When I started the Emma Press in 2012, I knew very little about small presses or poetry publishing. I came from a background of tech blogging and major trade publishing, which I'd stumbled into after completing a Classics degree, and my Prince's Trust business mentor was in the electronics industry. Additionally, my initial idea was for an Etsy shop with fabric accessories.
Possibly the most helpful thing I'd learned up to that point was that no one really knows what they're doing, in general but particularly in the world of work. I suddenly understood the truth in that episode of Black Books where Fran has no idea what her new temp job actually is but progresses up the ranks at a remarkable rate just by acting with great confidence. No one starts an office job knowing exactly what it entails, and no one in publishing really knows the best way to publish books in the modern world. Having spent my entire academic life and beyond assuming that everyone was more clued-up than I was, this was very liberating.
