W. W. Norton & Company’s internship program is designed to introduce engaged, motivated college students and graduates to publishing and to Norton. Internships provide valuable hands-on experience with the day-to-day business of bookmaking, as well as opportunities to network with employees at the company and with fellow interns who frequently go on to become colleagues in the field.
Internships are available in three seasons: fall, spring, and summer. Positions are offered in the college textbook department (in editorial and advertising), in the trade department (in editorial and publicity), in the Norton Professional Books department, which publishes books on architecture/design and psychotherapy, and in rights and contracts. All summer internships include a weekly brown bag lunch series with division heads from across the company. In the trade division, this series is replicated on a smaller scale during the spring and fall.
All Norton interns receive a $10 per day stipend.
College Project Editing Internship
The college project editorial department is seeking a Fall semester intern to assist with day-to-day tasks. Ideal candidates are flexible, well-organized, have an excellent attention to detail, are able to work independently in an office environment, and are interested in learning more about textbook publishing. Duties may include assisting with light proofreading, page proof checks, and administrative duties such as copying, and more general day-to-day tasks specific to each book. Project editors work on many different subject areas, so no specialization or prior experience is required. Hours are flexible, but we are looking for someone to commit to at least one full day or two half days per week. All Norton interns receive a $10/day stipend. If interested, please send cover letter and résumé as an email attachment to .
College Editorial Fall Internship, Sociology
The college Sociology Department is seeking a Fall semester intern to assist with various editorial projects. Ideal candidates are flexible, have an excellent attention to detail and superior oral and written communication skills, are able to work independently in an office environment, and are interested in learning more about publishing. Duties may include assisting with manuscript preparation, researching market data, correspondence, and day-to-day office activities. Interns also have the opportunity to work with trade titles in the History Department. Candidates should have experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook (PC).
All Norton interns receive a $10 stipend/day. Please send your résumé and cover letter to .
College Editorial Spring Internship, Life Sciences
The college department is seeking a spring intern to assist with editorial projects in the life sciences. The internship will offer insight into the editorial, marketing, and sales aspects of textbook publishing, and interns will have a chance to meet with other departments to learn about publishing as a whole. Duties may include assisting with manuscript preparation, researching market data, correspondence with professors, and day-to-day office activities. Ideal candidates are detail-oriented, organized, able to work independently in an office environment, and interested in learning more about textbook publishing. Knowledge of Microsoft Word/Excel and an excellent phone manner are also helpful. While a science background is not required, an interest in the biological sciences is encouraged.
Hours are flexible, but we usually ask interns to work 10-15 hours/week. All Norton interns receive a $10/day stipend. Juniors, seniors, and recent graduates preferred. If interested, please send cover letter and résumé as an email attachment to .
College Sales & Marketing Spring Internship
Norton’s college textbooks division seeks an intern for Spring 2010 to assist with the research, correspondence, and planning involved in selling and marketing books across all disciplines.
This position will provide valuable insight into publishing as a business. Ideal candidates possess strong interpersonal and organizational skills as well as the ability to work independently.
All Norton interns receive a $10/day stipend. If interested, please send a cover letter and résumé to .
Production Department Spring Internship
The Production Department at Norton is seeking an intern for Spring 2010. Qualified candidates will be highly motivated with strong communication skills, the ability to manage several projects at the same time, and, most importantly, a demonstrated interest in publishing.
The production intern will gain exposure to all facets of book and ebook production for both trade and college text books, including copyediting, art and design, in-house composition, budget estimating, paper selection, and book manufacturing. In addition, all interns participate in a brown bag lunch program with department heads throughout the company.
All Norton interns receive a $10 per day stipend. Please submit your résumé with cover letter to by December 3, 2009.
Trade Department Spring Internships
The trade department at Norton publishes nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Recent titles include Fareed Zakaria’s The Post-American World, Paul Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal, Globalization and Its Discontents by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, Irvine Welsh's Porno, The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith, Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, The Collected Poems by former Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz, Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Interns in the trade editorial department are asked to do everything from read manuscripts and proposals to write reader's reports, obtain permissions for forthcoming books, work on catalog and jacket copy, attend editorial meetings, and perform basic office tasks like filing and copying. In general, their job is to help the editorial assistants move projects along from the manuscript stage all the way to the bookstore. Qualified candidates are bright, detail-oriented, and responsible students who enjoy reading, write well, and, most importantly, want to learn about book publishing.
All Norton interns receive a $10 per day stipend. Schedules are flexible, although we do require a minimum commitment of two to three days per week. If interested, please e-mail a cover letter, résumé, and short nonfiction writing sample (no more than 3 pages, please) to . Letters of recommendation are also accepted.
The applications deadline for spring internships is November 15, 2009.
College Editorial Spring Internship, Social Sciences
Norton is looking for a part-time spring intern to assist with the social science print ancillaries. Interns support all aspects of projects involved in textbook publishing, from reviewing manuscripts to assisting in marketing projects for published books. Responsibilities of the social science intern will include administrative duties such as copying, mailing, and filing; assisting in the preparation of manuscripts for production; preparing manuscript copy; proofreading text; corresponding with authors and editors to help maintain editorial deadlines; and additional responsibilities as needed.
Qualified candidates are flexible, attentive to detail, able to work independently in an office environment, and able to balance multiple projects at once. Candidates should have experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook (PC); background in English or the social sciences is beneficial but not necessary. All Norton interns receive a stipend of $10/day. We require a minimum commitment of two days (or fifteen hours) per week. Please submit a cover letter and résumé as an email attachment to .
Publicity Department Internships
The Trade Publicity Department at W. W. Norton & Company seeks bright, energetic, and detail-oriented individuals with superior writing and oral communication skills, as well as excellent interpersonal skills, to participate in our internship program. Interns will assist in various projects, from basic office tasks like filing and photocopying clips to assisting publicists with mailings, review chasing, assembling press kits, writing and editing pitch letters, making follow-up calls, and keeping our database up-to-date by researching media contacts. The ideal candidate will be someone who loves reading and is interested in learning more about book publishing. He or she must be able to prioritize, multitask, and work independently and efficiently. Knowledge of Microsoft Word/Excel and an excellent phone manner are also helpful.
All Norton interns are paid $10 a day, and schedules are flexible. We require a commitment of two to three days per week. If interested, please e-mail a cover letter, résumé, and a short nonfiction writing sample (no more than 3 pages, please) to .
Rights & Contracts Department Internship
The contracts, rights, and production departments of W. W. Norton & Company seek interns to help with administrative tasks and learn the business and legal foundations of book publishing.
Work includes researching rights queries, filing and organizational work including work on production spreadsheets and contract reports, and special projects such as researching the status of electronic rights to older books.
Candidates should be interested in learning about the business side of book publishing, including standard publishing contract terms, the place of rights sales and licensing deals such as audio, book club, and e-book arrangements in publishing strategies, the role of literary agents, and the manufacturing of books. This is not an editorial position.
Schedule flexible (minimum commitment of two days a week preferred), internship unpaid with a stipend of $10/day worked to help defray expenses. If interested, please send résumé and cover letter to .