Located so far down Long Lane that its editors have to hike just to see their books in Olin, Wesleyan University Press might be assumed to have a loose connection to the University.
In fact the Press, which held an open house on Friday, is looking for student assistants for next semester, and is already gearing up for its long established summer internship program. And with faculty studding its editorial board, the Wesleyan community is partly to thank for its array of awards.
With just four full-time employees, including the Director and Editor-in-Chief Suzanna Tamminem, Wesleyan University Press is small, even for a publishing house of its kind. At present, student assistants outnumber their full-time supervisors. The opportunities for hands-on involvement are enormous.
“There’s the opportunity for students to take on a lot of responsibility, to be basically responsible for various aspects of the publishing process, to create and implement new systems for doing things that need improvement,” said Sarah Blachly ’06, who has been working at the press for two years and is now responsible for corresponding with authors and training new student assistants.
The press’s novice employees, too, have found there’s more to filing than, well, filing.
“The best day I had was when I was cleaning out the book files and got to see all the correspondence,” said Agnes Baik ’09, an editorial assistant. “It was interesting to see all the compromises that go into making a book.”
Even Tamminen ’90 has been working for the press since she was an undergraduate.
“The Financial Aid Office sent me to WesPress, and I think I fell in love with it at first sight,” said Tamminem. “It was the most chaotic office I had ever seen. I liked it so much that I arranged to take time off that next semester and I interned at the press as a marketing and sales assistant.”
In addition to its opportunities for work-study students, the press runs an internship every summer designed to provide students with an overview of the publishing industry. This year the program, which is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors, will be extended from eight weeks to the length of the summer vacation. As in past years, it will include a scholarship to the Wesleyan Writers’ Conference, a five-day event in June.
Since each week is dedicated to a major aspect of publishing, the internship promises students more than just endless trips to the Xerox machine. According to Tamminen, student workers have the option of sitting in on meetings with the full-time staff.
“The program is very successful in the sense that many of our interns go on to jobs in publishing,” Tamminen said.
Blachly said that after she graduates in December, she plans to continue working for the Press and ultimately, find a job in online publishing.
According to Publicity Associate Stephanie Elliott, the Press also keeps a list of former student employees who have gone on to careers in publishing, so that current students can network.
In addition to preparing for its summer internship program, Wes Press is also benefiting from a recent New York Times article about the status of poetry in the press, which praised Wesleyan University Press for its innovation.
“I’ve had occasion to look through minutes from the editorial board from years ago,” Tamminen said. “I feel those are the kinds of discussions and debates we still have. We look for things we feel have a power that will have a lasting impact. For me, that’s what ultimately leads us to publish books that people end up calling innovative.”
Like many other presses of its kind, Wesleyan University Press’s editorial board is comprised largely of faculty. In this way, the press’s decisions often reflect Wesleyan’s own academic climate.
“The editorial board reviews manuscript projects,” said Leslie Starr, marketing manager. “They determine if it’s of high enough quality to publish.”
While the press has received much attention for its poetry program, its catalog is, like Wesleyan students, nothing if not eclectic.
According to Elliott, poetry books only comprise about 6 of the 24 some-odd that the House publishes each year. The rest of the press’ catalog includes books on everything from dance to ethnomusicology to reprints of H.G. Wells novels.
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