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Careers in academic publishing

12.10.07 Tom Tivnan

Academic publishing offers a wide range of challenging and exciting career options. The Bookseller speaks to three people who have taken different paths within the sector.

Casper Grathwohl
Oxford University Press, publisher and editorial director, reference

Casper Grathwohl had never planned to go into the book trade, but was drawn to it because of his love of books. “But I quickly learned that in publishing that doesn’t necessarily help you; in fact, it could be your Achilles heel,” the American says.

Grathwohl went to university at the Kalamazoo College in Michigan, US, which also involved a year at the University of Cairo, and graduated in 1993 with a degree in art history and classics. His first job was in bookselling, working for the Rizzoli Bookstore in New York.

After a couple of years, he decided to move into publishing, joining Princeton University Press in 1995 as a compositor. He then moved on to an editorial post at Columbia University Press in 1997, before taking up a role at Oxford University Press US in 1998 as a children’s and young adult publisher. He has stayed at OUP ever since, with his current transatlantic role requiring him to spend about one-third of his time in Oxford and two-thirds in the States.

Although his days can be full of “lots and lots” of meetings, Grathwohl enjoys his work because of OUP’s role in the dissemination of knowledge. “It’s a great environment for people who are intellectually curious, but who might not want to be in academia itself,” he says. He is particularly excited by the paradigm shift in the market, as academic publishing moves into the digital age: “When an industry is starting to reinvent itself, that’s an exciting time to work in it.”

Liz Burton
Elsevier, head of marketing, EMEA

Liz Burton always knew that whatever career she did, it “had to, had to, involve books in some shape or form”.

Following a first in English Literature from Loughborough University, to which she applied only to fill up her UCAS form but ended up being swayed toward during her interview, she got a job in 1995 at the newly created Oxford University Press Bookshop where she was responsible for the literature section. “The bookshop was a fantastic insight into the industry, not only in terms of seeing how publishing worked, but how consumers bought books, and which factors were most important to them in actually purchasing a book and handing over their money,” she says.

Wanting to move into publishing, Burton was torn between editorial and marketing, but ultimately took up a position as marketing assistant for reference at OUP, where she started in 1997. She made her way up the ladder at OUP, becoming first marketing controller and then after 18 months direct marketing manager, helping to create the Oxford World’s Classics Magazine.

She jumped ship to Elsevier in 2002, becoming senior marketing manager under the Butterworth-Heinemann imprint, and after a couple of restructures became head of marketing, EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa). She says leaving OUP was difficult, but that although she found a huge cultural difference between the two companies, the marketing principles were the same.

It is the current pace of change in academic publishing that keeps her interested. “I think we’re at a publishing watershed at the moment, and I firmly want to be involved in its future,” she adds.

Jenni Davidson
John Wiley, sales rep, Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic States

With a father who worked as a reference editor at Chambers for 20 years, Jenni Davidson thought she would never go into publishing. “It seemed like the most boring job in the world,” she says.

Leaving Edinburgh University in 1999 with a Celtic Studies degree, she thought she might go into academia, but fell into bookselling. “In an arts graduate sort of way, I never made much in the way of career plans.” Davidson began in the humanities department at Blackwell’s Edinburgh South Bridge branch, eventually becoming the manager of the Blackwell medical bookshop at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary.

In 2004, she moved to Bookspeed, the Edinburgh-based wholesaler that specialises in supplying Scottish- interest titles to gift shops and heritage sites. She started working with Bookspeed’s library supply division and then became the sales rep for the south of Scotland.

A Danish speaker, Davidson leapt at the chance when she saw an opening at John Wiley for a sales rep covering Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic States. A year into the job, she is still enjoying it. “I get to do a lot of travelling in some beautiful countries, and the booksellers there are great to work with,” she adds.

Ultimately, she believes people who come into publishing might at first be too focused on editorial, and that being a sales rep is an excellent starting point. “Sales is a great way to begin if you want to move on to editorial or marketing because you get a valuable insight into what customers and booksellers want,” she explains.

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