Editorial assistant: Job description

Editorial assistants provide assistance in all stages of the publication of books, journals, magazines and a broad range of publicity materials. They support senior editorial staff in the administration of the commissioning, planning and production of publications.

The level of responsibility and the range of tasks vary depending on the size of the organisation and the type of publication. The editorial assistant role is the usual starting point for careers in editorial work. Progression to more senior roles such as features editor or commissioning editor may be possible once the necessary skills and experience have been acquired.

Typical work activities

Editorial assistants perform a range of administrative and editorial tasks necessary to get publications published. They act as the liaison for the many people involved in a publication, from the receipt of texts from authors through to the handover to production staff.

Typical activities may include:

• supporting editorial staff in all activities leading to publication, including acting as a personal assistant to commissioning editors and overseeing tasks such as issuing contracts and dealing with royalties;
• liaising with other in-house teams, writers, photographers, printers, designers and production staff to negotiate and monitor timescales for stages in the publishing process;
• dealing with the administration of work commissioned to freelance writers, picture researchers, photographers, stylists and illustrators;
• organising and researching projects to tight deadlines;
• summarising written material;
• correcting manuscripts;
• obtaining rights to use materials from other publications;
• using computers for word processing, desktop publishing and email;
• dealing with phone and email queries, e.g. from writers and the public;
• filing, photocopying and other routine administrative tasks.

In some areas of editorial work (e.g. for an in-house company publication), the work may also involve:

• writing articles and reports;
• amending articles;
• collating the work of several authors;
• using specialist electronic publishing packages (e.g. QuarkXPress).

As your expertise develops, the role may involve:

• assessing manuscripts and making recommendations on their publication to senior editorial staff;
• responding to copyright queries from writers and other publishers in the first instance;
• updating and rewriting material;
• using your own specialist knowledge to contribute ideas;
• sourcing freelancers or other authors to produce new materials;
• assisting with the art direction and design of publications;
• writing your own material.