What are the approximate salaries of the different positions in a publishing company? How do you begin a career in one?
Some of these questions, and questions that may follow, probably seem a little dumb, but I'm looking to clarify things as well as learn things about editors and publishing companies. So, thanks in advance!A few questions about editors and publishing companies?
Not a dumb question at all.
In a publishing house, you will find many departments, including Editorial, Contracts, Rights, Design, Production, Marketing %26amp; Publicity, Distribution, Sales, Support Functions, Finance, Admin., Human Resources, Maintenance and Information Services Departments.
Editorial is the most popular applied for job within a publishing company. They are also the most difficult job to obtain in a publishing house and very few exist, even in large publishing houses.
Those within Editorial are concerned with the commissioning of work, as well as deciding which manuscripts to accept from agents and which should be rejected. Editors need strong negotiating skills for purchasing manuscripts, as well as being skilled with dealing with authors, literary agents and in some rare cases, lawyers. Editors have influence over every aspect of a book, from cover design to production details and are often very much involved with the marketing team. In large publishing houses, they tend to split up the editorial sector, with some working on blurbs for example, whilst others may author biographies.
There is typically three band of Editors - Commissioning Editors, Senior Editors and Assistant Editors. Assistant editors work closely with more senior staff and with some books, as well as handling the author directly.
There are then Desk editors and Copy editors, these will read manuscripts for repetition, contradiction and simple mistakes of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
You would apply for a job at a publishing house just like you would any other job, and salaries vary depending upon the region of the country and the size of the publishing house. Those applying for Editorial positions require a lot of flare and creativity to land themselves the job however. Smaller publishing houses are known to hire free-lance editors also, as well as free-lance artists, some even work on a commission basis, making a true salary figure hard to determine. However those new within Editorial are notoriously low paid and work long hours.
Other skills that are essential would be good communication skills, organised, good negotiating skills, good cooperation skills, business interest and aptitude, a great attention to detail, determination, enthusiasm for the job, a good command of and feeling for the English language and good computing skills.
Liam, what can I say, you're such a great guy! I was on top of the Wicker bridge, Sheffield, about to end it all, when I read this, and now I'm a flourishing businessman, happily married with four kids, Jemmima, Lenny, Bert, and of course, Liam. Just, thank you so much.
Kind Regards,
Andrew xxxx
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A few questions about editors and publishing companies?my story is similar to that of Andrew's,I was on the edge of a 23 story building,thought I should check this question that I had bookmarked before ending it all...
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Most publishers have websites, I'd begin by trawling them to see who you can contact. Most careers with publishers begin as work experience placements, summer jobs and such like doing mostly routine stuff to begin with, including a bit of proofreading.
It gets you noticed and you make contacts (vital in all industries).
If they like the look of you they'll keep your details on file until a real vacancy comes up.
Salaries in London start at around the 17 to 20k mark for editorial assistant.
It might be an idea to bung an on-spec letter to people like Random, Harper and Penguin to see if they are recruiting and what they want in terms of qualifications.
English is usually top of the list along with media studies, maths and related topics.
The main thing is to be dead keen and keep bugging them, persistence always pays.
Write down 5 good reasons why you want to work in publishing and what you have to offer, it's bound to come up in any interview.
The job ladder tends to start at reader level then moves up to editorial assistant, editor, senior editor and editorial director.
Good luck.A few questions about editors and publishing companies?
Probably the first thing any publisher is going to ask for is what experience you have. At the moment for you this is none, however it need not remain so. You could start your own local magazine, perhaps with a limited circulation, but actually do it for real with advertising, editorial, deadlines and all the issues that distribution creates. This way you would very rapidly know how it all works. we distribute two local magazines to 14000 local homes each month and from this have learned a huge amount about the publishing and printing industry. I'm not saying you have to do it on this scale, but we did start from scratch with no prior experience, only the guidance of a friend who had done it all himself a few years earlier.
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