Entry Level Qualification 

12

Career Fields 

Mass Media, Journalism & Entertainment

For Specially Abled 

Career Entrance Exam 

CUET UG

About Career 

Publishing professionals are individuals who accept media content such as literature and articles and try to market them and make them accessible to the larger target audience. As a publishing professional, you will be expected to have a high appreciation for literature as well as have the capability of market research, publicity and negotiations. You can engage in various roles too like an editor, designer, or marketing and sales. You will act as a link between the author, their work and the consumer, and therefore, you will be responsible for the proper reproduction and distribution of the work in a reliable manner.

Key Roles And Responsibilities

Publishing professionals have to learn these basic tasks which include:

1. Establishing clear guidelines for authors to follow when they send their manuscript

2. Establishing clear guidelines under which the different departments of the publishing house will function.

3. Monitoring the different processes involved in the publication of a work.

4. Evaluating and maintaining a proper budget and also making sure that the cost analysis is done properly

5. Obtaining permission from the copyright owner regarding the reproduction of content.

6. Reading and analyzing the submitted work to detect and correct errors in spelling, punctuation, and syntax.

7. Verifying facts, statistics, and dates by using standard reference sources. 

8. Conferring with authors regarding any changes in content, style or organization, or publication. 

9. Develop story or content ideas by understanding the trend among readers and changing publishing choices according to the audience's appeal.

10. Rewriting and editing the copy to improve readability, or supervising juniors who do this work.

Career Entry Pathway 

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 Arts/Humanities along with any other subject as per scheme of studies - UG  (Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communications)

Once you’ve completed Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can pursue Class 11-12 Arts/Humanities along with any other subject as per scheme of studies. You can then pursue Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 Arts/Humanities along with any other subject as per scheme of studies - UG (Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communications) - PG (Master of Arts in Journalism)

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Once you’ve completed Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can pursue Class 11-12 Arts/Humanities along with any other subject as per scheme of studies. You can then pursue Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communications. Then, you can move on to postgraduate degrees like Master of Arts in Journalism.

Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies - Class 11-12 Arts/Humanities along with any other subject as per scheme of studies - UG  (Bachelor in any field) - PG (Master of Arts in Mass Communication)

Once you’ve completed Class 10 all subjects as per scheme of studies, you can pursue Class 11-12 Arts/Humanities along with any other subject as per scheme of studies. You can then pursue a Bachelor’s in any field. Then, you can move on to postgraduate degrees like Master of Arts in Mass Communication.

Required Qualification & Competencies 

Undergraduate studies after school

It is necessary to have a bachelor’s degree to become a successful Publishing professional. A Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication or in a language will make you eligible for a job in publishing house in the specialized field of Print Media Publishing Trades.

Post Graduate studies

If you are a graduate and want a specialized knowledge of publishing work and editing, you need to have a Master of Arts in Journalism / Master of Arts in Mass Communication/ MA in a language. This will make you eligible for high grossing jobs in the market and open up new and exciting opportunities.

Competencies Required

Interests

1. Enterprising: You should have an interest in Enterprising Occupations. Enterprising occupations involve taking initiative, initiating actions, and planning to achieve goals, often business goals. These involve gathering resources and leading people to get things done. These require decision-making, risk-taking and action orientation.

2. Artistic: You should have an interest in Artistic Occupations. Artistic occupations mostly involve working with creative ideas, art and designs. These occupations involve abstract or conceptual thinking, creative self-expression and often do not follow any set processes or rules for getting things done.

3. Investigative: You should have an interest in Investigative Occupations. Investigative occupations involve working with ideas and quite a lot of thinking, often abstract or conceptual thinking. These involve learning about facts and figures; involve use of data analysis, assessment of situations, decision making and problem-solving.

Knowledge

1. English Language: Knowledge about English grammar, words, spelling, sentence construction, using English to communicate with others, reading in English, etc.

2. Communications and Media: Knowledge of how different media such as print, television, radio and social media works; how to produce content such as news, articles, audio-visual programs, etc. for different media. This includes various ways to inform and entertain people via print, audio, audio-visual and online media.

Skills

1. Active Learning: Focused and continuous learning from various sources of information, observation and otherwise for application in getting work done.

2. Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, understanding the points being made by others, asking questions, etc.

3. Public Speaking: Talking effectively to a large group of people or an audience or addressing public at large in different settings such as conferences, seminars, meetings, etc.

4. Reading Comprehension: Skills in understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities

1. Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).

2. Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information from various sources, concepts, and theories to form general rules or conclusions. For example, analysing various events or situations to come out with a set of rules or conclusions.

3. Inter-Personal: The ability to build and maintain good relationships with others at workplaces and elsewhere.

4. Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or innovative ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.

5. Articulation: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

6. Emotional Intelligence: The ability to understand your own and others' emotions and feelings; empathy for others; adjusting your behaviour or self-control and self-regulation according to others' emotions and situations.

Personality

1. You are always imaginative in most situations.

2. You always prefer to experience new things and have new experiences or you mostly do.

3. You can always act independently or could do so in most situations.

7. You are a soft-hearted person sometimes.

8. You are mostly impulsive in your actions and behavior.

9 . You remain calm in difficult situations sometimes but some other times you are anxious.

Career - Job Opportunities & Profiles 

Depending on the specialization and your interest, you can start your work in a publishing house in any of the following roles:

1. Editorial Trainee

2. Sales Trainee/Executive

3. Marketing Trainee or Publicity Assistant

4. Production Trainee/Executive

As a publishing professional, you can get jobs in publishing houses like: Penguin India, Rupa Publications, HarperCollins Publications India, etc.

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​​​​​​​Work Environment

Editors can work from various working environments, which includes work from home where they can receive and send manuscripts. Other publishing professionals may have to work in an office, which may include cubicle-filled rooms. Book publishing professional may have a strenuous working hour since they have to deal with a lot of manuscripts and have to work on the basis of deadlines. Working at night, or weekends and holidays can be common. Despite the hours being long, they can work according to their own selected routine.

Specialisation Tracks in This Career

1. Editors

Editors are individuals who coordinate, plan and revise the material for publication in newspapers, magazines, books or websites. As an editor, you will be reviewing story ideas and deciding whether it will be appealing to the reader base. You will also be editing the drafts of books and other articles.

2. Publicist

A publicist is an individual who generates and also manages the publicity of a product. As a publicist in a publishing house, you will be scheduling book signing, crafting press releases and organising different press events for the promotion of a book. Thus, they help in the marketing of the book.

3. Publishing Sales Representatives

Publishing sales representatives are individuals who help in the selling of books to different bookstores, wholesaler’s, libraries, schools, universities, businesses, etc. They can also collaborate with the bookstores to promote titles to customers.

4. Production Specialist

Production Specialist is someone who has a proper knowledge about manufacturing of books and commercial printing. As a print production analyst, you will be expected to coordinate with printers, graphic designers, etc. and thus, finalise the printing of a book or magazine.

Career Growth

1. If you have chosen to work as an editor, then you will start off as a trainee editor. After, getting 2-3 years of experience, you can become the Assistant editor. Experience of 4-5 years will make you into a Deputy Editor. After working as a Deputy Editor for about 5-8 years, you can work as an Editor. With an experience of 10-12 years, you can move up to become a Senior editor. Experience of 12-15 years can make you a managing editor of the publishing house.

2. If you have chosen to work as a publicist, then you will start off as a trainee marketing/publicity assistant. After, getting 2-3 years of experience, you can become the Assistant publicist. Experience of 4-5 years will make you into a Deputy publicist. After working as a Deputy publicist for about 5-10 years, you can work as a Chief Publicist.

3. If you have chosen a career to work as a Sales representative, then you will start off as a Sales Trainee. After getting 2-3 years of experience, you can become the Sales Executive. Experience of 5-6 years will make you into a Senior Sales Executive. After working as a Senior Sales Executive for about 5-8 years, you can enter into managerial posts as a Regional Manager. With an experience of 10-12 years, you can move up to become a Sales Head. Experience of 12-15 years can make you a National Sales Manager/Assistant Vice President in Sales. Experience of 15-20 years can make you a Vice President in Sales.

4. If you have chosen to work as a Production Specialist, then you will start off as a Production Trainee/Executive. After, getting 5-6 years of experience, you can become the Production Manager. Experience of 10-12 years will make you into a Production Manager.

Salary Offered  

Entry level publicists can start their career at a modest salary of Rs. 11,000/- to 12,000/- per month. After 2-3 years of experience, when you move to become the Assistant Publicist, you will receive Rs. 19,000-20,000 per month. At a mid-level, after 4-5 years as a Deputy Publicist, you can receive Rs. 25,000-27,000 per month. At the senior level like Chief publicist, you can get Rs. 45,000-50,000 per month.

As an entry level Production Manager, you will receive Rs. 14,000-16,000 per month. When you move up to the Junior position, you will receive Rs. 20,000-25,000 per month. At a mid-level, a Production Manager will receive Rs. 50,000-55,000 per month. At the senior level, you can get Rs. 71,000-78,000 per month.

As an entry level sales representative, you will receive Rs. 12,000-15,000 per month. When you move up to the Junior or executive position, you will receive Rs. 15,000-20,000 per month. At a mid-level after 5-8 years of experience, you can receive Rs. 50,000-70,000 per month as Sales Manager. At the senior level when you get 10-12 years of experience, you can get 95,000-1,00,000 per month as Vice President of Sales. 

Chief editors of book-publishing houses tend to have a high salary. As a result, entry-level editors can get an average salary of about Rs. 12,000 - Rs. 15,000 per month. Junior editors tend to get about Rs. 15,000-21,000 per month. A mid-level Editor with 5-8 years of experience can earn around Rs. 35,000 to Rs.40,000. A Senior Editor with an experience of 12 or more years can earn around Rs. 65,000-70,000 and more.

MONTHLY EARNINGS IN INDIAN RUPEE *

1. ​​​​​​​Entry level: 0 - 2 years of work experience

2. Junior Level: From 1 to 12 years of work experience

3. Mid-Level: From 5 to 20+ years of work experience

4. Senior Level: From 10 to 25+ years of work experience (there could be exceptions in some high-end technical, financial, engineering, creative, management, sports, and other careers; also in the near future, people will reach these levels much faster in many careers and in some careers, these levels will have no meaning as those careers will be completely tech skill driven such as even now, there is almost no level in a Cyber Security Expert’s job)

Famous Personalities 

Not Available

Work Activities 

As a publishing professional, you will have to handle different roles in the publishing house which includes production, editing, and designing. You will also have to work with clients and authors and maintain a proper relationship with them. Along with that, you need to supervise and monitor the process of book development.

There are certain core skills that a publishing professional should master:

1. Providing information to supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates in a written or verbal manner to help in establishing transparency

2. Developing and maintaining a cooperative and constructive working relationship with colleagues and superiors.

3. Using computer and computer systems to enter data and process information.

4. Think outside the box. A creative mindset and innovative approach to things are much appreciated.

5. Handling different disputes, complaints, and grievances as well as engaging in negotiation.