I'm sure that when people hear me talk about my job, they ask themselves exactly that question. Is working in publishing the result of one wrong turn or is it more like death by a thousand papercuts? Frankly, that's a damn good question. I mean, the route from art school to publishing production is hardly a direct one (though it's surpsingly popular, judging by the number of my coworkers who have Fine Arts degrees). The best explanation I can come up with is this:
In every industry, there are two basic kinds of people (okay - three, but we're not counting sales and marketing departments): on one side, you have the "What Are We Going to Do" people. On the other, you have the "How Are We Going to Do It" people. The first kind are the ones that come up with the brilliant ideas. The second kind are the ones that make those ideas reality. Publishing production thrives on the second kind.
Every day, some editor is coming up with a new "brilliant idea" and no matter how idiotic I may think it is, I have to make it happen. Not only that, I have to do it faster and cheaper than anyone else can do it, otherwise my company loses business.
But there is a different kind of reward in doing this job, too. I usually compare it to the feeling of climbing up a mountain - while you're doing it, it pretty much sucks, but when you get to the top of the mountain and look back down, you can say with pride "I did that."
Not the ideal route to happiness and job satisfaction, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. And that's a lesson that all art school grads learned early on. ;-)
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3 comments:
You forgot the fourth kind of people: I am going to wait for other people to do something types. :|
5th type who just sits back with a martini and watches everyone.
Both of those fall into the "Sales and Marketing" category. ;-)
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