Day 241: The End.
I started my internship with an interview, sweating in a blazer in Noah’s office with 35-degree weather outside. Must. Look. Professional. Must. Stop. Sweating. Noah was reclining comfortably, dressed in a blue polo shirt asking me about my history. They’d heard talk of my battles with the demon king. They’d read stories and heard from references about my competency with swords and magicka in defeating and conquering this beast known as… Excel.
Somehow I managed to stammer out some answers impressive enough and was offered the job. And what a job it’s been! In my eight months here, I’ve managed to do some monumental things… like spill coffee on a laptop within the first month; finish several research reports on literary awards; uncover the mysteries of ONIX usage in Canada; lose PubFight; complete The Canadian Book Market; go curling (?!); attend Tech Forum; and talk about zombies, vampires, and Glory Hole doughnuts a lot. All the while, my fellow staff have been extremely friendly, supportive, and patient. I couldn’t have asked for a more enlightening, fun, or practical internship.
While the industry continues chugging along into deeper digital domains, being ahead, or at the very least, on-track with the shift is extremely important for industry newcomers. We newbies need to be able to offer something that will make us stand out that tiny bit more than the average other newbie. Fresh out of a publishing program, I knew I had to find an internship that would give me a snapshot of the entire industry, and BookNet has been perfect for that. Here, I’ve been able to see processes on the retailer and publisher side of things. I’ve been able to see actual sales numbers, create bestseller lists, see real effects of the major literary awards on sales, and see a snapshot of a year in the life of publishing in Canada with Canadian Book Market. This panoramic perspective has been a tremendous learning experience.
In keeping with the trend of spreadsheets, pivot tables, and charts, I created a small research report to reflect my time here. It’s not entirely valid, but the trends are close! I’ll leave off with this and encourage anybody that’s unsure what direction to go in publishing to go in this direction. BookNet will better equip you for future endeavours in publishing, and your understanding of the industry will be unique and more comprehensive than most others’.
Thank you, BookNet.
