通过实习拓宽职业选择

和很多创意写作专业的学生一样, 艾莉坎贝尔 envisioned herself working with authors, reading 和 editing their manuscripts at a publishing firm. 然而, after interning in the marketing department at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 出版像 的人 和 《网赌的十大网站》之后，她的选择范围开始扩大. This h和s-on experience allowed her to see how skills from the creative writing major 和 marketing minor can combine 和 broaden the possibilities of a future career in publishing. 

As the marketing 和 publicity intern 坎贝尔 worked alongside Houghton’s marketing team to sell 和 promote newly published books by sifting through manuscripts, mailing books to eager readers 和 compiling newsletters with information on new releases. 除了, she attended weekly team meetings to discuss upcoming projects 和 books 和 how the team could best promote them.

“Knowing where books come from 和 seeing the whole process was really neat,坎贝尔说。. “And I never knew all the different departments that went into a publishing company. Knowing them now 和 seeing how they all work together has been really helpful for my own career.” 

近年来, a new marketing trend has revolved around implementing storytelling 和 captivating writing to engage the audience — an easy feat for a creative writing major. 因此, 她在RWU的跨学科工作, 坎贝尔 is able to find a career path she loves that uses both fields of study.

坎贝尔 largely credits marketing professor Kathleen Micken 和 her qualitative analysis class project for enabling her to dive deeper into this field. 坎贝尔, 和她的一个同学一起, partnered with the town of Bristol to inquire about what the residents would like to see for a revamp of the downtown area. 通过这个项目, 坎贝尔 not only used her creative writing skills to come up with potential solutions, but stepped out of her comfort zone to market to the public 和 present her findings to town officials. 

“It’s surprised me how much I’ve come out of my shell. 我在高中时很害羞, but it’s been nice to not be afraid of speaking up or talking to new people,坎贝尔说。. “If I hadn’t had any experience in public speaking I wouldn’t have wanted to contribute in the weekly meetings this summer. 但我做到了，这让我的老板很高兴.”

While publishing can be a difficult field for recent graduates to get into, 坎贝尔 believes having this internship with a company like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will set her apart after graduation. And while she still pictures herself working in the publishing world, she says this internship opened her eyes to the broader range of careers within the industry.