Job Description

The Company

Usborne is an independent, family business, creating books which spark curiosity in children of all ages. These range from books for babies such as the bestselling That\'s not my\xe2\x80\xa6 series of touchy-feely books, to YA fiction from acclaimed authors such as Holly Bourne and Faridah \xc3\x80b\xc3\xadk\xc3\xa9-\xc3\x8dy\xc3\xadm\xc3\xadd\xc3\xa9 - with everything from Magic Painting to Politics for Beginners in between. In the last five years Usborne fiction titles have been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Costa Book Award, the Waterstones Children\'s Book Prize, the National Book Awards, the Books Are My Bag Readers Award, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Diverse Book Award.

Whilst the company is now a market-leader in children\'s publishing and one of the best-known brands in children\'s books, the company retains a friendly and familial feel. If you want to work somewhere close-knit enough for people to know your name, which has a first-class reputation around the world, Usborne is the place for you.

The Team

The Fiction Editorial Team is a committed and busy team of five. Passionate about children\'s fiction, we all work on a list of thirty-five titles per year, across 7+ illustrated fiction, middle-grade fiction and YA publishing as and when needed, ensuring that we all have a strong grasp and working knowledge of our list and the titles within it.

The Role

We are looking for an organised and creative Editorial Assistant who can work effectively in a fast-moving and demanding department. The successful candidate will have at least twelve months\' editorial experience and can provide support to the team in all aspects of the book production process, including keeping systems and records updated, proofreading, maintaining schedules, assisting with reprint management and liaising with authors, agents and internal departments.

The key tasks of the role:

Providing support to the fiction editorial team on a wide range of editorial tasks, including proofreading final layouts, checking print pdfs, listening to audio recordings and administration on ebooks.

Logging and managing submissions for the department.

Managing and organising diaries for meetings internally and externally.

Taking minutes and writing meeting reports for circulation accurately and in detail.

Overseeing reprints which might include reformatting, updating or refreshing endlims.

Working on catalogues and writing copy for Advance Information sheets

Managing invoices.

Inputting data into Biblio.

Communicating with stakeholders both internally and externally including with authors and agents.

Experience

For this role we are looking for:

At least 12 months\' experience of working in a publishing office, with an understanding of proofreading and proofreading marks.

A meticulous eye for detail. You will need to be able to proofread and key in manuscript changes independently.

Great written and verbal communication skills as well as strong numerical competence.

Excellent time management skills and the ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks.

The ability to build effective working relationships with colleagues and external contacts.

A genuine passion for and knowledge of children\'s and YA fiction books and the YA environment.

A good working knowledge of Office 365 including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Knowledge or previous use of Adobe InDesign would be an advantage.

Ideally an interest in and working knowledge of social media platforms.

Location and benefits:

We offer a 35-hour working week from our Farringdon office in London, where after a successful induction period we offer a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home which we feel optimises our opportunities for collaboration and contact with our colleagues.

In addition to our transparent salary grading structure, for this role we also offer a range of benefits which include:

25 days paid holiday entitlement increasing with service to 30 days after 5 years;

Industry-leading Pension Scheme and Life Assurance;

Employee Assistance Programme through Health Assured;

Healthcare Cashback scheme;

Virtual GP service;

Rewards and Discount services;

50% discount on Usborne books.

We particularly encourage applications from Black and minority ethnic candidates who are currently under-represented within this area.

The Hiring Process

Our hiring process will incorporate \'long-listing\' candidates from the anonymous scoring, then shortlisting through objective CV scoring.

First interviews with a short proofreading test, are anticipated to be held in person at our London office on the 28th and 29th September. There will follow an editorial test and then a further final interview with our Publishing Director and Fiction Director.

Usborne Publishing Limited