W. W. Norton & Company

Publishing Sales intern

June - August 2021 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I enjoyed being able to work closely with a team and also work on tasks individually.

What I wish was different

Advice

1 One person found this helpful

Trade Managing Editorial Intern

June - August 2019 • New York City, NY

What I liked

My tasks involving copy editing and proofreading, in addition to learning all about books. The location (Bryant Park) was great too. My three supervisors were super kind and gave great feedback. All the books (trade and Liveright) were super interesting.

What I wish was different

I wish I could have stayed longer, and I wish my supervisors had given me style sheets when I was going over manuscripts so I didn't make incorrect/unnecessary edits.

Advice

Always ask supervisors questions if you're unsure of your task. Don't feel embarrassed about asking, because doing a task totally wrong is even more mortifying.

18 ${count} people found this helpful

History Print & Digital Editorial Intern

June - August 2019 • New York City, NY

What I liked

They have weekly seminars with different department heads so that you can learn how a publishing company works. The last one was with the president of the company! Basically, a group of 8 interns had an hour with the president and we got to ask anything we wanted. It was really cool! On the day to day, I had the opportunity to proof some textbook pages before they went to print and I caught some errors that made it past several real editors. This is also a great chance to get real office experience - it is a very professional office setting.

What I wish was different

Most of the tasks were menial and tedious - there was a lot of copying and pasting and data entry. On the bright side, all of it was vital to the end product: a textbook. But the day to day wasn't always thrilling.

Advice

Be patient and pay close attention to detail. It's important to do a great job with the small things that seem unimportant if you want the opportunity to do more exciting things.

32 ${count} people found this helpful

Editorial Intern

June - August 2019 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I loved the workplace atmosphere at W. W. Norton & Company, and the team of people I interned for were incredibly helpful and kind. They made sure to balance the more tedious projects with exciting and engaging ones. Over the course of my internship, I particularly enjoyed the brown bag lunches, which allowed me to get to know the inner workings of a publishing house and introduced me to departments within the publishing house that I had not been interested in or aware of before.

What I wish was different

Advice

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and make connections, and attend the brown bag lunches!

4 ${count} people found this helpful

Marketing, Publicity, & Editorial Intern

June - August 2018 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I really liked my team—Nicholas, Kevin, Megan, Sara, and Mariah were a dream to work with. I liked seeing the ins and outs of a different publishing house (I had previously interned at Penguin Random House), and learning about the benefits of working at an independent house like Norton was exceptionally valuable. I also learned new skills like pitch writing and Adobe Creative Cloud. My internship at Norton made me into a more versatile and well-rounded employee. More superficially, the office and the location were lovely.

What I wish was different

I'm not the biggest fan of marketing and publicity work; I wish I were able to do more editorial work. I also would have preferred to work in trade rather than in professional books, but it was still valuable to learn what I enjoyed and what I didn't. Most significantly, I was sick for a lot of the summer, so that stunted my ability to plunge into my projects and get immersed in the company culture.

Advice

Keep an open mind, seek out new skills to learn, and talk to your coworkers as much as possible—they're exceptionally cool, and they have a lot to teach you!!

10 ${count} people found this helpful

Editorial Intern

May - August 2018 • New York City, NY

What I liked

I loved the experience of working with the Liveright imprint.

What I wish was different

I wish the internship program had been more organized.

Advice

It's okay to seek work outside of your department! I was an editorial intern, but I ended up getting a lot of great opportunities because I reached out to the marketing director. Thanks to him, I was able to attend a lot of important and interesting meeting (where they also served great and free food)!

6 ${count} people found this helpful