Notes from an internship: Florence

Hi, my name is Florence and I have spent the past week working as an intern at Mushens Entertainment. As most people would be, I was extremely nervous to begin an internship in a world which I only knew a little about. But as soon as I entered the office and was greeted by leopard-print sofas and a neon pink ‘ME’ sign sat on a heavily stacked bookshelf, I knew I was in safe hands. The team at ME were some of the loveliest people ever and they really helped me feel welcome in their office. One morning, they each took me through their careers in publishing and literary agencies and what led them to ME. I found this really interesting, giving me an insight into the many different roles there are within the literary world, as well as into the fact that just because you start out in one role, it does not mean that you have to stick to it forever.

The biggest task I was given during the internship was to read one of their client’s manuscripts and provide a reader report on it. Emma provided me with reader reports that the team had written on other manuscripts as a sort of ‘template’ for me to follow, which I found very helpful in terms of what key elements I should be looking out for when coming up with constructive criticism. For example, how believably a character reacts to a situation and what parts of the manuscript could be shortened in exchange for more focus on the most important events. The manuscript that I was given was a thriller, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading and it kept me on my toes until the very end. After I finished reading, Emma and I met and she really helped encourage my overall ideas and critiques of the manuscript, something I was initially unsure of as I had never provided extensive criticism on a novel before. I found that the two of us talking through our own opinions was extremely helpful, as we quickly began to agree on a lot of points and extend on each other’s criticisms. This set me up perfectly to then write a reader report I felt confident in.

Within the week, I also had a very insightful chat with Alba and Catriona about the world of foreign rights within the agency. I went into it knowing nothing about how foreign rights operates, but they both took me through it amazingly, explaining what different international markets are looking for in terms of genres, thus resulting in the popularity of a book differing from country to country. Alba and Catriona were really helpful in answering the questions I had for them, understanding that this world was completely new to me and taking me through the different processes within foreign rights at the perfect pace, so I didn’t lose track of what they were saying.

I also sat in on one of the team’s submissions meetings, where they would go through the manuscript submissions of that day, separating them into rejections or flagging them as ones to read more of. I found this process very eye-opening as to what sort of genres each member of the team were looking for and just how important a grabbing synopsis is for an agent, who considers hundreds of submissions per week.

I am so grateful for the week I spent at Mushens Entertainment, working in an amazing environment surrounded by such amazing women! I feel so lucky that I was able to see what goes on behind the scenes when representing an author and I feel much more confident in my own knowledge of the literary agenting world now that I’ve experienced it first-hand. Thank you so much to Juliet, Emma, Kiya, Liza, Rachel, Alba and Catriona for welcoming me into your world for a week!