The other day we decided to carry out a straw poll via Twitter to gauge your thoughts on what it's like trying to breaking into publishing.
Not too difficult? Fiendishly tough? We thought your experiences would be erring towards the latter rather than the former and - while our results are no means scientific - we seem to have guessed right.
So, starting with @chickadee13. She says it is: "Very hard if you're not rich enough to afford to work unpaid and/or live in London. I'm still unemployed."
@nataliewall26 lamented the competition she's come up against in the sector: "I'm shocked by the fierce competition in finding a short-term unpaid internship."
But, before we lead you to believe it was all bad news from our community, we did receive some encouraging words from @CJSR89. "Had several interviews - no success. Two weeks ago a multimedia publisher I freelanced for two yrs ago offered me a job #lucky." And @ljpearce1 shared some words of wisdom for anybody who has their eyes firmly on a publishing career: "Absolute determination is a must!"
Faced with this kind of feedback, we thought it is about time to call in the experts. So, on Wednesday 7 December a panel of employees from Penguin - the historic press home to authors including Roald Dahl, Zadie Smith and Malcolm Gladwell - will be taking your questions. They'll be talking about what's like working for one of the 'big six' publishers, what sort of roles are available within the company, the skills required to get them as well as offering general advice about what it takes to succeed in this industry.
They'll also be talking about the new Penguin Summer Internship Scheme, which consists of 10-week, paid placements across the business. The scheme recognises that not everyone who wants a career in publishing can afford to do work experience, particularly if they are not London-based. So, join us on Wednesday 7 December from 1pm - advance questions are welcome via the comments section below.
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Our panel:
Willow Tyrer is an interaction designer at Penguin who joined the company in April 2011. Willow works on designing children's ipad and iphone experiences. Prior to joining Penguin, she worked at IDEO in Munich after finishing a master's course in Experience Design. Before entering experience design, Willow worked was a designer in London.
Adele Minchin joined Penguin in 2000 as publicity officer for Puffin and is now publicity director for Penguin Children's Books, overseeing the overall publicity strategy for each of the children's imprints in the division including Puffin, Ladybird, Frederick Warne and Media and Entertainment.
Ben Brusey works as an editor in the Viking Editorial department, commissioning and project-managing a variety of literary fiction and non-fiction titles. Ben has been with Penguin since 2009 after completing work experience with his current team after graduating.
Jacqui McDonough returned to Penguin in 1994 as a senior designer after previously having done an internship in one of the design teams as part of her degree. Jacqui is now art director for Puffin and works with authors and brands, such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Roald Dahl.
Ellie Pike is an HR Executive and has been at Penguin for nearly three years. Prior to working at Penguin, Ellie worked for a small recruitment company specialising in publishing recruitment. Ellie is part of the HR team, with a particular emphasis on internships and recruitment projects.
Toby Jones joined Penguin in May 2011 as communications manager in the Penguin Group communications team. Prior to Penguin, Toby worked in a range of PR roles at Channel 4 and Myspace, as well as Gunther Von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibition.
Ben Plagerson works in the Penguin production team as a digital product manager, working on the development of digital products such as apps and e-books. Ben has been with the company for nearly six years, mostly producing children's books before moving to digital a year ago. He previously worked in production at Usborne Publishing.
Dele Fatunla has worked for Pearson for more than four years, and is communications officer in the diversity team. Dele manages the university campaign and recruitment process for Pearson's Diversity Summer Internship Scheme.
Megan Smith is business development and brand partnerships manager in Penguin's Special Sales team, and has been at Penguin for just over three years. Prior to joining Penguin, Megan worked for BBC Worldwide as business development executive on BBC Audiobooks, and was also previously at Macmillan Children's Books as sales executive.
Sharmila Woollam is currently undertaking an editorial traineeship in the Hamish Hamilton imprint as part of the Helen Fraser Fellowship, one of Penguin's diversity schemes. Sharmila has been at Penguin for five months, and prior to this worked as an editorial assistant and website administrator at the University of Essex.
