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This time four months ago, I was in the interview process for the Felicity Bryan mentorship scheme. I was also in the middle of my last assessment period in my final year of university. A lot was riding on this one week: employment for the summer, getting a 2:1 etc. I would walk to university everyday and think about what it would be like to spend the summer in Oxford, surrounded by books and wildly successful publishing people.

I got an offer for the job the day before my last exam, bursting out the library to ring my mum. After that, it was a whirlwind: finding a room in Oxford’s insane rental market, moving from Leeds back to my parents and then to Oxford. But I was so excited, and for good reason.

Right from the beginning, everyone at Felicity Bryan made me feel welcome and a valued member of the team. This mentorship has been my first full-time job, my first office job, and my first job in the publishing industry, but it didn’t feel that way when I was reading and reporting on submissions, offering my thoughts on full manuscripts, and sitting in on the agents’ meeting during my first week. The trust and responsibility that those at FBA give you is one that made me a confident, happy, and enthusiastic, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

One of the big draws of the mentorship is that I was sent on placements, expertly organised by Aoife, in other areas of the publishing industry. I worked for a literary scout, a foreign rights agency, and two publishing houses (one independent and one big five). This gave me an incredibly comprehensive introduction to what can sometimes be a mysterious industry, full of jargon and unspoken rules. I now know what this jargon means and what these unspoken rules are (did you know that every book is published on a Thursday?). On top of this I met so many industry people, like scouts, managing directors of publishing houses, foreign rights agents, editorial directors and publicists. All of whom were super lovely and I’m now able to get in contact with them for any help. All of these publishing professionals were amazed at what my mentorship entailed, the wide range it offered, the unique perspective you are given.

Finally the nurturing nature of everyone at FBA really made a difference to my job search for a permanent position in publishing. I was given help with job applications, advice on where to apply, and contacts for who to get in touch with about entry-level roles. The team at FBA don’t want you to just be their intern; they want you to continue on and be successful. This, coupled with the wide-reaching experience, means that I now feel prepared going into the world of work.

I want to end this blog post by saying a huge thank you to everyone at FBA. You’re an incredibly special group of extraordinary women, who I hope to stay in touch with for a long time. You’ve given me everything I could need and more in terms of my career, as well as memories of a lovely summer in a lovely office in lovely Oxford. To anyone thinking of applying to the mentorship next year: you couldn’t be in better hands.

By Alice Tradewell