Sunday 25 September 2011

Sunday Summary: My Internship week two

Another week over! Sorry I've been so inactive this week...as you'll see I've been pretty busy. Next week I promise I'll be commenting more, I feel like I'm missing out on a lot in the blogosphere!

On Monday I headed over to Transworld, a division of Random House based out in Ealing. I had a really great day in which I got to go to meetings and give my opinion on a sample of a manuscript (how awesome is that!) and I had a super yummy lunch at a Thai place. But because now everyone at RH knows how much I love YA, they also arranged for me to go to Random House Children's Books for an hour!! I got to talk to one of the editorial assistants about all the stuff they publish,including being shown exactly how picture books are put together which was really really interesting. It was a dream come true really, to spend time in a major children's publishers and find out how everything works. I also got BOOKS!! RHCB gave me a copy of IF I STAY which I have yet to read, and also a book called LONG LANKIN:

(Pic goes to Goodreads page)

How creepy is that cover?? But the book sounds awesome, vaguely Near-Witch esque, and it's based in England too! It came out in January and it's definitely worth a read. Simon, one of the Transworld editors also gave me a book called BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP which has been a HUGE bestseller and is kinda like an adult Forgotten.

On Tuesday I started my week in publicity and was given my own book to devise a publicity plan for, which was then looked through and discussed with me and that definitely taught me a lot about scheduling radio shows and newspaper articles and tv appearances etc. I was also asked to consult on running a blog tour for a new crime novel which was really exciting. I've also been coming up with ideas for podcasts and writing press releases! It's great to think my input is valuable to people who do this professionally! I've been really enjoying the publicity challenge, it's really creative. I think if I were doing the practicalities of it I'd probably feel slightly differently but they've been really good in giving me fun things to do.

I've been to lots of meetings again this week,there was one about Amazon and the impact they're having on publishing, as well as more editorial meetings including the really big full Vintage publishing meeting. On Thursday I got to go to the sales conference, which is where the new books for the first half of next year get presented to booksellers and the sales teams!

Then on Thursday night it was the big Vintage 21st birthday party! I was really excited for this having enjoyed the launch party I went to last week and I wasn't disappointed! The event was HUGE and lots of really famous authors attended. My glass was NEVER empty, which I definitely regretted the morning after. I need to learn to hold back on the free wine.The party was in the Polish Club in south Kennsington and whilst it was all very sophisticated downstairs, upstairs there was a mad disco with some very questionable dancing going on (you know who you are).  There was a hectic part of the night because the cloakroom had become absolute CHAOS but a few of us got behind there and got it all sorted to the point it was running with almost military precision. 

So that's been my week! Right now I'm in Liverpool enjoying some time with my boyfriend who has just taken me out for a very nice meal. I've really enjoyed my time in publicity and I'm looking forward to what I'll be upto next week!



7 comments:

  1. Oh I'm so jealous! Sounds like you're having a fabulous time! I think I've got Before I Go To Sleep on my shelf. It sounds really good and I've seen it around in the shops a lot.

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  2. There is only one word for this... AWESOME!

    I am unbelievable jealous right now! It sounds like such an amazing experience :D

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  3. Sounds incredible! Makes me think I might like to go into this sort of thing.

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  4. Want to trade lives for a while? What you've been doing sounds so fun! And Long Larkin sounds so creepy, but I like it! So jealous right now :P.

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  5. Long Lankin is an awesome book, and really scary especially in the end. Do not read it at night :) Glad you're enjoying your time!

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  6. Instantly jealous.

    Sounds like you had a busy, but fun week! I love that you get to see the publicity side of things. I hope your publicity plan goes well! It sounds like your having a good time putting it together.

    Anyway, that book sounds creepy! I just had to add it to my list, seeing as how Halloween is just around the corner. :)

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  7. This makes me want to cry, I'm so jealous of you right now. So glad you're having such an amazing time! I'm contemplating on saving for a move down saaaarf myself :) xxx

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