Desk Editor

Job Title

Assistant/ Desk editor, Academic

Job Holder

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Reports to

Senior production editor

Date

September 2019

To contribute to complete Pre-press editorial services of Academic titles. To take responsibility for Pre-press project management under supervision of the Senior Production Editor, and to offer general assistance in working with authors, copyeditors, freelancers, typesetters, project vendors, indexers, designers, illustrators and others in taking projects forward and ensuring their successful publication. The job also includes checking plotter proofs and advance copies received from printers.

Financial:

Project management within an agreed budget and demonstrable contribution to successful print publication

Staff:

• Maintain relationships with other editors/sales persons/ marketing colleagues

• Delegate editorial tasks to editorial interns as and when necessary

Other:

• Sticking to a stipulated Pre-press workflow

• Working on an agreed schedule after discussion with the Senior Production Editor

• Maintaining relationship with the Production colleagues

Editorial responsibilities

• Develop and edit manuscripts provided by authors
• Evaluate content of a given manuscript and check every component provided by authors before allocating projects to vendors/copyeditors
• Provide assistance, feedback and queries for improving manuscript to author(s)
• Handle different book projects in Pre-press production
• Maintain quality standards set by the Press
• Ensure that all vendors and freelancers adhere to the quality checks
• Give constant feedback to vendors on quality-related issues
• Check every aspect of final files before sending those for printing

• Coordinate with the Senior Production Editor on content-related issues that may need to be resolved during course of the project

• Stick to the Press' font policies and other compliance policies

• Manage reprint and re-run titles projected for a financial year

(a) Operating Environment:

Successful and error-free publication of academic titles

(b) Framework & Boundaries:

• Pre-press workflow

• Adhering to the Press' font policy and other compliance policies

(c) Organization:

Organization chart is understood.

(a) Subordinates:

• Manage freelance editors and editorial interns

• Check their quality of work whenever required

(b) Superior(s):

• Weekly publishing updates

• Updates on a project may be required at any point in time

• Discuss timeline of all projects in Pre-press production

(c) Other Contacts:

Within the company

Commissioning, marketing and sales colleagues

Outside the company

Publishing vendors, designers, illustrators

• The ability to work both independently and as part of a team

• The ability to communicate well in English, both verbally and in writing

• Strong attention to detail and the ability to work accurately and quickly to tight deadlines

• A high standard of computer literacy

• Reading comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Writing comprehension - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

• Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.

• Judgement and decision making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Familiarity with the style guides, especially the Chicago Manual of Style, desirable.

• Desk editors need to be well trained in whatever systems they are expected to use and whatever tasks they are expected to carry out.

• Time management – certain projects can have sharp deadlines which need to be understood well before a project is taken up for Pre-press services.

• Maintaining professional relationship with the vendors involved in project management

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Date

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