We’re offering readers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the bookmaking process—the people behind the books and the products we create! Through our “Behind the Book” blog series, discover who plays a role in creating a book, what daily life looks like at Norton, and what being part of an independent and employee-owned company means.
Image Credit: Alicia Jimenez
Alicia Jimenez joined W. W. Norton in 2016 as the College Metadata Assistant. Just over two years later, she was promoted to originate the Media Producer role, and after that became the first ever High School Media Editor. She works from Brooklyn, NY, building resources and media for high school teachers and students.
What is your current role, and what part do you play in the book publishing process?
I’m the Media Editor for the High School Group, which means I manage the media programs for the entire high school list across multiple disciplines. I collaborate with the Director of High School Publishing on editorial decisions, including what we publish and when, as well as new markets to explore and develop. I also work to identify the most relevant resources for high school teachers and students in each particular course and help build products like Course Planning and Pacing Guides, Test Banks, and online homework tools, taking into account unique high school needs and differing levels of access to technology.
For your current role, what does an average day look like?
This mostly depends on the time of year: sometimes I’m retaining the services of authors, who are high school teachers, to create content for us; sometimes I’m reviewing their work; and sometimes I’m managing the production process of the resources they create for us. Working across disciplines in many different systems means that there’s huge variance even within a single day. I can spend the morning bouncing ideas around for an AP Language Test Bank with ELA teachers, and then by the afternoon I’m working on the backend of our online homework platform Smartwork for our chemistry course, or going over reviewer feedback for our new innovative ebook platform, the Norton Illumine Ebook. It’s never boring!
What skills do you need to succeed in your job? Did any previous work or life experience help you in your role?
This job is about juggling several different projects at once, wearing many hats, and shifting mental tracks easily. I loved the project management aspects of my previous roles at Norton and have brought those skills to this role; I feel like my entire professional life is lived on a kanban board now. I also really like to solve problems and enjoy sitting down with something and puzzling it out. High school publishing has so many specialized, unique challenges that can pop up, so there are plenty of problem-solving opportunities.
How did you end up at Norton, or what enticed you to apply?
I came to Norton after finishing up a master’s degree in English Lit at McGill University; I was a burgeoning Frances Burney scholar in my past life. My original intention was to go back at some point and get a doctorate, but I wanted to get some real-world experience first since I had been in academia for years. I still wanted to stay close to books and learning and academia, which is how Norton came to be on my radar—it seemed like a good stopping point to keep myself surrounded by education. Nearly eight years later, it’s no longer a stopping point, and I have no desire to get my doctorate because this is my career.
What has kept you at Norton? What excites you about the future?
The promise of digital publishing, and the way Norton has embraced it, makes me really excited. Publishing can be such a stagnant industry, and changes or breaks from tradition can seem Sisyphean, but Norton seems to be going full steam ahead and that’s really encouraging and heartening. I figured out pretty early on in my career here that I wanted to work on digital products, and I love the potential of creating new and innovative resources. I feel really supported in that desire.
What advice would you give someone just starting out in publishing?
Be open to more nontraditional career tracks. There are many more paths to get into publishing than just starting out as an Editorial Assistant, and sometimes those other ways can open up new and unique avenues that you wouldn’t have considered on the more straightforward track. I had never held an editorial role before I became a Media Editor, but I worked with editorial teams, figured out which aspects of the job I was interested in and wanted to learn more about, and did informational interviews to figure out my path. The rise of digital publishing means more new and creative opportunities than ever, and I’d encourage people to look into those opportunities even if they’re not what they imagined their ideal publishing job would be.
Lastly, what do you like to do outside of work? Any fun hobbies or recent reads you would recommend?
Like many Nortonians, I’m a big reader. Among other things, grad school left me with the ability to read high volume in a very short amount of time, and I’ve appreciated that skill to feed my reading habits. This past winter I did a big Jane Austen reread (I love rereading things I read in school for pleasure) and read five of her novels in a week, including my favorite, Emma. I generally read a lot of fantasy and historical fiction; I’m going through a Jess Kidd phase and loved The Night Ship, and I’m looking forward to reading Things in Jars next. I also love poetry and most recently read Paige Lewis’s Space Struck and Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem; both are wonderful, world-shifting collections.
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