December’s Job Vacancies and Internship Opportunities

Starting your job hunt over Christmas? Check out the latest opportunities in publishing:

• The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), one of the world’s largest engineering institutions, is looking for an Editorial Assistant to join their Books Editorial and Production team. The role will involve tasks such as, managing the signing of contracts, preparing manuscripts for production, ensuring accurate payment of royalties, and ordering gratis and review copies. The position is based in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
• Interested in selling books? Bloomsbury is recruiting an International Sales Assistant to work across all of their publishing divisions. The successful candidate will be tasked with selling books in all territories, liaising with customers, providing marketing material, and creating promotional sales kits and regular newsletters. The role is based in London and the closing date for applications is Wednesday 16th December.
• Bloomsbury also has a vacancy for an Assistant Editor to join their Adult Editorial team and work on their award-winning cookery and lifestyle list. The role will involve providing editorial and administrative support, liaising with authors, writing cover copy, assisting Production with reprint corrections, and clearing permissions. The candidate must have a minimum of one year’s editorial experience. The deadline for applications is Friday 18th December.
• Sage Publications, an academic book and journal publisher in business, humanities, social sciences and STM, is looking for an Editorial Assistant. The successful candidate will be working on Sage’s STM journals and the role will involve providing support to two editors, arranging meetings and taking notes, and supporting the launch of new journals. The position is based in London and the closing date for applications is Thursday 10th December.
• Are you passionate about children’s books? HarperCollins is looking for an Editorial Assistant to join their award-winning Children’s team. The position will involve tasks such as, liaising with authors, preparing rejection letters, monitoring submissions, copy writing sales and marketing material, proofreading jacket copy, preparing prelims, and sending cover proofs to authors. The role is based in London and the closing date for applications is Friday 11th December.
• Taylor & Francis Group, a leading academic publisher, has numerous Editorial Assistant vacancies in the following subject areas: Business, Management and Accounting, Geography and Tourism, and Sociology. The roles will involve managing the peer review process, drafting author contracts, preparing manuscripts for handover to production, and writing promotional copy for marketing materials. These positions are all based in Milton Park, Oxfordshire, and the closing date for applications is early January 2016.
• Edward Elgar Publishing is seeking an Assistant Editor with a keen interest in social sciences to join their academic book publishing team. The position will involve guiding proposals through the peer review process, handling contractual arrangements, and other administrative work. The role is based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and the deadline for applications is Friday 11th December.
• Profile Books, a London-based non-fiction publisher, is offering eight-week, full-time internships. They are currently accepting applications for positions opening in May 2016. The internship will cover all areas of publishing including administration, publicity, marketing, and editorial. All interns are paid the London Living Wage. Interviews will take place in January 2016.
• Little, Brown Book Group is running an Editorial Work Experience scheme for graduates looking to build up industry experience on their CVs. Placements last two weeks and will cover all aspects of entry-level work in the publishing industry.
• Little Tiger Press, a small children’s publisher based in London, is offering work experience placements in editorial, design, and marketing and publicity. Unfortunately the placements are unpaid, but expenses of up to £10 per day are covered.

As always, if you do decide to apply for any of these opportunities and would like some advice on how to write stand out covering letters and CVs, please feel free to get in touch: pathwaytopublishing@gmail.com.

October’s Job Vacancies and Internship Opportunities

Job vacancies

• Cambridge University Press is seeking a Designer to work on their English Language Teaching (ELT) books. The role involves creating cutting-edge covers, text layouts and digital concept designs. The position is based in Cambridge and the closing date for applications is Wednesday 28th October.
• The Children’s Group within Quarto Publishing is looking for a Design Assistant. The chosen candidate will be working on their children’s fiction and picture books and should have a thorough knowledge of InDesign, Photoshop and Acrobat. The deadline for applications is Friday 23rd October and the position is based in London.
• Bluebird, an imprint of Pan Macmillan which publishes wellness and lifestyle books, is advertising for a Junior Publicist. The role involves planning PR campaigns for Bluebird titles across all media platforms and building relationships with media contacts to maximise publicity. The position is based at Pan Macmillan’s King’s Cross office and the closing date for applications is Wednesday 21st October.
• Floris Books, an independent publisher based in Edinburgh, has a vacancy for an Editorial Assistant. The successful candidate will be editing and proofreading manuscripts, helping to maintain editorial schedules, assessing manuscripts, liaising with authors, and briefing design and production on cover designs and cover blurbs. The position is based in Edinburgh and the closing date for applications is Friday 30th October.

Internship opportunities

• Jacqui Small Publishing, an imprint of Quarto Publishing based in London, is offering an eight-week editorial internship. The placement will involve gaining picture permissions, editing text and liaising with authors. The deadline for applications is Tuesday 20th October with a suggested start date of Monday 26th October. For more information please contact Hannah.bugg@quartouk.com.
• Story Terrace, a book publisher specialising in biographies, is seeking a part-time editorial intern for a minimum of two months to support their managing editor in London. The internship will involve assisting with the editing of books, writing blog posts and updating their website. Travel expenses and lunch are paid, and the closing date for applications is Monday 19th October. Applications should be sent to Emily McCracken, the managing editor, at emily@storyterrace.com.
• Sheldrake Press, a London-based book publisher, is offering publishing traineeships. The placements will cover all aspects of publishing, including editorial, sales and marketing, production and rights. Travel and lunch expenses will be paid and the closing date for applications is Friday 6th November.
• Sweet & Maxwell, one of the UK’s leading legal publishers, is running an editorial work placement scheme. Placements involve supporting editors, proofreading, copy editing and administrative support, and usually last two weeks. Sweet & Maxwell are looking for applicants interested in undertaking placements throughout November and from mid-January 2016 onwards. If you’d like to apply, send your CV and covering letter to smg.workplacementscheme@thomsonreuters.com.

If you do decide to apply for any of these opportunities and would like some advice on writing stand out covering letters and CVs, please feel free to email me: pathwaytopublishing@gmail.com. I’m more than happy to help!

Internship and Job Opportunities (and lots of them...)

Job opportunities

• Jessica Kingsley Publishers, whose books cover subjects such as autism, social work and mental health, is looking for a Production Editor. The position involves handling manuscripts through the entire production process, including liaising with copy-editors, proofreaders and indexers. The role is based in their London office and the closing date for applications is Wednesday 30th September.
• Usbourne Children’s Books is seeking a full-time Editor/Writer to work on all stages of their award-winning illustrated books for children. The ideal candidate must be able to write flawless, grammatical English. The position is based in London.
• Cambridge University Press has a vacancy for a Journals Production Administrative Assistant. The role involves sending proofs out for typesetting, assisting with production schedules and routine administrative tasks. The position is based in Cambridge and the closing date for applications is Wednesday 30th September.
• The leading international academic publisher, Taylor & Francis is advertising for an Editorial Assistant to work on their Psychology list. The position involves preparing manuscripts for handover to production, drawing up contracts, writing cover copy, and managing the peer review process. The role is based in Milton Park, Oxfordshire and the deadline for applications is Friday 2nd October.
• Interested in book design? Palgrave Macmillan is looking for an Assistant Designer for a period of 9 months. The position involves preparing jacket designs for a range of professional and scholarly monographs. The role is based in Palgrave’s King’s Cross offices in London and the deadline for applications is Sunday 27th September.
• Egmont Publishing is advertising for an Editorial Assistant to work on their fiction titles. The position involves providing administrative and editorial support to the fiction team and includes tasks such as updating publishing schedules, writing copy, proofreading, checking proofs and liaising with authors. The role is based in London and the closing date for applications is Friday 25th September.

Internship opportunities

Here are a few publishing houses you might like to approach if you’re looking for internships/work experience:

• Old Castle Books is offering short-term unpaid work experience placements based at their Harpenden office in Hertfordshire. Successful candidates will be involved in all areas of the publishing process, including market research, developing sales material and updating websites. Travel expenses are covered.
• The London-based children’s publisher, Little Tiger Press offers work experience placements in editorial, design, and marketing and publicity. Typical tasks include reading new picture book submissions, writing press releases, and publicity research. Placements usually last two weeks and expenses are covered.
• Intellect Books, an independent academic publisher based in Bristol, offers graduate work placements to current undergraduates and recent graduates. Interns are tasked with updating databases, proofreading and marketing. Placements are unpaid and usually last four weeks.
• Quarto Publishing Group is offering an 8-week internship with a start date of Monday 28th September. This is a rotating placement which involves work on their three imprints: Frances Lincoln, Aurum Press and Wide Eyed Editions. You will gain experience in editorial, publicity, marketing and sales, and will be working closely with their Editorial Assistants. The internship is based in London and is unpaid, but expenses are covered. If you want more information or want to apply for this role, email Hannah Bugg at Hannah.bugg@quartouk.com.

I’d also like to add that I’m not in favour of unpaid internships, but I understand how useful this kind of industry experience can be. When looking for internships, please do consider setting a limit on how much time you’re willing to work for free.

If you do decide to apply for any of these opportunities and would like some advice on writing stand out covering letters and CVs, please feel free to email me: pathwaytopublishing@gmail.com. I’m more than happy to help!

The Start of a Career: My First Six Weeks as an Editorial Assistant at Palgrave Macmillan

With a dry mouth, sweaty palms and shaking hands, I sat in the reception at Palgrave Macmillan, waiting to embark on my career in publishing. I had mixed emotions; from excitement and eager anticipation, to nervousness and a crippling fear.

What if I’d made the wrong decision? What if this industry wasn’t for me? What if I ended up hating the role?

That moment was six weeks ago. And those fears – those last minute shreds of doubt – they did not become a reality.

Instead, six weeks from that moment, I can now say that my decision to go into publishing and accept the role at Palgrave has been the best decision I’ve made in a long time. Choosing this career path may have meant completely going against what my parents wanted, but despite how agonising it was, I'm glad I made that choice because, finally, I made a decision – a decision that was right for me.

The past six weeks have been a HUGE learning curve. From meeting the editorial team and starting to build good working relationships, to being introduced to authors and becoming a part of the publishing process for their titles – I’m really surprised at how much I’ve learnt at Palgrave already. I now have a real appreciation for the work that goes into the publication of each and every book.

But just in case you’re wondering what my role as an Editorial Assistant actually involves, here are just a few of my main responsibilities which I’ve been getting to grips with during my first six weeks in the role:

• Managing the peer review process – As Palgrave is an academic publisher, their book proposals go through a peer review process in order to ensure that material is of a high quality and is suitable for publication. Managing this process involves approaching academics in the field to supply us with reviews of book proposals. I also organise payment for academics who provide us with reviews (either in cash or in books). This is a task I really enjoy; it’s interesting to read the feedback from academics and see whether a book idea is actually viable.

• Preparing manuscripts for handover to Production – This is probably the most important and time consuming task I’m responsible for. When a manuscript comes in from an author, it is my job to prepare it for handover to Production. This involves checking that all permissions have been correctly obtained (on images, tables and figures), preparing the handover forms for Design and Production (including the chosen cover image), checking the word count and that all chapters are present, assessing the quality of the language to allocate the correct level of copy-editing required, and putting together the prelims. This can be a lengthy process, but it’s so rewarding to hand a manuscript over to Production and then see the book slowly start to take shape.
• Cover image research – All of our standard monographs generally have an image-based front cover design and it is one of my responsibilities to carry out image research and get authors thinking about potential images for the cover of their book. I would say this is definitely one of the most fun parts of my job. It’s going to be so exciting to see a book published with a cover image I’ve researched and found myself – hopefully this moment won’t be too far away!

• Proofing, editing and finalising cover copy – Most of our authors write the cover blurb for their book themselves. Once we’ve received this, it is my job to proof and edit the cover copy, and then get it finalised by my line manager. The finalised cover copy is sent to Design to lay up on the cover proofs which I then have to check again one last time. As someone who’s always enjoyed proofreading and copy-editing, this is one of my favourite tasks. I find it extremely satisfying to correct book blurbs and make sure that cover proofs are error free.
  
  

As you can see, my responsibilities as an Editorial Assistant are extremely varied, but that’s what I enjoy most about my role. Although this does make it stressful at times, it’s rewarding to work so closely with authors on all aspects of their book and see it evolve into the final product.

If you are considering applying for an Editorial Assistant position, I hope this post has given you more of an insight into what a role like this would actually involve. Academic publishing is such a rewarding and fascinating industry, I really would encourage you to just go for it!

New Opportunities in Publishing...

• Want to start a career in book design? Headline Publishing Group is seeking a Junior Designer to join and support its Creative Department. The role involves assisting with the production of cover visuals and preparing artwork for production. This position is based in London.
• Saqi Books, an independent publisher of general interest and academic books on North Africa and the Middle East, is offering eight-week part-time internships to committed individuals interested in publishing. The placements are based in London and involve working in editorial, marketing and publicity.
• For anyone interested in journals publishing, Cambridge University Press is looking for an Editorial Assistant to work on their Humanities journals list. The role involves providing administrative support to a team of editors. This position is based in Cambridge and the deadline for applications is Saturday 29th August.
• Little Tiger Press, a publisher of children’s books, is looking for an Editorial Assistant to work on their picture books. The chosen candidate will be expected to write cover copy, proofread material, conduct market research, and carry out general administrative duties. The position is based in London and the closing date for applications is Monday 24th August.
• Peter Lang, an international academic publisher, is offering a four-week work experience placement for a graduate or postgraduate student interested in publishing. The role will involve working in publicity, marketing and sales, and will also provide an introduction to production and editorial workflows. The position is based in Oxford and the successful candidate will need to be available from Thursday 10th September to Friday 9th October.
• Oxford University Press is advertising for a Marketing Assistant to join their Education Division. The chosen candidate will assist the team with a range of sales and marketing activities. The position is based in Oxford and the closing date is Monday 31st August.