Bookomi founder Richard Kilgarriff takes the helm of My Job in 5 this week to explain how he and his team are successfully connecting authors to the world’s most influential clubs and companies.
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Describe your role.
I’m the founder and editorial director of Bookomi, a community of leaders who are readers who discover and share original, memorable, insights (OMI) together. My overall role is to connect authors and their work to targeted, influential audiences in clubs and companies. -
What do you like best about being an editorial director?
I get to work with a diverse range of brilliant minds in great company: Scientists, historians, novelists, tech pioneers, business leaders… and have produced and hosted over three hundred literary events. I want to learn for the rest of my life and Bookomi allows me to do that. -
Which new projects or titles are you working on at the moment?
This June, our Most Wanted list (new non-fiction titles selected by and for our community of leaders who are readers) includes Life Lessons from a Brain Surgeon (Dr Rahul Jandial, Penguin Life) and Dressed; the Secret Life of Clothes (Shahidha Bari, Jonathan Cape) and I can’t wait to introduce the authors to our members in Annabel’s and Soho House. -
What skills do you need to be an editorial director?
If I was hiring someone to do my job I’d be looking for someone who can make new connections between seemingly diverse subjects and people, plus bookselling, events, promotion, writing, presenting, marketing and speed-reading, that’s useful. -
What advice would you give to those looking to work in the industry?
Read The Book About Books, An Anatomy of Bibliomania (Holbrook Jackson, Avenel Books) and Why Information Grows, The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies (Cesar Hidalgo, Allen Lane). Then look for disruption and run towards it, fast.
Want to work in editorial? Check out Jobs in Books for editorial roles including editorial director and editorial assistant jobs and more.