Why book publishing

The original reason? I was sick of being a freelance journalist and wanted to find something in the editorial space that also came with a steady paycheck. As I was looking for full-time editorial jobs, book publishing came up over and over again and brought me back to those early days of weekly trips to the library, maxing out my borrowing limit and my mom’s, and immersing myself in different lives, worlds, and ideas from one book to another. I was (and still am) excited to be a part of that, working with smart, thoughtful, passionate writers, guiding them and their work through each step of the publishing process, and helping these books find the exact readers who want and need this in their lives. There are a lot of lows that can come with being in this industry, but reading a proposal or manuscript, falling in love, and wanting to run out and immediately tell everyone you know about it…

Wendy Wong (she/her) was a food writer for several years prior to her pivot into publishing. She worked at a small educational publishing company before joining HarperCollins, where she acquired titles for Harper and Harper Business such as The First, The Few, The Only by Deepa Purushothaman, a Financial Times business book of the month. She is currently an Associate Editor at Ballantine in Penguin Random House. Twitter: @wendyplacething

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