01 Aug 2011 01:47:25
Neff is among some 100 young women and men who attended the Summer Publishing Institute at New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, where CEOs, editors, booksellers, agents and recruiters give talks and teach seminars, and students immerse themselves in a business that has changed, and not changed, in profound ways.
For decades, college graduates eager to break into publishing have been attending programs at NYU, Columbia University (formerly based at Radcliffe College) and the University of Denver. Alumni include publishing executives Morgan Entrekin of Grove/Atlantic and the Weinstein Company's Judy Hottensen, Alfred A. Knopf editor Gary Fisketjon and HarperCollins sales president Josh Marwell.
The programs remain in high demand even through the worst of news about the industry. The decline and impending liquidation of the Borders superstore chain has not deterred NYU student Ben Zarov, a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa. Borders' fall makes Zarov "fear that people don't care about books," but he still believes that it's possible to "make things better" and he wants a career in publishing.
"It seems like an excellent way to engage in the world of ideas. I like reading and it (publishing) is a way to participate in the national conversation, what people are talking about and what people are reading," says Zarov, 23 and a native of Portland, Ore.
The students share an old-fashioned love of books and a modern willingness to read them in new ways. E-books are now more than 20 percent of the overall market, more than the double the rate of a year ago, and a simple show of hands at NYU demonstrates the advance. On the first day, students were asked who owned e-reading devices; most raised their hands. Last year, only a few did.
Publishers and school officials also say students are more business-minded and better informed than a decade ago. Lindy Hess, who directs Columbia's book program, says most students initially wanted to be editors, but by the end were also considering marketing, sales and other departments. NYU publishing student Darcy Latta, who majored in English literature at the University of Pittsburgh, says she is interested in publicity because she loves how "business departments combine the creative and commercial aspects of the industry."
"When I first met with students, they all wanted to be on the editorial side," says Jane Friedman, the former CEO of HarperCollins who co-founded the digital publisher Open Road Integrated Media. "Now, they're all thinking about marketing and even if they want to be an editor eventually, they're willing to try different things."
"Kids today, they seem to know a lot more about our business than they did 10 years ago," says Paul Bogaards, director of publicity at the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc. "They have a lot more access to it, through what they read on the Internet. They're able to get a real-time perspective."
The summer programs have evolved with their students, devoting far more time to digital issues than even a few years ago, but one tradition has lasted: The vast majority of attendees are women. Andrea L. Chambers, executive director of the NYU publishing institute, suspects the reason is part of a larger story about the industry itself.
