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Senior Editor - Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Role overview

Summary

This role is for a Senior Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, focused on acquiring and publishing fiction titles. You will work closely with the editorial team to develop manuscripts and build relationships with authors and agents, ensuring quality publications reach their intended audiences.

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of book publishing experience or the equivalent.
  • Highly developed editing and copywriting skills.
  • Extensive contacts in writing, journalism, agent communities and beyond.
  • Deep engagement with the fiction landscape and market, across a range of readerships.
  • Familiarity with negotiating and contract language.

Responsibilities

  • Publish 8-10 books per year, including lead titles
  • Commission and acquire a range of titles with strong critical, commercial, and backlist potential
  • Develop and edit manuscripts at the structural and line level
  • Prepare materials for and present at launch meetings as well as other key moments in the publishing cycle

Key facts

  • Remote from: United States
  • Full time
  • Senior (5-10 years)
  • Proofreader
  • $80K – $98K / year
  • German

Hard skills

Other skills

  • Editing
  • Negotiation
  • Communication
  • Collaboration
  • Diplomacy
  • Team Management

About the company

Macmillan Learning logo

Macmillan Learning

  • EdTech
  • 501–1,000
Macmillan Learning is a privately-held, family-owned company that improves lives through learning. By linking research to learning practice, we develop pioneering products and learning materials for students that are highly effective and drive improved outcomes. Our engaging content is developed in partnership with the world's best authors researchers, educators, administrators, and developers. We provide educators with tailored solutions designed to inspire curiosity and measure progress. Our brands include Bedford/St Martin’s, W.H. Freeman, Worth Publishers, iClicker, Skyfactor, Macmillan Learning Curriculum Solutions, and Hayden-McNeil Lab Solutions. To learn more, please visit http://www.macmillanlearning.com.

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Job description

Farrar, Straus and Giroux is seeking a Senior Editor to acquire primarily for the fiction list. The ideal candidate will have a broad knowledge of fiction past and present and a passionate determination to help works of excellence reach their deserved audience.

Candidates should bring a strong record of successful publications that reflect a clear editorial vision, a commitment to quality, and an enthusiasm for innovation. The position reports to the Editor in Chief and works closely with the rest of the editorial team.

What You'll Do:

  • Publish 8-10 books per year, including lead titles
  • Commission and acquire a range of titles with strong critical, commercial, and backlist potential
  • Build relationships with literary agents, writers, and subsidiary rights directors and directly negotiate major terms for potential acquisitions
  • Develop and edit manuscripts at the structural and line level
  • Help to shape and build an author’s career across titles 
  • Seek out opportunities for growth and think programmatically to build a cohesive list
  • Act as a liaison between in-house and external partners
  • Work closely with in-house colleagues, as well as authors and agents, to position books to their broadest and best audiences
  • Prepare materials for and present at launch meetings as well as other key moments in the publishing cycle; support colleagues in other departments through key selling points, jacket briefs, and persuasive pitches 
  • Maintain publishing schedules for a full list of titles
  • Coordinate in a collaborative, positive, timely manner across departments
  • Contribute to the editorial team and paperback program via mentorship, reading and giving feedback on projects for others on the team, and generating ideas
  • Partner with one editorial colleague to supervise one employee

What You'll Bring:

  • 8+ years of book publishing experience or the equivalent
  • Highly developed editing and copywriting skills
  • Extensive contacts in writing, journalism, agent communities and beyond
  • Understanding of P&Ls, production schedules and terms, the 
  • Deep engagement with the fiction landscape and market, across a range of readerships
  • Familiarity with negotiating and contract language
  • Experience and interest in working collaboratively and supporting the success of the team as a whole
  • Managing a variety of needs and perspectives and communicating in a highly professional manner, with diplomacy, discernment, and care

The salary range for this position is $80,000 - $98,000.

Exemption Status: Exempt 

Macmillan Publishers is the U.S. trade company that is part of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned group of media companies headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's publishing companies include prominent imprints around the world that publish a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.

U.S. publishers include Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, The St. Martin's Publishing Group, and Tor Publishing Group. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, companies in the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group publish under the Pan Macmillan name. The German publishing company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.

Macmillan is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, consistently striving to foster a culture where everyone belongs. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities. Qualified applicants are evaluated without regard to race, color, religion, age, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, physical ability, neurodiversity, genetic information, protected veteran status, family and economic status, and background or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. We prohibit discrimination of any kind and will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.

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