Just appeared on Publishing Perspectives is a piece entitled “Want a Job in Publishing? Why Not Publish Your Resume as a Book,” from guest contributor and publicist Andy Reynolds, who has his own website at http://www.andyreynoldsresume.comabout how he faced the challenge of downsizing and redundancy from a publishing house by publishing his own resume himself – as a coffee table book.

“Last June I suddenly lost a great job as the VP of Marketing & Publicity at a visual book publisher due to necessary downsizing. I was crushed to find myself derailed from what had been a great career trajectory,” Reynolds explains, with a heroically mixed metaphor that is going to stand him in great stead in publishing. “So, as a publicist coming from a background in visual books, I designed my resume package as a coffee table book.” And very nice it looks too.

To the question “Want a Job in Publishing?” I guess the first natural response is: Why would I? I mean, if I want to go and work in a contracting industry that’s covered itself in shame, I can get into investment banking or Big Tobacco. They pay more and the perks are better. Although whether you agree with Mike Shatzkin or me-on-Mike-Shatzkin that publishing is or isn’t cloacally challenged, I don’t actually think publishing has lost all viability: What I do think it has lost is prestige, moral authority, and cultural significance and legitimacy. And self-publishing is one of the main beneficiaries. But if you do want to work in publishing, for whatever reason, why would you seek to do that by doing the one thing that is undermining its entire reason for existence? You don’t mail your resume to Philip Morris wrapped around an electronic cigarette substitute, after all. Still, read on…

“I’m not advocating that everyone should do a resume as a coffee table book,” Reynolds continues. “Though the goal is to get the attention of a great new employer, the flipside of the coin is that by going through the self-assessment and self-marketing process, one can gain a renewed sense of control, confidence, and calm, all of which allow one to move forward.”

Here’s an alternative tip if you want a job in publishing: Self-publish an ebook. There you are, you’re author and publisher. Self-employed, but it still looks great on your resume. Now you can publish your resume as a book: That’s two titles already. Update your resume with information on your resume publication and self-publish it as a third book: Wow, we’re almost in self-sustaining series territory already. Your career trajectory is back on the rails and boosting over the points into the wild green yonder.

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