Restless Books, Brooklyn, NY
This summer I worked as a publishing intern at Restless Books, a non-profit publishing house in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Restless mission focuses on bringing a wide variety of international literature to the American book market, while promoting social justice, immigration, and LGBTQ stories. To expand the current increasing trend of translation literature, the company publishes around 18 print books a year by authors originating from the Middle East to Africa to South America. Due to the small size of the company, my role as a publishing intern was all-encompassing; from publicity, to marketing, and editorial.
Most days I would draft and post content to social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I would also work with the marketing director to discuss and refine our communication strategies—crafting content that inspires user enhancement and drives audience traffic. Over a short period of time, I grasped the fundamentals of effective promotion and brand awareness, and I have understood the importance of finding a “voice” for Restless Books advertising. Putting my STATS 101 to good use, I undertook a Twitter Analytics project to interpret and draw conclusions from the data and then successfully strategize future social media campaigns based on them. Throughout this internship I have also written several newsletters and blog posts to our donors, readers, and authors; and I am now experienced in both proactive campaign-driven releases and responsive communications.
Another part of my experience at Restless Books revolved around reading and evaluating manuscripts and submissions for both adult and children audiences. Many of the original scripts were French, which was a wonderful opportunity for me to continue practicing my French language skills. Not only was I able to adequately provide feedback on these readings, but I was also able to understand the complexities of translation. This experience has inspired me, as a French major, to enroll in more courses in the Romance Languages Department, as well as look into an independent study on the process and potential difficulty of translating French to English.
Apart from learning about the publishing field and putting my French major to good use, interning with Restless Books also held special importance for me. It’s been five years since I’ve left Mauritius, my home, and I have missed the Mauritian culture. Fortunately, I was privileged enough to work with the editorial team on editing the afterword of Silence of the Chagos, Shenaz Patel’s debut Mauritian novel in English. Working on this editing project allowed me to both literally and metaphorically rediscover my home—Patel’s novel (originally in French) discusses the concept of home and justice through the case of the Chagos Islands. (Mauritius has asserted that the Chagos Islands are part of its territory and that the U.K. claim is a violation of United Nations resolutions.) This internship finally allowed me to access and interact intimately with a part of my culture and history, and for that I am extremely grateful.
Another one of the main team projects that I worked on throughout the summer was a re-release of two of Restless’ most popular travel memoir eBooks. The project involved researching and creating new cover designs, reaching out to travel bloggers and book influencers, and combing through Amazon sales data to understand how to increase sales to targeted audiences. We had regular check-ins with our supervisors on our progress, and at the end of the summer we gave a presentation on our final versions of each of the eBooks. This was my most rewarding experience as I learned how to implement a successful re-release and marketing campaign.
I am so grateful for this internship, not only because it allowed me to work with amazing editors and interns, but also because I was able to make impactful changes at the company. On a broader scale, this internship has oriented me towards a career at the intersection of publishing and marketing. I think it’s important to know what kind of product one wants to market, and then of course, one needs to be passionate about that product. After this summer, I am sure that marketing books is the path for me. Practicing my French in more real world settings is also another goal of mine, which I wish to pursue in both my academic and professional career.
One of the best parts of working at Restless Books was the people; everyone, including the other interns, was motivated, innovative, and caring. This was my first internship experience in which I was working with other interns, and I realized how much I enjoyed brainstorming and collaborating with fellow peers. The office environment was casual and work hours were flexible to everyone’s schedules, but one of the main reasons I chose to intern with Restless Books was because of their passionate mission, and I am proud to share that I was a part of a great initiative: bringing together new, creative, and international voices to the U.S.
Overall, I think that the work that Restless Books is a part of is extremely important given our current political and social situation. People need to start branching out, expanding their horizons, and listening to others. Many may already share this view, but I think that reading translation stories is a fantastic opportunity to learn about various cultures, traditions, and opinions. That is why that after searching for opportunities in media and publishing, I was so excited to have found this internship on the college’s internship platform, Handshake. Thanks to the Class of 1974, the support of the ’68 Center for Career Exploration, and Restless Books, I was able to spend a productive and interesting summer following my passion in publishing.