By Selina Azizi
When I first began my internship at a literary agency, I strongly believed it would help me should I ever seek a career in the publishing field. Never would I have guessed how much it would help me as a history student. Here’s why a literary agency internship is beneficial to any budding historian!
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Happy Writing!
Voltaire once said: “Historians are gossips who tease the dead.” And, let’s be real, gossip is never good if the story isn’t well told. One of the best skills any historian can have is that of good writing, and interning at a literary agency has helped me improve my writing fundamentally. Because I’m required to read manuscript after manuscript, perusing through to find the same common errors in them all, I have learned how to avoid making the same mistakes. I have been growing more aware of my clichés, poor descriptions, and substance-lacking texts, and I’m now making an effort to improve on them.
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“Today a Reader…”
“Tomorrow a Leader!” (Margaret Fuller)
Of course, manuscript-reading is useful for developing other skills as well. In particular, my analytical reading skills have improved over the last few months. Many of the authors whose manuscripts I read have real political intentions, and I work to understand what sort of a story they are trying to tell, similar to the way I would if I was reading historical primary sources. In particular, authors of non-fiction have strict interpretations of events, and I have to work to understand whether or not they are painting the picture well. This can be challenging, and it’s hard to track exactly how much I've improved with this kind of skill, but I am positive my brain is being trained to read critically.
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The Art of Interviewing
Part of my internship entails interviewing different people who work within the publishing field, so that I can get a full picture of how the industry works. Though there are obvious difference between these and oral history interviews, all qualitative research interviews are useful experiences. Preparing for these interviews, carrying them out, and then working to understand the data can be wonderful practice for conducting oral history interviews. They’ve not only increased my confidence when carrying out interviews (read: I am getting better at avoiding awkward pauses), but I’ve also been learning from the rookie mistakes that I’ve made.
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It's All About WHO You Know
Another benefit of interning at a literary agency is all of the connections that can be made. Not only do you meet agents and publishers (an obvious advantage if you ever want to publish a book – history or not), but also many high-profile writers, journalists, political figures, entrepreneurs, academics from all disciplines, and even media personalities! These interactions are invaluable because you have the opportunity to engage with them in a professional setting, where you can ask many questions and share your ideas. In turn, these people often want to feed your knowledge and hear your opinions. I have learned so much from these discussions, and I have met so many people who I could approach should I need to in my future professional life.
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Of course, these aren’t all of the great things that come with interning at a literary agency, nor are they all of the useful things that I learn. But if you’re wondering how a history student would possibly benefit from working with literary agents when they could be working in the archives, I hope this gives you an idea and perhaps encourages you to think about this kind of an internship as well!
For general suggestions on why an internship may be beneficial, check out what other interns and previous interns have to say in this article at Monster.com!