Assistant Editor, Pre-school & Novelty Children's Books
Simon & Schuster UK is one of the leading general book publishing companies in the UK and was named Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2022 and 2023. They also won Children’s Publisher of the Year in 2023. Based in London with sister companies in the United States, Canada, Australia and India, the UK division has four imprints: Gallery, Scribner, Simon & Schuster; and Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, which publish a wide and eclectic mix of authors ranging across commercial fiction, literary fiction, general non-fiction, and children’s publications. Home to bestselling authors and award winners, Simon & Schuster UK is a publishing house of quality writing and a proud home to its authors and their exceptional work. It also runs a sales and distribution service for a number of independent and international publishers including Andrews McMeel, Black Library, Boom! Studios, Elliott & Thompson, Inner Traditions, Rebellion and VIZ Media.
Simon & Schuster International is dedicated to publishing a broad and diverse range of books for everyone, representative of the world around us. They are committed to working with and supporting writers, illustrators, and other creative partners from all walks of life, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, nationality, religion or belief, age, social or economic circumstance.
About the Children Division
Simon & Schuster Children’s Books is a high performing, dynamic division of a fast-growing and ambitious publisher, and the British Book Awards Children’s Publisher of the Year 2023. The colour list is industry-leading and internationally renowned. Much-loved authors and illustrators include Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet (Barry the Fish with Fingers, Supertato), Benji Davies (The Storm Whale series), Beach (The Blazing Bottom series), Smriti Halls and Steve Small (I’m Sticking with You) and Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (the Aliens Love Underpants series). As we seek further sustainable and profitable growth, and build on our culture of excitement and ambition, we are growing our team across several departments.
The Job Profile
A Pre-school & Novelty creative team is being established at Simon & Schuster Children’s Books as part of our next phase of expansion. The newly created role of Assistant Editor will play a key role in supporting the development and growth of the Pre-school & Novelty list as well as providing some support to the award-winning Picture Books team. This is an exciting role for someone who wants to work in a creative, collaborative and fast-moving environment.
The Job Role
Reporting to the Pre-school & Novelty Editorial Director, the Assistant Editor has responsibility for supporting the administration and project management (including schedule tracking, title data management, writing blurbs and catalogue copy, creating deal memos), creative development (including writing text to series style) and editing (including providing feedback on illustrations, briefing covers, checking layouts, line-editing, proofreading and copyediting) of innovative, commercial and accessible pre-school, novelty and selected picture book titles.
Proactively working towards the shared vision of the division by bringing high-quality publishing to market on time and to budget. Coordinating with the production and design departments to ensure that assigned projects are delivered within deadlines, and liaising with marketing, PR and sales teams on plans, positioning and championing the list in and out of house.
The Candidate Profile
Ideally, you will have demonstrable experience of excelling in an Editorial Assistant role in colour book publishing. You believe in the life-changing potential of reading for pleasure and have a special passion for pre-school, novelty and picture books that will encourage a life-long love of books.
We are a small team, so you will be a driven team-player who is happy to pitch in across all areas. This is a hands-on role, so you must have outstanding administrative and multi-tasking skills, a terrific eye for detail, creative flair, be enthusiastic about sharing and developing ideas and feel comfortable liaising with various internal departments including Design, Sales, Rights, Marketing, PR and Production, as well as freelancers and talent. You will be calm under pressure and thrive within a fast-paced environment. You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, with a strong grasp of grammar and strong proofreading skills.
Apply
Please apply by attaching your CV and cover letter.
Simon & Schuster UK is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity and gender expression. At Simon & Schuster UK, the spirit of inclusion feeds into everything that we do, we believe that opportunity, access, resources and rewards should be available to and for the benefit of all.
Candidates hired for this or any other posted Simon & Schuster UK role will be employees of Simon & Schuster UK Ltd subject to all policies, including the Workplace Privacy Notice,and eligible solely for the benefits plans thereof.