The Life Cycle of a Manuscript

Samantha Hsiung (‘27), an English and Economics double major, was an intern for Penn Press, the publishing arm of the university. This internship was supported by the Summer Humanities Internship Program. 

Ever since my sophomore year of high school, I’ve wanted to work in the publishing industry. I often read literary magazines, submitted to small presses, and daydreamed about working behind the scenes to bring books and writing to life. When I was given the opportunity to work for the Penn Press this summer, I knew it was one I had to take. 

What surprised me most about the internship was the complexity of the life cycle of a book. Books are never just static objects; they mature through phases of revision, review, and reinvention. In the Acquisitions department, I was immersed in cover design, editorial review, and learned how fragile the process could be. My role often consisted of assembling transmittal dockets, specifically summarizing peer reviews and manuscripts for the editorial board to review. I placed honorarium orders through Ingram (a website that both feels and looks decades old, I might add), crafted press-wide alt text guidelines in response to recent EU changes and familiarized myself with profit and loss statements to understand how books are financed. And, of course, I became fluent in publishing lingo. 
 
The most memorable part of my summer as an intern took place outside of the Press, at the American Library Association’s annual conference—the largest library event in the world, hosting hundreds of publishing houses, such as Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Penguin Random House, and more. At the Penn Press booth, I fielded questions from librarians and curious passersby, while sneaking away to visit other publishers’ booths. I met authors I’d long admired, like Chanel Miller and Safia Elhillo, and spoke with staffers from both indie and global presses.