By Gabriela Kaczmarek and Molly Arabella Kirk
For this issue, we had the pleasure of chatting with Josie Rushin, who has recently begun her first role in the publishing industry as a Sales and Marketing Executive at Allison and Busby. Speaking to Josie, we found out about the combination of sales and marketing in her role, as well as her invaluable advice for publishing hopefuls.
You have recently taken on your first position in the industry as a Sales and Marketing Executive at Allison and Busby – congratulations! Can you tell us a bit about what your role entails?
Thank you. It’s a very diverse role and every day looks different. The sales element involves working under the Head of Sales, assisting him in processing orders, submitting data and working with our UK and export teams. The marketing (and publicity) element involves creating and posting social media content, pitching articles, interviews and reviews, maintaining the website and the newsletter and organising blog tours. I have definitely missed something out, but you can see that it covers a lot. I really enjoy the diversity of the role and how I am able to learn about lots of different aspects of the business, especially with it being a small, independent company. It also means I’m often brought into conversations that do not impact me directly but help me to learn about how the business works.
Have you always wanted to work in marketing? If so, how did you know that the marketing department was for you?
When I was applying, I found lots of interesting roles. Like many people going into publishing, I had areas I was more interested in than others, but I was also cautious not to keep my job search too narrow. As a person who has a wide variety of interests (climbing, netball, football, writing, cooking), I wanted to find a role where I would learn lots of things. What drew me to this role was this aspect – the ability to learn lots of things.
I spent some time last year working at a feminist bookshop, Juno Books, in Sheffield (very highly recommend a visit), where I assisted in the running of the bookshop and bookshop events. In doing so, I learned a lot about how to sell and market books. This helped me to see that I had an interest in sales and marketing and gave me insights that were helpful for interviews and understanding my role now.
In terms of knowing marketing was for me, I think the opposite actually happened. I realised in this role that I really enjoy marketing and surprisingly am drawn to the social media side (after not really using social media for about two years!). I have even recently set up my own publishing Instagram (@publishingjosie) in order to create a digital portfolio, and I did this using the skills I have been developing at A&B [Allison and Busby].
Prior to your current role at Allison and Busby, you worked for London Literary Scouting as a Freelance Reader. Can you give us some insight into the genres you were reading and what you were doing as part of this role?
I worked with the Spanish department as an external reader for a short period when they received a new Spanish language text. I started this just as I graduated in English Literature and Spanish, with a focus on Spanish language literature. I was really keen (and still am) to keep up my Spanish. During this time, I read one fiction and one non-fiction text and wrote reports, including a synopsis and my thoughts on whether the text should be translated and/or adapted for TV/film. The deadlines were short and I typically had other commitments to contend with, so it was quite challenging but still very fun.
What advice would you give to someone who is trying to get their foot into the publishing industry?
Working in a bookshop really helped me to see publishing and books as a business, and the experience I gained (especially speaking with authors) helped me in my role now. I think it helped that I had quite a unique work experience, being a Spanish freelance reader and working at a feminist bookshop, as it gave me lots to talk about on my cover letter and in interviews.
Keep up to date on platforms like The Bookseller, IPG [Independent Publishers Guild] and Creative Access for jobs. Also, join the Publishing Hopefuls page on Facebook (run by the predecessor to the role I’m in).
Finally, network! I managed to meet some publishing professionals while working at Juno Books, who helped to explain the industry and later helped with my CV and cover letter. While I was still at uni, I told my lecturers that I wanted to get into publishing, and they put me in contact with alumni working in publishing, who also helped with applications and job hunting.
As someone beginning their publishing journey, where do you see yourself in the next five years?
This is a challenging question! There is no direct progression in the role I’m in, but I haven’t really thought about what’s next. I am trying to work out what I enjoy most in this role and, therefore, what I would like to develop further in my next role. At the London Book Fair, I gained a bit of insight into rights, which seems interesting, especially with my love of languages. At the end of the day, I am really enjoying working with books and don’t see that changing in the future.