The Editorial department is where the publishing process begins. It can involve commissioning new work or buying manuscripts, and then seeing them through production. It is likely that an editor’s day will consist of frequent meetings with authors and literary agents as well as other departments to ensure that the finished books will have the most impact. Editors have to have a keen eye for detail as well as excellent time management skills as production deadlines can often be quite tight.
Editors, Assistant Editors and Editorial Assistants need to have a strong grasp of English and excellent people skills as they will be required to liaise with authors, literary agents and all other publishing departments. This is a department that is naturally going to be one of the most competitive to enter as there is so much interaction with authors and influence on the finished book.
Editorial is without doubt the most competitive area of publishing in terms of entry-level roles. It’s worth having a look at other types of role to see whether Editorial really does fit your skill set and interests. Have a look at our Careers with the Random House Group page to find out what else may interest you.
I graduated from university in 2003 but I ended up staying on to do a Masters in Modern Literature for another year. After that I started working at Nationwide Building Society’s head offices in the Communications department. I looked after my own projects and worked on various types of communication seeing it all through from beginning to end – from the early stages of writing the material to signing off the finished, printed product. It was great experience on an editorial and production front but the world of banking didn’t really float my boat. Books, particularly fiction, have always been my passion so I actively started looking for a job in publishing. I knew I wanted to work in Editorial because I found it the most interesting so I applied for a few jobs at different publishing houses, got an interview for Transworld and here I am!The best bit about my job is how varied it is. One day I could be doing anything from writing reports on submissions to dealing with authors and their agents and the next day I might be circulating cover copy and clearing permissions. There’s also a lot of liaison between other departments and keeping an eye on schedules so no two days are the same which keeps things interesting.
I definitely want to stay in Editorial and eventually start commissioning. Everyone is more than happy to answer any questions I have and to talk me through anything I haven’t done before. There are also plenty of courses to go on so there’s a lot on offer at Transworld to help me develop my career.
