Untold: Editorial and Partnerships Manager

BookBrunch Limited; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Part time

Job summary

A writer development organization in London is seeking an Editorial and Partnerships Manager to support marginalized writers through project management and editorial oversight. The role involves mentoring, building partnerships, and managing a budget of £100k. An ideal candidate has experience in publishing and strong communication skills, working in a hybrid setting.

Benefits

Pension contribution of 3%

Annual leave of 22.4 days plus bank holidays

Qualifications

• Minimum of three years in publishing/writer development.
• Excellent editorial skills with attention to detail.
• Strong communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead Paranda project identifying new talent.
• Review drafts and proof-read submitted works.
• Manage Paranda budget of circa £100k.

Skills

Editorial skills

Project management

Strong communication

Relationship management

Financially numerate

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Untold: Editorial and Partnerships Manager

Untold Narratives works together with writers marginalised by community or conflict, to develop and amplify their work. The role is a one-year fixed term contract (with potential to renew).

About Untold

Established in 2020, Untold Narratives works with writers marginalised by community or conflict to develop and amplify their work. Local writers (fiction and non-fiction) often lack access to cultural infrastructures needed to develop their writing and reach new platforms. Untold supports these writers to develop their work; share their stories with wider communities in their own languages and grow global audiences in translation. We also connect and support emerging literary editors and translators to contribute to the development of local cultural landscapes.

Paranda is a writer development programme and global creative network of women writers in Afghanistan and the diaspora. Untold works with writers to develop their creative writing (fiction and non-fiction), connect them to each other and to international writers, and broker commissions for their stories in local languages and in translation in international literary publications.

Our vision
Our vision is a world in which writers, irrespective of their situation, can tell their stories and share them within and between communities, and in which storytelling’s power to effect change and foster human rights is recognised.

Our mission
Our mission is to identify, develop, and amplify the work of writers in communities affected by social, geographic, or economic isolation, and those in areas of conflict.

Our values
AGENCY: We recognise and value the agency of the writers with whom we work. We empower writers at risk, facing threats, discrimination, and linguistic barriers, to have confidence in their work, faith in their ability to express themselves, a voice in local and international spheres, and the capacity to navigate global creative infrastructures from wherever they are.

RESPECT: We foster equity, build trust and respectful relationships between communities and the team, and ensure individual autonomy is respected. Our work responds to specific needs in specific contexts.

QUALITY: We work with writers with creative ambition and strive to honour that ambition. We believe strong literature can come from anywhere, and we work to ensure that structural barriers do not conceal it. We collaborate with international and local editors and translators to enable writers to produce the strongest stories and reach wide global audiences.

AGILITY: We are flexible and nimble, delivering creative initiatives in fast-changing, unpredictable contexts. We use low-tech solutions to build communities that give writers access to literary infrastructures to develop their writing and find new platforms for their work.

SAFETY: We work with many writers who are at risk. This demands intensive, constant care and attention.

Join our team
We are excited to announce a new opportunity to join our small, creative and committed team. We are currently recruiting for an Editorial and Partnerships Manager to build on our success over the past five years finding and developing writers in marginalised communities and introducing their work to new readers through publication, broadcast and events.

Since 2020, we’ve enabled the publication of four books, over 30 articles and reached broadcast and live audiences of 9.7 million people worldwide. This is a role where you can provide transformative support to women writers in Afghanistan and the diaspora alongside helping to shape the future direction and success of Untold.

About the role
You will lead on our Paranda project identifying new talent and developing writers through mentoring and workshop programmes, working with translators and editors in different parts of the world to create samples of writers’ work and identify, broker and secure global publishing opportunities.

Responsible to: Executive Director

Responsible for: Freelance co-ordinator, freelance translators and editors

Key responsibilities

Project management:

• Design and deliver Paranda project plan in line with KPIs and outcomes including,
• Recruiting and managing freelance literary translators (working in Dari and/or Pashto and English), workshop leaders and editors.
• Managing a remote and secure editorial process to create high quality samples of writers’ work in translation (fiction and non-fiction) ready for market.
• Programming and chairing monthly guest speaker sessions.
• Conducting security and risk assessments for writers, including being available to respond to security concerns as they arise.
• Setting up and delivering monitoring and evaluation processes/data for the programme.

Editorial

• Review drafts submitted by writers.
• Proof-read, copy edit and structurally edit pieces, in collaboration with writers, editors and translators.
• Organise and chair monthly editors’ meetings.

Partnerships

• Identify and build new partnerships to publish and promote Untold writers’ work.
• Pitch and secure publications for pieces/book proposals to agents and/or publishers worldwide.
• Work with partners to create and deliver live events to promote writers’ work, including attending events.
• Connect writers to other writers and creative industries in their locality, worldwide.
• Negotiate contracts and rights where appropriate.

Budget management

• Manage Paranda budget of circa £100k
• Work with finance manager to ensure invoices are correct and payments made in timely way, to different countries.

Funding

• Work with executive director to identify potential funders.
• Provide relevant information to support proposals to funders.
• Provide relevant information to support reports to funders.

Team/business planning

• Attend team meetings in person and remotely.
• Attend board meetings as required.
• Work with Executive Director and board to develop future direction and delivery of Untold.
• Occasional other duties as required by Executive Director.

Key relationships

• Internal: Executive Director, Paranda Co-ordinator, Finance Manager, Comms Manager.
• External: Paranda writers; International writers, translators and editors; Literary agents and publishers; Writer development agencies; Literature festivals; A wide range of funders; Other arts organisations.

Person specification

• A minimum of three years working in a publishing / writer development environment
• Excellent editorial skills and attention to detail
• Strong communication skills
• Strong evidence of building and managing relationships with a broad range of stakeholders
• Financially numerate and evidence of managing budgets
• Flexible/adaptable and enjoys working in a small team
• Good IT skills, knowledge of Microsoft Office, and messaging apps
• Committed to Untold’s mission and values

Location
This is a hybrid role. You will be required to attend regular meetings in person in London with Executive Director and team.

Salary and benefits

• P/t salary of £32,000, for four days per week, plus pension contribution of 3%.
• Annual leave 22.4 days plus bank holidays (pro rata) for four days.

How to apply
Please send your CV and a covering letter of no more than 2 sides of A4 detailing how your experience and skills meet our requirements for this role to [e-mail].

Interview dates: First round: Tuesday 28 October. Second round: Tuesday 4 November.

Please note, this opportunity is only available to current UK residents with a legal right to work in the UK.