Editorial Assistant

Job Description:

Editorial assistants provide support at all stages of the publication process for books, journals, magazines and online content.

Job Category:
Culture, Media & Sport

What you will do:

In this role you could:

  • be a point of contact for authors
  • keep databases, spreadsheets and other records up to date
  • read documents and make corrections
  • deal with rights and permissions
  • act as personal assistant to commissioning editors
  • work with images and page layout software
  • proof and edit online text, including social media content
  • compile and send out newsletters using design and distribution software
  • edit text and images using a content management system (CMS)
  • edit text on apps

Skills:

You’ll need:

  • knowledge of English language
  • knowledge of media production and communication
  • the ability to read English
  • to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently

As well as:

Illustration of employee looking at workspace

Entry Requirements:

You can get into this job through:

  • a university course
  • an apprenticeship
  • working towards this role
  • specialist training courses with professional bodies

University

Subjects like English, journalism or media studies are often preferred.

If you want to specialise in a particular field of publishing, you may need a degree that’s closely related to it, for example physics or maths for a scientific journal.

Apprenticeship

You can get into this role through an advanced apprenticeship as a publishing assistant.

This typically takes 18 months to complete as a mix of workplace learning and off-the-job study. Employers will set their own entry requirements.

Work

You could work in a publishing office or a company’s communications department as a general assistant and work your way up through in-house training and promotion.

Volunteering

You’ll find it useful when applying for jobs, to have done some paid or unpaid work experience in publishing.

Other Routes

You could take a proofreading or editing course.

Working Hours and Environment:

A typical week consists of 37-39 hours of work. You could be required to work evenings occasionally.

You could work in an office or from home.

Career Path & Progression:

With experience you could move into more senior editorial roles, or work on a freelance basis.