HarperCollins Publishers UK
Editor, Avon
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Application Deadline: 7 August 2026
Department: Editorial
Location: London
Compensation: £32,000 - £35,000 / year
Description
As Editor, you will provide editorial and desk editing support across the team, as well as managing and acquiring your own list. You will have ownership of your own stable of authors, seeing them through from acquisition to publication for both physical and digital editions. You will work on a range of titles across different genres, encompassing both women’s fiction and crime and thriller, creating strategies in conjunction with key team members to launch your books to the top of the charts. This is a role with a great amount of potential for growth, and the new Editor will be an important member of our small and dynamic team. It will suit digitally-savvy candidates who have both initiative and energy, and who are excited to think creatively about how we publish our books.
It is essential that you have a strong awareness of market dynamics, in particular a broad and keen interest in commercial fiction across a range of genres, ideally with a focus on women’s fiction and crime. You should be able to prove that you keep abreast of current publishing trends, as well as displaying intuition about future trend developments. You will have been working as an Assistant Editor or Editor already, and will be able to demonstrate experience of creative and editorial input, plus an eye for detail and quality, as well as have a thorough understanding of editorial processes. You will be a confident and articulate communicator, highly organised, be able to multi-task and have a strong and active interest in social media and digital developments within the industry. You will be creative and forward-thinking, bringing with you a can-do attitude and a desire to drive your books and authors to the top of the charts. You will have experience of desk editing and the overall publishing process, and a desire for continuous learning as your role expands. This role will suit candidates who are used to working in fast-paced and exciting environments, who can think on their feet, and are happy taking initiative where necessary.
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Key Responsibilities
Editorial:
- Ownership of and main point of contact for own stable of authors as agreed with the Publisher, working across both women’s fiction and crime/thriller, seeing them through from acquisition to publication for both physical and digital editions.
- Work on structural and line edits of own authors.
- Desk editing own books, working closely with the production team and pub ops team to keep them in line with critical path.
- Supporting the team on a number of titles, taking responsibility for their desk editing.
- Understanding and wider reading of UK commercial women’s fiction and crime/thriller market, ensuring strong market knowledge and market-focused publishing strategies.
- Briefing jackets and liaising with designers, seeing covers through from start to finish.
- Copywriting and checking sales/marketing material, e.g. catalogues, sales presenters etc.
- Build and foster relationships with agents, with a view to bringing in the best new talent and commissioning new titles for the Avon list.
- Creating vision documents for new acquisitions, and presenting these at acquisition meetings.
- To produce timely launch documents in consultation with the Publisher, Key Account Manager and Marketing Manager.
- Ownership of metadata/AIs for individual authors, ensuring this fits with emerging trends in the market, and is completed in line with critical path.
- Liaising with in-house digital teams to ensure understanding of digital promotions, and securing selections for books on the list
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General:
- Negotiate deals for new acquisitions with agents, with support from the Publisher and Contracts team as necessary.
- Ensure a strong awareness of what physical retailers are looking for.
- Create content for customer presentations and other presentations where necessary.
- Ensure that Sales, International Sales, Audio, Digital Sales and Rights teams have all the advance sales information that they require for own titles.
Skills, Knowledge & Expertise
- Solid experience of working within the publishing industry; experience working at Assistant Editor or Editor level (or equivalent)
- Be able to demonstrate sound market knowledge of and passion for commercial fiction
- Experience of desk editing processes
- Experience of working directly with authors
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Takes initiative
- A problem solver
- Quick-thinking
- Creative
- Extremely organised
- A keen eye for detail
- Interpersonal and diplomacy skills
- Technically competent, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint
- Passionate, energetic and enthusiastic
- Enjoys a challenge
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