Job-Hunting Handbook: What the HR Experts Say

M.S. in Publishing students get career tips from Stacy Berliner (back, left) and Sara Patterson (back, right).

Publishing is a tight-knit community, and for those seeking their first positions in the industry, it can be tough to break in. Luckily, last week, students in NYU’s M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media program had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion moderated by the program’s director, Andrea Chambers, and featuring two senior human resources executives in the publishing industry. Sara Patterson, Head of Talent Management for Condé Nast, and Stacy Berliner, Director of Human Resources at Random House, shared their insights, key networking tips, and job-hunting techniques crucial for snagging that publishing dream job.

Eats and Feats at Every Day with Rachael Ray

Tracey Seaman (right) talks to students in the Every Day with Rachael Ray test kitchen.

The delectable aroma of herbs, spices, and Mexican cooking greeted M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media students as they arrived at the test kitchens of Every Day with Rachael Ray for an industry visit. Naturally, at a food magazine, the test kitchen is key–and the perfect place to start our tour! Christine Guilfoyle, the magazine’s Group Publisher, who graciously set up the student visit, explained that a goal of Every Day with Rachael Ray is to help readers understand the everyday practices of good cooking.

NYU Media Talk Gets Social

Moderator Carr and Panelists Smith, Malda and Quittner at NYU Media Talk

Social.

If the attendees of the latest NYU Media Talk had to sum up the event using a single word, that would have been it. Students and alumni of the NYU Summer Publishing Institute (SPI) mingled with faculty members and prominent figures of the industry both before and after the highlight of the night: a panel discussion entitled “Social Content: What’s Working? What’s Not? What’s Next?”

Social Media Success Story: 7 Students, 500,000 WBN books

M.S. in Publishing Students Peraza, Cox, Flavin, Olivares (back row), and Werthan, Narasimhan and George formed a social media committee for WBN.

To the literati of the world, April 23rd used to have special meaning as the day Shakespeare was born and Cervantes died. This year, the date took on even more significance as longtime book lovers and new readers alike participated in a nationwide movement that is likely to become as addictive as a juicy novel. On April 23rd, World Book Night (WBN) debuted in the U.S. after a successful launch last year in the United Kingdom. All over America, volunteers from all 50 states handed out books to non-readers and reluctant readers in an effort to promote literacy. “Givers,” selected through an application process online, passed  out 500,000 free paperbacks in churches, bars, children’s shelters, public transit systems and senior centers—even on beaches. (One innovative “giver” put copies of Patti Smith’s Just Kids inside Ziploc bags and doled them out in Monterey Bay.) Now, who better to promote this kind of national literary love fest than the students in the Master of Science in Publishing: Digital & Print Media program at NYU?

Speed Networking: Fast Facts!

(back l-r) Neil De Young, Jaime de Pablos, Stephen Acunto, Jr, Karina Mikhli, Lavinel Savu, Laura De Silva, Angela Bole; (front l-r) Kastoory Kazi, blogger Rebecca Hytowitz, Mark Steffen, Liz Peterson

Ever wondered how to build a personal brand? (Hint: remove your home address from your résumé and add your LinkedIn URL instead.) How about best practices for social media? (Engage and interact with your audience instead of just pushing content!) These were just some of the topics and comments tossed around at the first-ever “Speed Networking” event hosted by the newly-constituted NYU Publishing Alumni Committee last week at NYU’s Torch Club. Committee co-chairs Laura De Silva and Jaime de Pablos and their devoted event committee members have been working on this for months—and their efforts showed. The committee invited seasoned and senior publishing alumni to serve as “speed facilitators” at each of five tables. Each facilitator was assigned a specific theme to discuss. Committee members were also assigned to each table to help with the discussion.

Books, Blogs, and Literary Mags, Oh My!

Students in the M.S. in Publishing program not only spend a great deal of time on media websites and reading blogs, but they also create them! We recently asked our students to tell us about their publishing-related online hobbies and businesses. Below, we have selected three examples to spotlight:

Mashable Media Summit 2011: Tweetable Moments

Pete Cashmore, Founder and CEO of Mashable

Is “frictionless sharing” the way of the future? That was one of the questions at the recent Mashable Media Summit, where I was lucky enough to be one of the NYU-SCPS Master of Science in Publishing students invited to volunteer. I’ve personally been a fan of Mashable, the online news site and blog, for years, looking to its editors for the leading tech news, industry rumors, best practices in today’s emerging social media platforms, and tips and tricks for enhancing my own user experience. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to hear a number of the thought leaders and influencers from across the media industry in exchange for helping out at the registration table.

Step Right Up: Publishing Predictions for 2021

Perseus CEO David Steinberger talks to SPI students.

“The first book published was the Bible,” announced David Steinberger, CEO of the Perseus Books Group. “And the second book was  ‘The Demise of Publishing.’” Laughter ensued as the NYU-SCPS Summer Publishing Institute (SPI) students listened to the final address of the 2011 six-week program. In fact, Steinberger depicted publishing as far from its demise, vibrant and alive with a spirit of adaption and improvement.

Steinberger led students through his own predictions for what publishing will look like in 2021. Despite the ephemeral nature of publishing today, Steinberger—if anyone—is in a great position to forecast future trends for the ever-evolving industry.

Listen up: the future according to Steinberger could become our reality. Here are the Perseus CEO’s predictions:

Blogging for Love (and Maybe Money)

Bloggers Sarah Wendell, Jennifer Hart, David Gutowski, Rachel Deahl and Sarah Weinman at NYU's Summer Publishing Institute

“When it comes to social media, I fly by seat-of-your-pants airlines. I have a lot of miles there,” quipped Sarah Wendell, who runs the well-known book blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.  Wendell was participating in a blogging panel at the NYU-SCPS Summer Publishing Institute.  The moderator was Sarah Weinman, who created the blog Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind (currently on hiatus) and is now a reporter for Publishers Lunch. Under her deft guidance, the conversation turned to the need to change and adapt to a constantly evolving online landscape. Four bloggers, who came from all corners of the publishing and blogging landscape, were eager to share their thoughts.

When asked how publishers’ relationships to bloggers have changed in the last ten years, Jennifer Hart, Vice President and Associate Publisher of HarperCollins and the creator of the blog Book Club Girl, didn’t hesitate with her answer: “Tremendously!” she said, noting that bloggers are invited to parties, author events and receive galley copies. “Publishers really rely on them to be our word of mouth in the world.”

The Social Network: The Panel

Center for Publishing faculty member Katherine Tasheff (l) and Director Andrea Chambers at social media panel

You’ve seen “The Movie,” so now it’s time to read about “The Panel,” a conversation among high-powered social media experts who gathered at Harvard Business School last week for the 20^th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference.  Entitled “Beyond the Buzz,” the social media panel was one of sixteen discussions focused on key issues such as work-life balance, managing teams in a global context and networking and selling with confidence.

The NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing was well represented on the social media panel by Director Andrea Chambers, who moderated the discussion, and by Katherine Tasheff, Executive Director, Digital Media and Marketing, Hyperion and Voice Books.  Tasheff teaches Introduction to Interactive Media in the Master of Science in Publishing program at NYU. To report on the many tips and tactics suggested by the social media panelists, two Harvard Business School first-year students, Alexandra Bochicchio and Valerie Galinskaya, offer this status update: