Life as an Editorial Intern: Week 1

So, you may know that I'm currently interning with a small publishing company outside of New Orleans, called Pelican Publishing Company. I haven't broadcasted it everywhere, but I've made it known. I've been thinking about blogging about my time with Pelican and just today decided to do so--it may be obvious because it's Wednesay and I started last Monday. (Sometimes I'm indecisive. Plus, the head of the promotion department said I could. :) Thanks Antoinette!) Pelican is a medium-sized independent publisher. They publish books of interest to the area--Southern history, lore, food, etc.--general history, and children's

books.

This was the perfect first internship for me! I live just over an hour away from New Orleans and am staying with a family friend during the week, commuting home for the weekends. In an editorial internship, I'm doing exactly what I want to do and enjoying the heck out of it. One of the advantages of working with a smaller company is that I'm given the opportunity to do a lot more than I could with a large company. There are only two editorial interns, and the other girl doesn't start until near the end of June. I get one-on-one time with the editor-in-chief and the other two editors. The first day they let me start proofreading a book going to print in a couple of weeks.

What have I been doing for the past week? I'll tell you! :)

Monday the 13th was my first day. I was nervous and excited, and had no idea what to expect. The other two interns and I had an opportunity to look over Pelican's releases from the past year, then I sat down to return rejected manuscripts. I was a little bit too excited to do this. Maybe I'm cruel? This gave me the opportunity to see just why Pelican turns down the titles, though, and that was valuable information. Why? Because the next thing I did was go through the editor's mail, which is the submissions that come in each day, before she does! That way, I knew what to look for in the manuscripts. So cool.

I spent much of the rest of the week editing the second half of a book. And I mean really editing. I also practice edited a children's book, read the original of a book being reprinted to check for mistakes, and did several manuscript evaluations.

So far I'm having a ball at my internship. Sometimes I get tired of starting at the computer screen or reading the same chapter on squash three times in a row, but I know this is a big step in getting to my ultimate goal. Everyone at Pelican is as nice as they could be and always happy to help.