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:

Fall Faculty: New Faces

Who’s new on the faculty for the Master of Science in Publishing program at NYU-SCPS? Each semester, as we add new courses and expand our faculty, we invite top industry experts into our classrooms to help us shape and refine our curriculum. This fall, for example, we are adding a new course called “EPUB and eBook Workflow” and invited Pablo Defendini of Open Road Integrated Media to teach it. We created a new course in Principles of Art and Design and asked Dan Revitte of Rodale to share his design knowledge with our students. Another new course in The Role of Video in Publishing will be taught by Godofredo Astudillo of TV Guide Magazine. Other industry leaders joining our faculty this fall are: Scott Alexander of American Photo; Seale Ballenger and Jonathan Burnham of HarperCollins; Daniele Campbell of MTV Networks; Shannon Casey of Hearst; Ruth Feldman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; Rob Fisher of American City Business Journals at Advance Publications; Jane Grenier, Rick Levine, and Josh Stinchcomb of Condé  Nast; Robert Miller of Workman Publishing; Kate Rados of F+W Media; John Vlachos, formerly of Time, Inc; and Troy Williams of Macmillan. Please read on to learn more about them:

Tips and Thrills: Just a Day in Publishing

Macmillan CEO John Sargent with students

“You guys are the future of publishing.” The NYU-SCPS Summer Publishing Institute students heard those words recently from John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan Publishing. As classmates headed off to book industry visits at Penguin Group USA, Simon & Schuster, Open Road Integrated Media, and Workman Publishing, my colleagues and I had the opportunity to visit Macmillan’s headquarters in the historic Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue.

In his office with a balcony overlooking Madison Square Park, Sargent began his talk to the students as if composing a choose-your-own-adventure novel. He offered to address current issues in publishing, describe the history of the company or volunteer career advice. “You choose!” he said. The CEO didn’t seem at all surprised when the students wanted to hear his tips on a career in publishing.

Digital Book World Day One: Optimism and Excitement

Thea James, NYU Publishing student and blogger

At 7:00 AM on a cold, snowglobe of a morning, I stood with three other students from NYU’s Master of Science in Publishing program outside a ballroom at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, bleary-eyed but eager to participate in one of the biggest and most relevant digital publishing events of the year. The second official Digital Book World conference (“DBW”) was about to begin in earnest, and there was much work to be done. As one of a small number of students lucky enough to snag a volunteer position at the event, I was determined to help pave a smooth experience for all attendees, even if that meant  working at the coat check in return for time in the actual conference sessions. Not a bad trade-off at all!

After the morning rush finally subsided and attendees settled into the main ballroom, the coat checker crew was invited to sneak away and catch one of the first panels of the day. In “A CEO’s View of the Future,” speakers Brian Napack (Macmillan), Jane Friedman (Open Road Integrated Media), David Steinberger (Perseus), Michael Hyatt (Thomas Nelson), and David Nussbaum (F+W Media) discussed trends in the digital publishing realm and fielded more than a few tough questions about strategic corporate decisions and preparations for the future.

How I Got That Job (or Internship)

We love hearing stories about how our students turned their internships in the M.S. in Publishing program at NYU-SCPS into full-time jobs—or how their classroom or networking experiences resulted in coveted industry positions. So, we asked a few of our graduate students and one recent alumna to tell us how their program-related experiences furthered their career goals:

From Event to E-Books

By Nicole Passage

In the fall of 2009, the NYU Center for Publishing hosted an event at which Jane Friedman,  industry icon, and former CEO of HarperCollins, spoke of her exciting new venture, Open Road Integrated Media (ORIM)—a ground-breaking digital content company that publishes and markets e-books. I was in my first semester in the Master’s program then, and when it came time to start looking for an internship for the spring, I knew that I would apply at ORIM. In January 2010, I interviewed to become a development and production intern for the company and was immediately accepted. My duties during this time were varied, but the majority of my time was spent reading books, writing summaries,  and conducting author research.  By June, I had been hired to work part-time for Managing Editor (and Center  for Publishing Adjunct Instructor) Andrea Colvin: proofreading and copyediting, writing descriptive copy, and managing metadata and schedules. Now, only three months later, I am the managing editorial assistant at Open Road, doggedly performing the  tasks mentioned above, and then some–and helping to pave the way for the future of books!

Good Reads, Smart Readers: A New View of E-Books

Jane Friedman at SCPS-NYU Center for Publishing

“To be a success, you only have to be right 51% of the time,” said former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman about her publishing career, past and future. Friedman was speaking to an audience of graduate students, alumni, and faculty of NYU-SCPS Center for Publishing. Publishing heavyweights such as Michael Cader, creator of Publishers Marketplace; Peter Workman,  president and CEO of Workman Publishing; and Bob Miller, president and publisher of HarperStudio also listened intently as Friedman talked about her exciting new e-book company, Open Road Integrated Media.