Thursday, September 24, 2009

Editors Down Under?

I'm a nearly brand new graduate planning to take a publishing course next year. I'm very excited about this, and have been idly day-dreaming future plans (and not-so-idly thinking of a way to get my relations to stop asking me what I want to be when I grow up.) The trick is, I'm from New Zealand. I'm happy where I am right now, but I'd like to travel eventually. My question is, what kind of experience would I need in publishing in New Zealand in order to get a job somewhere like, oh, let's just choose a city at random, New York? I hope to work in YA on the editorial side (but who knows what I will enjoy) and ideally would leave the country with three or four years' experience, always providing I hustle my way into a job soon enough. I know I'd need to be caught up on what's popular and so forth - books from the USA tend to get here anyway - but would there be any particular barriers to shifting locations dramatically like this?
Because there's so much crossover between publishing in the US and Australia/New Zealand these days, I wouldn't expect it to be a problem. As long as you get 3-4 years of editorial experience and are well-read in the US market, then you should stand as good a chance as anyone. Of course, "as good a chance" is not as good as it was a couple years ago. Lots of good people are on the streets since December, so competition for editorial jobs is steep.

3 comments:

  1. Would the same stand for someone who wanted to come to the US from the UK?

    I am about to start an MA Publishing in London, have a very good degree and relevant publishing work experience, and would love to work in NY/Boston afterwards - just for a couple of years, I see myself back here ultimately - to get some international experience. I would be interested in editorial or literary agencies, but I was told by a careers advisor that I had no chance unless I'd discovered the next J.K Rowling because the US is quite a closed market - I'm not sure I agree with him, so it would be interesting to hear more opinions. Also, what about visas?!

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  2. Would the same apply for someone wanting to come to the US from the UK?

    I've graduated with a very good degree, have done several relevant work placements and am about to start an MA Publishing in London. I'd love to get a couple years of experience abroad after this, in NY/Boston, before returning to the UK. I know competition will be fierce, and I don't know what the visa issues are, but would trying to get an entry-level/only-just-above-entry-level job from overseas be completely impossible?

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