Studying, training and upskilling

There are a variety of ways to gain knowledge of, and experience in, the publishing industry.

Discover some great ways to train and upskill below

Publishing degrees

You don’t need to have a degree in publishing to work in the industry, but they are a good way to gain an understanding of the industry as a whole, learn more about the different sectors and departments, and provide the opportunity to acquire relevant practical skills. They equip you well for a role in publishing and provide you with an understanding of how all elements of publishing work together.

There are a range of undergraduate and full and part-time postgraduate courses that focus on publishing and other specialist aspects (such as digital publishing).

Find undergraduate and postgraduate publishing courses here.

Apprenticeships, Traineeships and Internships

Bloomsbury offer a paid internship scheme, with 16 internships available per year across Children’s, Adult Marketing and Publicity and Editorial teams. They have 4 intakes per year – in January, April, July and October, with each internship lasting for a 3-month period on a full-time basis.

Find more details on the internships here.

Hachette’s 12-Month Traineeship provides individuals from an underrepresented background with the opportunity to gain experience within publishing for a year. Successful applicants will spend six months with an editorial department as part of this Programme, where they will have real creative input into the publishing of new titles.

Find out more about this traineeship here.

In 2016, HarperCollins launched The Traineeship, for Black, Asian and non-white minority ethnic aspiring publishers, the first of its kind in the publishing industry and have hired exceptional talent from its ranks. Successful candidates have gone on to secure jobs in areas such as events, sales and editorial within HarperCollins after completing a 12 month rotational scheme within the business.

Find out more about the scheme here.

The Publishing Apprenticeship is a ground-breaking new apprenticeship standard that is catered specifically to the publishing industry. LDN Apprenticeships are the first and only training provider to offer the Publishing Apprenticeship Standard.

The LDN Publishing Apprenticeship is the perfect training programme for people starting their publishing career. Designed by publishers, for publishers – the Publishing Apprenticeship is ideal for publishing professionals starting their career and gives publishing apprentices a grounding within a wide variety of essential publishing knowledge.

Taylor & Francis have launched a new apprenticeship scheme. Open to anyone over the age of 16, the scheme provides you with the chance to obtain an Apprenticeship Qualification, whilst gaining vital occupational experience in various roles at the Milton Park, Oxfordshire, UK headquarters.

More information on the apprenticeship can be found here.

Many publishers offer work experience. This is a great way of gaining experience and developing skills to use in the publishing industry. Details of some of the available opportunities can be found below:

  • Cambridge University Press offer work experience and internships, details can be found here.
  • DK offer work experience and internships, details can be found here.
  • HarperCollins offer work experience and internships, details can be found here.
  • Hachette offer work experience, details can be found here.
  • Penguin Random House offer paid work experience and internships, details can be found here.
  • Walker offer work experience and internships, details can be found here.

Training

There are a number of specialist private providers of publishing training courses. These include the Publishing Training Centre (PTC), London School of Publishing (LSP), Publishing Scotland, Publishing Ireland, Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) and Media Training Ltd. Through a variety of short courses, self-study and in-company programmes, daytime and evening courses for a range of experience levels, these are just some of the places you may be able to develop the skills for your chosen sector.

Book Industry Communication is committed to providing accessible training for the book industry. BIC has an extensive training programme, consisting of three course types: Metadata & Technical, Production, and Library.

BookMachine CAMPUS was designed for ambitious publishing professionals, business owners, creatives and anyone else looking for a flexible way to take a publishing course.

The Get Into Publishing course will provide a complete overview of the industry and an expert insight into the main roles within it. From editorial and design, to production, sales and marketing, the course is designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of the business, not only to help identify the area that’s right for you but also to provide you with some basic skills to improve your chances of employment.

The Publishing Training Centre is a network of over 50 publishing and training professionals focused solely on delivering training courses for the publishing industry and developing publishing skills.

PTC courses provide specific learning outcomes that are designed to make an immediate, positive difference back at the office. All PTC tutors are practitioners first and foremost, which means that they bring their real-world experience with them to the courses they teach, enriching the experience for students and making the courses more practical.

Upskilling

Upskilling is a great way to develop and learn new skills that are required to progress into a different role.

Bookcareers work with individuals and employers to deliver career guidance and management.

Find out more about Bookcareers here.

Upskill, reskill and learn new skills with BookMachine CAMPUS. BookMachine CAMPUS was designed for ambitious publishing professionals, business owners, creatives and anyone else looking for a flexible way to take a publishing course.