On Interns
Guest Post by Louise Swinn
September 01
In the New York Times review of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, the critic comments: ‘it is seldom enough simply to follow one’s creed; others must embrace it too. They alone can validate it.’
When Zoe and I started Sleepers in 2003 it was just a crazy idea on a Monday morning before the midday bottle of wine in a cavernous Collingwood warehouse. We knew we needed other people involved, but for a long time we had trouble convincing anyone to take us seriously, so, in the absence of staff, we invented them. There was Narelle Britney Ciccone on Reception (short skirts, gum, attitude), Todd the mail boy (roller blades, ear phones, Blink 182) (who eventually knocked Britney up), and Wendy the webmaster (blue-black hair, horn-rims, irony). We realised, after a time, that it was a bit sad only having made up people we could rely on, so we did a call-out for Interns. It wasn’t a term in use in the Australian publishing industry at the time but we liked it and it served its purpose.
Since then we’ve had loads of Interns, many of whom are names you know: Louise Pine, Jessica Au, Bel Monypenny, Adam Tucker, Ian See, Olivia Maher, Kate Freeth, Sam Cooney, Emily Kiddell, Luke Meinzen, Katie Wyatt, Johannes Jakob, Lucy Nelson, to name but a few. Some of them have gone on to work at Hardie Grant, Text, Scribe, Arts Victoria and Voiceworks. Taking Jess as a case in point, she went on to intern at Meanjin, and is now the Deputy Editor. Interning can take you places, but it might not, too. I do understand that people might be reluctant to work for free – not everyone is in a position to – and there are no guarantees that working for free will lead to paid work.
When I was studying at RMIT I did work experience at Meanjin. It involved (mostly) calling bookstores to talk to them about stocking Meanjin, and (a bit of) slush-pile reading. It was the first time I bore witness to an essay being edited – actually got to see the author and editor work on the piece together. It was incredibly useful. A course can only teach you so much – you need to learn hands-on how to negotiate these tricky things, and applying for even a poorly paid entry-level position can pit you against fierce competition, so it’s a good idea to get some experience under your belt first.
Interning is unquestionably a good thing but not everyone has the free time to do it, particularly people returning to work later in life, and with families. We receive applications for interns or work experiences at a rate of about twenty a month – way more than a minuscule business like us can possibly make use of.
Our Interns work on a part-time capacity dependent on what else they have on in their lives; they proofread, copyedit, write grants, maintain databases, sell books, represent Sleepers at events, liaise with authors, and read and respond to manuscripts. But they do way more than this, and it’s the unquantifiables that are much harder to describe and explain, and it’s these other things that really help keep Sleepers afloat.
Zoe and I started Sleepers seven years ago from nothing, by which I mean we quit our publishing jobs (not big publishing jobs, small ones – we didn’t have reputations or lists, we weren’t known in the industry) with the goal of starting our own company. We knew we wanted to publish books we got to choose right from the start, and we wanted to take them through the whole process – edit, design, market, promote, sell. We didn’t have books already signed up and we didn’t have backing, neither financial nor emotional – we didn’t really know many people in the industry. We had never edited a novel or written a grant application. We didn’t want it to be a passing phase; we didn’t want our dream of great stories to fade; we got Sleepers tattoos. The excellent thing about having a business partner is that when one of you stops believing in the value of what you’re doing, or simply runs out of energy, the other one keeps on keeping on. We are lucky to have each other and our different views and our mix of skills; and the culmination of our efforts is Sleepers.
Everybody knows in theory that there’s no money in publishing but the realities of that are sometimes overwhelming. I know you, reading this on a site attached to a literary magazine, you are probably in the same boat – you are writers and reviewers or somehow involved in this scene, so you know the deal. Our first book, The Sleepers Almanac 2005: The Deathbed Challenge, we got some bad format advice so the printing costs were $11,000, we didn’t have grant money, and we sold very few copies. We never sell as many copies of the Almanac as we do receive submissions to it. Since then, thankfully, we’ve had some success with the books we’ve chosen but if what we did was in isolation, away from the rest of the world, if we felt like we really had no audience, then it would be much harder – I’m not sure we’d have made it this far. What our Interns offer that is much harder to put a value on is people to rant at, people to share with, a sense that we have a tribe, a readership, an audience, people to tell us what to read, people who actually care about our books and our vision, people who support us out in the world.
What do the Interns get out of it? A whole heap of hands-on experience. An insight into different aspects of small publishing, including the most mundane aspects (so much of our job is just replying to emails, putting books in mail bags, talking to distributors, filling out spreadsheets, shopping around for Salon venues). They make contacts; they get a chance at discerning the writing that comes through a publishing house, good and bad; they have editing experience – and the aim is that what they get out of it equates with what they put in.
I don’t mean to complain that it’s a tough life being a small publisher – we have chosen it and it is not something I regret, not for a minute, and it’s an incredibly rewarding vocation. Really, what could be better than doing what we do? I know how lucky we are. I understand our position in the world as middle-class, white, educated – how lucky we were to even think we could start a publishing company. I also understand how tenuous this all is – there really isn’t all that much holding us all together. Having people to validate our creed, to accept our plan despite its failings, to keep on bringing the energy, and to whip us into shape; its impossible to say how important to Sleepers this has been and continues to be. So to all our Interns – eternal thanks, and love.
Louise Swinn is the editorial director of Sleepers, crafters of gourmet books and iPhone Apps here: sleepersapp.com & sleeperspublishing.com; and tweeting here: @sleeperspublish & @MsLouiseSwinn
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Comments
01 Sep 10 at 9:31
Great post! Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I started out doing unpaid publishing work exp and wouldn’t have ended up with the job I have now if it weren’t for that.I know us Gen Y kids can seem a tad ungrateful (I remember fellow journalism students effectively pissing all over their unpaid internships) and sometimes it’s hard to remember why you’re working for free and struggling to afford packet noodles for dinner every night.
But a) it’s nice to know you’re appreciated by our mentor-employers (who are loads better than plain old employers).
and b) it’s also nice to wake up every morning and look forward to your day, because you’ll be doing something you love.
Let’s all have a literary group hug now.
...01 Sep 10 at 9:32
I want an i heart sleepers tatt now. thnks for this post Louise and to both of you for drinking wine at lunchtime and bringing us the good ship that is Sleepers Publishing. i had an excellent Intern experience with Almanac 4 (embarrassed to say, her name escapes me) – and have used those queries and responses as a teaching resource.
...01 Sep 10 at 10:19
Great post Lou (and thanks for the shout out).
I realise that so much of interning also relies on whether you’re in the position to be able to do so, and as you say, there are no guarantees.
But like Elena, I know I certainly wouldn’t have ended up with a job in publishing had it not been for those internships, and the incredible support and generosity of those I worked for. (and for that I’ll always be extremely grateful). Sophie made a comment at an MWF session about the role of literary journals (and I think perhaps publishers) as also involving developing the industry through mentoring. For me this is exactly what internships are all about.
...01 Sep 10 at 12:45
Intern roles are a crucial first step in breaking into a lifelong career in cultural production, and that’s great. Not just because of all the delicious unpaid labour we get to gobble up. It also guarantees that only people who can afford to devote their waking hours to performing unpaid labour ever get access to the hands-on experience and personal networking that, as Louise says, are so important in the competitive job market. Now none of those nasty poor people can bother us. It’s bad enough with all this Austudy and Youth Allowance guff; isn’t it lucky that those RMIT classes can only teach so much? Devoting yourself to a “poorly paid entry-level position” gives you a crucial advantage when you’re up against “fierce competition”, so if you want to be a professional writer or whatever, I sure hope you don’t, like, have kids!
...01 Sep 10 at 17:43
Brilliant, Lou. You could be a motivational speaker for young people on careers in a competitive industry. Truly.
...01 Sep 10 at 20:46
To echo ghoul’s ghoulish comment a little, I’ve done unpaid internships in the arts because they were fun. I don’t think I seriously entertained the possibility of being hired in that context.
One of those placements resulted in ongoing paid work, while 3 didn’t. But to me the more important fact is that 80% of the volunteer work I’ve done has been more fun than my paid work. The adult world of employment is bizarre, with all its hierarchies and strategic manoeuvres, so – speaking for myself here – it’s refreshing to have short-term engagements where you’re having fun, contributing to a field / organisation you value & feel your contribution’s valued – even if it never leads to paid work.
I think this relates to you saying you relish working with energetic people, who become part of your immediate literary community – my shorthand for that is “fun”!
...01 Sep 10 at 21:04
P.s. don’t mean to diminish your achievement in establishing Sleepers – a big congratulations on your hard work and success. Just airing my un-pragmatical approach to the arts in general, which, wisely or foolishly, has never been about utility (money).
...02 Sep 10 at 10:32
Ghoulish and P – I do take your points. There wasn’t an intern scene when I began in publishing and it does seem that some really fabulous people have to offer their services, for nothing, for an interminable length of time. At Meanjin, I do my best to make that time as meaningful as possible – but yes, it’s a big ask. And we’re grateful.
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