Staff Profiles: Amy and Rachel
June 29, 2011
With the recent news that Amy Ekins and Rachel Grieves have received permanent contracts at Wearset, it strikes me that now is the perfect time to find out a bit more about them. In their staff profiles, Amy and Rachel tell us what they get up to in their spare time, why they were so keen to pursue a career in publishing and how they would describe themselves in five words – be honest, girls!
Name: Amy Ekins
Job title: Trainee Project Manager
A working day in the life of Amy:
I’m lucky that my job has a lot of variety. In terms of work with the books, an average day may include collating a set or two of proofs, checking indexes, and sending a book to print. A lot of my work involves management of schedules, ensuring authors are kept up to date and dealing with their queries – as well as those of the copy-editors, proofreaders, indexers and publishers, of course! I most enjoy sorting niggly problems, which is useful, as with such a large volume of books in my care at any time (usually about 30) there tend to be quite a few!
Your interests:
In my spare time I’m a big foodie. A vegan foodie, in fact. I own perhaps too many cookery books, and my partner and I spend a little too much on our food shop, experimenting with new recipes. I spend a lot of time going to various cultural and literary events in and around Newcastle – during university I was something of a workaholic in the arts scene, so I know a lot of people and get invited to a lot of events. I write for a couple of websites too, in a non-fiction, rambling sort of capacity. I like exercise – if it’s fun – so roller skating, swimming, and flow-riding are my sports of choice. I have my eye on a longboard too, but fear I may be past the age when longboarding around the city is acceptable…
Why publishing?
During university, I knew that publishing was an industry I wanted to work towards, so I spent a few months interning with Mslexia magazine. I also worked for Flambard Press for a while, with New Writing North on and off with various projects for a couple of years, and wrote for a few publications too – including web copy for an investment company (that was a challenge!). It was my time spent with Flambard that really made me decide that publishing was for me – I enjoyed the interaction with the authors and learning about how books come about. I feel very fortunate to have found this job – it’s been a great learning experience, and I’m always keen to learn more.
Five words that describe you
Driven, passionate, strong, creative… hungry!
Name: Rachel Grieves
Job title: Trainee Editorial Assistant
A working day in the life of Rachel:
An average day for me will usually involve assessing jobs for copy-editors and typesetters, checking corrections on page proofs, managing the budgets for copy-editors and instructing freelancers. Every two months I also help create the Wearset newsletter, and hopefully do a good job…. At the moment, I’m also getting more involved in copy-editing, which I’m really enjoying.
Your interests:
Outside of work I like to spend time with friends and family. I enjoy going to nice restaurants and bars, and couldn’t do without the odd holiday or two! The best holiday I’ve been on was to New York two years ago – I’d love to go back one day! I also like to fill my week with fitness activities such as jogging, attending a local gym and also taking part in a Zumba class. I recently ran the Race for Life with friends; it was a really great day and I’d recommend it to anyone … as long as you’re female (only women can run the race). I hope to do the Great North Run next year, but there’ll have to be a lot of training involved as it’s twice as far as the Race for Life! I also like to read in my spare time and I especially enjoy children’s literature – The Lord of the Rings is my favourite, but Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials is a close second.
Why publishing?
I’ve always wanted to work with books and loved reading and writing when I was younger, but I took a serious interest in publishing in my final year at Northumbria University. I wanted a job where I could implement what I’d learned at university. I struggled to find a job in publishing at first because jobs within the sector are few and far between in the Northeast. Now that I have a permanent contract at Wearset I’m looking forward to getting stuck in and experiencing all aspects of the job.
Five words that describe you
Creative, easy-going, reliable, honest, stubborn.
