Editorial Assistant, Adult Trade

Editorial Assistant, Adult Trade 

The opportunity

We are looking for a highly motivated, enthusiastic and hardworking Editorial Assistant to join Bloomsbury’s Trade division, the home of authors such as Susanna Clarke, Benjamin Myers, Rutger Bregman, Isabel Allende, William Dalrymple and Abdulrazak Gurnah.

This very busy role offers the exciting first step in an editorial career and a huge opportunity to develop editorial and administrative skills, providing essential support to an Editorial Director and Publishing Director across a dynamic list of fiction and non-fiction titles. While some experience is an advantage, a demonstrable passion for books and the industry is a necessity. 
 

The role
This role is dual focused with editorial and administrative tasks

• Work closely with the Editorial Director and Senior Editor across their fiction and non-fiction titles
• Ensure all titles are on track on the critical path from acquisition to publication and beyond, and reporting on progress in weekly production meetings
• Take a lively interest in the editors’ books
• Prepare cover briefs, cover and catalogue copy and more
• Managing proof mailings
• Circulating jackets for approval and proof-reading files for press
• Compiling text corrections and pages of praise for paperback titles
• Support the publishing of a book by attending book-related events
• Maintaining excellent relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Building a friendly and professional rapport with internal teams, authors, agents and agents’ assistants

• Assist with scheduling and making arrangements for internal and external meetings
• Book fair schedule management
• Ad hoc processing of invoices
• Coordinating and circulating agendas, minutes and action points after meetings
• Mailing out contractual copies
• Collating and organising key updates on sales, marketing and publicity as required
• Maintaining a submissions log
• Maintenance of Biblio records
  
   

Knowledge, skills and experience 

• A demonstrable passion for publishing is essential. The successful candidate will have real market awareness across fiction and non-fiction, and be able to talk about books in the market
• Ability to work efficiently and prioritise tasks as they come in 
• Excellent communication and time-management skills 
• Top-notch project management skills, good organisation and meticulous attention to detail
• Creative thinker who can contribute to discussions on submissions
• Impeccable spelling, grammar and punctuation 
• Some experience an advantage, but this can be in a related field, including arts administration or bookselling

Additional information

The role is a full-time, permanent position

Salary: £27,000 per annum

The role is based at our London office 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP

This position is eligible for Bloomsbury’s Rental Deposit Loan Scheme. To assist candidates who want to start and to establish a career in publishing, Bloomsbury offers an interest-free rental deposit to support securing somewhere to live. The rental deposit loan can be up to £3,000 and will be paid back over 2 years.

Please apply with a CV (Word or PDF format only) and answer the application questions via the ‘APPLY NOW’ button detailing how you meet the requirements outlined above for this role by 23:59 on Wednesday 29th of April 2026

For best results, please use a desktop to apply as some mobile browsers may not fully support the application portal.

Bloomsbury reserve the right to close the role early if we exceed the required number of applications

Bloomsbury Benefits

As well as a fantastic opportunity to join a global award-winning organisation, Bloomsbury offers the following competitive benefits package:

Working Pattern

• Hybrid working pattern of: 2 days office based / 3 days home based (or fully office based if preferred)

Holidays

• 25 days holiday
• 3.5 days Christmas company holiday

 Other Benefits

• Two paid Personal Wellness Days
• Flexible Fridays – take Friday afternoon off by working an additional 3 hours and 30 minutes earlier in the week
• Work Anywhere Fortnight - For two weeks of any calendar year. The minimum period for Working Anywhere is one week, the maximum period is two weeks.
• Season Ticket Loan
• Learning & Development - Free access to LinkedIn Learning, BookMachine Campus, InRehearsal & IPG Skills Hub
• Share Save Scheme
• AXA Healthcare Plan (Private Medical Insurance)
• Ride to Work Scheme
• Peppy Health App
• In-house Doctor
• Eye Care Voucher Scheme
• EAP Advice and Counselling

Company culture – Employee Voice Meetings, Staff Networks (Bloom, Accessibility, Mental Health, Pride, and Parents, Guardians and Carers, Multi-Faith) and Mental Health First Aiders trained across the UK offices, Publishing Events and access to free Publishing Resources

For additional benefits see below

Bloomsbury is a place where anyone of any background, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, age, ability, or socio-economic status can thrive, feel comfortable, and be heard and accepted. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are willing to make any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please flag to the recruitment team if required

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.  

The Book Trade Charity provide financial assistance for people looking to get into the publishing industry; you can find more information and talk directly here: http://booktradeentrysupport.org