Editor / Commissioning Editor, Transworld

Bertelsmann; London; Hybrid; GBP 33,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company is looking for an Assistant Editor or Editor with a passion for SFF, romantasy, and YA genres. You will commission titles for a new publishing imprint, ensuring strong author relationships and managing the publication process effectively. This role is ideal for a strategic thinker with project management skills and market awareness.

Qualifications

• Experience commissioning SFF or Young Adult/New Adult books.
• Strong understanding of the fantasy, romantasy, and YA markets.
• Ability to think strategically about acquisitions.

Responsibilities

• Acquire and publish titles across a spectrum of SFF books.
• Handle negotiations and evaluate potential acquisitions.
• Collaborate with Sales, Rights, Marketing, and Publicity teams.

Skills

Market awareness

Relationship management

Project management

Job description

Are you an Assistant Editor or Editor looking for your next step? Are you passionate about fantasy, romantasy, New Adult and Young Adult fantasy? We have a really exciting opportunity to join Transworld to work across our SFF publishing and our brand-new, industry-leading SFF imprint in partnership with FairyLoot.

About Transworld

At Transworld, we love great storytelling. In books and stories we find our community – of authors, readers and colleagues. We publish the UK’s very best and most-loved fiction and non-fiction. Our authors are master storytellers, commercial giants, and game-changing experts who challenge readers to open their hearts and minds. A Transworld book demands to be discussed, shared, and loved.

This year, Transworld is launching a brand-new fantasy imprint in partnership with the book subscription service, FairyLoot. The new imprint combines Transworld’s publishing expertise, brand building and commercial drive with FairyLoot’s unparalleled taste-making talent and deeply engaged, growing audience of genre fiction devotees.

The role

This newly created role will be responsible for working on SFF titles including commissioning books into the new SFF imprint and working with the wider team to build the list. We’re open to appointing someone at an Editor or Commissioning Editor level.

Key responsibilities:

• Acquire and publish across a spectrum of SFF books, with a focus on fantasy, romantasy and YA fantasy.
• Evaluate the viability and profitability of potential acquisitions and handle negotiations.
• Build strong relationships with authors and agents, bringing strong and dynamic vision to their publishing from the start.
• Working on existing authors as needed.
• Provide exceptional author care and drive acquisitions from pitch to publication.
• Demonstrate commercial acumen by identifying opportunities for growth across the list, including staying informed about market trends and competitor activities.
• Collaborate with Sales, Rights, Marketing, and Publicity teams for successful publications.
• Oversee the internal book process, including editing, briefing covers, scheduling, liaising with Copy Editorial, Production etc.
• Write and update high-quality copy and metadata to ensure a book’s success.

What you’ll bring

A love for romantasy, fantasy, and YA/New Adult fantasy is essential for this role. The ideal candidate is someone who has exceptional market awareness of the areas you would be commissioning into and who understands the SFF, romantasy, and BookTok fandoms.

Essential criteria:

• Experience successfully commissioning and/or taking SFF and/or Young Adult/New Adult books through the publishing process.
• Strong understanding and interest of the fantasy, romantasy, and YA markets.
• A commercial mindset with the ability to think strategically and with vision about potential acquisitions.
• Delivery-focused with experience in managing projects; strong personal organisation and time management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Strong internal and external relationship management skills, with the ability to communicate effectively to a wide range of people.

Preferred criteria:

• Experience of publishing bestsellers within the SFF/YA genres.
• Active engagement with BookTok.
• A good mix of strong creative and analytical skills.
• A proactive self-starter who thinks entrepreneurially.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Thursday 12th June.

Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be no more than one or two pages in length.

Salary

£33,000 - £40,000 dependent on which role you are appointed to and how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

Hybrid working

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. Transworld colleagues work from our Embassy Gardens office 2 days a week - once team and divisional considerations have been taken into account, they have the flexibility to choose where to work on other days of the week.

About Penguin

We’re the UK’s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

The recruitment process

You can read about our recruitment process at https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/how-we-hire/

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.

We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing [e-mail] . Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.

Company:The Random House Group Limited

Country:United Kingdom

State/Region:London

City: London

Postal Code:SW11 7BW

Job ID:279856