Latinx in Publishing (LxP): What do you do?
Alia Maria Almeida (AMA): I’m a Telesales Representative for HarperCollins Publishers.
LxP: How did you get started?
AMA: I worked at the Miami Book Fair International back-to-back for years (happening 11/19-11/21!!). My boss at the time kept telling me to consider following my dad in his footsteps as a doctor. I blatantly ignored her and kept trying to find ways to work with books. From there I picked up the odd job (or internship) at a small press, university press, literary non-profit. It took me a little over a year of living en la Nueva York and working internships before I got a job at an NYC-publishing house. Now I can go back to that former boss and tout my jazzy job as proof that I didn’t listen to her.
LxP: What do you wish you knew before getting into the industry?
AMA: You can’t have pena if you want to work in publishing––FOR SO MANY REASONS. Use those connections to help you get an informational interview, pass that resume along, learn more about a department. If you don’t have connections, cold email or hit that person up on Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. (HINT HINT: hit me up, chiquilings). Once you have a job, you need to continue to not have pena and ask uncomfortable questions, get over any shyness and make friends and mentors, and speak up for what’s right.
LxP: What book are you currently working on or reading?
AMA: Who I’m always reading and selling: Raúl the Third, Lamar Giles, Karina Yan Glaser, Mateo Askaripour, Juana Martinez-Neal.
What I’ve read, loved, and am about to sell: Jameela Green Ruins Everything by Zarqa Nawaz, Anti-Racist Kid by Tiffany Jewell and illustrated by Nicole Miles, and Breathe and Count Back to Ten by Natalia Sylvester.
Who I’m reading for fun: Talia Hibbert, Jayne Allen, the backlist*.
*Listen, I gotta have a little mystery and not give EVERYTHING away.
Alia Maria Almeida is a croqueta-loving-Cuban-Miamian who works as a Telesales Representative at HarperCollins Publishers. She loves all kinds of books but is leaning towards Middle Grade and the Romance genre these days. Outside of books, she enjoys video games, scams big and small, and Chicken Kitchen. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.
