A Pathway to Publishing
Scheduling Your Publishing and Editing Major at Susquehanna University
Publishing and editing programs are relatively rare. As of May 2024, there are less than thirty across the United States. Susquehanna University’s program, one of the youngest, is also among the most respected.
Because the SU Publishing and Editing major, also called the “P&E” major, is still so new, many students have questions about the best way to go through the various course requirements. As a transfer student, I only had two years to fit into my degree-specific courses. I either had fabulous guidance from my advisor (shoutout to Dr. Laurence Roth) or wonderful luck with how each of my courses played off one another, allowing me to use the skills from my previous classes in my next semester’s course load. So, here I will provide an outline of each of the major-related classes I took in my four semesters at Susquehanna. I’ll also tell you why I think my schedule could be used as a guide for future P&E majors.
In my first semester at SU, I only had one course that contributed directly to my major, and that was Introduction to Modern Publishing (ENGL-190). This class is exactly what it sounds like. Students learn the history of the publishing industry alongside current trends and problems. They also gain practical knowledge and skills required to make a career in publishing. This is the first course any P&E major should put on their schedule.
By the spring semester, I began packing my schedule with other courses for the major.
I took Aesthetics and Interpretation (ENGL-290), where we read and dissected the traditional and recent critical theory within the world of literature. The readings were dense, and the writing assignments are graded closely, but you will be amazed at how much this class will encourage you to grow as a reader. It will contribute positively to the other courses that you take, as well as the world at large as you continue to pursue a career in books.
I also took the first of my two Forms of Writing (ENGL-265) requirements. These reading and writing intensive courses focused on short stories, which allowed me to read a wide array of different genre pieces, write my own work, and workshop my peers’ writing. Aesthetics and Interpretation created a basis for the vocabulary we used in our analyses.
I also took Small Press Editing & Publishing (WRIT-270). This is a hands-on class during which students create their own semester-long publisher from the ground up. This is the class that first allowed me to branch out into more of the administrative side of the industry. I worked as one of the press’s public relations managers, but I got to try out a bit of each role. I even learned how to bind our books by hand. Knowledge from Intro to Modern Publishing is integral to this course, and my short story course helped equip me for reading and reviewing submissions.
My last major-related course that semester was English Grammar & Writing (ENGL-269). This course hammers in American English grammar. At first, the material may come across as a review, but I think it is a great reminder of some of the basics. You never realize how lax you may have become with some of the rules until you are faced with them in a different form, or under the use of a different style guide. This reminder will be important to carry with you into any career in the literary world.
Moving into my senior year, my personal career aspirations to be a literary agent led me to take more classes focused on the business side of the publishing industry. For that reason, I enrolled in both Marketing (MKTG-280) and Advertising & Public Relations (COMM-211). These classes played off each other perfectly, allowing me to use skills in one to help in the other, and vice versa. It also helped that I took Marketing with a professor who teaches in both the P&E major and the business school (shoutout to Dr. Jessica Masterton). These are skills that will allow me to work in several different positions throughout the industry, and that give me the knowledge to help me move into my dream career. I suggest that anyone pursuing the P&E major includes these kinds of courses in their studies.
That semester, I also took Editing (COMM-331), where I learned how to use InDesign to make a newspaper layout. Having even the most basic understanding of InDesign is something that everyone in the P&E major should seek out. The work was tedious, and designing newspapers might feel unnecessary, but a course like this can help students better understand the extent of an editor’s responsibilities and how to better use style guides.
Another course I took at this time was Writing and Editing Podcasts (ENGL-297). Podcasting is an increasingly popular form of storytelling. Because of this, I feel grateful to have learned about different kinds of podcasts, as well as how to write, record, and edit them. This is a fantastic resume builder, especially since our work is posted publicly. I can show future employers the episode with which I was involved to demonstrate my experience with auditory storytelling.
Then there was Unpacking the Bookstore (ENGL-390), where students learn the history and intricacies of the bookstore business, and the current events that continue to influence it. The course centers around the differences between independent and commercial bookstores, and students get to participate in a project that focuses on helping local indie bookstores by writing about them for the class’s blog. My work in Marketing, Advertising & PR, and Aesthetics & Interpretation was particularly helpful in applying class topics to current issues and understanding why bookstore history matters within the larger book world.
In the very last semester of my undergraduate education, I completed an internship writing blog posts for the Blough-Weis Library. Students are required to have an internship for at least one semester, and the school makes a point of helping you find one if there are difficulties. I loved my internship because I was lucky enough to find one that paid me to read whatever I wanted and then write about it using the vocabulary and skills I developed in my coursework.
My one non-English class was Essentials of Digital Media (COMM-101). This covers all kinds of digital media, including website design, podcasts, and video editing. There are so many things I now have a basic understanding of that can make me valuable to employers, like HTML. The digital side of publishing is something many book lovers may forget to consider, but knowing how to navigate the virtual side of publishing can make you stand out as a job candidate.
I also took my second Forms of Writing requirement, this time focused on multimodal memoirs. I enjoyed being able to dive into a genre I have always been intrigued by but have never known how to begin reading. The class also allowed me to practice writing in a way I wouldn’t have thought to before. Both classes in this requirement helped grow my confidence as a writer, and it taught me how to read closely while also reading quickly.
In the P&E course requirement list, students are allowed to choose between Marketing and History of the Book (ENGL-375). While I’d already fulfilled the requirement, I added History of the Book. This class is more accurately described as a history of media, and the topics of conversation blend well with other courses. Students go into greater detail on how language and the physical form of the book have evolved over thousands of years. They also look at how current technological advances have affected the industry, and so much more.
I had the pleasure of being involved in SU Press (ENGL-370) this last semester, soon to become a requirement for the major. Similar to Small Press, this course is highly engaging, allowing students to work at a university press that publishes books from beyond the walls of our institution. It was, in my experience, much more focused on the business side of running a press: market research, brainstorming products, arranging promotional materials and events, and communicating with authors, among other tasks. It was a fantastic resume builder and made me feel more prepared to enter the workforce.
Lastly, for my final semester, I took Publishing: Ethics/Art/Politics (ENGL-388). This is the P&E capstone class and covers the ethics requirement on the degree audit. This course changes with the changing tides of the industry itself, much like many of the courses I have already covered. Current issues facing the publishing industry are the focus of this class, which may feel disheartening at times. However, it is so important for students to understand what is going on in the workforce they are about to enter, and how to keep up to date as more happens. Many people in my class were not seniors when they took the capstone, but I highly recommend taking the course at the end of your college journey. So much of the information I learned in previous courses helped me navigate the discussions within the capstone class.
Because I was a transfer student, my courses were crammed into four semesters instead of being spread out over four years as most incoming students’ schedules would be. Navigating the course requirements is confusing, making it difficult for students to put things in an order that helps them succeed. Hopefully, this schedule can serve as helpful aid and insight for prospective or incoming P&E students wanting to set the best course for their degree.
Olivia Neumyer (’24) graduated Susquehanna University with a B.A. in Publishing & Editing in May of 2024, making her life-long love of books quite literally her life. During her two years at Susquehanna, Olivia found joy in learning every side of the publishing industry and narrowed her dream career down to one day becoming a literary agent. If you catch her without a book in her hand and music on blast in her headphones, the extreme extrovert is ready to converse about anything for as long as the other party would like to talk.