Editorial assistant

Closing date: 9th February 2025

Salary: £27,000 (+bonus +benefits)

Location: The role will be based at our London office, Carmelite House, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Are you a book lover with an eye for detail & a passion for pop culture? Sphere at Little, Brown is looking for an editorial assistant to support their bestselling fiction & non-fiction lists.

Sphere is the commercial hub of Little, Brown (the largest company within Hachette and four-time winner of the trade’s Publisher of the Year Award).

Sphere fiction is home to long-established globally bestselling brands Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Nicholas Sparks, Patricia Cornwell, Colleen Hoover and more, as well as recent big-hitters and newer brands like Ali Hazelwood. Our Sunday Times bestsellers in 2024 included The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (in hardback and paperback), The Last Dance and The Wrong Hands by Mark Billingham, Past Lying by Val McDermid, and Bride and Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood.

Sphere non-fiction is home to big bestsellers across cookery, fitness, sport, nature, true crime, gift and humour, pop history and all manner of celebrity books – with a backlist that includes Tina Fey, Ant + Dec, Lenny Kravitz and Rafael Nadal. Brands we publish include The Great British Bake Off and Very British Problems and our recent Sunday Times bestsellers include Rebecca Quin’s Becky Lynch: The Man and Our LadBaby Journey by social media stars LadBaby.

Our ethos is to publish something for everyone; we put what readers want or need front and centre and aim to reach mass audiences who might be traditional book-buyers as well as those who might instead be entertainment consumers first and foremost.

What you'll be doing

• You’ll play an important role in the Sphere imprint. You’ll provide essential administrative and editorial support across the fiction and non-fiction lists, with joint line management on both sides. 
• An average day might include taking minutes at meetings, helping to maintain our internal systems (we use Biblio), coordinating couriers, checking covers, managing diaries, organising a mail out, preparing files for production, updating ebook endmatter and raising purchase orders. 
• It is a wide and varied role; there is detailed administrative work that is crucial to keep the team running smoothly as well as scope for professional and creative development.

Who we are looking for

• You’ll be a voracious reader of both fiction and non-fiction, curious about everything and anything. 
• You’ll have a favourite novel you recommend to everyone, you’ll be engaged with popular culture and you’ll have your own passions: if you’re addicted to Strictly, glued to TikTok or obsessed with the Richard and Judy Bookclub, we want to hear from you.
• This is an entry-level job so you might have some publishing experience but that’s not a prerequisite for this role. 
• What we’re really looking for is a meticulously organised person who takes pride in their work, an excellent communicator with a superb eye for detail and a proactive mindset. 
• You’ll be a solutions-orientated team player with an all-hands-on-deck attitude who’s always asking questions.

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org