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Editorial assistant
Publishing assistant
Editorial assistants provide support at all stages of the publication process for books, journals, magazines and online content.
Average salary (a year)
£18000
Starter
£28000
Experienced
Typical hours (a week)
37.0 to 39.0 hours
a week
Work Hours
evenings
occasionally
How to become
Explore the different ways to get into this role
You can get into this job through:a university course; an apprenticeship; working towards this role; specialist training courses with professional bodies
University
Subjects like English, journalism or media studies are often preferred.
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.
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
Apprenticeship
You can apply to do a Publishing Professional Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship to get into this role.
This typically takes around 2 years to complete and is a mix of workplace training and classroom study.
Entry requirements
Employers will set their own entry requirements.
    Work
    You could work in a publishing office or a company's communications department as a general assistant and work your way up through in-house training and promotion.
    Volunteering
    You'll find it useful when applying for jobs, to have done some paid or unpaid work experience in publishing.
    Other Routes
    You could take a proofreading or editing course, like the ones offered by the The Publishing Training Centre or the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading.
    More Information
    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:Publishers Association, Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading
    You can also get information on other publishing and creative careers from Discover Creative Careers.
    What it takes
    Find out what skills you’ll use in this role
    Skills and knowledge
    You'll need:
      Knowledge of english language
      Knowledge of media production and communication
      The ability to read english
      Excellent verbal communication skills
      To be thorough and pay attention to detail
      Excellent written communication skills
      The ability to work well with others
      To be flexible and open to change
    Digital Skills Level
    to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
    What you will do
    Discover the day-to-day tasks you’ll do in this role
    Day to day tasks
    In this role you could
    be a point of contact for authors, keep databases, spreadsheets and other records up to date, read documents and make corrections, deal with rights and permissions, act as 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 using design and distribution software, edit text and images using a content management system (CMS), edit text on apps
    Working environment
    You could work in an office or from home.
    Career Path & Progression
    Look at progression in this role and similar opportunities
    With experience you could move into more senior editorial roles, or work on a freelance basis.
    Job profile data provided by The National Careers Service.
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