55 Writing Jobs, Internships, Volunteer Opps, Fellowships, and More
Jobs for Writers (1.16.25) | Paid editorial and publishing fellowships, remote jobs at Penguin Random House, and how to break in to the world of audio publishing
Welcome to Sub Club’s Jobs for Writers!
Here’s hoping you had a mostly restful new year. I personally saw the opportunity to take rotting to a whole new level, and I’ve never been happier. But enough about me!!
After a nice long break, it’s time to get back into the grueling business of applying for jobs (or fellowships or internships or, or, or) and weathering the raging seas of opportunity. The good news is we’ve got some great stuff today, including a slew of juicy fellowships at places like A Public Space and PEN America, a bunch of openings—some remote!—at a bunch of publishers, and a very special How to Break In with a certain someone who broke in big with one of the Big 5s. It’s giving dream job, baby.
Got a job that needs a writer or writer-like human in the publishing world? We know several thousand writer-like humans who might be interested.
Looking for all sorts of jobs, but would really love to see more volunteer positions at literary mags 👀. Whatever you have to share, you can find details and submit your opening here.
How to Break In
For this week’s How to Break In, I’m excited to be featuring Sarah Jaffe, Senior Executive Producer at Penguin Random House Audio. Sarah has been with PRH—I’m calling them PRH now, because it’s cool—for 15 years (!), working her way up from entry-level assistant to working on audiobooks for titles like Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, There's Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib, Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, and many, many more.
Ahead, Sarah tells us about her trajectory, her decision to study for an MFA alongside her full-time job, and the multiple paths to a job in audiobook publishing.
RVC: Tell us a little bit about your background.
SJ: I have an undergrad degree in Writing, Publishing & Arts Education, plus experience in acting and radio—this, along with a few internships, was enough to get me an entry-level assistant interview in 2010.
RVC: How did you manage to get an interview at a major publishing house?
SJ: When I graduated, I wanted to write the Great American Novel. But I knew I understood beautiful sentences without yet understanding very much about life. Also, I wanted health insurance. What about editing the Great American Novel?, I thought.
I applied to about 50 jobs and got a lot of rejection. After another failed interview, [Penguin Random House] asked if they could keep my résumé on file, and I shruggingly said yes. A month or so later, they called me for a different interview! And I got the gig! When I landed the audio job, I thought it’d be my foot in the door. Surprise! 15 years later it’s sort of my career (or the bill-paying part, at least).
RVC: 15 years at the same job is very impressive. Can you tell us a little bit more about your trajectory to Senior Executive Producer? What were some other positions along the way, and how did they help you figure out what kind of work you liked to do?
SJ: I kind of thought I'd move around more—I really wanted to be an editor when I started! Or to leave it all behind and go teach English abroad!—but I ended up climbing this very conventional ladder: audio assistant to assistant producer to producer to executive producer to senior executive producer. I'm, like, a real company man in this very anachronistic way. My whole career has kind of been a nesting doll of the same job but at increasing intensity.
I didn't love being an assistant, but I also think that experience made me a better colleague and gave me real grounding in the industry. As I've been able to work on bigger and bigger books with more and more autonomy, it's definitely the creative parts I like best. I don't often have time to direct the programs I produce (usually I work with a pool of incredibly talented freelance directors), but whenever I do, it's a really special gift to engage with the text in such a deep way. As a writer, it feels like when tailors lovingly deconstruct a garment to see how it was made.
RVC: What are your favorite parts about your job now?
SJ: I mean, most of my job is reading, which is amazing. I get to work closely with writers I really admire, and tinkering with the innards of what makes their books tick (necessary for bringing them to life in audio) has taught me so much about how to write. I’ve made connections with writing heroes of mine who have taught me a lot about how to be a good literary citizen.
RVC: You’re also currently working towards a fiction MFA while working full-time. What made you decide to get your MFA at this moment?
SJ: After years of trying to coax a creative practice to bloom between my responsibilities through the deceptively difficult ritual of applying ass to chair, I just kind of got frustrated with not taking my writing seriously enough. I felt this intense urgency that if I didn't throw my whole self into writing RIGHT NOW, I might never do it. It was just time.
An MFA offered me structure (as a producer, I thrive on deadlines) and community (did you know it's really hard and super isolating to write a book????). I applied to the Writer's Foundry [at St. Joseph’s University] on a whim because I could walk to campus and get my degree while keeping my job and I feel really lucky to have ended up in the right place. It's a very small, intimate program, and I don't think I've ever felt this creatively energized and supported. I also don't think I would have been ready for it any sooner.
RVC: How is balancing a full-time job with school?
SJ: I work in a supportive environment with a great work-life balance that allows me to carve out time and space for my own writing. When I applied for my MFA, my boss wrote one of my recommendations. And working for a big publisher means they’re able to offer tuition assistance toward my MFA. So, finally, I’m leading the double-barreled reading and writing life I’ve always dreamed of—and my colleagues lovingly bicker over who’s going to produce the audiobook when I finally publish my novel.
RVC: What advice do you have for people who are trying to get into the audio side of publishing? I'd be interested in hearing what you think for both people who are just starting out and/or trying to shift gears mid-career.
SJ: I feel so unqualified to give this advice, since I totally lucked into this world before it felt like it was a thing anybody else cared about!
I will say everyone I work with comes to audio publishing from a different path: we have former music engineers, actors, copyeditors, and booksellers on our team, and it's a great niche for creative, detail-driven people of all stripes. It's very friendly to career pivoters.
If you're either pivoting or just starting out, especially if it's a stretch to tie your past experience to this kind of work, it's not a bad idea to take a ProTools class. Definitely make sure you've listened to lots of audiobooks—it's a distinct vibe from podcasts and also from reading on the page—and have opinions about them.
And be ready to be flexible. I mean this both because the audio landscape changes so frequently, and in the sense that focusing too hard on obtaining one specific kind of Perfect Dream Job might blind you to other jobs that could be a great fit. There are opportunities in publishing that might be more related to your strengths and experience than you think: contracts, sales, marketing, publicity, operations, etc. There are audio jobs outside of publishing. There's tons of freelance opportunities. It's very choose-your-own adventure. Like any job search, it requires patience, passion, and tenacity.
Also, I just feel like it's important to take a deep breath and remind ourselves that we are not our jobs. It's okay to want meaningful work where you are valued and fairly compensated, and it's also okay if that's not where you are in your life right now. Even if you love your job, I think it's still important to remember you are more than your job. Especially for writers and artists, it can feel like there's so much pressure to monetize and publicize your creative work to prove you have a right to do it, and then there's this equally strong pressure that you also have to have an Official Impressive Job that's somehow also your calling. It's okay if work is just something that pays your bills. It's okay if it's not. Your job isn't who you are, and it's not a metric of your worth.
Did you manage to snag a job in the writing industry? Well done! Please tell us everything for a chance to be featured in How to Break In. Published pieces will get $50 or a one-year comp.
» Learn more here «
55 Writing Jobs, Internships, Volunteer Opps, and More!
30 Full-Time Jobs
5 Part-Time + Contract Jobs
3 Teaching Gigs
6 Fellowships + Residencies
2 Volunteer Opportunities
5 Internships
4 Open Opportunities from Past Issues
Remember to check out the full details from each job posting before you apply. Good luck!
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