During the past few months, it’s been made abundantly clear to me that the British publishing industry is highly competitive, and therefore hard to get into – for anyone, and especially for young students with no relevant experience in the field. If you also happen to be an international student with no experience whatsoever, let alone relevant, then it’s easy to see how you might get discouraged. You want to contribute to a vibrant, passionate industry, but you come from a country where it’s perfectly normal for students fresh out of graduation to have not done a single day of work in their lives – whereas British young people will more often than not be working while they’re studying, and accumulate quite a bit of experience before they even graduate. You are so far behind your competition you start doubting if you even have a spot in the race.

If you found yourself in these conditions, and had no intention whatsoever to abandon your publishing dream, you would see a work placement as the ultimate tool for salvation. It’s mandatory for your course, so you have no choice but to secure one. It’s the perfect solution to the whole “not a day of work in your life” situation, and it’s relevant experience for the industry you’ve been dreaming of dipping your toes in for years. By the time you need to find yourself a placement, you are trembling with anticipation, as is your CV. This is your chance to make up for the lack of opportunities in your own country, to gain useful experience, to maybe figure out exactly what you’d like to do in the multi-faceted world of publishing.

Or perhaps that’s just me. Relatability aside, you should by now have grasped the state of mind with which I applied to a work placement with SmashBear Publishing: I was desperate. I needed that placement, and I needed it to be good – because who knows if my shortcomings and I will get a chance to work in publishing, that heartless, competitive industry, ever again. 

To make a short story even shorter, SmashBear accepted me for the placement – most importantly, it felt like they accepted me. They gave me resources to work in acquisitions, held collaborative editing workshops, had all students work on group projects together – they treated all of us the same, giving us the tools we needed to get our jobs done; I never got the impression that they expected me to know any of it beforehands. SmashBear’s dedication and sincere willingness to help, teach, and train made me realise that not everyone in the publishing industry is going to reject me simply for my lack of experience; there are plenty of publishers, agents, editors and readers out there who care about your passion and will give you opportunities to grow and learn. They believe that sharing their knowledge won’t just help you, but the industry as a whole – that having one more player will make the game better, as long as they are given room to improve. 

I am still stressed about my future, but I’m no longer wondering if I’ll get to have one; I’m simply unsure of where the publishing road will take me, and everything else that’ll come with it. This placement taught me that though the publishing industry might be competitive, that doesn’t mean I’ll never get to be a part of it; I simply have to reach out and take the many hands stretching towards me, pushing me to learn more and do better. The journey might be hard, and I still can’t see the endpoint – but I know it’s there, and that there are people along the way that will be cheering me on.

Dreams turned into reality with less. I’ll reach my destination eventually.

Image credit: Photo by Alena Stepanova on Unsplash