As a rule, we do not take on people for work experience placements. As a team of four, we just do not have the time to train people in the essentials of publishing. In any case, what works for a small company is rarely the same as the experience needed in a large house.

We do make exceptions IF

you have made a real effort, and have trained yourself in web design, InDesign or Photoshop. This means that you can be immediately useful in this office. 

Please understand that anyone wishing to work in a small publishing house will be expected to be fully competent in several high level computer programmes within a couple of months. We can use training schemes run by Book House, but as these courses only run a few times a year, it is important that self- motivation to learn on your own is high.

The reason for this is that we do not have the money to pay someone to tell other people outside the company to do the actual work for us. There are no editorial managers here – please apply to the large houses for that kind of job. 

Also, many people are competent with computers, as well as being extremely well read, enthusiastic and lovely characters to have working in this office. So we are unlikely to give a job to someone who sees type setting as inherently different from proof reading, and not their job.  It isn’t very different really – both require a high level of concentration. 

If you have four languages by some fluke of upbringing or education, and you are happy to search out and read possible literary fiction in translation, we would be interested in hearing from you. However, we know there are few such people out there. 

And one last thing – publishing – the activity of making books – is one thing: attention to detail. If you are not the kind of person who can concentrate hard on a set of proofs which you have already looked at six times, it’s not for you.