One thing we’ve all noticed since we started working in the publishing industry is that once you tell people what you do, that’s when the questions start: “Do you edit books?”, “How do I get published?”, “How do I get a job in publishing?”, “What’s the deal with eBooks?” Clearly people are interested in how the book industry works!

These questions have sparked us to create a new series called Beyond the Lobby. We’ll share with you the inside scoop on anything you want to know about publishing. Leave us a comment below with your question or email us at retreat@randomhouse.com.

We thought we’d start it off by sharing how we all came to be working in publishing. Here are our stories:

Cass:

I used to be a Senior Software Quality Analyst in Ecommerce a lifetime ago. I took a career management course that made me realize I belonged in marketing, and what better to market than something you can’t get enough of? Books! Thanks to the Ryerson Publishing program, I got my foot in the door through an internship at McClelland & Stewart.

Kat:

I have always loved reading and books, and thought that working with them in some capacity would mean that every day would be unique and enjoyable. I also always wanted to work in marketing because the dynamism and interaction with people has always interested me. When I was doing my undergraduate degree, I met someone who had attended the Master of Publishing program at Simon Fraser University. I learned about the program and decided to apply.

As part of the program, I did an internship at HarperCollins Canada in the online marketing department. I enjoyed it so much and knew that was the area I wanted to be in. After completing my degree, I worked as an independent marketing and promotions contractor while looking for a job in publishing. One year after graduating, I started at Random House Canada in my current position on a maternity leave replacement. I absolutely love it at Random House. The people are wonderful to work with and as I’m sure you know, we publish hundreds of amazing books. It’s great to be a part of that!

Lindsey:

When I was seven, my Mother started a career in book publishing. It was a regular occurrence when the courier would ring the doorbell with boxes of books for her accounts. She would always let me open them and read the back of the books and I remember thinking to myself that getting to work with books every day would never feel like a job. I knew then and there that I would follow in her footsteps and aspire to get to work in the world of publishing.

I attended Acadia University and studied English with a focus on medieval literature. In 2007, I made the big move up to Toronto to work for Random House of Canada, starting in the sales department. Because of my love of reading, I decided to create a blog, aptly named Reeder Reads where I shared my love of reading (and my love of all things social media). I then moved over to the Online Marketing Team. It has been a great fit because I get to come into work and talk about books all day with bloggers and on Twitter and Facebook.

Ainsley:

I realized I wanted to work in publishing at the end of high school. I was trying to choose a University major when a friend told me that I should go into English since I liked to read so much. The seed was planted.

After I finished my undergrad, I applied for the Master of Publishing at Simon Fraser University. Through this program I got an internship at McClelland & Stewart in the Editorial Department. Sadly, it wasn’t as easy to get a full-time job. After my internship I started applying for jobs. And then more jobs, and then more jobs.

Eight months of unemployment later, I interviewed for the position of Receptionist with editorial duties at McClelland & Stewart. I got the job, but quickly realized that Editorial wasn’t the place for me forever. I moved on to work on the online side of things and I’ve been here ever since.

Do you have questions about anything publishing-related? Leave us a comment below with your question or email us at retreat@randomhouse.com. Ask us and we’ll get you some answers from the people in-the know!