Clinical Associate Professor and Director of Pace’s MS in Publishing program Manuela Soares, PhD, was featured in an article in Publisher’s Weekly, as the program celebrates its 40th anniversary and enrolled nearly 100 students in the 2024-25 academic year across various degree tracks and accessibility options.
In the article, Soares, who has directed the program for seven years, discusses the competitive strengths of the program, in addition to its response to current industry challenges.
She touts the program’s affordability; its industry-drawn faculty; student mentoring and networking opportunities with professionals, alumni, and industry groups; a dedicated full-time faculty member to place students in internships; student representation each year at the Frankfurt and London Book Fairs; and access to The Publishing Lab, an annual journal allowing students to handle the entire publishing workflow.
Soares is an industry veteran who has directly witnessed the transformation of the publishing industry from strictly analog to one that is increasingly digital. In spite of these technological challenges, the MS in Publishing program continues to endure, with 1,000+ alumni since its inception in 1985.
She said, “To succeed in publishing, you need to be able to adapt.” To this end, she is teaching a new ethics course that addresses contemporary challenges—from political polarization to technological disruptions such as AI—facing the industry.
Ultimately, according to Soares, the key element to success in publishing is skillful storytelling.
“What it all comes down to is the ability of a storyteller to intrigue someone, to move them emotionally. That is what matters and that is what will last."
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