Publicity assistant

Closing date: 16th August 2025

Salary: £27,000 based in London, £24,840 based outside of London (+bonus +benefits)

Location: This role can be based at our London or Sheffield office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Headline is seeking a publicity assistant to join our award-winning team to work across our varied roster of fiction and non-fiction titles.

We were created over three decades ago to deliver the brightest and best entertainment. Story – real and imagined – lies at the heart of everything for us. We delight in seeking out storytellers and story lovers everywhere. We're serious about keeping people entertained and believe our books should be devoured, not left on the shelf.

Headline is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 11 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

This is an excellent entry level role that offers an exciting opportunity to gain invaluable experience, working across a wide range of titles, liaising between all the departments of a publishing house on a day-to-day basis whilst honing your skills to eventually take on titles of your own.

What you'll be doing

The successful candidate will be responsible for providing administrative support to the communications director and publicity director whilst also assisting the team in the day-to-day running of the press office.

This will include:

• Answering and responding to media enquiries
• Preparing press releases and mailings
• Liaising with authors, agents and booksellers and coordinating travel plans and schedules.
• You will also be required to accompany authors to events and literary festivals.

Who we are looking for

• We are looking for an ambitious self-starter to join our team providing support to the Communications Director and the Publicity Director.
• This is a fantastic role for someone keen to get into publishing, ready to hit the ground running, enthusiastic about both non-fiction and fiction and someone with a can-do attitude.
• The ideal candidate will be extremely efficient and organised, possess exceptional communication skills and bring creativity and enthusiasm to the role.
• You will be confident, professional, enjoy working as part of a busy team and be able to use your initiative whilst remaining calm under pressure.
• The ideal candidate will have a good knowledge of Microsoft Office In Design, Canva or Photoshop as well as an understanding social media.
• We are looking for someone who loves books and a passion for getting them in to the hands of readers everywhere.

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
• Dental 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.

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

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