Peek behind the publishing curtain with our Open Book Intern

Our recent Open Book Intern Savi pens a piece for us about their time at A&U.

Through the Open Book Internship, I’ve been lucky enough to learn more about the Australian publishing industry through two 10-week placements at Cambridge University Press & Assessment and here at Allen & Unwin. It was wonderful to compare my experience with education and trade publishers, though I must admit the seemingly never-ending endearing children’s titles at A&U quickly won my heart.

In addition to those sweet children’s books though, I was lucky enough to read a number of graphic novels, all at various stages of production and all absolutely wonderful. It was really interesting to see how graphic novels come to life and, even as an illustrator myself, I felt increasingly in awe of the makers who often spend years creating these stories. For those interested in learning more about the world of graphic novels, I found the 2023-24 Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship Report on graphic novel publishing especially enlightening, written by A&U’s very own Sophie Splatt.

So many A&U staff were generous with their time and knowledge, walking me through their roles and how they support stories through the publishing process. Though some of these walkthroughs were slightly disorienting, the more folks I talked to the more I understood how different people and teams work together. Highlights include A&U’s new staff induction day, a visit to the Australian Booksellers Association, and a sales sell-in trip to Dymocks!

My A&U highlight reel must also include our staff excursion to McPherson’s, the local Maryborough printers who expertly handle many of A&U’s mono-colour books. We visited their huge sprawling warehouses, which handle the entire printing process: processing digital files, preparing printing plates, printing interior pages, foiling, embossing and laminating covers, and finally compiling and gluing together the final book. Some printers were as big as me, and others bigger than many me’s! The precisions and detail required throughout was truly astonishing.

I also sat in on a few of the Volume Symposium online sessions, which was a great overview of Australian readers, barriers folks face when reading and thinking about reading, and the work many in the industry are doing to increase reading rates. Particularly interested resources shared include the National Arts Participation Survey by Creative Australia, the Understanding Australian Readers report by Australia Reads and BehaviourWorks Australia, and the Reaching Australian Readers report by Australia Reads.

Big thanks to this year’s Open Book phenomenal mentor Camha Pham, and also to the other talented interns Paula Campos, Mabel Gibson, and Charo Palenzuela – their support and camaraderie was very, very appreciated. Thanks also to Hilary and Tierney for their support throughout my time at A&U!

Occasionally, there was a bittersweet back-in-the-old-days nostalgia in my conversations with various staff both within and beyond A&U; people used to read more, people used to buy more books, the publishing world was once different… And yet, the A&U team care for and dedicate themselves so deeply to bringing these books to life, sharing their unyielding hope for the future of books. I, too, find myself believing in books now more than ever.