Interested institutions can reach out to pbnetwork@agatepublishing.com at any time to become part of the network. Agate receives applications from interested training intern candidates year-round, but keys the selection process to the start of the college semesters in early spring and early fall. 

Agate is seeking candidates through a national network of colleges and universities, for periods roughly coinciding with the traditional fall and spring semesters. 

Interested presses must meet the following criteria.

Agate Publishing Academy’s Publishing Basics course and certification offers a comprehensive introduction to how publishing functions as a business, by presenting lessons that illuminate each stage a book passes through between the writer and the reader. It’s more focused, more affordable, and more accessible than other introductions to publishing—specifically master’s programs. It features eight distinct online learning modules, each of which is followed by a live 60-90 minute videoconference discussion section. Certificate earners will exit the program better prepared to apply for and win entry-level jobs in publishing.

Agate has used a version of this program to find and train more than 100 interns over the past dozen years, most of whom are now working professionals in publishing. We are scaling up this program to make it more broadly available and sustainable in part by engaging other presses seeking to find and train a more diverse range of aspiring entrants to our field.

The Training Intern Network involves Agate expanding its reach to college and university career centers across the country to solicit potential candidates from the ranks of enrolled students who have completed at least half, preferably all, of their third year of undergraduate study. Agate will vet potential candidates’ suitability for the program and supply their contact information to participating presses. These presses are free to choose Agate supplied candidates or not—they are not required to accept any candidate supplied by Agate. Presses will then enroll their training interns in Publishing Basics at a cost paid for by the press, in addition to engaging a training intern for a practicum training period with the press. The terms of this training period (such as hours per week, on-site or remote participation, length of practicum, etc.) will be established by the press and negotiated with the training interns and their institutions.

After completion of the program, the training intern will earn the Publishing Basics certification from Agate Publishing Academy, and become part of the academy’s network of new professionals and participating presses.

Participants must compose three follow-up questions after completing a given module, addressing that module’s contents, which are used to guide the ensuing seminar discussion. Agate staff working in the relevant disciplines lead these seminars. Working with fully remote intern cohorts from 2020 to 2022 helped Agate refine best practices for leading these seminars via group videoconference.

1. To offer professional development for aspiring industry entrants—information that will help them get their first jobs in the industry— in a way that’s more focused, more affordable, and more accessible than master’s programs. 
2. To be an outreach program that can diversify the ranks of new entrants to the industry by bringing this learning opportunity to people where they are, on terms far less daunting than those of existing entry points.