Write a commentSUNY Oswego's Third Biannual Publishing Festival is back and better than ever!
Professor Juliet Giglio and her Publishing Festival Committee of SUNY Oswego students have been meeting every Wednesday afternoon to discuss the upcoming event happening at SUNY Oswego. Throughout the event, students and event goers will have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the publishing industry. The event will be held in the Marano Campus Center 132 on Oct 15, 2025 from 3:00 PM to 4:20 PM. Event goers will have the opportunity to stay, chat, and mingle a bit more with our panelists during our reception, happening right after the event ends at 4:20 PM.
Have you ever wondered what life would be like as a publisher? Or thought about a career in the publishing world, but had nowhere to start? Well, worry no more, the Publishing Festival, hosted by SUNY Oswego Career Services and the Department of English & Creative Writing, is an opportunity for SUNY Oswego students, faculty, and staff to get a sneak peek at what the publishing industry has to offer. Our panelists for this year are: Becky Oliver DiGenova, Senior Editor at Fitch Ink, SUNY Oswego alumna Susan Velazquez Colmant, Literary Agent & Subrights Director at JABberwocky, and Shannon Plackis, Senior Editor at AvonBooks.
We recently spoke with one of our panelists and SUNY Oswego Alumna, Susan Velazquez Colmant, and asked her a few questions ahead of the event. And here are some of the questions and her answers:
As an Oswego alumnus, what campus resources helped you with starting your career?
I hate to say it, but I can't recall any campus resources that were particularly helpful to me.
I will say, I wish the Publishing Festival were around when I was a student. The publishing industry is very opaque--for both aspiring writers and professionals--and so as a student, you don't know what you don't know. When I participated in the festival in 2021, I was so excited to share all of my knowledge and hopefully set up more people for greater initial success than I had.
What is your goal for coming to the publishing festival?
I am excited to share my industry knowledge and experience with other aspiring publishing professionals. There's not really a "publishing" major in the same way there's an accounting major or an education major, where you can take classes, graduate, and feel like you have a pretty good handle on what you'd be doing on the job.
My goal is to let students know what skills they should build up and what else they could be doing to build up their resume so that when they graduate, they're prepared to enter the workforce.
What do you love about the publishing industry?
I love working with authors and helping their ideas come to life. I love publishing because I can exercise all parts of my brain--there are some tasks where I can let my creativity run wild and other tasks where I can take a more focused, analytical approach.
Well, that will be all the questions and answers we have for now! Please join us on October 15, 2025, in the Marano Campus Center, room 132, at 3:00 PM, to get a chance to ask your burning questions.
We hope to see you there!
