Director of Publishing

About the role

The Director of Publishing reports to the President and CEO and is responsible for leading the Publishing House, ensuring editorial excellence, brand and imprint integrity, and adherence to policies.

Responsibilities

• Implement a successful author acquisition and content contributor program to create and meet the demand for a marketable publications pipeline.
• Conduct regular market research to identify opportunities for new retail products relevant to the brand or imprint.
• Collaborate with brand and imprint Chiefs to identify authors, develop proposals, and/or review and select manuscripts.
• Lead and collaborate with other key leaders to maintain a sufficient pool of expert and responsive reviewers.
• Oversee the peer review of manuscripts, deciding which manuscripts to publish consistent with the House’s established peer review criteria and page budget, and helping authors develop their manuscripts for publication.
• Proactively identify portfolio expansion opportunities; plan and lead the execution of a strategy for expanding the CRS retail product portfolio.
• Develops and oversees the annual department and project budget for publications.
• Makes decisions about sales and performs regular audits of products to determine the success of the title and to decide whether and when to publish a new edition.
• Provides oversight to the reprint process to ensure that any corrections needed can be made at the reprint.
• In collaboration with Division heads and the Director of Book Sales and Vendor Relations, set and develop a strategy for meeting target goals for existing and new publications.
• Oversees and works closely with division leaders, sales, and finance for determining initial print runs, reprint quantities, and inventory controls.
• Ensures the Publishing House staff understand and can meet the performance expectations for their roles and responsibilities.
• Ensure that CRS' established imprint and brand identity are consistent with House, Program, and Marketing Style Guides.
• Establish clear guidelines for authors regarding acceptable practices for sharing experimental materials and information, particularly those required to replicate the research, before and after publication.
• Establishing a procedure for reconsidering editorial decisions.
• Sets high standards and clearly communicates all other editorial policies and standards.
• Hires, develops, and retains talented editorial and writing staff who are motivated, engaged, competent, and highly accountable in a timeline-driven environment.
• Responsible for the publishing pipeline from concept to completion, which includes title proposal (in collaboration with other relevant staff).
• Leads the development of production timelines, negotiating contracts and rights with authors, overseeing fact-checking and copyrights, planning and attending to production costs, and ensuring on-time and on-budget delivery.
• Design and implement a holistic, long-term approach to the publication pipeline.
• Provide oversight and direction for curating publishable content and collaborate with Division leaders on strategic and tactical uses of the curated content.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Sales on a strategy for meeting monthly and annual sales target goals for front and backlist titles.
• Treats all authors with fairness, courtesy, objectivity, honesty, and transparency.
• Provides guidelines to authors (content and product) for preparing and submitting manuscripts.
• Ensures all products go through a well-designed and managed project management process and receive the attention needed to deliver high-quality products that are intelligent, beautifully designed, ready for practical use, and present CRS as a highly regarded publisher.
• Leads the development of and monitors the execution of Project Management Planning for all product development from proposal to completion.
• Defines, administers, and directs the work of CRS editorial, design, and production staff.
• Oversee videography, photography, and content translation into other languages, including the selection and oversight of freelancers and ensuring the quality and ongoing development of the video and photo libraries or translated content.
• Provides oversight for project management and balances editorial staff workload to ensure projects are completed on time and on budget.
• Collaborates on and supports production of sales and marketing collateral.
• Supports all work units in achieving their editorial, print, videography, photography, graphic design, illustration, and production goals.
• Works closely with other departments to produce content, resources, and digital materials needed for workshops, courses, training, curriculum, or unit needs.
• Works closely with the CEO on internal and external communication materials.
• Works closely with division leaders to maintain and update the CRS website and social media pages.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred) in English, communications, journalism, publications, or related field
• 6+ years of progressively responsible and related work that clearly prepares the candidate to lead a small independent publishing house.
• 2+ years in an editorial supervisory position.
• The ability to operate on both a tactical and a strategic level, overseeing a highly effective editorial and publishing team while also collaborating with division leaders to produce new books.
• Exceptional project management expertise, particularly the ability to oversee multiple, complex projects simultaneously in a deadline-driven environment.
• Deep publications expertise, including budgeting, printing, editorial, and production management, and related technologies.
• Experience in using the Chicago Manual of Style and experience implementing the House Style Guide, preferred.
• Experienced in or can quickly learn the fundamentals of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, InCopy, and other Creative Suite products.
• Strong editing and writing skills. Has knowledge and experience with and can support staff in a range of editing, including proofreading, copyediting, line editing, and developmental editing.
• Experienced with book development, production, and project management.
• Can communicate with respect and authority for a range of purposes, including but not limited to promoting a healthy organizational culture, providing direct feedback, and sharing decisions.
• Prior experience working with vendors and contractors for writing, illustration, photography, and other related supplies and services.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, social media, and Google productivity software
• Familiar with or able to quickly learn Monday, Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRM software
• Highly accountable for performance; goal oriented and flexible
• Caring for and commitment to the vision, mission, and welfare of CRS