After college she managed a
chain of bookstores in the Midwest; learned
editing and production with a small LA - based publishing house, and had positions as a marketing manager
at major publishing houses.
In the case of publishing, I've heard publishing execs boast about how only they can pay author advances (critical for authors seeking to make a living from writing, but less so for enthusiastic hobbyists), and only they can get a book onto that front table
at a big bookseller
chain (also important, but less so in the era of digital book stores), but I believe the most important role that publishers perform is the one they are strangely reluctant to celebrate: the editor and the process of
editing an author's manuscript into a readable book.