Desk Editor

Pan Macmillan; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading publishing house in London is seeking an organized Editorial Assistant to support its Managing Editorial team on a twelve-month fixed-term contract. In this full-time role, you will project-manage assigned titles, ensuring high editorial quality while collaborating with authors and commissioning editors. The ideal candidate has editorial experience, excellent detail orientation, and is proficient in Microsoft Word and Adobe. Benefits include a starting salary of £33,000, generous leave, and discounts on books.

Benefits

28 days' annual leave

Generous pension scheme

Discounted private medical insurance

Flexible working hours

75% off all books

Qualifications

• Previous desk-editing or editorial assistant experience with excellent copy-editing skills.
• An impeccable eye for detail and understanding of grammar and punctuation.
• Ability to draw up and manage schedules effectively.

Responsibilities

• Project-manage assigned frontlist titles through editorial and production process.
• Work closely with commissioning editors and authors to solve problems.
• Copy-edit and proofread text as required.

Skills

Impeccable eye for detail

Excellent understanding of English grammar

Strong understanding of Microsoft Word

Adaptability and flexibility

Ability to manage multiple projects

Tools

Adobe software

Google for Work applications

Job description

You will be working in the Managing Editorial team, reporting to the Managing Editor for Pan. Managing Editorial is a collaborative and multifaceted department that forms the backbone of Pan Macmillan's publishing programme, overseeing frontlist, backlist and reissued titles through all stages of the editorial and production process. We work alongside authors, commissioning editors, the production team and other in-house departments to ensure high editorial quality is maintained, technical processes are refined and commercial needs are met, all while bringing a wonderful and varied array of books to life. Your role: You will play a crucial role in supporting our Adult commercial publishing, project-managing backlist titles and your own frontlist allocations to iron out any pesky typos and misplaced commas. A typical day could see you liaising with commissioning editors and authors before moving on to check a jacket or proofread some cover copy. Maybe you're also reviewing a copy-edited manuscript or preparing a file for typesetting. You might then step away from a proof collation to attend a progress meeting, which you'll follow up with some Biblio schedule maintenance to keep on top of the important critical path dates, enabling you to line up one of our brilliant freelancers for an upcoming project. Perhaps you'll also find yourself busy checking an ebook file, proofreading picture captions or copy-editing bonus content for one of our beautiful exclusive editions.

This is an exciting opportunity to join an industry-recognized team within an award-winning publishing house on a twelve-month fixed-term contract. We're looking for an organized and detail-oriented individual who's passionate about working across a variety of genres. This is an important and wide-ranging role for someone who enjoys seeing projects through to completion as accurately and effectively as possible.

Your key responsibilities

• Project-manage a number of assigned frontlist titles, working across all elements of the editorial and production process, including copy-edits, proofreads, indexes, picture sections, endmatter and circulating jacket artwork
• Oversee multiple formats of assigned titles, including exclusive editions, export editions, backlist or reissued editions, and ebook files
• Work closely with commissioning editors, authors, production controllers, artworkers and other key stakeholders to problem-solve effectively and keep assigned titles to schedule and on budget
• Book and manage freelancers for assigned titles and quality-check their work
• Input progress updates at meetings, providing updates on projects and monitoring outstanding material to ensure critical path dates are met
• Support the Managing Editorial team at peak times, working collaboratively to review key processes and carrying out general administrative tasks to aid the smooth running of the department
• Copy-edit and proofread text as required, and check catalogues, sales copy and ad-hoc material for other departments

Required experience, abilities, knowledge and values

• Editorial experience: Previous desk-editing or editorial assistant experience with first-rate copy-editing and proofreading skills
• Accuracy: An impeccable eye for detail and an excellent understanding of the English language, i.e. grammar, punctuation and semantics
• Schedule management: Understanding of the editorial and production process and the ability to draw up, manage and renegotiate schedules in line with the critical path
• Adaptability: A self-motivated, highly flexible approach to work and the ability to pivot between tasks as priorities dictate, managing multiple projects effectively
• Technical proficiency: Strong understanding of Microsoft Word (track changes) and Adobe (for digital mark-up)
• Integrity: Honest approach to project management and stakeholder liaison with a focus on providing reliable updates and high-quality deliverables
• Community: Ability to work collaboratively in a team and communicate effectively
• Curiosity: Proactive interest in finding innovative ways to improve workflow efficiencies across the lifecycle of a book
• Inclusion and representation: Dedicated to promoting diverse voices and inclusive practices, taking personal responsibility for ensuring the workplace and publishing reflect the communities we serve

Desirable skills you'd love us to have

• Familiarity with Google for Work (Gmail/Gemini/Google applications)
• Experience with Biblio (an advantage)

Benefits

• Salary starting from: £33,000
• 28 days' annual leave increasing with years of service + bank holidays
• Generous pension scheme
• Discounted private medical insurance
• Group income protection scheme
• Enhanced family pay and leave
• Flexible working hours and summer hours (early finish on a Friday during summer months)
• 2 Volunteer Days per year
• 75% off all Pan Macmillan books and regular staff book sales (highly reduced rates)
• Season ticket loan/advance
• Cycle to work scheme
• Discounts on shopping and gym memberships; Christmas club savings
• Daily free breakfast and monthly company lunch

This is a full-time, 12-month fixed-term role, and will be based in our offices in Farringdon, London, with some flexibility to work from home each week. All applicants must be able to demonstrate the right to live and work in the UK in order to be considered for this role.