is a masters degree in publishing worth it

The challenges with any such course,however, are currency and relevance; the modern publishing organization is the sum of a complex mix of skills and the pace of change is rapid. Opinions on The Scholarly Kitchen are those of the authors. Charlie Rapple:Working in the Oxford area, where one of our local universities offers apublishing MA, has meant that Ive known many colleagues or prospective hires with this qualification. Kelly Heinzerling is currently pursuing her master's degree in journalism at Northwestern University. Im fascinated to see what the other perspectives are on this! I just want to be happy and I find the benefit is that I love going to work every day. When I applied for the job I ended up taking, I got a call back the next day and in a few weeks I was hired at a digital publishing startup in San Francisco. Thats my take. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. My masters was my foot in the door, as Angela was saying. The reason I say happily is that the diversity of backgrounds and fields of study in publishing makes the community so vibrant. Alice Meadows: I realize this risks stating the obvious but, having taught occasional classes at both levels, a Masters in publishing is significantly more valuable than an undergraduate degree which, in my experience, tend to result in a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing. And, admittedly snarkily, some of the biggest dingalings I worked with in commercial publishing passed these courses with flying colors as their publishing portfolios stagnated. Phaedra, I completely agree. This is one thing that participating in a Masters Program would allow for and thoughtful consideration is always a good thing. I am glad to see that several universities are offering programs ranging from certificate to a Masters degree in publishing. I am an independent editor who works mainly with self-publishing authors, so I wasnt looking to get hired by a publishing house. It simply did not make sense to me that an asset could be a liability. I also noticed that they were particularly good at organising their time and priorities (much better than other new recruits at this level). All of my classmates aspired to be the next Tolkien, Rowling, Austen, Bront, or maybe even the next Stephen King. But, if I dont care for myself, do I think a Masters is valuable for anyone else? Acquisitions is different than copyediting. When I searched for a school in 2010, I knew of only four full digital publishing graduate programs available. For entry level people, the main qualifications are typically can you read? Publishing sounds simple but there are so many different skills required to get it right. Although the official ePub program would be new as of my graduating class, theyd been offering courses in some form of digital publishing for almost a year. But, for students pursuing a master's in business administration, which is quite popular, financial aid can be quite competitive. Even though all of these comments are true and sincere in their own way I feel like no one is acknowledging the lesson of history in the US book/journal publishing industry. However, I must report to you that when I shared the link to the post with a large email discussion list for copy editors, two members complained that throughout, masters should have been edited to be masters. I was not one of the complainers, but I wonder whether posts for the Scholarly Kitchen are edited before they are posted. My program at GWU was not mainly theoretical. How to land your first job after graduation. If Id have stepped foot into my first job with only an English degree, Id have been in for a rude awakening; how will knowing how to write a great term paper or take an exam on literature translate into sustaining a scientific journals publishing operation? And then Id want to know what the applicant thought the course had given them and where it fitted in with their goals and aspirations. Ultimately, our hiring and promotion decisions are weighted more heavily on these factors than they are on specific domain knowledge. Earning a master's degree shows that you are committed and interested in your field . We had to spend time copy editing documents using proofreading marks that some of my classmates had never seen. Because that's a lot of moneyto be borrowing.". All of my companys editorial staff have at least an MA or a masters in something else plus a Certificate in Publishing. By contrast, a master's in education is one of the least expensive degrees and there is a federal loan forgiveness program for teachers who use the degree to go into public teaching or a field with a lack of teachers. Went through and fixed the Masters/Masters thing by the way. So today you do need a MA in Publishing (or maybe an MBA or an MA in literature) in order to show that you are committed to this work, this calling if you will. "It doesn't matter as much the program that you went to, it matters what's going to work for your specific financial scenario," Madarasz said. 16 students knew where the jobs are. And the third group, again, internships or some entry level experience is going to be necessary. In the two job changes Ive made since then, my graduate degree has been a point of differentiation against other candidates and a discussion point in interviews. My two cents again, Roy. This is one thing that participating in a Masters Program would allow for and thoughtful consideration is always a good thing. Its really as with any other degree. With a master's degree, you can typically have more opportunities to advance your . At the end of the day, the goal is to find something that makes you happy. During my time at Emerson I took a multitude of courses that applied to traditional and digital publishing. From my perspective, the value of the degree will be different for each graduate. All rights reserved. This made my teachers both busy and incredibly up to date. Ask The Chefs: What Is The Best Career Advice Youve Ever Received? Drop me an email at scholarlykitchen@sspnet.org and lets talk. My choices at the time were whittled down to two top contenders. I just finished my own 12-month graduate program in journalism. The skills you'll learn and refine as an English master can qualify you for a wide range of opportunities for career advancement and leadership, including these top jobs: English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary. Hiring managers should consider anyone who has taken the time and energy required to pursue a higher education to have an advantage over those who have not. Our role is to hire the best candidate for the role, help them to contribute meaningfully, to collaborate effectively and to grow professionally. What Can I Do With a Master's Degree in English/Literature? In addition to working in the industry while studying, and changing roles as often as my interests shifted, the Masters program allowed me to develop an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental perspective on publishing, which has been both personally fulfilling and professionally helpful. I can hear the screams of protest at that statement but you do have to dismiss history and the facts in order to pretend that elitism is not operative in our industry. Is this the right program? This is in a sense an epub document: layers of chapters and other materials, all laid out in order. Access to training similar to that being developed by the Center for Journalology at the University of Ottawa or the Council of Science Editors would have been greatly appreciated. Being able to interact with other students who worked for different societies was a huge benefit I would not have had at such a young age. If you graduate with a BA from an elite/Ivy League school then you might be able to enter the field without a graduate degree. Online distribution is different than typesetting. It was after scouring the course selections that I made my decision. MFA programs offer exactly that: total immersion in a culture of books and writing to the exclusion of all else. All Rights Reserved. Thanks, Roy. It is an unbeatable training ground for marketing, editorial and in some instances production. I went back for my Masters after two years in the industry, and was lucky to do this at a time when tuition reimbursement was still a common benefit, so half of my degree was paid for by my employer. Is this going to leave me in a financial situation I can handle? Is a master's degree worth it? - CNBC Scan this QR code to download the app now. Searching within those programs for electronic publishing at the masters level yields only 20 schools, and digital publishing returns 29 graduate programs. I was one fish in a sea of many. I'm looking to transition careers in the next year or 2 and am considering a master's in publishing. We do not have an in-house copy editor. She taught me so much, and I am grateful. One of the teaching strategies that best prepared me for the much coveted role of editor was actually a part of this course. Do you have an insane attention to detail? The wild west is the DIY segment of this industry and I wouldnt even want to speculate on how that is going to shake out in terms of who enters and more importantly who stays (and why) in the formal book publishing industry. Recently, a question came in to the Kitchen from a reader. We made friends in our industry, one that (as others have pointed out) may have excluded us or made it difficult to get in. While pursuing my Masters, I was promoted because of the way I changed how I was doing my job and I made those changes as a result of the classes I took. Can you write an email that makes sense? Allow me to be more specific because I do think your point is well taken. People I know in our industry have backgrounds as diverse as music, philosophy, languages, computer science, neurology, art, and geology. Can you write an email that makes sense? Please contact mpub-help@umich.edu for more information. Acquisitions is different than copyediting. A few of us were having a conversation on Twitter to this point as well falling into the publishing industry. If we want to get the best of the best interested and competing to enter our industry, then we need to make it a career that people elect to follow, rather than fall into because they dont want to end up as a lab rat. This means that they have been enrolled in an advanced program that lasted around two years. Will artificial intelligence fatally undermine the integrity of scholarly publishing? And we would all benefit from that. Its a very good way to get publishing business savvy faster than through trial and error, and a good way to develop a wide network within the industry, and if your company will pay for part of it so much the better. I was truly on the fence. And I broke into the book publishing world and never looked back. If youre considering graduate programs in publishing, you may be wondering just how relevant those courses are. I would then be wary of a predetermined Masters in Publishing, taught by industry stalwarts or well meaning academics. "But if you're at all hesitant, just really think about it. They all have post-masters university certificates in publishing. Is a Master's in Publishing worth it? : r/publishing - Reddit I owe a lot to my first boss who took me under her wing when I was green and learning. There were some really good students over the years who went through the program and the training they received in the program gave them a really good background on the business side of publishing where many of them were liberal arts or English undergraduate majors. This can strain the administrative faculty who are receiving pressure from their students and from admissions to create a current and interesting curriculum as they are abruptly stonewalled when adding new courses. ", Guest Post Making Research Accessible: The arXiv Accessibility Forum Moved the Action Upstream https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2023/06/28/__trashed-4/, "Access is not the same as accessibility" - on the importance of HTML (yet another reason article PDFs), standards and tools to make research outputs "born accessible". No education degree is worth it but I got one from WGU and it was accepted in my district. While a relevant qualification can help you get noticed, we are interviewing for core qualities such as motivation, collaboration, flexibility and openness to change. Its nice to mix things up a bit! NYU and Emerson both had strong, long-standing ties to the publishing communities in New York and Boston. Is a Master's Degree Worth It? | Coursera I agree whole-heartedly that most of us who find ourselves in publishing fell into it. I confess I am a bit of a skeptic. ", The full benefit of many graduate programs comes from learning in the classroom, so it might not make sense to enroll when programs are remote and digital due to the pandemic, said Jessica Loudis, the editor of the essay collection "Should I Go to Grad School? We learned that criticism could quickly shut down communication unless it was tempered with notes on what worked, questions, and constructive feedback. While Im sure none would readily admit it, they are far more interested in taking the writing courses than the publishing classes. We did a similar post on the value of an advanced degree for a career in scholarly publishing here: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2016/02/18/ask-the-chefs-is-it-necessary-to-have-an-advanced-degree-to-succeed-in-publishing/. Even the editors of the world are affected by the digital movement, and having some awareness of that before entering the field will immediately make you valuable in your field and amongst your colleagues. Well certainly, it could raise their likelihood of employment above others with similar first degree qualifications, so yup, Id have to say a master would be of value to them. Ive found this degree to be an asset, not only from the breadth of knowledge that I possess but also in the contacts that I have made throughout the industry. So where does the masters degree fit in? If everyone were required to go through the same course of study, whether that be a Masters in Publishing or a degree in English, it would certainly diminish the diversity of thought in our community. The most notable results are NYUs School of Continuing Professional Studies, Emerson College, Pace, and Columbia. You dont need to explain what a style manual is or what it means that something is peer reviewed. Though they may have taken a little longer to get accustomed to, just having access to those tools put me leagues ahead of some of my coworkers upon graduating, even those in my field. We liked getting some non-Chefs involved and may try to continue that going forward. I was on faculty at UCL and last week in my honorary gave a lecture on the academic and journals option. Nearly two-thirds of people with an advanced degree said they regretted it, according to PayScale. Jennifer Ks experience is what I think will become more and more true in the future. For me, the answers to all those questions were yes, but for someone who is unsure of those answers it might make sense to reconsider and give yourself a few years to make sure this is what you really want to do. When looking at the courses a program is offering, ask yourself: how up to date is this content? Unfortunately, this constrains the number of people who have the time to think very deeply and critically about its role and impact. Absolutely! We want to hear from you. However, I think there is a wealth of difference between this and a publishing Masters as the required entry point, and I also think a lot of people fall into Publishing (and find they like it) rather than making any specific career choice.
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