Q&A: Amy Norton, Sales & Marketing Assistant at Edinburgh University Press

For Work in Publishing Week 2025, we're sharing stories from people who are in the early years of their publishing careers. Here we catch up with Amy Norton, Sales & Marketing Assistant at Edinburgh University Press.

What’s the story of how you found your way into publishing?

I am still at the start of my career journey, as I only graduated from university in summer 2024. I studied Philosophy at The University of Edinburgh and had undertaken a range of volunteering roles alongside my degree work, for example assisting at The Scottish Poetry Library and editing for student magazines.

I had been drawn to each experience purely because they aligned with my passion for literature, but it wasn’t until later in my degree, when I became interested in working in the industry, that I realised they all lend themselves naturally to publishing. The more I researched about the world of publishing and the different roles within it, the more I felt like I would be a great fit.

The more I researched about the world of publishing and the different roles within it, the more I felt like I would be a great fit.

Something else I found out was the enormous number of people who also saw themselves working in publishing and that getting a foot through the door wasn’t going to be easy. I began pestering every publishing company in Edinburgh for work experience, but to no avail. Then last summer, Edinburgh University Press launched their Publishing Internship. This opportunity would give one person a year’s worth of full-time paid experience rotating around all departments in the company – the dream for a publishing hopeful!

After a long application and interview process, I found out in August 2024 that the position was mine. Towards the end of my year as EUP’s intern, the company had an opening for a Sales & Marketing Assistant, which I was hired for in June 2025.

What skill did you find most valuable during your first few months in publishing?

I found the first few months of my internship overwhelming. As a recent graduate who had never even been in an office before, I suddenly found myself in a company full of new people, taking on all sorts of responsibilities and learning about the publishing process from scratch – not to mention the many, many acronyms! It was easy to slip into stress and anxiety about my performance, to focus on how much I didn’t know and see this as a negative thing.

Instead of stressing about first impressions with a senior member of staff, or anxiety about using a new system for the first time, I channeled curiosity and focused on how I could learn from each experience. My job was to be curious, not to know everything.

But I got a great piece of advice from someone who told me to switch my philosophy brain back on and reframe this anxiety as curiosity, a more positive way of seeing this state of not knowing very much.

Instead of stressing about first impressions with a senior member of staff, or anxiety about using a new system for the first time, I channeled curiosity and focused on how I could learn from each experience. My job was to be curious, not to know everything. This allowed me to feel calmer at work, to build up my understanding of the publishing process bit by bit and to learn about my colleague’s favourite TV shows for example! I know all too well that it’s easier said than done to fight this imposter syndrome, but it’s important to remember that being new means not knowing and that’s totally fine!

What’s a part of the publishing process you didn’t even realise existed before you started?

Because I work for an academic publisher, the peer review process is a vital step a book goes through during the editorial stage, but one I wasn’t aware of before starting at EUP. When one of our commissioning editors decides they like the look of a proposal it is sent to two experts in that academic field to read over and report back. Both the author of the proposal and the reports themselves are made anonymous, because for these smaller niche subject areas, the academics are likely to know of each other! This is also why it’s called peer review.

Because I work for an academic publisher, the peer review process is a vital step a book goes through during the editorial stage, but one I wasn’t aware of before starting at EUP.

The experts provide us with key feedback that those of us who haven’t dedicated our lives to the specific field just wouldn’t know. This includes comments on potential areas of research that are missing, what the competition in the market would be for this book, whether this academic would consider using this as a teaching resource and so on. During my internship I was responsible for sending out and receiving reports back for potential titles for our film studies list. I found reading these reports very interesting, especially if you end up with two academics who disagree!

What one experience really stands out from your first year in publishing?

I was lucky enough to attend London Book Fair with our Sales & Rights team in March 2025. This was a hugely surreal experience for me as a person who, a year prior to that moment, was still finishing her degree and desperate to get into the industry... then somehow found herself walking around one of the biggest publishing events in the world wearing her EUP lanyard. Even getting to stay in a hotel and tick the ‘for business’ box seemed crazy to me!

Something I was advised to do at the start of my internship was to make a record of all the tasks I complete across the year ... This document proved incredibly useful at the end of the year when I came to update my CV, write a cover letter and interview for my current role.

EUP had a stand as part of the Independent Publishers Guild, so I spent time there and listened in on meetings our team were having. When I wasn’t there, I was exploring – learning about a huge range of publishers and also attending some of the many panel talks at the fair. It was a fantastic networking opportunity for me, especially to meet so many other early career people.

As a company, we were invited to a few after-hours receptions, including one hosted by Publishing Scotland. This allowed me to put many faces to names from our lovely Edinburgh publishing community and really made me feel part of something special. The trip left me feeling inspired and much more confident, having really put myself out of my comfort zone.

What’s the best piece of unofficial advice you picked up – something no one tells you before you start?

Something I was advised to do at the start of my internship was to make a record of all the tasks I complete across the year. I split a document into each department I had a placement in and bullet-pointed each bit of experience, what software I used, any problems that arose, how it helped whichever colleague I was completing it for. You think you’ll remember everything, but it’s very easy for these details to slip your mind.

The little email I sent to EUP at the start of 2024 that meant they had me in mind for the internship, the days I helped in the Poetry Library which forged industry connections, the small acts of kindness and assistance I have shown to my colleagues since starting work ... you really never know when these little seeds you sow will come up to flower for you later on down the line.

This document proved incredibly useful at the end of the year when I came to update my CV, write a cover letter and interview for my current role. I could provide clear examples of the work I had been doing and how it contributed to the wider goals of the company. Another unofficial little phrase that gets passed around our office whenever somebody is in a stressful situation is “books not brain surgery". We remind ourselves we’re publishing books, not performing brain surgery, so everything will be fine!

If your career in publishing were a book title, what would it be – and why?

I was thinking about how I could incorporate a book I personally love for this and then Small Things Like These came to mind... I’ll explain! The spin I’m taking on this is all of the small things I did towards the end of my time at university and throughout my internship that have helped progress my career in publishing tremendously.

The little email I sent to EUP at the start of 2024 that meant they had me in mind for the internship, the days I helped in the Poetry Library which forged industry connections, the small acts of kindness and assistance I have shown to my colleagues since starting work.

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt so far, it’s that you really never know when these little seeds you sow will come up to flower for you later on down the line. A lot of these acts may seem trivial and insignificant at the time, but they all accumulate to something greater.