Editor / Senior Editor – Crime & Thriller

Reports to: Ben Willis, Publishing Director, Crime & Thriller

Location: Wimpole Street, Marylebone

Imprint: Zaffre

Department: Editorial

Salary range: £26,000 - £36,000 per annum depending on experience

General Summary

Bonnier Books UK is looking for a highly organised, enthusiastic and proactive full-time editor or senior editor to join its creative crime and thriller fiction team, reporting to the publishing director and based in the Wimpole Street office, London. Zaffre is the home of numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful brand authors, bestsellers, and ground-breaking debuts – including Lynda La Plante, Caz Frear, James Swallow, Robert Peston and Chris Whitaker. We are looking for someone who can continue to grow Zaffre’s market share with a passion for crime and thrillers and clever commercial publishing nous.

Essential Job Functions/Responsibilities

The role will involve orchestrating the editing and publishing of our brilliant authors, while supporting the publishing director across all aspects of the crime and thriller publishing programme. You will help grow the list with selective, clever, commercial commissioning. You will be ready to manage a portfolio of titles with high visibility and challenging growth targets. The position would suit someone with previous experience of working in publishing, and existing links within the crime writing community.

The role involves: commissioning timely and commercial crime and thriller titles, editing authors’ manuscripts, desk-editing, writing book cover and marketing copy, ensuring AIs and metadata are kept up-to-date, writing design briefs for covers, overseeing cover production, preparing material for digital marketing campaigns, line editing, freelance liaison, market research and applying the highest standards of author and agent care. The successful candidate will be full of creative ideas, have strong editing and writing skills, and the ability to work collaboratively with colleagues both internally and outside the business.

Creativity is a key attribute we are looking for in candidates, as well as an eagle eye for spotting trends in the crime and thriller books and publishing. The successful candidate will demonstrate this knowledge alongside a passion for data and sales and market analysis. A broad understanding of UK book retailers is also important – both in physical and digital.

This is a perfect next step for an experienced, hard-working assistant editor or editor with a demonstrable passion for crime and thriller fiction, who is a strong team player and combines a keen eye for detail, high editorial standards, lots of ideas, enthusiasm and energy.

Skills and Experience

The ideal candidate will be creative, commercially minded, a passionate reader of commercial crime and thriller fiction, a keen problem solver, as well as proactive, independent and comfortable managing their own deadlines.

• A passion for crime and thriller fiction.
• Two to four years’ experience in an editorial team
• Demonstrated manuscript and desk editing experience
• Attention to detail
• Strong written and verbal communication and organisational skills
• A passion for storytelling and an interest in learning and developing editorial skills within a fast-paced department
• The ability to manage and prioritise a varied workload to meet multiple deadlines

Bonnier Books is a major UK publisher with group sales of £80m. Home to three divisions and 16 adult and children’s imprints, we publish across a wide variety of genres, for different ages. From crime to reading group fiction; memoir to self-help; activity to reference – we believe every book matters.

For more information about Bonnier Books UK please visit our website: www.bonnierbooks.co.uk

Application Deadline: Nov. 25, 2020