I've done a lot of internships requiring me to write professionally worded emails, design and lay out office manuals, and write different kinds of copy. This is where you can find those things.
The Old Foundry Internship
Outreach and Organizational Rebranding Intern
My function within this organization fluctuated frequently. My internship supervisor didn't know what to do with a writing intern, so I was forced to create a position for myself, and for those writing interns that followed.
During my internship, I wrote letters, like this one, extending to prominent community members in the high schools, local nonprofits, and general community. My goal was to show the people of Whatcom County what The Old Foundry was doing to transition out of their current funk. We were an All-Ages Music venue, but the community didn't know that our building was actually a community center for the arts. They asked me to change their outward identity. A business major and I helped restructure their entire organization--right down to how they ran their meetings.
My largest contribution to them was the Operations Manual (Link coming soon!).
They didn't have any documentation recording how things were run at the Foundry. I thought this particular piece was imperative to how they run, as all of their staff are volunteers, and they circulate almost every quarter. So I attended staff meetings and collaborated with different members of the board to create a very, very rough draft of an office manual for them--though it's one that's edited in Word, and can be added to after I leave. Part of the application to become a 501c Nonprofit is an office manual with job descriptions included. I've begun that process for them.
Illumination Arts Publishing Internship
Publishing and Design Intern
I worked for Illumination Arts in the summer of 2011. John and Kim are very nice people, and they helped me learn a lot about running a business. Their small office gave me hands-on-experience in every aspect of the publishing business--something I don't think I would have been able to get at a larger press. I learned about bookkeeping, shipping, running the front office, acting as a temporary hiring manager, sales, copyediting, and editing illustrations. I was fortunate enough to sit in on a round-table editing session with one of our authors and participate in the collaboration involved in the creation of a book. I also got to see a book, Wings Within, go all the way from its proofreading stages to proofs, to print.
My biggest contribution to the office was a ghost-written article for about alternative life energies that was to be submitted to Light of Consciousness Magazine. They edited my ghost-written version for the final submission.
I was also present during a staff shift. Because it's a small office, they don't have many paid employees so the Office Manager is really the only static position. As a result, they have to have instructions and manuals for everything, just for their interns to function independently. Their long-time office manager quit while I was there, so I was responsible for finding a batch of quality candidates for them to interview. Then, I had to lay out, edit, and format the existing Office Manual to train the new office manager. If I get permission, I'll post that manual here.
Examples of Book Copy
Mind Games Flap Copy
This was a story I wrote during my very first fiction class, and I'm still in love with the idea. I'm still working on the manuscript, as I'll have to finish it before I can begin submitting to publishers.
Re-write of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Flap Copy
I own a cheap, old pocketbook copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide that has really crappy back flap, so I wrote some of my own.
Cooking with Brains Flap Copy, Marketing Strategy, and Opening Chapter for a book proposal
This was my final project for my editing and publishing class. If you'd like to see the book trailer we created for this book, follow this link.
