Sunday 18 September 2011

Sunday Summary: My Internship week one

As many of you know (I hope so anyway, I've gone on about it enough!) I started my publishing internship this week. The move down to London has been really exciting, the only downside I've found so far is that the guy in the room next to mine has an alarm that goes off at exactly 6:32am EVERY morning and wakes me up EVERY morning. But fortunately we moved on Saturday, so I will no longer have to put up with that.

So Monday morning I was anxiously waiting in the reception of Random House as Kay, the editor who organised this, was coming down to meet me. She's a lovely person and has been very, very welcoming (I'm going to her house for dinner next week!) I got to meet loads of the people who work here which was really nice as they were all really excited to meet me (and a bit daunting too, actually). Everyone has been really supportive and happy to answer my questions for me, usually over lunch which means they don't get to eat much....the office itself is really friendly and has a quite relaxed feel and there's books EVERYWHERE!

So far this week I've done proofreading, written a book blurb, picture research, read unsolicited manuscripts and sent out rejection letters, attended allllll kinds of meetings (editiorial, publicity, jacket meetings, production meetings) all of which have furthered my understanding and knowledge of publishing. Everything I've done has been exciting and new and I've thoroughly enjoyed myself. I even got to go to the pre-publication meeting for The Night Circus (see my review here) which was ridiculously cool and so, so illuminating to hear them talk of sales, and how many orders has been placed and options for the second run etc.

But by far the most exciting thing I've done this week is attend a launch party for Misha Glenny who wrote a really cool book on cybercrime. Misha knew exactly who I was when I walked through the door which was amazing and I got to talk to loads of people I'd met briefly but not really spoken to much. I also had a cool talk with an agent which was great as I've been offered a second internship at a big literary agency if I want it. There was lots of wine and really awesome canapes (I adored the canapes!) and I generally had a really great time.

Oh, I lie, there was another totally exciting thing that happened. Just before we went to the launch party we were having a few drinks for one of the guys who's leaving for another job and Kay introduced me to someone who she told me was a YA author. I said that was really cool, and asked what she'd written and she very casually said she was the author of A Witch in Winter.

That's right, THIS A Witch in Winter:



How exciting right? So I had a bit of a fangirl moment because OMG! This book has been on my wishlist since I first heard about it! I'm going to try and convince Ruth that she really wants to let me read it...hahah.

So that's all from me for this week. but I'm having a great time (I even love the tube, though I doubt that will last) and I can't wait to see what other cool things I'll be able to do in the weeks to come!

Be sure to enter my current giveaway here!

16 comments:

  1. So very glad you are having a good time! Very excited for you :)) Please, do some mad London shopping for us. Go to Portobello market too - it's weird and wonderful. I've noticed A Witch in Winter before because of the beautiful cover.

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  2. Wow, wow and even more WOW! Im really.glad your enjoying yourself and can't wait to hear more! X x

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  3. It sounds like you are having a fantastic time! :D

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  4. Sounds like you're having an amazing time! You are so lucky to get such an interesting and fun internship :-D

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  5. Your internship sounds amazing and I can't wait to read more of your adventures in publishing!

    Grace at Feeding My Book Addiction

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  6. Oh wow!
    I loved reading this post and seeing 'into the world of publishing'
    How very exciting for you. It sounds amazing and sounds like my dream come true!
    'and there's books EVERYWHERE!' - This sounds like heaven ;)

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  7. Wow, first week in and sounds like you're having an AWESOME time! I will admit without shame - I am totally jealous of you :D ESPECIALLY since you got to meet Ruth! A Witch in Winter is super high on my wishlist aswell, I really hope you're able to snag an ARC!

    Such an amazing opportunity, I can't wait to read your reports on the following weeks :D Have fun!

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  8. It sounds like you are having a FABULOUS time! So, so fun. =D

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  9. Sounds great! So happy for you, sounds like you're having the time of your life! I can't wait to hear more. :)

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  10. Glad you're having a great time! You've done so much cool stuff, I'm jealous :P. Can't believe you got to meet Ruth! You lucky thing :). Hope you have more awesome times!

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  11. Wow, it sounds like your very busy and having tons of fun.

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  12. I'm sure Ruth is going to totally want to let you read her book! DUH! :)

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  13. I'm so happy for you and it's great to here you're having such a brilliant time!!

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  14. Wow Cait!! That all sounds sooo AMAZING!! What an experience to have! This all soo cool! Thank you very much for sharing it with us! A Witch In the Winter is on my TBR list as well! I look forward to hearing all the other exciting things you get to experience!

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  15. Awwww thank you for the lovely mention Cait!! Getting all *blush* here - I'm still not used to being on the author side of the fence. I'm supposed to be the one begging bloggers to review other people's books.

    We are SO looking forward to having you down the corridor in publicity next week. There's generally a lot of cake involved, I warn you.

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  16. The internship sounds like it's going FABULOUSLY, Cait! :)

    I hope everything continues to go so well. Everything you've been up to sounds like a ton of fun. Congrats again on getting the internship! :)

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