Penguin Work Experience: My 2 Week Work Experience Diary

Interested in Penguin Random House work experience in London? This two-week Penguin work experience diary sheds some light on what you can expect to be getting on with on every day!

[This diary was written in 2014 and updated in 2021]

In the summer before I started university, I was lucky enough to get two weeks work experience at Penguin Random House. I was to spend the time in Penguin Children’s marketing department and I was so excited!

Working in marketing books had been a dream job of mine and I hoped it would live up to my expectations.

Work experience in publishing and publishing internships can be hard to come by so I thought I’d share my day-to-day tasks and overall experience with you all. Here’s what I got up to during my two-week Penguin Books work experience.  

Penguin Work Experience: Week 1

Day 1 

I have arrived way too early. I decide to awkwardly wander up and down the streets into random shops until a more suitable time.

I finally pluck up the courage to enter the tall, tall, glassy building and I enter the Penguin reception. I pick up my visitor badge and take a seat.

Next to me is a friendly-looking woman who turns out to be doing two weeks of Penguin work experience in the Publicity and Marketing Department of Penguin Children’s too! I have found a friend – good start.

My new friend, Anami, has done Penguin publishing work experience before so she knows the ropes and gives me a tour of our floor.

Of course, this includes the ‘Pulp shelf’ which is where you’re allowed to take two free books per day.

BEST THING EVER.

When I read this line of my contract I was incredibly excited, who doesn’t love free books?

And now to work. We begin by updating the Puffin display board with some new newspaper clippings about Roald Dahl and his books which involves much printing and guillotining, but it’s quite fun.

Then, we are presented with a huge (and I mean huge) stack of boxes that are full of ARCs of All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven – the new big young adult release. If you’re one of the lucky people I’ve just sent a package out then I’m so jealous of you!

I randomly receive an email from the Publicity officer, who’d found out I was a book blogger, asking me to participate in The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave sequel) blogger campaign.

Um… yes?!

I need to create a post detailing what I’d pack in my apocalypse survival backpack in order to qualify for an ARC (advance-reader-copy) of The Infinite Sea which is heavily embargoed. Yayay! 

That’s pretty much it for day one. There was much posting and printing but I think I’m getting the hang of things now so it’s only up from here!

The four books I managed to pick up today were: Beautiful Redemption by Garcia & Stohl, Skeletons by Jane Fallon, Working on my Novel by Cory Arcangel and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari!

Day 2

Still packing All The Bright Places but we’re onto the last batch of the day and finally we’re finished!

I know there are more to come, but that’s a problem for later. I actually rather enjoy packing the books into bags.

It makes me feel like Santa’s Little Helper, bringing joy to bloggers and reviewers all over the country!

I was then given the very important task of going to Tesco to buy two bars of Green & Blacks chocolate.

I think they were to send to a *famous chef* to persuade him to get in on a Penguin campaign, which seems like a pretty good idea because who can resist a bit of chocolate?

Chapter 1 of Half Wild by Sally Green needs to be sent out to lots of bookish people so I get to work on putting these neat little scrolls into tubes and I try (and fail) and try (and fail) and try (and fail) to create these cool Half Wild address labels to stick on the tubes.

After what seems like hours, I give up and move onto the next task. I’ve wasted quite a lot of sticky labels but I’m at my wits end with this project and can’t figure out what to do. (Even Google didn’t help).

Books picked up: Oh Dear Sylvia by Dawn French, My Husband Next Door by Catherine Alliott and The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House by Stephanie Lam.

Day 3

I finally got the labels right! Rejoice! I think I may have jammed the printer, but when I come back a bit later, someone seems to have fixed it.

After some time, I manage to get to the printer and get my labels all printed out. Stuck them all to the tubes and they’re ready to go!

Now I need to note down all the important dates for our social media channels e.g. holidays, bookish events etc.

Sounds easy but it’s actually pretty difficult trying to find the official dates of a lot of events and whether they’re for the UK or whether they’re international.

I’ve arranged them all into a spreadsheet but it looks rather messy so I play around with this for a while.

Books picked up: Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe, Man At The Helm by Nina Stibbe, Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe.

Day 4

Revisions of my calendar of dates again. Will I ever get it right?! The way I laid it out was not entirely logical but now I’ve sorted that out it should all be fine.

A box of biscuits from The Biscuiteers, to be used as a competition prize, came in today. They are all Charlie and the Chocolate Factory related and they’re SO cool and they smell amazing!

I then had the exciting (and daunting!) task of going out and about in Covent Garden to quiz people about what books they read as a child and what stories they’ll pass down to their children etc.

I had to wear these big headphones and carry a Penguin microphone which was all rather cool, but very clunky, and it probably looked quite intimidating to the people I spoke to!

There was a very varied response from people with some people very willing to share their stories with me and others who clearly wanted me to clear off.

In the end I think I got about 6 or 7 good stories and managed to have a good chat with people about children’s books which was nice. It was certainly a nerve-wracking experience but it was cool I must admit!

Everyone in the office has run off to a meeting so I wrote my Half Bad book review, which I wasn’t that taken with but it was an ok read.

Then I helped Anami, my fellow work experience buddy, fold up lots of song sheets for the upcoming Roald Dahl event next Monday.

Attaching pens to the song sheets was an absolute nightmare because they kept falling off.

Books picked up: Girl Heart Boy 3, Un de Trop by Ali Cronin (French translation), Cousin Bette by Balzac and Republic by Plato.

Day 5

Today I need to print twenty manuscripts for ‘Girl Online‘, YouTuber Zoella’s autobiography which is coming out in November this year. The printing takes forever and then I had to punch holes in the pages and then load them all onto the binding machine.

I eventually managed to squeeze all the pages onto the binding machine and get the ring to shut but it’s such a tight fit that I’m afraid all the pages will tumble out when their recipients get them. I order in bigger binders. The copies are still printing.

Other people in the office seem frustrated because the manuscripts are taking so long to print and the other printer is out of toner. Whoops? I’m off back down to Mark in the stationery store again to order in some binders and card.

I cut and paste lots of competition entries to the Roald Dahl invention competition that Penguin are running. Some of the entries were so cute, but some were just plain weird if I’m being completely honest.

The Spinebreakers requests are in! Spinebreakers is one of Penguin’s clubs for young reviewers. It was so nice to be able to do something Spinebreakers-related as I’ve been a Spinebreaker myself for a number of years.

I’m still so sad that the scheme is ending after all this time! To all you Spinebreakers reading this, your books are on their way!

Packed a big box of promo materials for goodie bags for the upcoming Bath Festival. If you’re attending, then you’ll no doubt be receiving one of these awesome bags with an assortment of bookish/Puffin related goodies!

Back to folding Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Cards and attaching pens. I also had to make question cards for the show next Monday but I get this tragically wrong and end up doing it again and again and again. And still getting it wrong. By this point I have run out of card and the stationery store is closed…

Books picked up: The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey, City of Women by David Gillham and The Party by Ricard McGregor.

So that’s it for week 1! The first week of my Penguin work experience was pretty awesome. It’s so cool seeing what goes on behind the scenes of the publisher that worked on pretty much all of my favourite titles. I’ve picked up loads of new books to read to read over the weekend and I’m looking forward to what next week brings!

Penguin Work Experience: Week 2

Day 1

The day starts with some admin. Unfortunately, an inescapable part of office life.

It’s Puffin Virtually Live Day! I’ve never seen this show aired before so I must admit I don’t really know what happens, but as far as I’m aware, this show is broadcast all over the world and some pretty cool and exclusive bookish things that happen.

At 1pm we head off to the theatre on Drury Road where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Musical is currently showing.

I thought we’d be busy shepherding children or handing out song sheets but turns out everything was  pretty much sorted already so we had nothing to do except enjoy the show. I got a pretty good seat as I’m slap bang in the centre and on the first floor so I can see the whole stage. Woo!

Ex-Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton is hosting the show today and she has to keep the kids entertained for a good half hour before the show actually begins to stream.

This is rather amusing as there’s one kid who is clearly a bit of a trouble maker and he keeps shouting (slightly) rude things out at Helen. All the adults in the room are laughing.

Books picked up: Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys, The Catastophic History of You And Me by Jess Rothenberg and How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid.

Day 2

Mid-way through binding the 13th copy of Zoella’s ‘Girl Online‘ manuscript, I’m called away to Penguin General’s PR department where they’re really, really busy. We’re mailing out copies of Etta and Otto and Russell and James, their big January 2015 release.

The presentation for these press copies is absolutely beautiful. Each book is bound with special ‘map’ wrapping paper and there are some goodies inside as well such as a little model cow, a Canadian maple biscuit and a handwritten letter for Etta (you would understand this if you’d read it).

It’s all so beautiful and so much time has to go into making and mailing these – I now realise just how hard it is to attract the attention of the journalists and reviewers.

I feel bad because although I’ve only been helping Penguin General out for about 45 minutes, I’m presented with a finished copy of both ‘To Rise Again At A Decent Hour‘ by Joshua Ferris and How To Be Both by Ali Smith, which were both nominated for the Man Booker prize and are supposedly amazing reads. I love this job.

NB. I’ve now read How To Be Both and wasn’t that impressed with it to be honest. Check out my How to be Both book review here.

Then I’m off to a 1 hour podcast with BBC radio presenter Ally McCrae, which was amusing.

An infinite sea of copies of The Infinite Sea have arrived. Time to pack them all into the envelopes I labelled yesterday – here we go again.

All 300 copies of The Infinite Sea have been sent off. Phew.

I have made a friend in the post room. My new friend is a 27 year old lady who has just come back from doing the Columbia Publisher Course in the USA and she seems to be doing pretty much the same thing I’m doing – mailing.

We both agree that even though we hate it, deep down we love it really. Maybe all aspiring employees of publishing houses are masochists.

Labelling and packing more review copies and press releases, this time for Snow Day – a children’s title. Weirdly enough, the woman who assigns this task to me is the same woman who has been sending me awesome review copies as part of her freelance publicist job. Small world, eh?

Showcards. are. a. nightmare. They’re those big cardboard posters of book covers with book event details on them that book stores hang around.

I’ve never made one of these before but essentially what I had to do was stick 6 A4 sheets, each with a  part of a picture on them, together to form a larger poster – first by cutting each sheet to size, then rolling it through the sticker machine and finally laying it down on the show board.

Sounds simple right?

Oh and I’ve just remembered that I was in a lift with Graeme Simion last week. I haven’t actually read The Rosie Project yet, but I know it’s a pretty big deal and I was freaking the f*** out (on the inside). SQUEE.

NB. I have now read The Rosie Project and it’s awesome! Check out The Rosie Project book review here.

Mailed some promo posters out.

Mailed some more promo posters out.

Books I picked up: The Shadow Puppet and The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin by Georges Simeon, To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris, How to be both by Ali Smith and The Master Builder and Other Plays by Henri Ibsen.

Day 3 & 4

Mailed more books out. I think I’ve grown to love mailing books out now.

Books I picked up: Union J: Our Story, The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes, A Rough Guide To The Future by James Lovelock, This Child of Mine by Sinead Moriarty, The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me by Lucy Robinson and Tempting Fate by Jane Green. 

Day 5

Today is my last day and I’m SO sad to be going! Anami, my work experience bud keeps asking me why I look so sad because apparently it shows on my face and I look really subdued.

On the plus side, Anami brought in a bag of chocolates from Hotel Chocolat and they are to die for. I steadily much my way through these all morning.

At the end of the day Anami hands me a chocolate lollipop from the Hotel Chocolat bag telling me to take it and it’s a massive round (chocolate) smiley face – too cute!

Books I picked up: Him & Me by Michael & Jack Whitehall, Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber, My Lynch’s Holiday by Catherine O’Flynn and The Origins of Sex by Faramez Dabhoiwala.

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Voilà! That’s the end of my two week work experience diary at Penguin Random House. I think I did a lot more than what I detailed above, but I hope that gives you an idea of what to expect from work experience at Penguin. I had a thoroughly enjoyable experience there and would love to go back again one day.

Penguin work experience today

Although my work experience at Penguin was in 2014, many of the things tasked to people doing work experience are the same.

One big change is the rise of influencer marketing and #bookstagram, which publishers are much more invested in now.

However, you can still expect to do a lot of mailing out and a lot of book binding.

What’s more, there are now many more paid work experience and internship opportunities at publishers.

Today, you will be paid the minimum wage for your time at Penguin. When I did this, we were paid expenses only! This wouldn’t even cover lunch and the tube journey in. Progress!

Who Can apply?

There aren’t many requirements for work experience at Penguin. As long as you are over 18 years old, have the right to work in the UK and haven’t done any Penguin work experience in the past 6 months, you’re good to go!

To apply for work experience with Penguin in London, check out this page here.

Have you done work experience anywhere interesting? Share your stories in the comments below!

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