Cory Jarvis is a Public Affairs Specialist for the US Government.
What are your job responsibilities?
I write press releases, social media posts, and have great health insurance with little to no co-pays (raises thumb, and winks).
How did the classes you took during your time in the program prepare you to work in the industry?
The amount of writing we have to do in the Pace Publishing program put me in the right mode to just step into this job and continue doing what I was doing (writing, writing, and writing some more). I make it sound more tedious than it is. I like it.
What were some of the highlights during your graduate experience?
I love books, and so did all my classmates so it was fun being around them. They were mostly all good, smart people and so it was a pleasure to share class time with them.
I also enjoyed meeting a lot of nice people who work in the publishing industry. I love writing (and reading), and hope to have something published at some point in the future, so learning in depth how the entire industry works was awesome.
Did you have an internship? If so, what was it and how did it prepare you for your current position?
I did have an internship. I worked at a literary agency full of hard working agents. I did interny-type stuff (not so fun), but also was able to do reader’s reports for manuscripts (twas fun) and that was an eye opening experience. Some were great, some not. Unfortunately the pandemic hit, and the experience was cut in half.
What advice do you have for current students in the program?
Go to all the events the school puts on. Publishing is a really tough business to get into, and meeting industry at the events, making a good impression on them, can set you apart from the competition. Also, get to know your professors. Everyone on staff has worked in the publishing industry in some facet so just keeping your nose in the books, never making a sound means you will miss an opportunity to learn more than they teach in class, and possibly have someone who could put in a word for you.
Where do you hope to be in five to ten years?
I believe you should write your goals down (which I have done), fully mapped out, but do not speak them to others. Doing so steals energy from them that would otherwise go into propelling those dreams forward. Let them sit in your head, rattling around, causing a ruckus, until you must do something to achieve them.
What are your favorite aspects of the publishing industry?
I could go micro here because of all I learned at Pace, but I’ll stick to macro and say that I love that there are businesses out there (publishers) that bring people’s imaginings to life and put them in our hands. Game of Thrones! Come on. The Road by Cormac McCarthy! Whoo. I read a book on the history of bananas a while back. Loved it. Someone sat down and condensed a couple years worth of reading up on bananas into a 300 page book, and now I get to be the annoying guy at the party. “Actually, this banana is called a Cavendish. It replaced the superior tasting Gros Michel banana, which has all but disappeared due to a fungus.”
What are you reading right now? Either for work or for pleasure.
I just finished round two of grad school so it’s going to be all brain candy for a while – scifi, adventure, graphic novels. I just finished the first book of “The Golden Compass.” I am about to finish “The Postman,” and have a book about Viking adventures called “The Long Ships” lined up next.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I have written a few comics, but haven’t tried to find a publisher yet. I am in the process of getting the lettering done for one that is semi-biographical right now, and then I will begin posting it on my website. Please do check it out, and all the other stuff I have on there at www.CoryJarvis.com