Editorial assistant
Editorial assistants provide support at all stages of the publication process for books, journals, magazines and online content.
What you'll do
Day-to-day tasks
As an editorial assistant, you could:
- be a point of contact for authors for routine enquiries
- update databases, spreadsheets and other records
- read documents and make corrections
- deal with rights and permissions
- act as a 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
- provide admin support at all stages of publishing
Working environment
You could work in an office or from home.
Career path and progression
With experience, you could take up senior roles, such as editorial team leader or content department head. You could also move into rights management, become a commissioning editor or work freelance.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- knowledge of English language
- knowledge of media production and communication
- excellent written communication skills
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- excellent verbal communication skills
- the ability to work well with others
- to be flexible and open to change
- the ability to organise your time and workload
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently
How to become
You can get into this job through:
- a university course
- an apprenticeship
- working towards this role
- specialist training courses with professional bodies
You can study for a university qualification before looking for work. Subjects like English, journalism or media and communication studies may give you an advantage, though most subjects will be acceptable.
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.
An excellent grasp of English language will be essential for all jobs.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English
- 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
More Information
You can apply to do a Publishing Professional Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship with a company to get into this role.
This typically takes around 2 years to complete and is a mix of workplace training and study.
Entry requirements
Employers will set their own entry requirements.
More Information
You could work in a publishing office or a company's communications department, as an admin assistant or copywriter, and work your way up through in-house training and promotion.
You'll find it useful when applying for jobs to have done some paid or unpaid work experience in publishing, for example on behalf of a charity.
You could take a proofreading or editing course, like the ones offered by The Publishing Training Centre or the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading.
Career tips
Skills in image editing software could be useful for some jobs, though employers would give you training in the packages they use.
Professional and industry bodies
You may find it useful to join organisations like the the Publishers Association and Professional Publishers Association for professional recognition, training opportunities and to make industry contacts.
Further information
You can find out more about becoming an editorial assistant from the:
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External links
This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.