And so my placement at Luath finished on Friday. I squeezed back past the white van, up the wee alley and  was back into the real world again. Bagpipes faded into the distance as I made my way down the Royal Mile to the train station and I reflected on the interesting week I’d had.

I completed many varied tasks there: designed a book launch invitation, attended a book launch, wrote a blurb, rewrote the blurb, devised a marketing plan and a social media plan, researched an author for a profile page on Luath’s website to mention a few. But by far what I enjoyed most was proofreading manuscripts. Both were in their final stages so there were no major edits however there were some misspellings  and punctuation errors. I hadn’t realised that different publishers have their own ‘house style’ which took some concentration to digest. I think I’ll be more forgiving of any errors I read in books in future!

On leaving, I felt I had a much clearer understanding of the publishing world, the process from manuscript to print and the relationship between publisher/editor and writer. I would not now send a manuscript to a publisher that didn’t ‘fit’ what they print, I will always read the submission guidelines meticulously and I will never (not that I ever would have) address the cover letter with ‘Dear sirs’!

When I next walk past Luath Press on my way to Edinburgh Castle, I’ll feel privileged that I’ve been part of their world for a little while. In the meantime, I swear that I can still hear bagpipes playing!