What Should I Major In?

Planning a publishing career can start with choosing a college major. My knee-jerk reaction when asked what a person should major in is "English, communications, or journalism." And a lot of sources will back me up on that. But I know just as many people in the field who majored in something else seemingly unrelated.

The Association of American Publishers hosts a publishing careers site called BookJobs.com. This site has job listings, informative articles, and much more that I will delve into further in future posts. But what caught my eye today was their section on matching your major to a specific publishing area (such as sales, editorial, or marketing). Here is their list of majors and the areas of publishing that you might get into from each of them:

School of Arts & Science

History

• Editorial
• Publicity
• Managing Editorial
• Sub Rights

Communications

• Editorial
• Managing Editorial
• Publicity
• Marketing
• Sales
• Production
• Contracts
• Sub Rights

Computer Science

• IT
• Internet Development

Education

• Editorial (children’s)

English Literature

• Editorial
• Managing Editorial
• Publicity
• Marketing

History

• Editorial (adult)
• Managing Editorial
• Legal/Contracts
• Sub Rights

Journalism

• Editorial
• Managing Editorial
• Publicity
• Marketing
• Sales
• Production
• Legal/Contracts
• Sub Rights

Library Science

• Editorial
• Marketing (education and library marketing)

Media Entertainment

• Marketing
• Publicity
• Sales

Philosophy

• Editorial (adult)
• Managing Editorial (adult)

Political Science/Studies

• Editorial (adult)
• Legal/Contracts

Publishing

• All Areas

Religion/Theology

• Editorial (adult)
• Managing Editorial (adult)

Romance Languages

• Editorial
• Managing Editorial
• Sub Rights

Sciences

• Editorial (adult)

Social Sciences

• All Areas (excluding finance)

School of Business

Accounting & Finance

• Finance
• Sales

Business & Business Related

• Finance
• Sales
• Marketing
• Managing Editorial
• Legal/Contracts
• Production

Economics

• Finance

PR/Marketing/Advertising

• Publicity
• Marketing
• Advertising
• Promotions

School of Fine Arts/Visual Arts

Art & Design

• Art & Design
• Advertising
• Promotions
• Production