How Genni Eccles, Editorial Assistant, Berkley, Got Her Foot in the Door
Genni Eccles, Editorial Assistant, Berkley.
One year ago, Genni Eccles started in her dream job with Berkley as an editorial assistant. The story of how she got there is a wild trajectory involving the social media phenomenon Humans of New York, a highly creative and engaged Human Resources and Recruiting team, and years of curiosity, dedication, and hard work. Read on below to discover how a viral social media post and a perfectly timed introduction from Eboni Rafus-Brenning, Manager, Diversity Recruitment, Outreach and Partnerships, matched a lifelong romance aficionado with a career in romance publishing.
Dive into our conversation below!
Lyzbeth:
Tell me more about your start in publishing!
Genni:
It’s super nontraditional. I went to school in North Carolina, graduated in 2021, and I had wanted to work in publishing, since I was a teenager. So, I thought I’ll move to New York and give it a go. I took a couple more internships. Then I worked for an academic publisher, while working at bookstores the entire time. I was working six days a week, 9 shifts a week, pulling double shifts and it was an arduous process, but I’m glad I had the foresight to know that I had to get more experience and to make those connections.
At 1745 Broadway office.
The entire time I was applying for jobs and getting to the final round of interviews, but they weren’t the right fit. Then one day, I called off work from my Saturday shift at Books are Magic bookstore. I had been running myself into the ground and I was way too tired and approaching burn out. So, I’m at my local park in Bed-Stuy, Herbert von King, and I’m reading a book, when this guy approaches me. I think I was really giving off “please don’t talk to me, Stranger Danger, energy”, but he asked, “Can I take your photo? It’s for my blog.” Then, he shows me his phone and he’s logged into the @HumansofNewYork Instagram!
First off, generational divide. I wouldn’t necessarily call that a blog! I would consider that a mass influencing platform of online cultural moments. In the back of my mind, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to talk about how much I love books and maybe someone somewhere will see. But I also wanted to have a true conversation with him.
We talked for about two and a half hours in this park, and we only stopped because it started storming! In those last 30 minutes, we had started talking about books and he had asked me about my professional life. My pipe dream has always been to work at Berkley. For me, it is THE romance imprint I’ve always been a massive romance reader. They’ve published all my favorite books.
I had felt that it could be a match made in heaven, but there are so many applicants and there so many worthy people. How do you get your name out there? I guess, for me, it was to go on an Instagram page of like 13,000,000 followers.
Then two months or so later he posted the photo, which I had never seen, and like all his posts, it went semi-viral. I shot my shot in the comments saying If anyone is looking to hire, I’m the girl. And then Eboni Rafus-Brenning from Penguin Random House Human Resources reached out to me explaining that the entire team saw it, which was embarrassing and exciting all in one.
When the editorial assistant position at Berkley showed up a few weeks later, she alerted me to the role.
She helped me get my foot in the door.
Journal entry.
Lyzbeth:
That is wildly incredible and courageous. What drew you to publishing in the first place?
Genni:
I feel like there there’s not like a big memory of like my world opened and I realized I wanted to work in books. In North Carolina, you’re not around publishers. You don’t really hear about that at all. Maybe it was to do with so many romantic comedies where all the leads are writers or editors, and they’re working in publishing specifically. Then, I started to read the acknowledgments and I realized, oh, it it’s not just a sole person writing. There’s a team of people behind just one project, but all I had were nascent ideas. My teenage brain didn’t understand the industry at all.
At that same time, I started a blog about what I was reading and slowly was gaining a small following, and I was on Netgalley and Edelweiss for the first time. I was talking to publicists and working one-on-one with self-published authors. Then, my aunt gave me a book called something like, So you want to work in publishing. I remember flipping through it on Christmas Day and it categorized all the professional roles in the publishing industry, including marketing, publicity, subsidiary rights, and editing.
I completely latched onto being an acquiring editor and I said to my Mom and Dad, I’m gonna live in New York.
Ta Da!
Lyzbeth:
What advice would you give to somebody who would like to work with books?
Genni:
I would say to not get discouraged, and to make sure you take care of yourself during the process. Don’t work yourself too hard, and keep sight of your goals. Whenever I was really struggling with the questions of am I on the right path?, I would try to picture myself in a tunnel, with a light at the end of it. I’d imagine myself inching closer.
I would encourage people to know that each small step they’re taking is actually quite a big one.