Nicholas Elliot

1. What do you do in your current position? Any other jobs that led to this one?

In my current role, I work on marketing campaigns for picture book, middle grade, and young adult titles (I work on a few adult fantasy/science fiction books as well). Essentially, my job is to manage the marketing campaigns for all of the books I’m assigned from start to finish. Some of my responsibilities entail advertisements, promotional materials, social media campaigns, retail programs, and the execution of industry and consumer conferences. My job involves a lot of collaboration with other departments and authors. Prior to the role I have now, I’ve also worked in marketing at Random House Children’s Books, as well as prior marketing positions at Simon & Schuster.

2. What is your favorite part about your job?

I really enjoy the product–it’s so nice to work on books because I’m a reader. I enjoy how collaborative marketing is and working with other departments. Marketing in particular can be exciting and challenging, especially when trying to come up with new ideas to find an audience for a particular book. Publishing is also a fun industry full of creative people who love books!

3. What made you choose English as a major and how did you plan your coursework to prepare for this position or career?

I chose English as my major essentially because I’m a reader and enjoy studying literature, writing, and talking about books. Early on at TCNJ, in an attempt to figure out what I wanted to do with my English degree, I explored doing secondary education as well, but decided it wasn’t for me, which led to me creating a second self-designed major in Editing & Publishing. The self-designed major helped me build additional skills to compliment my English major and gave me a leg up in the workforce. The curriculum consisted of contemporary literature, business, communication, and journalism classes. Additionally, I completed a few internships while at TCNJ to compliment my studies: one internship with the Office of the Governor of New Jersey and two internships with Simon & Schuster. I also worked part-time as an office assistant in TCNJ’s Office of College Relations.

4. Tell us about the importance of getting involved in student media or groups at TCNJ.

I think it’s really important to make the most of your TCNJ experience, and that involves exploring extracurriculars. TCNJ has a ton to offer, and I learned a lot from my non-academic involvement there. One class in particular, Writing Communities, provided lots of insight into the publishing industry. I got hands-on experience that allowed me to add important skills to my resume and gave me talking points for interviews that I went on. It’s a class that truly goes beyond the classroom and gives you a sense of what working in the arts is like.

5. Can you give students seeking a job in book publishing any advice?

In general, I’d say to make the most of your time spent at TCNJ. Make connections with your professors and peers–those are relationships that can last beyond graduation. I’d also get as much hands-on experience in the industry as you can–it’ll help you land interviews after graduation, and it’ll also help you figure out if this is the right industry for you. In addition, here are a few publishing sites that give good insight: publishersweekly.com, mediabistro.com, publishersmarketplace.com, and of course, LinkedIn.