Publishing assistant roles are very common within the industry and range across departments, from editorial to sales, design, production, rights and marketing. Though your day-to-day responsibilities may differ, the key skills required for each role are very similar. In this blog, we will be looking at what publishing assistants do, who would make a good publishing assistant and how to become one.
Publishing assistant roles include:
- Editorial assistant
- Sales assistant
- Design assistant
- Production assistant
- Right assistant
- Marketing assistant
What do publishing assistants do?
Publishing assistants support the wider members of the team with their duties, whether that be administrative, creative, operational or commercial. This means that they need to be flexible and adaptable within the role.
These positions are usually responsible for the smooth running of a department. From ensuring colleagues are meeting deadlines and keeping the team within budget, to ensuring each project is of a high quality, this is a challenging and time-consuming role. The ability to maintain enthusiasm and motivation while meeting these demands is key to becoming a successful publishing assistant.
Often, because they are supporting more than one colleague at a time, publishing assistants gain essential mentorship opportunities from a variety of seniority levels. This, and successfully delivering multiple titles with their team, are incredibly rewarding parts of the role.
Who would make a good publishing assistant?
Publishing assistants need to be able to complete tasks efficiently and prioritise effectively. They often work across multiple titles simultaneously, with competing deadlines and stakeholders. For example, a rights assistant may spend one day checking over a contract, crunching numbers and chasing invoices, all for different projects. A design assistant may spend the day briefing the marketing team on a cover design, creating visual assets for a title and sourcing an in-budget illustrator – again, all for different titles. This means that no two days will look the same, and this variance within the role should be exciting for aspiring publishing assistants.
Similarly, those able to problem-solve and work independently are highly desired within publishing assistant positions. Knowing the scope of your role, when to take initiative and when to escalate issues to senior management can be a difficult skill to hone, particularly if this is your first graduate role. Therefore, being proactive and accountable within this decision-making process will be essential.
Having excellent written and verbal communication skills will work alongside these qualities nicely. As publishing assistants will often be the first point of contact for clients and customer queries, they should be skilled at changing communication styles for different needs and adapting quickly in new environments.
Honing these key skills and highlighting them throughout a CV, cover letter or interview will help in your search to become a publishing assistant.
How to become a publishing assistant
There are many routes into becoming a publishing assistant. The first is education. This could mean completing an MA in publishing, or taking a department-specific course, such as in graphic design or marketing. Many universities offer MAs in publishing that often include a practical element to them, where you can network with industry professionals and undertake work experience opportunities within a publishing house.
There are also a variety of work experience, internship and mentorship schemes, including those at the Society of Young Publishers, the Publishers Association, Creative Access or the Publishers’ Publicity Circle, available to graduates interested in becoming a publishing assistant.
Work experience and internships are company-specific and could be based at a publishing house, with a literary agent or at a bookshop. If you have a specific publishing company you’d like to gain experience with, it is always worth setting alerts for these on job sites, such as Jobs in Books, and following the companies on social media. These opportunities can be competitive, so applying for a broad and diverse array is advised. Gaining this relevant experience shows you have prior knowledge of the publishing industry and can take the initiative to gain independent expertise.
You could also make lateral career moves that give you great transferable skills applicable to publishing assistant roles. This could be working in administration for a publishing company, or working within your desired department for a different industry.
Are you interested in how to become a publishing assistant?
On Jobs in Books, we have a wide range of assistant roles from across the publishing industry, including internships and full-time positions in multiple departments.
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