Books || August Book Haul/What I've Been Reading

Welcome to my monthly book post where I tell you what books I've purchased and what I've been reading this month:

I gave in and bought a few this month as a payday treat and I may have finished my 50 book challenge but that hasn't stopped me reading

Purchased:

Scorch Trials - James Dashner

Beatrice Letters - Lemony Snicket 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E Lockhart 

The Fire Sermon - Francesca Haig

Trouble - Non Pratt

Read:

Scorch Trials - James Dashner

Beatrice Letters - Lemony Snicket

The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

Trouble - Non Pratt 

Keep up more often with what I've been reading on Netgalley: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/37310175-cloee-cooper

-Cloee xoxo

Getting into Publishing || Where to Look For Experience and Jobs

Following up from my blog post from last week here's some places to look for experience and jobs:

General links for both jobs and internships

Diaryofapublishingintern.blogspot.co.uk

Stuff lever intern turned publishing professional posts internships and jobs weekly make sure to sign up to get these emailed to it helped me a lot!!!

Mediargh.com @mediamuppet on Twitter 

Lots of opportunities not just in publishing 

Bookcareers.com

Bookseller jobs 

Jobs.thebookseller.com

Publishers publicity circle (publicity/marketing opportunities) 

Publisherspublicitycircle.co.uk

Ipg jobs board 

Www.ipg.uk.com/jobs 

Society of Young Publishers

Www.thesyp.org.uk

Recruitment agencies

Atwood Tate http://www.atwoodtatepublishingjobs.co.uk/Atwood/Vacancies/VacancySearch.asp

Inspired selection https://www.inspiredselection.com/jobs/

Greenhill greenhillgroup.com

Specific placements:

Of course if your looking for full time jobs look on all of these also, links often the same or jobs section can be easily found

Profile Books profile books.com/careers

Eight weeks, paid, covers all areas of publishing 

Cv and covering letter to info@profilebooks.com

Duckworth Publishers ducknet.co.uk/about-us 

Email cv and covering letter to info@duckworthpublishers.co.uk

Clearly state in terms of dates, any areas of interest & what you hope to gain. Two types of internship on offer general publishing or pa work, state whether your interested in one or both 

Endeavour Press endeavourpress.com/work-for-us 

Internships last for one month.

Send covering letter and cv to Richard Foreman richard@endeavourpress.com specifying dates 

Walker books http://www.walker.co.uk/about-walker/work-for-us/work-experience-placements.aspx

Nothing currently but keep an eye on what's coming and could be worth sending an email any way to Alexandra Miller recruitment@walker.co.uk

Bloomsbury http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/company/working-at-bloomsbury/

Placements two to three weeks 

Email opportunities@bloomsbury.com stating dates in subject line with covering letter and cv 

Hachette (headline, hachette childrens group, hodder education, hodder & stoughton, little brown, octopus, orion and quercus) https://www.hachette.co.uk/Articles/Careers+Pages/Work+Experience+and+Internships.page

Advertised on the Hachette Facebook page and @hachettecareers Twitter feed

You can also fill out the form online

Pan Macmillan http://www.panmacmillan.com/workexperience

Cv and covering letter explaining what you want to work in publishing to panmacworkexperiencerequests@macmillan.com

The subject line should clearly read what your looking for e.g. Work experience, publicity / work experience, picador and clearly state dates in the email

John Blake https://johnblakebooks.com/work-experience

Send cv and covering letter as well as your availability to workexperience@johnblakebooks.com

Or in writing if you prefer

Scholastic 

2015 opportunities filled but check back for when they reopen at: http://www.scholastic.co.uk/jobs

Blink publishing

Cv to info@blinkpublishing.co.uk

Andersen Press http://www.andersenpress.co.uk/about-us/contact-us

Cv and covering letter to andersenpublicity@randomhouse.co.uk

Anthem Press http://www.anthempress.com/internships

Cv and covering letter stating which kind of internship you are interested in and your interest in publishing and what you wish to achieve as well as the length of internship you are looking for and dates

Jobs@anthempress.com

Legend Press http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/legend-press/353-contact-us

Cv and covering letter to legend-paperbooks.co.uk

Grants Books http://grantabooks.com/careers-internships-3026

4 weeks long £75 per week expenses. Send cv and covering letter to internships@grantabooks.com

Portobello Books http://portobellobooks.com/Careers-Internships

4 weeks long £75 per week expenses. Send cv and covering letter to internships@portobellobooks.com

Little Tiger http://www.littletiger.co.uk/work-for-us

Fills out form online 

Harper Collins http://corporate.harpercollins.co.uk/careers/work-experience

All advertised on Twitter and they have their grad scheme which opens in March/April 

http://corporate.harpercollins.co.uk/careers/graduate-recruitment

Penguin https://prhcareers.wordpress.com/

Cv to workexperiencehr@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

Random House https://prhcareers.wordpress.com/

Opportunities advertised on Facebook 

Icon Books http://www.noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1&internship=yes

Cv and brief covering letter including dates and why you are interested in icon books to leena@iconbooks.com

Atlantic Books http://atlantic-books.co.uk/content/contact-us-0 

Currently full til October 2015. 4 weeks long and cross departmental 

An email saying a little about yourself, availability and you cv to marionmcgilvary@atlanticbooks.co.uk

Old Castle Books http://www.noexit.co.uk/index1.php?imprint=1&internship=yes

1 month long, apply using form on website 

As I mentioned in my previous post there is a lot on Twitter so follow people and my publishing list too for help. There are plenty more out there so my list is just a starting point so just head to google and Twitter and you'll probably find heaps more! 

Cloee xoxo

Getting into Publishing || Helpful Tips and Advice

If you're applying for jobs have a keen interest in the role you're applying for. This may sound obvious but there are a lot of areas in publishing other than editorial and its key to sound passionate about why you want to work there instead of marketing. If you'd prefer something more general then look for Publishing Assistant roles which will give you a more rounded experience of publishing. Make sure you know the publishing house or imprint you're applying for well too! Of course some publish non-fiction only, a mixture of non-fiction and fiction or only children's books, if you can talk about why you love them or books they've published you really enjoyed its only going to help, from personal experience knowing the company well is going to work in your favour.

If you're just searching for experience still show that keen interest in your covering letter, but try different types of jobs til you see which you like the most there's plenty to pick from: Editorial, Marketing, Publicity/PR, Sales, Rights and Design. There's no harm in trying til you find what's right , then you can speak about why you prefer one department to another. If you're only available during the uni or school holidays then I'd advise getting your applications in early because these are the times that fill up the fastest as its when most people are free. I know working for free may not sound the best, but taking unpaid placements can help lead to paid placements which ultimately helps lead to a job. If your in the middle of moving from placement to placement I urge you not to give up and keep a focus on the department you ultimately want to work in, it's what everyone in the industry kept telling me and although it's hard your work will pay off. The more you go into a publisher already knowing how to do the more they'll give you to do. 

To get through doing free placements I worked at kids half term/school holiday camps, I'd done it in the summer whilst I was trying to figure out what to do with my life and it was dependable work every six weeks with a great group of people. So just bear in mind there is always short term work you can do to keep money coming in.

Social media can be your best friend. It's not only a tool for socialising with friends but networking with those in the industry, connect with people who work at places you did work experience, follow plenty of publishing houses (as many as you can, there's more than just the big names) and industry pages, get involved in conversations, tweet about events that interest you or you attend, new or upcoming titles that you're interested in or love - put yourself out there!

Here's some to follow: 

@thebookseller

@SYP_UK

@EditorialGirls

@IPGHQ

@PublishersWkly

@booksaremybag

@Guardianbooks

@pubperspectives 

@bookmachine

@futurebook

@pubjobsuk

@steff_lever

I also have a list you can follow @CloeeC and the list is called publishing includes all of the above and more

If you want to work in publishing another way to show your interest is going to book events, if you can volunteer at them. I volunteered at Wimbledon Bookfest and it stood out on my CV in gaining experience and at interviews and gave something different to talk about (and provides an opportunity to meet people, one of the lovely people who I was working with knew people who worked in a publisher and was more than willing to help and pass on my details). 

Also look for events such as Hachette's Insight into Publishing https://insightintopublishing.hachette.co.uk/ run at various points in the year is designed to help those looking to get into the industry.

Any way you can show you interest in the many parts of the book trade as you can there are plenty events you can volunteer at and show your interest in the industry, I recently volunteered at one big book launch which was a great night where I was able to meet and talk to many authors traditionally published and self published.

If you're certain that publishing is right for you join the Society of Young Publishers. It's not just for people who already have jobs, it's for those who are searching too! They advertise jobs and internships that aren't elsewhere as well as hosting plenty events where you can meet people like you and young professionals who will be happy to offer help. (http://thesyp.org.uk/)

Sign up to feeds such as Book2Book to keep you updated on publishing news, emails are sent daily with plenty of features and goings on. You can always share the ones you love or interest you on social media too! (http://www.booktrade.info/) 

YouTube/Blogging another way in which social media can help, get involved by reviewing books and talking about bookish things your interested in. Get started by looking at what's out there before starting your own. You can also sign up to sites like netgalley (https://www.netgalley.com/) where you can get free ebook versions of books before they are released, all you have to do is provide a review on their site in return and you could always do one on your own site too! 

Booktubers to check out:

Sanne -Books and Quills

Lorna - The Books and the Bees

Lucy - Lucy the reader

Leena - just kiss my frog

Websites to check out:

www.hotkeyblog.com

www.thebookseller.com

www.publisherspublicitycircle.com

Www.publishingperspectives.com

Www.futurebook.net

Www.thesyp.org.uk

Www.bookcareers.com

Www.ipg.uk.com

As this blog post was a lot longer than I anticipated I'll be posting a list of links next week with places to look for work experience and jobs so make sure to come back and check that out. 

Cloee xoxo 

Books || Life with a Sprinkle of Glitter

I've never really written a post about a book I didn't like. Mainly because when I started writing about books, I wanted to write about books I enjoyed and why I enjoyed them. I want to start of by saying I really wanted to enjoy this book, I love Louise and a lot of what she has to say about feeling good about yourself and doing good.  Maybe it's because its another in the long line of 'youtuber books' that are mainly about lifestyle and part biography that after a few they are all starting to seem very the same and the content follows the same structure but with another voice. Perhaps its also because I am not the target age for these books too, I'm not old but at 22 I'm getting further away from the teen age bracket, I just didn't enjoy this as much as I ought to.

I'm going to start with what I didn't like, so I can end on a positive note. I'm going to give my honest opinions because that's what I try to do in my book reviews. One of my main problems with the book was the design. Yes it's beautiful and clearly there has been a lot of effort poured into that I can appreciate it as someone who now does a tiny bit of design work in my own job, I always strive for perfection in the littlest things. It worked perfectly for the pages with quotes on as they looked great and stood out, but for the normal sections of the book I don't feel it did. I found it created no sense of cohesion throughout the sections, fair enough if each section had a different design, but on every page it made it feel a little disjointed. I also felt that often the background on some pages was very distracting to read the content. Speaking of content, the design seemed to distract from the fact that there wasn't a lot of content in the book with the framing of the text sometimes there was very little on a page, maybe that's just because I'm comparing it to similar books that had a lot more in them and that might just be the problem. I've read Grace's Guide, Girl Online, Love, Tanya, and All I Know Now. All of which are unique in the issues they deal with, this one is still somewhat unique but especially with having already watched Louise on Youtube and followed her blog for some time now like it did with the other books it just felt like material was being repeated to be condensed in one place (which I did feel with the other books also).

Just because I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I did doesn't mean I didn't like it at all. The book had its merits. It is filled with Louise's character which is one I love, the positivity and not caring what people think. Although obviously a lot of the 'Need to Knows' section wasn't aimed at me and was more for a younger and less aware audience it was still great to read and reflect and realise that not everyone is perfect and no-one ever will be but we can accept that and work on being better still and learn from our mistakes. Even though we've heard about it before I loved that the Kylie Minogue story was included (fans of Louise will know exactly what I'm on about) and I did have to stop myself from laughing out loud on the train whilst reading it.

I know I complained about the design, from a reading point of view as it felt more like a chunky magazine than a book (but that's because I'm a book lover/consumer) but there were things I loved, especially the little doodles that featured throughout the book. I also loved pages feautring a quote about positivity, very pinterest! As was the craft section, which was probably my favourite partly because it's not something I've seen in any of the 'youtuber books' I've read and it's something I'm working on this year.

I hate that throughout this review I've constantly used the phrase 'youtuber book' as in my last review by someone who is on youtube (Carrie Hope Fletcher- All I Know Now) I constantly avoided that phrase and focused on the books unique merit as a great guide for teens and being a great person. With this book it is different and it is a youtuber book I feel, containing a combination of all Louise talks online, maybe its because I am someone who mainly reads stories and that's why this isn't my kind of book despite it being by someone whom I admire.

Cloee xoxo

A Little Chat || Letting Go

In some ways this is a blog post I very much want to and need to write, and in other ways the timing is wrong that it may come out as a rant or it could be perfect. Right now there are a lot of things going on in my head that I need to let out and writing is the perfect way to do that.

Letting go is hard, whether its a certain someone or something or just little insecurities you have its something that personally I struggle with. I tend to hold on and attach great emotional value to things or even places but recently I've had some realisations, mainly because right now things for me are going great everything seems to have finally worked itself out and things that haven't obviously weren't meant to be.

Letting go of people:

The biggest prompt for me writing this blog post. People come and go from our lives all the time and sometimes its for the better. It may not feel like it at the time but eventually it will whether its in a week or months or years you can look back on the good times you had with that person once instead of focusing on the negative feels that also came. I wanted to tell the story of why I wanted to write something on this subject in particular and went through it in my mind several times before making a drastic move (I have a tendency to over think things until making my bold move) but out of respect I'm not going to go through it all because you never know whose reading and what's the point of being a massive bitch on the internet. I'm usually awful at keeping in touch with people, but when it comes to my close friends I will always try my hardest even though it's still not great. HOWEVER communication is a two way thing, it needs give and take, two people putting in effort, especially when distance is involved. If people don't give back and avoid setting dates of when to do things then maybe it's time to accept the loss. Right now I have an amazing group of friends who I've been friends with since high school and through uni and everything that's happened in our lives and even if we don't see each other regularly everything feels the same when we meet up as if we haven't been apart for weeks at a time. In addition to these amazing friends I have an incredible boyfriend who has been so supportive throughout this year when I've constantly doubted myself about achieving my goal has pulled me out of that and is just as supportive now I've finally got there.

Letting go of your comfort zone:

Reason two for writing this post. On Friday night me and a few friends went to visit a friend down in Bournemouth and it was one of the best nights I've had in a very long time. I usually hate clubbing but this time I was able to just let my my hair down and do something I never expected to do (in a positive way). Maybe it was fuelled mainly by the great quantity of alcohol we had, but even so I will look back on how that night ended with fond memories of being free and young. There's something about spontaneity that scares me sometimes, but every time I am spontaneous it ends up being incredibly fun and rewarding. So here's to grabbing life more often and enjoying the moment.

Letting go of insecurities:

So maybe this is similar to the last point, but I want to speak more closely about certain insecurities I have personally. In this past year I have totally embraced being myself and not caring what people think about my little obsessions, I LOVE reading and do it constantly and love to talk about what I've read and the world I have spent the past day or week absorbed in. I also LOVE Harry Potter and  this too has been a huge part of my life. I am a total geek. But who cares... not me anymore thats for sure. These things are all part of me and if people aren't going to accept those things about me then we obviously were never going to be friends. That's totally fine, there are millions upon millions of people in this world who are all unique and we can't all get on.

Anxiety. As a separate note in this section I wanted to talk about it. Like many I suffer and have things that trigger these feelings that bubble up inside of me. I feel now I've accepted it and started to tell people close to me that I suffer with it and that certain situations make me really uncomfortable they don't treat me differently and forgive me if I freak out because I get a tight feeling in my chest and come close to tears if the train is cancelled and I can't get to where I'm going, even if it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Instead of letting it shut myself off now, I'd rather let people know that I'm not feeling okay and they totally understand why I don't want to do something or feel a certain way.

There are plenty more things I could write about in this blog post, but I think I've rambled for long enough now. Letting go of all of these feelings and putting them into words has made me feel a lot better, even if they probably don't make sense.

Cloee xoxo

Baking || Mint Choc Chip Cake

Books || My 50 Book Challenge

                                   

So this year I decided to take on the 50 Book Challenge. Ive always read a lot, but part of that has always been for school or uni and since I no longer have that I thought it was about time to keep some record of my reading (especially after finally discovering goodreads). Unexpectedly I finished it pretty early, what with there being five months of the year still, so I'll be uping my target in 2016. Here's the 50 Books I've read this year (so far, as if I'd give up reading til 2016). 

1) Shouldn't You Be In School? - Lemony Snicket

2) Paper Aeroplanes - Dawn O'Porter

3) Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz

4) Nightmares - Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller

5) The Accident - C.L.Taylor

6) How to Get a (Love) Life - Rosie Blake

7) Yours Truly - Kirsty Greenwood

8) We are all Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler

9) The Accident Season - Moira Fowley Doyle

10) Stardust - Neil Gaiman

11) Love, Tanya - Tanya Burr

12) The Rosie Effect - Graeme Simison

13) The Day We Disappeared - Lucy Robinson

14) Techbitch - Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza

15) Lobsters - Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison

16) The Lover's Dictionary - David Leviathan

17) Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files - Pittacus Lore

18) The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

19) Recipe for Life - Mary Berry 

20) When God Was a Rabbit - Sarah Winman 

21) All I Know Now - Carrie Hope Fletcher

22) How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran

23) Big Little Lies - Lianne Moriaty

24) Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - J.K.Rowling

25) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K.Rowling

26) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K.Rowling

27) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K.Rowling

28) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K.Rowling

29) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J.K.Rowling

30) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K.Rowling

31) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - J.K.Rowling

32) Qudditch Through the Ages - J.K.Rowling

33) The Tales of the Beedle and the Bard - J.K.Rowling

34) Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

35) Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

36) Working On My Novel - Cory Arcangel

37) To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

38) Dream a Little Dream - Giovanna Fletcher 

39) Only Ever Yours - Louise O'Neill

40) Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

41) The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson 

42) Geek Girl - Holly Smale 

43) Fire Colour One - Jenny Valentine

44) Everyday - David Leviathan 

45) Another Day - David Leviathan

46) Paper Towns - John Green 

47) What Milo Saw - Virginia Macgregor

48) Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee

49) Life with a Sprinkle of Glitter - Louise Pentland (Sprinkle of Glitter)

50) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Caroll

Cloee xoxo

Month in Photos || July

This month feels as if it has been incredibly long, but exciting. Lots has happened and it's been an incredible start to what I feel is great things to come and I can't wait to see what happens in the coming months. 

Monthly Favourites || July

Hello and once again another month has passed us by so welcome to my July Favourites! Every month I talk to you about the things I've been loving from Books to Beauty and TV and Film. So here they are! 

Books:

To Kill a Mockingbird 

TV:

Humans

I have been hooked to this show and I haved loved every episode. The end of July also means the end of the series which is gutting.

Film:

Jurassic World 
Oh the nostalgia. For me seeing this film was all about the nostalgia of watching the first film, you can complain about it all you like but for me all I wanted was that and dinosaurs and it fulfilled that so I'm happy. I absolutely loved when they returned to the old park.

Music:

This month I've been listening to some old favourites Bastille, The Vaccines and Mumford and Sons. All bands that remind me of summer and being drunk on a field with friends 

Beauty:
Lush Bubble Bars
Before this year I wasn't a fan of baths or lush. But since discovering products aside from bath bombs and using Netflix as bathtime entertainment it has definitely changed. Whilst I'm partial to a bathbomb from time to time I have to say overall I'm a bubbles kinda gal, so these are perfect for getting plenty of those and you get more than one use out of them (at least all the ones I've tried so far)

Food and Drink:

Papa Johns
I never used to be a fan of takeaway pizza, but after my first week of full time work all I wanted was pizza and not to have to cook it. This is going to cause some controversy but I'm not a big fan of dominoes and Papa Johns is definitely the way forward. Their garlic bread is simply the best.

Costa mint choc chip cooler

Need I say anymore. It's like drinking ice cream! 

Miscellaneous: 

Dear Hank and John (and Podcasts in general)
As I've been travelling for about an hour a day and I struggle to read on the bus I needed something to occupy myself with until boarding the train where I can comfortably read. Since I haven't bought any new music in quite a while I've found myself listening to these instead and attempting to keep myself from laughing out loud

Alices Adventures Underground
I wrote a full post about this a few weeks ago so I won't bore you with all the details again. But its the most unique theatre experience I've ever been to and would highly recommend it. There's also a bar which is open on weekends that I hope to return to before its gone.   

Cloee xoxo

Books || July Book Haul/What I've Been Reading

Welcome to my monthly book post where I tell you what books I've purchased and what I've been reading this month:

This month I proudly stuck to working my way through my currently to be read list which is getting rather high and only purchased two new books (which I'd actually pre-ordered months ago, so technically this month I didn't buy any new books sadly for me, but happily for my ever overflowing bookshelves).

Purchased:

Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee 

Life with a Sprinkle of Glitter - Louise Pentland (Sprinkle of Glitter) 

Review Copies from Netgalley:

Black-Eyed Susans - Julia Heaberlin

Concentr8 - William Sutcliffe

Read: 

Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson
Emily is left a list of things to do during the summer, pushing her comfort zone, when she mysteriously disappears Emily is left to complete the list with the hope that it will lead her back to her best friend. 

Geek Girl - Holly Smale 

Fitting in is hard, and sometimes we'll do anything to do it - but that doesn't necessarily mean that its the right thing. Take pride in who you are even if you are a 'geek'

The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson 
Beautiful story about dealing with grief, finding yourself and love. 

Fire Colour One - Jenny Valentine 

What Milo Saw - Virginia Macgregor
Heart-warming story of a young boy who sees more than everyone around him. I'd recommend for fans of Wonder 

Everyday - David Leviathan 
What would you do if you moved bodies everyday? I have to say I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I'd hoped, I just didn't get on with the main character at all and found the further the book went on the less empathy I had. The concept intrigued me but I wasn't a huge fan of the execution.

Another Day - David Leviathan 

I preferred this retelling to the original personally.

Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee  
The much anticipated 'sequel' of To Kill a Mockingbird, I'd been waiting for this since its announcement as I am a HUGE fan of Mockingbird (I even had a poster on my wall at uni, full review coming soon. 

Life with a Sprinkle of Glitter - Louise Pentland (sprinkle of glitter) 

Full review coming soon.

Paper Towns - John Green 

What with the movie release coming soon, I HAD to reread the book, naturally. Upon first reading I have to say it was probably my least favourite John Green book, I just really hated Margo. Having seen the movie trailers etc. I thought maybe it was time to give her another chance. Full post on my thoughts whilst rereading coming soon (warning will include spoilers)

Alice's adventures in wonderland and through the looking glass - Lewis Caroll

Keep up more often with what I've been reading on Netgalley: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/37310175-cloee-cooper

-Cloee xoxo