use a program which tracks all the books published by HarperCollins.  It was a bit of an information dump- but I know I’ll pick it up soon!

Anne and Sarah also took me out to lunch, which was so sweet…and such a nice welcome to the team.  The others I’ve met in the group- Katherine, Claudia, Molly, and Jen- also seem like the nicest people ever.  I feel very fortunate to not only have landed my dream job in the editorial dept. of a great children’s publishing house, but also to work with smart, kind people.  *Happy dance*

I’ll let you know how the rest of the week and such go!

Q. What Do You Do With a B.A. in Creative Writing? A. Publishing!

What do you do with a B.A. in English?

What is my life going to be?

Four years of college,

And plenty of knowledge,

Have earned me this useless degree!

I can't pay the bills yet,

‘Cause I have no skills yet,

The world is a big scary place!

But somehow I can't shake,

The feeling I might make,

A difference to the human race!

These lines, from the satiric musical Avenue Q, kind of summed up my life these past few (alright, many) months.  The job hunt is depressing and frustrating, especially in this economy…but I KNEW I was meant to be in publishing.  I KNEW that it had to be children’s books so that I could help inspire kids to love reading.  And I KNEW it was worth the wait- because, ya know, maybe I will be able to make a difference. 

So I am VERY pleased to announce that I am now the Unemployed Book Lover, who has achieved her Book Lover Goal #1.  Yesterday I was hired as editorial assistant for Sarah Shumway and Anne Hoppe at Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins Children’s Books.  I am beyond happy!

More information will be forthcoming as I figure out all the details.  And when I start November 29^th!  YAY!

Mid-Month Update

This month has been a busy, crazy one...and it’s only half over!  Here’s an update on where I stand in completing my Book Lover Goals:

Book Lover Goal #1: Editorial Assistant at a Children’s Book Publishing House

I had TWO interviews last week…my first interviews since August.  Needless to say, I was thrilled.  And they’re both editorial assistant positions; exactly what I’m looking for.  The first was at Random House, working at Knopf Children’s Books.  The second was at HarperCollins, working at Katherine Tegen.  Both positions gave me a take-home writing test in which I need to read a manuscript/short story and provide a reader’s report and flap copy.   That being turned in, I’m anxiously waiting to hear whether I get a second interview…keep your fingers crossed!  Each interview, though, brings me closer and closer to achieving my first Book Lover Goal.

Book Lover Goal #2: Author of MG and YA Novels

I finished writing The Rose of Coracus, which is now in the hands of my trusted readers for their comments.  I’m hoping to revise once more based on their notes and then begin querying after the New Year (AHH!). In the meantime, I’m participating in NaNoWriMo on my new novel, The Lady and the Unicorn’s Lover (I couldn’t resist playing with the title of the famous tapestry).  NaNoWriMo started off great; I wrote 5,000 words in the first three days, keeping on par with the 1667 words a day goal.  I am currently at 5,000 words.  Life aka interviews got in the way of my writing at such a rapid pace.  And although I would have loved to come out of November with a 50,000 word manuscript, I know that The Lady and the Unicorn’s Lover WILL get written eventually…and if I come out of November with a job, it will be even better.

Book Lover Goal #3: Owner of a Bookstore and Bakery

This goal is the one that’s most in the future right now.  I’m okay with that.  Goals #1 and #2 are plenty to focus on right now.  I have been doing quite a bit of baking, though (as always!), and would like to share this seasonally appropriate recipe.  It’s a family favorite and a crowd pleaser.

Pecan Pumpkin Delight

15 oz    canned pumpkin (without spices)

12 oz    evaporated milk

1 c       sugar

3          eggs

1 t        vanilla

1 box    yellow cake mix

1 c        butter, melted

1 ½ c    pecans, slightly chopped

            whipped cream, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x13 pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper.  Set aside.   In large bowl, combine pumpkin, milk and sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla. Pour in prepared pan.  Sprinkle with dry cake mix and drizzle with butter.  Sprinkle with pecans.  Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Invert onto a large serving platter.  Carefully remove paper or foil. Top with whipped cream if desired.  Enjoy!

So, there we have it…my crazy first couple weeks of November.   We’ll see what the next two bring; sleep and a bit of relaxing, hopefully…and a phone call with a job offer! (Remember: Book Lovers ALWAYS have hope!)

Professionalism

There has been quite a bit of talk recently about literary agency interns (and sometimes agents themselves) anonymously posting bits of queries on twitter.  While most of the tweets are written with the intention to amuse or educate, many querying authors have been insulted by the idea.  And blame agencies.  Which in turn get insulted, because most agencies would never ever employ an intern that had the gall to do that. Why do I think anonymously posting parts of queries online is so terrible? It comes down to one word: professionalism.

Some elements of professionalism seem old fashion: business causal attire, lunch meetings, etc. yet one element of professionalism should never go out of style: personal integrity.  And by invading a query author’s privacy and posting their query, which was written with the intention of only being read by the agency, online is not professional.

Many in my family are teachers so it’s easy for me to flip this situation around to apply to education, and teachers have been fired for acting similarly.   Take note:

Example #1, To Entertain: A student does something stupid or amusing in class.  The teacher remarks about it to her friends or in public.  It gets back to the student’s parents.  The parent complains to the principal or superintendant, and lo and behold, that teach is in deep do-do (to put it bluntly).

Example #2, To Educate: A teacher gives students an exam.  Wanting to help her students realize how they can improve, the teacher copies a poor exam, crossing out the student’s name, and hands it out to the class.  The student whose exam is passed out, is mortified, even if the exam is anonymous.  Again, the student’s parent finds out, complains and the teacher is in trouble. 

In both examples, the teacher isn’t trying to hurt the student.  He/she wants to entertain his/her friends or educate the students.  But they’re still invading the student’s privacy and right to respect. 

Thus, querying authors deserve the same respect.  They’re writing to the agency with the understanding that their query will only be seen by the agency (interns and agents, alike).  By breaking that trust, the intern tweeting about the query ruins any potential relationship that could be formed between the client and agent.  Integrity is about building trust, respecting others and being a generally upright person.  It’s part of what being a professional is.  And what I continue to strive to be; I get angry when interns are judged on the few who act unprofessionally.  We’re not all like that.  And I know for one that FP-NC would never ever tolerate an intern acting the way in which others are. 

So, to those who are tweeting queries, reconsider what type of person you want to come off as; someone who breaks trust easily, or someone who is respectful and professional.  I, at least, know what type of person I’d like to be and what type of person is going to get (or keep) the job in the end.

Networking

To get a job in publishing (and many other industries) it’s a given that you have to be smart, motivated, knowledgeable.   But there’s one other key component: you have to know the right people.   The people who know of a job opening before it’s listed on a job board and will tell you about it, the people who can pass your resume on to HR, the people who are going to put in a good word for you.   Your own talents can get you far, but so many people are as equally smart, motivated and knowledgeable as you are.  You have to have more than that to get a job; you need the personal touch.  You need the people who will vouch for you personally.  And the way you go about getting those people on your side is through networking.

Networking to me seems like a sort of cat and mouse cartoon.  The one where the mouse (publishing professional) knows that the cat (unemployed student/intern) wants it and is stalking it, yet every time the mouse turns around the cat isn’t paying attention to the mouse…it’s sharpening its claws, lapping milk, whatever a cartoon cat likes to do.  It never gives away that it’s after the mouse…although both the cat and mouse know that’s the game plan.  (Side note to all-those-important-publishing-people-reading-my-blog [yeah, right]: don’t worry about being a mouse.  The mouse has power, here.  After all, the cat wants it.  And if you remember those childhood cartoons the cat’s the one that ends up in the mousetrap or with an anvil falling on its head in the end, anyways.)

I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at networking.  I’ve mentioned before how I met with countless Hamilton alums and their contacts this past summer and over previous school breaks.  They’re wonderful and helpful people.  But getting to meet with them was relatively easy: send an email saying “Hi, I’m a student at Hamilton interested in publishing and I think you might be someone who could help me learn more about the industry…” And presto, I made a connection based on a common background.  That leads to more meetings where our relationship is further strengthened.

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend a party thrown by FP-NC where agents and editors involved in children’s books were invited.  It was a perfect opportunity for me to network.  But boy did I feel like a cat after a mouse.  And, since there were six of us interns (just from FP-NC alone), the mice sure were popular!   And, just like the cat in the cartoon, we plotted and schemed our way into the tight circles of chatting agents and editors.  A lone mouse by the bar? Circle it! A cat already chatting up a mouse? Join in…strength in numbers!  Of course, those smart mice knew exactly what we were doing the whole time, as if we were chanting, “We want a job! Find us a job!” No one ever, though, acknowledges that out loud, which is why we’re at this cat-and-mouse-game stage.

And just like the mouse of cartoons, us cats weren’t smart enough to trap the mouse.  They outsmarted us at every turn, because in the end, all the scheming and planning is nothing compared to finding that one person you actually relate to and making a really personal connection.  And that’s what networking really is about.  Is isn’t about collecting names or business cards…it’s about personal connections so when the HR director turns to an editor and is like, “I know you’ve meet with this candidate before…is she worthy of joining out company?” your contact will be able to reply, “absolutely, because I know she’s done xyz already and will be a great addition to our team.”  And then you, lucky cat, become the all powerful mouse…just watch out for those cats sneaking up behind you!

Why Children's Books?

My Book Lover Life Goal #1 is to work at a children’s book company.  Currently, I’m aiming at an entry-level editorial assistant job.   I can’t tell you (but I’m sure I will at some point) about the countless number of contacts, mostly Hamilton alums, that I’ve met with hoping to hear advice, gain knowledge about the publishing industry, and get my name out there.  There’s one thing I have to say about those who work in the publishing industry more than anything else: they are the nicest, most helpful people!  The only problem is, despite those meetings and hours of research online, there aren’t many jobs.  There are editorial assistant jobs working for academic publishers or marketing jobs at children’s book companies.   But that isn’t what I want (and, in full disclosure, if I’m still the very unemployed book lover in 3 more months I might try one of those to get my foot in the door…more on that later).  I want a job as an editorial assistant at a children’s book company.

But why children’s?

This one question is so key to what I want to accomplish in my life, and has impacted all my book lover goals.  You see, I wasn’t always a book lover.  In fact, I was a book hater. The turning point occurred when my third grade teacher, Mrs. Moore, handed me a choose-your-own-adventure book.  Until that time not only did I dislike reading, but I was a lower-level reader despite the many efforts of my mom and teachers.  Mrs. Moore changed all that with her ‘genre a month’ project, and for some reason, the choose-your-own-adventure book opened up the possibilities of reading for me.  Perhaps the format of choose-your-own-adventure books is what this very imaginative child needed to enjoy reading; I’m not quite sure what did it.  But by the end of the year I had devoured the choose-your-own-adventure selection in the school and public libraries, moved on to historical fiction and mystery books thanks to Mrs. Moore’s ‘genre a month’ project, had written more short stories than were assigned, and had moved from one of the lowest reading level groups to the highest by fourth grade.  For Halloween in fourth grade I was a book that I had written and illustrated myself, my little sister tagging along as Timothy the Tiger, the main character of my story.

One book changed my life.  Looking back, it wasn’t a great book.  Not an award winner by any means.  But it didn’t need to be.  It just took one book to spark my imagination and show me how wonderful the world of books could be.  I was a book lover from that day in the third grade, and I continue to be one.  I devour books, I majored in writing books, I picked extracurriculars that helped bring books alive for children, I volunteered at a literacy camp and a library in the children’s section.  And I want to work at a children’s book company.  I want to help find and publish books that will inspire children, just like that choose-your-own-adventure book did for me.  I am the Unemployed Book Lover, and the most frustrating thing of all, is until I become employed, my means to share my love of books and spread the joy of reading with children is limited.  A book can change a child’s life.  And that’s not just me being a dreamer.  It happened to me.

Welcome to my blog

It has been three months since I graduated from college.  Three l-o-n-g months at home in a small Connecticut town with little to do.   Most of my friends went to grad school; they don’t have to worry about finding a job in this bad-but-improving economy.  But I do.   And it’s frustrating!  So, what better way to spend my unemployed free time by telling you what books I LOVE and why, why it’s worth the wait to find a job involving books, and all the things I’m going to do because of my love for books.  Stay tuned.

A little about me:

I graduated from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY with a degree in Creative Writing.  I was a good student, but I was also a ‘bad’ English major: I can’t spell (and love my new spell-check everywhere MacBook Pro), my comma usage is shaky, and I despise literary criticism.  I had trouble with most of my creative writing workshop classes until senior year because of those little details.  This past year, however, I was able to pursue a senior project and because it was of my own choosing and my classmates had to accept that, I feel as if I came into my own and really grew.  More on that later.  All in all, Hamilton was a great school that served me well during my four years.  Case in point (pay attention because this is a key step to where I am now): sophomore year I decided I wanted to pursue a summer internship in book publishing.  I wound up at Bloomsbury Children’s Books, my direct supervisor was a wonderful Hamilton alum, and my living expenses paid for by a generous scholarship given by Hamilton alums and the Hamilton Career Center.  Hamilton took care of me very well.

But I’ve graduated.  Hamilton is a part of my life, but because I’m an alumna, it’s mostly the past.  Where am I now?  That’s right…an unemployed book lover.  For the record, I’m not quite unemployed.  I’m working hard, just lacking a paying job.  For the summer I volunteered in the children’s section of my small town library and I’m about to begin an unpaid internship at a literary agency in Manhattan.  And I’ve been pounding the pavement.  Hard.  I can count at least twenty meetings with everyone (mostly Hamilton alums) from editorial assistant to publicity directors to HR managers from small publishing houses to the Big 5.  And I’ve had two interviews, but no job. Hopefully the internship (which I’m thrilled about) will help me achieve…

 Book Lover Goal

 #1: Editorial assistant position at a children’s publishing house.

My other two book lover goals are scarier to write about. They are the type of dreams you don’t talk about, unless you’re sure you’ll be successful because otherwise your naysayers will know of your ‘failure’.   But I’ll tell you what they are anyways:

More Book Lover Goals:

#2: Author of Middle Grade and YA Novels

#3: Owner of a bookstore (and bakery!)

Talking about my dreams, and getting feedback from friends and family, allows me to get advice on how to actually make those dreams come true.  Part of being a book lover means that you have a vivid imagination and you do dream.  That also might be why book lovers are constantly ‘unemployed’; they’re always searching for the next big thing, the next book or job or hobby that they can be passionate about.  I may be unemployed in the traditional and untraditional sense right now, and that part of being a book lover (as opposed to being a in-demand IT or medical professional) isn’t hot, but the tools I’ve learned from the books I’ve loved: hope, perseverance, hard work, and most importantly, to never stop dreaming, that’s the very best part. 

Okay, I’m done being cheesy.

Welcome to my blog (and remember, book lovers always keep reading for a bit before forming an opinion...so stick around for my next couple posts, too.)