Publishing Director, Avon

The Publishing Director FTC position is responsible for the day-to-day running of Avon, driving editorial acquisitions and strategy, overseeing marketing and publicity for the division, and developing and implementing Avon’s strategy in conjunction with the Executive Publisher.

The Publishing Director is editorially responsible for Avon’s most high-profile authors, managing their books from pitch to publication, as well as overseeing all acquisitions and publishing for the list. Team management plays a large part of the role, and 1-2-1 support for team members is a key part of ensuring this busy division continues to deliver the excellent results it is renowned for.

Avon is a small but mighty team within HarperCollins, known for its market-leading commercial publishing, commitment to quality across all formats, and its supportive and welcoming team atmosphere. In 2020 Avon was recognised for excellence in its field when it won Imprint of the Year at the Nibbies.

Key tasks and accountabilities

• Drive strategy for the division in line with requirements from the Executive Publisher, ensuring growth targets are hit via expansion of the list.

• To steer editorial strategy at all times and deliver viable, creative, innovative publishing that is commercially successful.

• Identify market trends and publishing opportunities, feeding these into the acquisition strategy for the list.

• Day-to-day responsibility as editor for some of the most high-profile authors on the Avon list, taking their books from pitch to publication and driving strategy for their publishing.

• Overseeing all publishing on the list, ensuring that critical path is kept to for all books.

• Review, develop, maintain and deliver profitable publishing plans in line with divisional targets.

• Be a key driver in budgetary processes, working with Sales and Marketing colleagues to set sales targets.

• Management of the Avon team, responsible for direct and indirect reports across eight team members, covering editorial, marketing and publicity.

• Work closely with HC’s international teams, particularly in North America, to prioritise Avon’s books in line with strategy and in-country trends.

• Represent Avon internally and externally as the division’s figurehead

• Maintain, encourage and demand the highest standards from team members across the division.

On joining the team, you will:

• Continue the plans that have been set in train as part of the division’s three year growth strategy, focusing in particular on opportunities for more publishing via the North American markets and expanding the Avon Original programme.

• Lead on acquisitions.

• Oversee team development

• Work closely with the digital sales team to seek out new opportunities for our titles.

• Rapidly gain an understanding of opportunities in the international markets, particularly North America.

Skills and Experience required

• Extensive editorial experience working in commercial fiction, ideally across a range of genres

• Managerial experience

• Experience of list management

• Experience of managing publishing strategy

• Experience of running P&Ls

• Commercial analysis skills – using market data to inform publishing decisions at list and title level

• Understanding of book market, with proven experience of using Bookscan, Consumer Insight and available data to make strong publishing decisions

• Understanding and experience of price, formats, creative costs to deliver on KPIs for individual books and at list level

• Experience of skillfully managing key business relationships

• Proven presentation and communication skills