糖心

Addressing an audience of students at Franklin & Marshall鈥檚 Philadelphia Alumni Writers House, four alumni recently shared the paths that led to their varied careers in publishing.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so interesting to watch all of your experiences collide,鈥� said Sofia Cohen '21, editorial assistant at Routledge/Taylor & Francis, an academic publishing company.

She was joined by Rebecca (Bolstein) Chen 鈥�14, Samantha Friedlander 鈥�20 and Kyra Lisse 鈥�22 at the Nov. 12 panel.

From freelance writing to bookselling, the group emphasized that every experience counts to get a foot in the door of the industry. 

鈥淚f you can't immediately get into publishing after college, that does not mean you won't get there,鈥� Chen said. 

Below, learn how F&M shaped the professional lives of these alumni working in publishing. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Rebecca (Bolstein) Chen 鈥�14

• Editor at TOKYOPOP
• Location: Montgomery, N.Y.  
• Major: English (creative writing)

I'm really glad I went to F&M. A lot of schools offer creative writing classes, but not necessarily a major. I toured a lot of other small liberal arts schools in Pennsylvania. Franklin & Marshall was the only school where I felt like creative writing was important. They had a whole building [the Writers House] where writers could hang out. There were talks and events, and that was really enticing to me.

鈥淔ranklin & Marshall was the only school where I felt like creative writing was important.鈥�

Rebecca (Bolstein) Chen 鈥�14

Sofia Cohen 鈥�21

• Editorial assistant at Routledge/Taylor & Francis
• Location: New York City  
• Major: English (creative writing)

I first took a bit of a detour [after F&M]. I worked as a writing coach at a STEM high school. I really enjoyed it, but I knew that I didn't want to pursue education as a career. After two years there, I thought about pivoting and started to look into publishing. I really relied on the F&M alumni network and connections to learn about the industry. Those conversations were so helpful. I learned a lot about what opportunities were available and the way that publishing works. It鈥檚 actually how I learned about academic publishing. 

鈥淚 really relied on the F&M alumni network.鈥�

Sofia Cohen 鈥�21

Samantha Friedlander 鈥�20

• Marketing associate at Tor Publishing Group
• Location: New York City  
• Double major: English (creative writing) and psychology  

I graduated in 2020, which was an interesting time to be entering the workforce and adulthood in general. I had already applied and been accepted to the Columbia University publishing course. It was a great inside look of the industry as a whole. I started to think, 鈥淢aybe I want to try marketing publicity as well as editorial,鈥� because editorial jobs are notoriously the hardest to find. It鈥檚 a very common pipeline. 

After the Columbia program ended, I wound up doing an editorial internship with a tech company. Then, I wound up doing freelance writing because I wanted to keep flexing that muscle. It's always good  鈥� no matter where you are in publishing 鈥� to have writing experience. Even if you're not in editorial, you're writing copy or thinking about ad campaigns. There's a lot of writing in this job.

鈥淚t's always good 鈥� no matter where you are in publishing 鈥� to have writing experience.鈥�

Samantha Friedlander 鈥�20

Kyra Lisse 鈥�22

• Assistant managing editor at Ayin Press 
• Conference director at Yetzirah: A hearth for Jewish poetry
• Location: Philadelphia 
• Major: English (creative writing)
• Minor: Classics 

I'll echo EWF [Emerging Writers Festival] and the Writers House more broadly. I had the opportunity to bring some writers to campus (Felicia Rose Chavez and Dara Horn). That gave me a glimpse of event planning. That's now some of the work that I do both for Ayin and for my role directing the [Yetzirah] conference. It鈥檚 a multistep process: the outreach, the check-in, getting venues figured out. Those F&M experiences of outreach and engagement have helped me in a lot of different areas of my work. 

鈥淭hose F&M experiences of outreach and engagement have helped me in a lot of different areas of my work.鈥�

Kyra Lisse 鈥�22

English at F&M

You can major or minor in English at F&M. A major in English follows one of two complementary tracks: creative writing or literature. No matter which track you select, you will gain experience in both areas.

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