You love books and a well-written text.However, the skills you need if you want to work in the publishing industry are multilayered and are about more than reading exciting books.

An Approachable Personality

A lot is expected from an Editor. Along with fluency in German, in terms of spelling and grammar, you should also know your way around international literature. In addition, your English should be excellent.Are you gifted when it comes to language and do you know one or two other foreign languages? This is a big advantage if you want to be hired as an Editor.

You’re not afraid to talk to strangers or to pick up the phone and make a call? Sales and marketing departments at publishing houses are looking for communicative employees who emanate friendliness and openness. You’ll represent the publisher publicly, dealing with advertising clients and booksellers, and you’ll work at conventions.Therefore, working with people and in teams should be fun for you.A program in Business with a focus on Sales & Marketing can offer you the right foundation for this career path.

Create Something New!

Publishers follow trends, too, and have adopted  digital business practices. Whether it’s e-books or apps—new formats need to be developed and marketed.For this, you need a gift for the technical, when it comes to software programming and coding.Are terms like XML, XSL-T and MAM-Data nothing new for you? Can you demonstrate basic, fundamental knowledge of Media Asset Management Systems like “Celum”? Do you have a distinctively analytical way of thinking? You’re interested in books and are drawn to IT?Then help the publishing house you work for to successfully launch new innovations on the market.

Or are you creatively inclined? If you know your way around typography and are actively interested in book cover design, then a publishing house is the right place for you. Along with knowledge of MS-Office and Photoshop, you should already have had initial experience with InDesign and be familiar with style sheets.You can gain this expertise, for example, by studying  Communication Design.

Publish Your Work

Do you know how to write good texts and articles? Do you have wide general knowledge, as well as an area of expertise?Then you can also work as an editor and writer at a publishing house, publishing specialized books. A must for your application: initial experience in editorial and presentable work samples.

In our program in Journalism & Business Communication, work in our university editorial office, you’ll learn what it means to be a dyed-in-the-wool journalist. You’ll write articles, produce radio and video stories and learn how to look critically at your own work and how to accept criticism.