My Job in 5: Connor Hutchinson

1. My role as Communications Administrator is to help with the general admin for the publicists and provide any help they need with their campaigns. My day-to-day tasks include dealing with incoming publicity requests, sending books to reviewers, booking author travel and accommodation, collating reviews, and helping organise launches and events.

2. The best part about my role is the direct interaction with the authors. Helping organise launches or assisting them with signings is a great way to get to know them personally. Also, working on a campaign that you love and seeing the positive reviews fly in is the most rewarding aspect of the job.

3. Many of us are excited about our lead literary debut for 2020: The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld. This novel is an extraordinary portrait of a Dutch farming family distorted by grief. It’s been a joy working on it and is guaranteed to stick with readers for a while!

4. The main skill needed for my job is organisation. I’m expected to calmly juggle multiple tasks and prioritise jobs that need to be completed more urgently. An awareness of the media is also essential in understanding which newspapers/ magazines would be most interested in featuring a particular book.

5.  I arrived at Faber as an intern and the best advice I could give is to speak to every department and discover where your interests lie. Try things outside your comfort zone and talk to anyone you can, whether you’re an intern or not. Publishing’s a small world and people will remember you.