Welcome to our rebooted “Beacon Behind the Books” series! In these times when readers are responding to our books “more than ever,” when our authors—including Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, David Pakman, James Baldwin, Viktor Frankl, Atef Abu Saif, and Percival Everett—are appearing in the media, their ideas going viral on social media, their voices being heard on so many platforms, we thought it would be good to take a break to focus on some of the staff who work hard to find, shape, edit, produce, and promote those works. Our blog series introduces to you a staff member and gives you a behind-the-scenes look, department by department, at what goes on at our office. And not only our staff, but our interns, too.

This month, we introduce you to Levi Chen, our sales intern! 

What drew you to publishing, Levi? How did you find your way to Beacon?

I used to be a huge writer and reader when I was growing up and still really enjoy writing today. As a kid, I didn’t really understand how much work is done between an author writing a book and a reader purchasing it at a bookstore, and it’s always been a little curiosity of mine. When I found out that Beacon offered internships, I took the chance to learn more about an industry that has shaped so much of my childhood while furthering my career interests in marketing and sales.

How much of what you learned in college have you found vital to your work?

I’m an Architectural Studies major, which is a fancy label for an architectural history major. So, as a humanities major, there’s definitely a lot of overlap between reading journal articles and a book manuscript, and although copywriting is very different from a formal essay, the general writing experience is very handy. In the art/architectural history realm specifically, a lot of it revolves around comparing and contrasting buildings and art that appear completely disconnected from each other. Surprisingly, this has been very useful for marketing work, as it helps me find similar book titles and identify target audiences.

Favorite thing about Boston?

The built environment is so unlike anywhere else I’ve ever lived. It’s both a large metropolitan city yet feels so small and suburban at times. And why do we need so many Dunkin’ Donuts? I will never know.

Favorite book ever?

The Japanese manga Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa. It’s a coming-of-age story about a high school senior’s clashing desires for conformity and individualism accompanied by gorgeous drawings of high fashion clothing.