Editorial Assistant

Also known as:

Publishing Editorial Assistant

Introduction

Editorial assistants help to commission, plan and produce books and magazines. The work involves a range of tasks, including providing secretarial and administrative support to editors, and ensuring that deadlines are met.

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Work Activities

Editorial assistants help editorial staff to commission, plan and produce books and magazines. They carry out a wide range of tasks, including giving secretarial and administrative support to editors.

Duties may also involve:
• helping with the planning of new titles
• issuing contracts
• liaising with creative, editorial, production and marketing staff
• co-ordinating the work of printers, writers and designers
• researching illustrations
• ensuring that deadlines are met
• paying writers
• proofreading manuscripts
• making sure that manuscripts are ready for type setting
• checking proofs from the printer
• helping with the organisation of new book launches and related publicity.

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Personal Qualities and Skills

As an editorial assistant, you should have a good standard of both written and spoken English. You may need knowledge of a foreign language to work for certain publishers.

You need to be able to communicate effectively as you will be in contact with a range of people, such as authors, designers and printers. Good negotiation skills would be beneficial. You should also be able to motivate and persuade others.

A basic knowledge of magazine and book production is useful. You should work to a high level of accuracy and always demonstrate attention to detail. You will also need to be well organised and able to cope with several jobs demanding attention at the same time. The ability to prioritise your work and work to deadlines is very important.

Word processing is essential and other secretarial skills would also be useful when carrying out administrative duties. You also need to show initiative. Patience and concentration are important when proofreading.

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Pay and Opportunities

The pay rates given below are approximate.

Editorial assistants earn in the range of £15,000 - £17,500 a year, rising to around £22,000 - £25,000 a year.

Freelance rates vary. A useful guide to freelance rates is found on the National Union of Journalists website - see contact details.

Editorial assistants work 37.5 hours from Monday to Friday with occasional overtime to meet deadlines.

You could work for magazine, book and trade press publishers as well as companies running in-house magazines. Other opportunities exist with professional bodies that publish journals.

Competition for jobs is fierce.

Self-employment may be possible by working as a freelancer. There may also be the chance to work from home.

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Adult Opportunities

It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

In magazine and book publishing a degree is normally required and a postgraduate course in publishing is an advantage.

Some entrants have experience in secretarial work or journalism.

Gaining additional skills in areas such as proofreading, desktop publishing, keyboarding and copywriting can be useful. Building up knowledge of one area of publishing can help establish your career.

If you don't have the qualifications needed to enter your chosen degree course, a college or university Access course (eg, Access to Humanities) could be the way in.

These courses are designed for people who haven't followed the usual routes into higher education. No formal qualifications are usually needed, but you should check this with individual colleges.

They can lead to relevant degree and Higher National Diploma (HND) courses.

If you are already a graduate, part-time postgraduate courses in publishing are available.

Short courses in relevant subjects are also available. The National Council for the Training of Journalists, the Publishing Training Centre and Chapterhouse offer relevant distance learning courses.

• 9% of people who work in occupations such as editorial assistant have flexible hours.
• 5% work on a temporary basis.

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