Current Vacancies
Senior Commissioning Editor: MBS/Lifestyle
- Full time, Permanent
- Combined home and office working pattern. Home working only considered for the right candidate (office based in Exeter, Devon).
- Salary: £35,000
- Closing date: Friday 16th July
About Us
David and Charles Ltd is an independent publisher with a rich history of publishing across a breadth of categories, most recently with a focus on arts and crafts.
This role will take responsibility for new books in MBS and lifestyle categories that appeal to the same reader as our art and craft books. Books already publishing in this area include titles such as Mood Crystals and The Witch’s Yearbook; while backlist titles such as Keeping Chickens and Cost Effective Self Sufficiency are relevant examples of how we see this list developing.
Our environment is relaxed, and we have little hierarchy. We want to support our people to do their best work and we are a socially responsible business. We offer 25 days of holiday per annum, with additional benefits such as life assurance and income protection policies.
About You
We are seeking an entrepreneurial Commissioning Editor with a creative drive and eye for detail. You should have a passion for the subject matter, encompassing home, lifestyle and new age categories.
You will be comfortable working with a commissioning approach focused on structured data, using online insights from keyword and social media research, combined with sales indicators from comparable titles. While this data provides the platform for each new commission, you will be able to add your creative ideas and a unique focus for each new title.
Responsibilities of the role include:
- Acquiring approximately 15 new titles per year, from acquisition to repro, on time and on budget.
- Researching the market by visiting shows, through media, social media and online sources to identify new trends and publishing opportunities.
- Bring new ideas forward for presentation and review with sales and marketing teams.
- Create P&Ls to assess the feasibility of new titles.
- Contract authors.
- Manage and support Desk Editors to ensure the smooth running of editorial workflow.
- Continually look for efficiencies in time and money while producing high quality books.
- Manage and update business systems for new titles, including creating initial ONIX records written to optimize online sales conversion.
- Present titles at sales meetings to UK and international distributors.
Skills required:
- Experience in a senior editorial or commissioning role within similar categories.
- Project management skills.
- Excellent written English, with strong editorial accuracy.
- Good communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate well with multiple parties.
- Good organisational skills, including time management.
- Good negotiation skills.
- Competent financial knowledge and understanding of the book P&L process.
- Experience of Microsoft Office and Adobe InDesign
- A commitment to excellence, with energy and determination.
We have a combined home and office working policy, typically split as 3 days in the office, 2 days at home. For an exceptional candidate, we will consider home-based working only.
Application with CV and covering letter to Colin Carter, colin@davidandcharles.com.
Online Learning Manager
- Full time, Permanent
- Combined home and office working pattern (office based in Exeter, Devon)
- Salary: £35,000
- Closing date: Friday 25th June
About Us
David and Charles Ltd is an independent international publisher of instructional media predominantly in the arts and crafts sectors. Alongside our 60-year-old books brand, we work with selected premium brand partners to deliver online learning. An example of this is our partnership with the Royal School of Needlework.
Following an MBO of the company in 2019, we have been on a trajectory of growth. Our environment is relaxed, and we have little hierarchy. We want to support our people to do their best work and we are a socially responsible business. We offer 25 days of holiday per annum (plus Bank Holidays) with additional benefits such as life assurance and income protection policies.
About you
We are seeking someone with a creative drive, with an eye for detail. You will be responsible for all aspects of the provision of our online courses, from content creation to business development.
The role requires you to collaborate closely with colleagues, freelancers and liaise with third-party brand partners and course instructors. You should be comfortable with the planning, scheduling, and creation of online courses and organising video shoots. During shoots, you will take the role of Producer and will manage the post-production process. You will be required to build out the online classroom with final video and print assets.
You will bring courses to life with sales focused product descriptions and oversee the creation of marketing assets. Where courses feature a materials kit, you will liaise with the Commercial Director to organise sourcing. You will play a role in identifying and pitching the D&C offer to new partners as the business grows.
Skills required:
- Experience in the creation of instructional content – in video and in written form.
- Project management skills.
- Excellent written English, with strong editorial accuracy.
- Good interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate well with multiple contributors.
- Good working knowledge of website WYSIWYG editors (e.g. WordPress or similar).
- Knowledge of basic HTML tags.
- Good organisational skills including time management and budgeting.
- Commitment to excellence, energy, and determination.
We have a combined home and office working policy, typically split as 3 days in the office, 2 days at home. This role will require you to attend shoots at studios in Exeter and the surrounding area.
Application with CV and covering letter to Colin Carter, colin@davidandcharles.com.