Day in the Life (In-Office): Nicole Yeager
Publishing Associate at Random House Children’s Books (PRH).
Day: Tuesday, August 4th, 2026
8:30 AM: I arrive at the PRH office and get settled at my desk with my coffee. This Tuesday was our bi-monthly Books & Bagels celebration where all the books we’re publishing that month and the month prior are displayed in a conference room along with some bagels for folks to browse through—it’s a great opportunity to see our books in person and to connect with colleagues in the morning. I like to use this half hour in the morning to go through my inbox, update my to-do list for the week, and set my goals for the day.
9:00 AM: Every Tuesday morning, I attend our Weekly Publishing Strategy meeting and take notes. The purpose of this meeting is for publishers, marketing, publicity, and sales to discuss any books, series, and/or authors where we need to re-align on our strategy given new updates. For example, if a book recently received a bunch of starred reviews and accolades but the sales are not reflecting that, or if we have a big publication coming up and we want to make sure everyone is on the same page for the announcement.
10:00 AM: After the WPS meeting, I try to connect with my manager to go over any topics I need to discuss with her (meetings, projects, etc.) and find out what her priorities are for the day and if there’s anything I can help with. I then spend some time going through my inbox and responding to emails in order of priority. Today, this includes a few requests from sales or sub rights to help them gather materials for upcoming previews, presentations, and fairs.
11:00 AM: I now have some time to work on larger tasks and projects. Right now, I am preparing for our upcoming Fall 2027 Launch prep process, so I spent some time pulling a list of titles to organize into an Excel grid for “list review” meetings my team and I have with all the editorial groups, as well as reviewing our prep process calendar to make sure I am prepared for my upcoming tasks.
12:00 PM: Those of us who work in the office typically gather in a conference room to have lunch together every day! Wednesdays are extra special because we have “Craft & Connect” lunch, which is something my friend started to encourage people to bring a craft of their choice to do during the lunch hour (my craft is usually drafting emails). I was able to join this day because I am not in my super busy season during Launch prep yet.
1:30 PM: A new meeting I attend every Tuesday is our indicator taskforce weekly meeting. This newly created taskforce is comprised of junior staff representatives from publishing, marketing, publicity, and sales and has the goal of identifying titles that are percolating or have “indicators” of success. We each raise titles, discuss their indicators based on our respective knowledge, and then suggest next steps. We are still solidifying our process, but I am really excited about the potential of our group for the division!
2:00 PM: I use this next hour to work on materials for a meeting we have coming up next week: Monthly Drop-In, where editors present late add or “drop in” titles to the rest of the division (kind of like a mini-Launch). I first pull the agenda using ISBNs and including title information like author, on-sale date, price, format, and schedule code (how we determine titles’ priorities). I then work on title slides for the presentations, which also includes all the title information as well as the cover. Editors upload supplemental slides for their books (author slide, backlist slide, comp slide, etc.) and then I handle incorporating those into the full deck. While I work on these materials, my co-worker reviews the TI sheets, and we chat back and forth to make sure everything is set up correctly for these books to be presented next week.
3:00 PM: One of my favorite meetings that I get to sit in on every Tuesday is the Cover Strategy meeting! This is where designers and editors show select high-priority covers to Marketing, Publicity, and Sales to get their feedback. I love getting to see the covers, learn about their creative process (what comps they used, how they picked the artist, what their mood board looked like, etc.) and hearing the feedback. Sales and Marketing always have such unique perspectives about what consumers look for and what’s going on in the marketplace that I never would have thought of myself.
4:00 PM: After my afternoon meetings, I usually make a cup of tea (and maybe snag a treat out of my friend’s snack drawer) before continuing to work on Drop-Ins materials and checking my inbox.
5:00PM: Since we have summer hours, I still have an hour left of work. I typically check in with my manager again towards the end of the day to see if anything new came up. This day, she shares an exciting new project with me: we’re going to put together an early mailing of an upcoming book to tease the launch of a new series! Something to look forward to for next week!
6:00PM: I try to head out right around 6, or shortly after, so I can get home before 7 and have time to enjoy my evening!
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