Unfortunate Introduction to Academic Publishing
Pros
Very understanding about work-life balance, was able to leave early when necessary and rarely had to stay late. Good healthcare benefits. Only ~6 months after joining, started to be offered travel opportunities for conferences, etc. Little oversight meant I could focus on projects I cared more about.
Cons
Where to start. During my year, management consistently made choices that would damage the quality of our publications (price hikes, decreased copyediting, opaque communication with outsourced production). The number of books we had to acquire was so high that even manuscripts containing plagiarism couldn't be discounted for acquisition—and respect for copyright liability was low. Several senior editors in my group had coasted for >1 year—lying to authors about the status of their books to avoid commitments/conflicts—without meaningful oversight or intervention. If you care about the quality of the books you make (physical properties or intellectual content), do not work here.
