By Edward Nawotka

When I lived in Dublin in the early 1990s, I helped launch a short-lived literary magazine called The Temple Bar Review. It was a fun gig, but not one that would allow me to stay in the country. For that, I needed a real job — one that would force me to pay taxes — and would offer me the opportunity to get a Visa. I ended up as an advertising copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather. For me, it took a bit of luck: I was hired by O&M based on the strength of the fact that my writing “sounded American,” something which, at the time, was deemed more suitable for sales. It wasn’t an opportunity I would have been able to foresee had I not already been living there.

For anyone living and working overseas, there’s a story to tell — often one of serendipity — that took them overseas and allowed them to stay. Certainly, if you’re in the EU and carry a European passport, things are easier. But if you want to come to the US, that’s a different story. Likewise, for AN American who wants to work in Europe, it takes some “jumping through hoops,” as Siobhan O’Leary explains in today’s lead story.

What advice to you have for working in publishing abroad? Are there strategies you can take advantage of? Are the opportunities different when you’re a stranger in a strange land?

Let us know in the comments below or via Twitter using hashtag #ppdiscuss.