Editorial assistant

Editorial assistants help editorial staff to commission, plan and produce books, journals, magazines and websites. The work involves many tasks, including providing secretarial and administrative support to editors, and ensuring that deadlines are met.

Also known as:

Publishing editorial assistant

Work activities

Editorial assistants help editorial staff to commission, plan and produce books, journals, magazines and websites. They also give secretarial and administrative support to editors, which might include ordering supplies, answering the telephone and word processing. Their duties include:

Finding freelance writers and issuing contracts.
Liaising with creative, editorial, production and marketing staff.
Researching and selecting illustrations and pictures.
Obtaining rights to use materials, such as photos, from other organisations.
Proofreading manuscripts.
Making sure that manuscripts are ready for typesetting.
Uploading and archiving web content.
Administration, such as photocopying and filing.
Organising book launches.

Some editorial assistants write or rewrite headlines, captions, summaries and other content. They might also research content, check facts and help to plan new titles. They use computers for word processing, desktop publishing, internet research, photo editing, database management and sending emails. Editorial assistants working for online publications usually need the ability to use content management systems so a knowledge of the website markup language HTML might be useful.

Personal qualities and skills

As an editorial assistant, you’ll need:

Good knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Organisational and time-management skills to meet deadlines.
Patience and attention to detail when proofreading.
Teamwork and interpersonal skills to work with a range of people, including editors, authors and printers.
The ability to work under pressure and juggle several tasks at once.
Good negotiation skills.

Editorial assistants need ICT skills for word processing and a variety of tasks. Depending on the role, you might need internet research, photo editing and desktop publishing software skills. Editorial assistants who work on online publications might need familiarity with content management systems and web design software.

Pay and opportunities

The pay rates given below are approximate. Editorial assistants earn in the range of £18,000 a year, rising to around £28,000 with experience. Many editorial assistants are freelance, with self-employed rates varying. You can find a useful guide to freelance rates on the website of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Editorial assistants work 37-39 hours a week, from Monday to Friday, with occasional overtime to meet deadlines.

Employers include magazine, book, trade press and website publishers, as well as companies running in-house magazines. There are also opportunities with professional bodies that publish journals. Opportunities for editorial assistants occur in towns and cities throughout the UK. However, publishing companies are concentrated in London, the South East, Oxford and Cambridge.

Editorial assistants can work as self-employed freelancers.

Where are vacancies advertised?

Vacancies are advertised in local, regional and national newspapers. There are also specialist job boards and recruitment agencies for the publishing industry. Also, many general job boards have an editorial or publishing jobs section. Vacancies also appear on the Hold the Front Page and Press Gazette websites. It’s a good idea to build up a network of relevant contacts, as not all editorial jobs are advertised. Making speculative job applications to potential employers can be useful in this industry.

Entry routes and training

As this is a competitive area, many editorial assistants enter as graduates. It can sometimes be possible for people to work their way up from secretarial and administrative posts in the publishing industry.

Training is usually on-the-job. Once in the industry, you might go on relevant courses or take professional qualifications offered by organisations such as the Publishing Training Centre (PTC), Professional Publishers Association (PPA) and the London School of Publishing (LSP).

A range of colleges and universities offer courses in publishing, including with part time/flexible and distance learning study options.

A good way into this role is through a level 3 (advanced) publishing assistant apprenticeship.

This is an entry-level career in publishing, and it’s possible to progress into a wide range of roles, including copyeditor, features editor (in magazines), commissioning editor and assistant editor.

Qualifications

Most entrants are graduates. You can usually enter with a degree in any subject, although to work in scientific, medical or technical publishing you might need a relevant degree. For entry to a degree course in any subject, the usual minimum requirement is:

Two to three A-levels.
GCSEs at grades 9-4.

However, entry requirements vary considerably among courses. Equivalent qualifications, such as Edexcel (BTEC) level 3 Nationals and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, might be acceptable for entry.

Adult opportunities

This is an entry level career in publishing. Some entrants gain promotion from secretarial or administrative roles in publishing companies.

If you don’t have the qualifications you need to enter a degree, you might be able to start one after completing a college or university Access course. You don’t usually need any qualifications to start an Access course, although you should check this with the course provider.

The Publishing Training Centre (PTC) runs distance learning courses in relevant skills, including proofreading, copy-editing and picture research. Editorial Training runs a proofreading course by distance learning.

Unwin Charitable Trust supports projects and training connected to the book trade.

Related careers

Editor
Proofreader
Secretary
Sub-editor