Top Ten Tuesday: Jobs for People Who Love Books

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

 Today’s Topic: Ten Jobs for People Who Love Books

We are often asked by students: “I love books–but can I make a job out of it?” We argue that you can!

1. Teacher/Professor/Teacher Educator/Literacy Specialist/Reading Coach

As a teacher/literacy specialist and a future teacher educator, we love our jobs. We get to read books and share them with others for a living. How sweet it is!

2. Librarian/Library Media Specialist

This has always been a potential second career for us. We get jealous of those folks who are surrounded by aisles and aisles of books. We try to stuff as many bookshelves in our classrooms to reduce this envy.

3. Agent

We really enjoy reading raw, unpublished manuscripts and think it would be really fun to do this for a living. Then, we would be able to seek out publishers to get these manuscripts in the hands of readers!

4. Publishing Representative (Marketing or Otherwise)

We get really jealous of our friends who work in the Exhibit Halls of conferences. Granted, we aren’t jealous of the angry mobs they deal with, but we are extremely jealous that they always have really great, new recommendations. It would be neat to always be reading the next best books. Plus, we might argue that publishing reps are some of the coolest people we know.

5. Editor

Those masterpieces we read are so beautifully written, and sometimes, we forget just how influential and helpful editors are in the process. Editors are so, so important in book publications because they help authors see their books from a new set of eyes.

6. Author

And now we enter dream world. We both would love to be authors. We think everyone who loves to read has this secret wish. Alas, we don’t have the talent that these folks have, and we respect that. 🙂

7. Illustrator

The dream world gets deeper. Our artistic skills don’t compare to those of illustrators, but how cool would it be to take a story and represent it artistically?

8. Bookseller

This is yet another career we are jealous of. Similar to librarians, we love how these folks are surrounded by aisles and aisles of books. It must be really fun to make purchasing decisions and to crack the covers of brand new spines. Plus, bookstores smell fantastic.

9. Book Reviewer/Book Blogger

We are entering back into reality. We consider ourselves to be book reviewers—even though we aren’t professionals. It would be neat to work full time for a company like Booklist, among the others that give starred reviews. Perhaps in our next lives?

10. Parent

How neat is it to be a parent who loves to read? Sharing books with our sons is such a joy, and we consider this a full-time, very important job.

Which jobs are we missing? Please share!

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