Working Inside One of the World’s Largest Book Publishers
My name is Amanda Baldyga and I am a Publicity Intern for Penguin Random House within the Penguin Young Readers division which focuses on young adult and children’s books. I am currently a rising senior majoring in Advertising with a concentration in Account Management. This is the first internship I’ve done so going into it I didn’t fully know what to expect or what my daily work would be like. This is especially because I’m an Advertising major who did not know that much about the world of publicity. In spite of that, my supervisor has done a great job of introducing me to the ins and outs of publicity and duties publicists perform on the day to day.
My internship work includes carrying out tasks and projects I’ve been assigned to help the Penguin Young Readers publicity team. I write press releases for some of the division’s upcoming books to garner attention from media outlets. I compile media contact lists and do research to decide to whom would be best to pitch a book. I also email media contacts pitching individual books to them and ask if they have any interest in reviewing it or interviewing the author. I create pitch decks that the publicity team uses for when they pitch books to media outlets in meetings. I also do research on influencers to put together lists of who we could reach out to that would be a good fit to promote the book on their platforms.
It has been amazing to experience the inner workings of the publishing industry as a book lover. I’ve been able to sit in on some author meetings to hear firsthand how authors carry out publicizing their books and their insight into the publishing industry. I also get to sit in on pitch meetings and experience what pitching to large media outlets is like. I have early access to manuscripts of books that will be published within the next year as well. It is fun to know of books that will be published before they are announced to the public, especially when the book will be the next part of an anticipated series or is written by a celebrity.
I’m so grateful for my experience at Penguin Random House and I’m cherishing every moment of it! Reading was one of my favorite things to do growing up as I always felt at home whenever I picked up a book. It is so surreal to be interning for the division which has published some of my favorite books and books that I grew up loving as a kid. My experience here is one I will never forget!
This sounds like such an interesting opportunity! I think it’s really special to find an internship that relates to something you are passionate about because even if you don’t want to pursue publicity you are still benefitting from the experience. It’s also so cool how involved you are in creating material and in meetings. It sounds like the perfect job for a book lover like you! As someone who has yet to dip their toe in PR, I’m curious if you are interested in continuing down this career path and how you discovered this internship?
This sounds like an absolutely amazing experience, Amanda – congratulations! I am also an advertising major and know nothing about publicity, so this was really interesting to read, especially since it’s for a book publishing company. First of all, it’s so cool that you write and create visuals for the publicity team to use in releases or pitch meetings! I feel like the idea of having such outward facing and public work is intimidating but must be so rewarding and amazing to see in action. I’m curious to know, what criteria do you judge a media outlet or contact on in terms of being a good candidate for pitching a book?
Wow, when I read the title and excerpt of this blog post, I was already blown away. I grew up seeing the penguin on lots of my childhood books and imagine being able to work there, that’s so cool! I have never known much about what goes on before a book is published, so reading your experiences in this field was fascinating. Getting to listen to an author’s input for their upcoming book sounds like an amazing experience, and knowing a celebrity or franchise will be coming out with a book before everyone sounds exciting.