Name: Emma McIlroy
Company: Gecko Press
What has been a highlight so far? A (few) highlights for me have been meeting authors and chatting with them, getting to look at books from around the world and consider them for acquisition, and working in a small team where I get to pitch in on most things. Also, sometimes cute babies come into the office and we get to give them books. Circe by Madeline Miller.
What has been a challenge? A challenge has been that because it’s a small team where I get to pitch in on most things, there’s been a lot to learn, from bigger processes like setting up a book and its metadata to smaller processes like sending websales and that can be pretty exhausting, although satisfying once I’ve got the hang of it.
How have you found “real world” publishing different from the expectations you had while on your course? I would have to say that actually the course and especially the work placements gave me a pretty good idea of ‘real world’ publishing, and what happens in a publishing house on a day-to-day level.
What are you reading at the moment? I’m one of those people that reads more than one book at a time, although not in the same genre, so here are the books I am currently reading, all of which I am thoroughly enjoying: Imagining Decolonisation for a bit of non-fiction, My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff for a bit of fiction (reading this on the Libby app, I am obsessed with how easy and good it is and getting books from the library that way!) and I am in Bed with You by Emma Barnes for a bit of poetry.
