During lockdown, I embarked on getting to know the wonderful people who work tirelessly behind the scenes at publishing houses across the UK. I titled the blog page, Meet the Gatekeepers. I thought, after nearly four years, it was time to revamp this and meet familiar friends and introduce new ones. Today is the fourth in a lengthy series of guests featuring on My Shelves Are Full!
Meet Katy Adams, Press Officer for Penguin Random House Children’s
How did you get your start working in publishing?
I had quite a long journey into publishing! I left university without really having much of a plan beyond “I want to be an actor” (!) so flitted through hospitality jobs, tutoring jobs and then eventually landed in working as an English and Drama teacher. I did this for four years, absolutely loved working with the children but I was very aware it wasn’t my dream job so started to do some big thinking about what that dream job might be! I finally considered publishing and have spent the rest of my time wondering why I hadn’t thought about it before!
It was then a very long journey of rejection, responding to feedback, applying for endless opportunities – all across the space of 18 months – which finally ended in me landing the Penguin Summer Internship last year. A few months after finishing, I was offered my ultimate dream job in Penguin Children’s and get to combine my passion for working with young people, with my utter love of books and publishing.
What are the highlights of your job?
There truly are so many and I pinch myself every day that I get to work on Penguin Children’s books. I think if I had to pick a few, it would definitely be getting to accompany authors to children’s events in schools, libraries and bookshops as I love getting to see the immediate impact the book has on the children. I also love campaign planning! Brainstorming with the team to come up with how to best shout about the book and get people loving it as much as we do. Penguin also has an incredible Social Impact team who we work with very closely on programmes such as Lit in Colour and Libraries for Primaries which is also a huge highlight for me as my job can then become about making a difference to children and their reading, something which I am incredibly passionate about.
What are the challenges of your job?
The job is very fast paced which can sometimes lead to us all feeling quite tired, especially The nature of the job is that you are always looking for opportunities which can sometimes make it difficult to switch off as I might see something online at the weekend which I automatically link to my job, or I might worry that I’ve not done enough for a book or an author, or that not enough children have access to books and libraries! But thankfully, everyone in the team is incredibly lovely and supportive so it never feels too challenging for long – everyone helps each other out and we do what we can to do a good job!
Describe a typical day- or are no two days alike?
Definitely no two days are alike! But I do think there are generally two “forms” of day when you are a children’s publicist – an office day and an event day!
A typical office day will generally start with me checking and flagging emails, making my to-do lists for the day based on my wider lists for each campaign. I then usually have three or four meetings throughout the day which can be check ins about certain campaigns/projects, meetings about upcoming events or get-togethers where we share learnings and best practice. In between meetings I’ll then be replying to emails, mailing out books, working through my campaign to-do lists and responding to urgent things that come in!
An event day is very different! It depends where it is but it’s usually an early start where I’m double checking everyone’s travel and that all details are in place! I’ll then set off and it’s usually exciting as it’s somewhere new and out of the routine! I then get to spend the day with an author/illustrator, engaging directly with schools, libraries, bookshops and, ultimately, the book fans!
Any tips for book bloggers?
I love how much amazing content there is out there being created by book bloggers, andworking with social media/online bloggers is one of my favourite elements of my job! I am always looking out for new bloggers and reviewers to send books to for review purposes and it’s so much easier when bloggers are able to share a contact email in their bio, as well as that they are based in the UK. We can also usually see the age groups of the books you post from your feed but if your interests are in your bio too then this is also really useful! And never worry about comparing your following to others, or thinking you have a lower following as we love to work with reviewers with accounts/blogs of all sizes! Do also feel free to get in touch with publicists directly, giving us a link to your content as despite having crazy email inboxes, we are a friendly bunch and love to hear from you!
What book are you most excited about for 2025?
A tough question as there are SO many! Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven comes out in February and I will recommend this book to anyone and everyone who will listen – it’s about Evelyn and Arden who are both immortal and born into different bodies across different time periods. All that stays the same is that they both always find each other and they both must kill each other before they turn 18 – although Evelyn doesn’t know why. It’s truly one of the most romantic and gripping books and I can’t wait for this to be out in the world! For middle grade titles, I am also so excited for Dragonborn by Struan Murray – a dragon-riding school on a remote island, what more could you want!
I am also a huge Samantha Shannon fan so very excited for the latest installment in The Bone Season which is out in January!
My Shelves Are Full 