Behind The Scenes at Bridge House Publishing
From the moment I learned how to read, there has been a book in my hand, on my bedroom shelf, and in every room in my house. My love for words, characters, reading and telling stories began early on in my life. So, naturally I was always enthralled by the idea of working in publishing, but unfortunately the world of publishing always felt beyond my reach. In my teenage years the internet offered little to no solid advice on how to enter the industry and flourish in it. After many applications to many companies I thought it might be wise to put this dream of mine on hold. That was until I came across an opportunity to intern at Bridge House Publishing. I knew immediately I wanted the position, and after much interview preparation I am proud to say that at the time of this blog post I am coming to the end of my yearlong publishing internship. Here are some of the best things I experienced this year:
Book launches
One of my favourite things to experience is seeing the final product come to life. Early on in my internship I helped set up the room for Karen Kendrick’s book launch for her novel Afterwards. It was wonderful to hear the 1-2-1 discussion and Q&A session between the author and Gill James; the founder of Bridge House. I think one of the most astounding things about book launches is how beautiful it is to see other people also praise and love a book an author has worked so hard on and for so long. You feel a warm sense of community standing amongst all the other readers in the room.
I also attended Gill’s book launch of her book called Natascha’s Story earlier this year in February. She explained how her children’s story was inspired by the Russian Dolls that sit on her piano and how it was a twist on the Wizard of Oz story so many of us know and love from our childhoods.
Book launches come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes and it is such a good insight into learning how an author comes across the idea for their story and to show that as a reader you admire their work.
Copy-writing
One of the things I loved most about my internship is that Gill, my supervisor, always gave me the opportunity to set my own tasks and always encouraged my own independent ideas. Bridge House opened a new imprint this year called Walela Books and I was responsible for writing the advertisement that was calling for submissions. This was something completely new for me and it did make me a bit nervous to get it wrong. However, I pushed past this discomfort and after hearing some constructive feedback from colleagues working at Bridge House I was able to write an effective post. Copywriting is something I enjoyed in the end and would love to do more of in the future.
Reviewing and editing
Reviewing is when you read a submission and you decide whether you like or dislike it and whether it’s a good piece of writing and you write a short review about your thoughts. Doing this over time I started spotting good/not so good writing much more easily.
After a submission is accepted for publication, the editorial process begins. Editorial work is hands down my all-time favourite thing to do. In fact, my very first 1-2-1 meeting with Gill was learning about the editing process from A-Z. Every publishing company does the editing process differently, but at Bridge House it involves three stages. The first stage of editing is a scan of the overall text to spot any major mistakes, issues with characters, pacing, etcetera. The second edit is the biggest and longest editing stage. Edit 2 involves a detailed line by line edit. I’ve had numerous opportunities to do this and the most important thing I’ve learned is to edit so that sentences show improved clarity, but that the author’s writing style and voice still shines through. The last edit is a proof read of the overall text to make sure there’s no remaining mistakes.
I’ve had a fantastic time working alongside Jim Bates, an award-winning author, on his latest collection of short stories called Where The Heart Is. I’ve really enjoyed editing Jim’s short stories and would love to carry on working with authors in the future.
I’m pleased about the skills I’ve learned and developed as a result of interning at Bridge House and I know these are skills I plan to take with me into my future career. I am beyond honoured to be able to do what I love and I hope I carry on doing what I love in the future.
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