With famous authors like Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, and Hillary Clinton, Simon & Schuster is one of the “big 5” publishing houses, producing over 2,000 titles a year. WayUp sat down with a Foreign Rights Assistant, who graduated from Dartmouth in 2012 and attended the summer-long publishing boot camp known as the Columbia Publishing Course before landing her role at the company. Here’s what she has to say with a year under her belt.
So, what is foreign rights? What does your role involve?
Working in foreign rights means, for example, if a Romanian publishing house wants to produce & distribute one of our books in their country, they buy the rights from my department. So on a daily basis, I am working with dozens of people around the world to make deals, process agreements, coordinate materials and publishing schedules, and generally make sure that the foreign editions of our books are published without a hitch.
Tell us more about the work culture. Do you have a heavy workload?
Because Simon & Schuster is one of the big five publishing houses, it has a bit more of a corporate feel than a smaller house or a literary agency would. It also has more benefits–health, paid vacation, insurance, etc.–than an independent house would offer its employees. The workload can be quite rigorous and fast paced. But in the world of foreign rights, the summer tends to be calmer–because all of our European subagents go on vacation for six weeks!
What skills are absolutely necessary to succeed in your role and at the company?
Across the gamut, multitasking is a crucial skill. Effective communication is also necessary, as I interact with dozens of people in-house and across the globe on a daily basis.
What is the most rewarding and the most challenging part about your job?
This is my first real 9-5 office job, so I found everything challenging at first! I was expected to keep track of a huge volume of titles, the details of which were constantly changing. The most rewarding thing was when I began to develop my own systems to effectively harness this information, and began to anticipate challenges before they arose.
Will candidates be asked about the books they’re reading during an interview? What should they say?
Yes, your interviewer will ask you what you like to read–DON’T SAY CLASSICS! Publishing people want to know that you have your finger on the pulse of today’s publishing world, so be ready to spout off several titles published in the past year or two.
What should you wear to your interview?
Business casual. Nothing too zany or busy. When in doubt, solid colors and classic cuts are best.
