From book-blogging to a career in publishing – Alumni Stories, Claire Fenby
Earlier this week publisher Harper Impulse tweeted pictures of one of its books, The Map of Us, left at York landmarks for people to pick up and read. The person behind the twitter account is York St John graduate, Claire Fenby, and we caught up with her while she was in town to chat about her journey from English literature seminars to working for one of the biggest publishers in the world.
YSJ alumna, Claire
‘I actually wanted to go into academia originally,’ Claire explained. ‘After I graduated I did an MA –but after I finished it, I decided to take a break from studying.’ Claire took the big step of moving to London with her then boyfriend, now fiancé, fellow York St John alumni, Ben, and went to work at Waterstones whilst looking for her publishing break. ‘I loved being a bookseller,’ Claire says. ‘It’s a great way to learn merchandising, pitching and marketing, and to give you confidence in pushing books.’
Whilst bookselling Claire began an internship at Harper Impulse, an imprint at HarperCollins, and was so successful her role was made permanent. ‘Harper Impulse wanted a more human online presence and as I’m responsible for all the marketing I have loads of creative freedom. I work with the editors to come up with the marketing campaigns and I’m there to help authors right from the day they sell their book to its launch and beyond. Harper Impulse fiction is mostly written by women for women, which can be looked down on, and I would like to start marketing it in a different way and encourage more diversity into publishing, both for writers and behind the scenes. My degree taught me to challenge and I want to continue to do that in my professional career.’
Publishing can often be seen as a closed shop so we asked Claire for her tips on how to break into such a competitive industry. ‘You don’t have to have gone to a private school or a Russell Group university to work in publishing,’ Claire told us. ‘I would advise people to be active before they start applying. If you want to work in marketing then set up a review site, if you’re interested in editing then work at your university magazine. Get the skills you need before you start work. It wasn’t my MA that got me my job, it was my YouTube channel. Thanks to that I had some experience as I had already done some freelance campaigns for publishers during my MA.’
Claire set up her book- review YouTube channel, Reading Bukowski, five years ago. ‘I’ve always loved performing and YouTube is a way of combining performance with my real self. It allows me to be creative and expression and yet maintain control.’ The channel now has over 13,000 subscribers.
So what next for Claire? ‘I’d like to return to academia and I am hoping to do a second MA whilst working and maybe even a PhD at some point in the future. But although studying is my first love publishing is infectious and I’d love to keep learning and experience different departments. But for now I’m really content, this is my first proper job.’
Whilst in York Claire and Ben popped back to visit the York St John campus, it’s clearly a place that means a lot to them both. ‘York St John was everything to me,’ Claire says. ‘When I came here at eighteen I was so anxious, at school no one really noticed or expected anything from me. But I really blossomed at university; it gave me so much confidence. My lecturers validated all the positives, I owe them a lifetime of thanks. I never thought I’d be living in London, working in publishing and engaged to be married, and it all came from my time at York St John.’
Thank you Claire for sharing your journey with us! If you have a story or update to share we’d love to hear from you, please get in touch by e-mailing alumni@yorksj.ac.uk
