Editorial assistant

Take your first steps in publishing, contributing ideas, editing manuscripts and helping manage editorial processes.

Octopus publish books for everyone. We love to enlighten, nourish, entertain and most of all inspire readers and listeners everywhere. Octopus is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 10 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

This position sits within Summersdale Publishing, part of the Octopus Group. Summersdale is a vibrant, award-winning publisher that provides entertaining, informative and innovative content in the genres of general non-fiction, health and well-being, and gift and humour across books, games, decks and other non-book product. We produce a diverse range of over 130 titles per year, with a backlist of over 800 titles.

What you'll be doing

The focus of the role will be to project manage allocated titles, seeing each one through a full series of stages, as well as general editorial and admin tasks. You will be actively contributing to idea generation, creative direction and IP development.

Project management:

• Managing editorial processes (in-house and freelance) for each title and working to a set deadline
• Regularly updating the project management system and other in-house information databases (a working knowledge of Biblio would be advantageous)

Editorial work:

• Writing briefing documents for new projects
• Reviewing manuscripts
• Copyediting
• Structural editing
• Proof reading
• Blurb and copy writing
• Briefing and liaising with freelancers
• Contributing to the development and creation of new book ideas (including presenting new ideas at the acquisitions meeting)
• Market/competition research
• Photo and picture research
• Content development/layout design briefing
• Cover ideas development and layout/design briefing (including presenting new ideas at the huddle meeting)
• Compilation of in-house books
• Occasional writing of in-house devised projects

General:

• In addition to the duties and responsibilities listed, the jobholder is required to perform other duties assigned by their manager from time to time.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for someone with a good academic record, ideally with previous office experience, who is really looking to make their mark in this rich, and varied role. You will need to be highly organised, inquisitive and flexible to the ever-changing demands of the fast-paced business and will need to display a genuine commitment to a career in publishing.

Candidates will also need to demonstrate that they have:

• A hands-on approach and willingness to get stuck in!
• First class writing skills and an excellent eye for detail
• A strong eye for design and creative flair
• Commercial awareness
• The ability to handle a fast-paced environment
• Self-motivation and initiative

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

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.

We want everyone to have the opportunity to perform at their best during our recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, you can let us know at the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section of your application. We’ll make sure you’re supported throughout the process.

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 https://btbs.org/grants

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.