The New Press - Careers/Internships

The New Press relies heavily on the help of interns, treating them in many respects the way salaried assistants are treated at other publishing houses and nonprofits. This means far greater exposure to interesting work than is normally afforded interns; it also calls for a degree of responsibility that is significantly greater than at most internships.

Our New York office is large and efficient enough to offer a wide spectrum of experience, but small and casual enough for you to form intimate and lasting bonds (not bad for networking purposes) with the staff you’ll be supporting.

As a Publishing Intern, you’ll find that while The New Press is guided by its not-for-profit mission and not by the bottom line, it functions in many ways like a commercial trade publisher: it identifies new authors, generally pays standard advances and royalties, and distributes its books nationwide. However, as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, The New Press uses foundation and donor support to publish in innovative ways works of educational, cultural, and community value that, despite their intellectual merits, may be deemed insufficiently profitable by commercial publishers, and puts any excess profit earned on a particular title toward the production of other books. Many commercially successful authors – including Studs Terkel, Howard Zinn, Marguerite Duras and James Loewen – have chosen to publish their books with us to support such non-profit publishing principles.

A New Press publication begins in our Editorial Department, where manuscripts are chosen and polished into final drafts, then is released into Production, where it is proofed, set, and sent to printing. Post-production, our Marketing and Publicity Departments encourage the reception and sale of the book across the nation. Our Development Department secures the donation money that makes all this possible, while our Finance Department handles the cash flow generated by donations and sales.

The New Press internship program acknowledges that each of these steps is vital to the publishing process and aims to expose interns to the full machinery – from manuscript to bestseller, from raising the foundation support to publicizing the final copy to paying royalties. The program is built around a four-month schedule, allowing each of four interns to spend a full month in Rights/Sales/Trade Marketing, Publicity, Development/Academic Marketing, and Editorial/Production. Each intern post comes with its own specific and challenging duties, familiarizing the intern with a wide array of skills and techniques to prepare her/him to enter the publishing workforce. Bi-weekly lunch seminars are held with department heads to familiarize interns further with different career paths within publishing. Interns usually leave our program with solid job prospects.

SKILLS/REQUIREMENTS

The ideal applicant will be willing to put in a full four months as a New Press intern. Please specify in your application any major scheduling restrictions. Interns will often be responsible for heavy office duty, so prior office experience is also helpful, as is any prior experience in publishing, editing, book sales, graphic design, etc. While we make a point of familiarizing interns with a variety of programs at The New Press, prior computer skills are always a plus. An interest in the goals and mission of The New Press's publishing program is strongly desired.

Applicants must have authorization to work in the United States. Candidates of color and LGBTQ candidates are encouraged to apply.

COMPENSATION/HOURS

New Press internships are paid, full-time positions. Work hours are 9:30 to 5:30, Monday through Friday. Interns are also offered biweekly seminars, transit compensation, and free books. Applications are accepted year-round. We apologize but we cannot respond to all applicants: only the appropriate candidates will be contacted and brought in for an interview.

Internships are currently available starting in the following months:

August 2013

Short-Term Interns:

From time to time, The New Press has short-term internships available for those who are not able to commit to the full four-month intern rotation. Depending on the circumstances, these interns are typically placed in a single department or are involved with a single project and generally do not receive transit compensation. The typical time commitment required ranges from several weeks to a couple of months. Although these internships do not offer the full rotation through the Press, they do offer valuable exposure to the work of The Press and offer a chance to work closely with staff and other interns. Short-term Interns are also invited to participate in bi-weekly intern seminars. Short-term Internships can have flexible starting dates, and availability varies so please inquire.

People who have successfully completed a New Press internship are given priority for occasional paid temporary work at The New Press. Interns are also given priority for entry-level full-time positions when available.

Applications for both Four-month Internships and Short-Term Internships are considered on a rolling basis, so please apply early. Send a résumé, cover letter, and references to:

Azzurra Cox
Internship Coordinator
Email:

A cover letter should briefly describe your skills and interests, past professional and volunteer experience, and what you hope to gain from the internship. Please also indicate when you are available to participate in the program, or, in the case of Short-Term interns, what your available dates and length of service would be.

Applications submitted without a cover letter will not be considered.
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

Thanks to the J.M. Kaplan Fund and the Matthew Marks Gallery for their generous support of our Diversity in Publishing Internship Program.

Back to Top