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Allison Verost, Vice President Marketing & Publicity of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | May 31, 2016

by Brittany Pearlman (Macmillan Children's Publishing Group)

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1. Tell us a little about your role at Macmillan. What do you do within the Children’s Group?

I’m the Vice President of Publicity and Marketing at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Essentially, my job is to get our books in the hands of booksellers, teachers, librarians, media, and ultimately our readers. I love that every day presents different goals and challenges, but the focus is always on connecting our authors with their fans.

2. What was your first job in publishing?

I started out as a Publicity Assistant, working on licensed books and paperback reprints. I’m pretty sure the majority of my first three months on the job I spent answering phones, putting books in jiffy envelopes, and answering fan mail on behalf of Roald Dahl. All excellent on the job training! I think my second day at Penguin, Judy Blume called and I had this moment of thinking, “Judy Blume is a real person!” and “I’m so lucky to be working in publishing!”

3. What advice would you give to a young professional in the industry?

Look for every opportunity to take on more responsibility: offer to take notes in meetings to find out more about a new area of the business, and never say “that’s not my job;” find something that no one else is doing and figure out the best way to do it.

4. You were recently promoted to Vice President of Publicity and Marketing. Can you tell us what you’re looking forward to in your new role, and what some of your goals are by merging these two departments?

I’m very excited about the new role! It allows me to ensure all aspects of our plans across school & library, advertising, digital marketing, trade marketing and publicity, all work hand-in-hand to ensure our messaging is clear, and that we’re reaching the right audience for our books. Macmillan has a phenomenal team, and I’m looking forward to seeing the ideas that develop when people work together outside of their job description.

       5. What is your favorite part and the most challenging part about your job?

My favorite part is definitely meeting readers and fans of our books.  I’m lucky enough to travel to a fair amount to bookstores, festivals, and schools where I can see readers in the wild. There’s nothing quite like seeing a reader jump up and down, or break out into happy tears after meeting an author. We never get to see that kind of stuff within the office walls!  The most challenging part is finding the time to make it all happen.

6. What are you reading now?

I just finished Gayle Forman’s upcoming adult novel, Leave Me. It is incredible and should be required reading for working moms!

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