Name: Susan Hutner
Title: Editorial Assistant
Company: The Princeton Review
Age: 22

Education

BA from Hiram College. Major in English with a minor in creative writing. I worked on the college newspaper as a contributing writer, copy editor, and photography editor and on the Hiram Review (a poetry journal) as one of the editors responsible for selecting the poems to be included. I also had an internship with Kent State University Press, and later worked for them as a freelance copyeditor.

Professional History

After I graduated college, I wanted to do something exciting, interesting, and vastly different from anything I'd done before. Unfortunately, the circus wouldn't have me, so I decided to look for jobs in New York City. Although I loved working at a university press, I thought that working for a commercial press would give me experience in working in a faster-paced environment. I also wanted to work on more titles and different types of books so I could gain the kind of experience that would open up more professional opportunities for me. An alumna of my college who works for The Princeton Review sent me a description of a job opening there, and I applied. I've been working for The Princeton Review for two months now.

Job Description

I act as a copy editor, proofreader, and, occasionally, a content editor for the K-12 division, which produces educational and test preparation titles for children and high school kids. I assist the content and production editors by entering in changes made by editors, copy editing, proofreading bluelines, editing online content, and otherwise assisting the editorial staff.

One of my first projects here was editing a book designed to teach test preparation skills to third-graders in Florida who will be taking the FCAT test. This involved making sure the language was very simple and understandable, which is actually pretty hard to do. (Try explaining to an 8-year-old how to answer multiple choice questions and you'll see what I mean.) Other titles are designed for high school kids, and those are easier to edit to grade level.

Describe Your Day Today

I get in around 9:00 a.m. and spend the first part of my day doing administrative types of things like photocopying, processing invoices, making travel plans for other members of the editorial team, and following up on technical support issues for the department. After this administrative work, I get to work on copy editing and proofreading tasks until lunchtime. Among the projects I'm working on now is a new title where I am taking online content and repurposing it for print.

I take an hour for lunch, which is great because we're located in SoHo and it's a very exciting neighborhood. After lunch I go back to editorial tasks and typically attend one or more meetings. Sometimes I sit in for people who can't make the meetings and I take notes on their behalf. If the meeting is related to titles on which I am working, administrative issues for which I have some responsibility, or about general production schedules, I actively participate. In either case, these meetings are a great opportunity for me to learn about new books and to better understand how the publishing operation works. I generally get to leave at 6:00 p.m., but many of the senior editors stay until 7:00 or later.

Favorite Part of Job

Any chance I get to work on improving a manuscript or an online product, whether it's proof reading, copy editing, content editing, or even making sure content is consistently formatted, is great. All the seemingly minor changes I make contribute to the overall accuracy and quality of the product, which is very satisfying. The best projects are ones where I get to do some significant copy editing or content editing.

Least Favorite Part of Job

Preparing invoices and photocopying is not much fun. I understand that I'm just starting my career, though, and I've got to pay my dues with this kind of administrative work.

Advice

Intern, intern, intern. My internship with the Kent State University Press opened so many doors for me, both personally and professionally. In addition to learning editorial skills, I also learned about how a professional office works. I had great mentors there, and I'm still very close to many of them. Because I had two years of background in publishing, it was also much easier for me to find a job once I graduated. My work there was proof that I had the skills an employer needed to do the job well. My transition from college to professional life also went much smoother because I knew what sort of work I would be doing and was comfortable in an office.