Publishing trainee (6m FTC)

Job description

Learn the ropes of academic publishing with this varied 6-month traineeship based in Edinburgh.

The publishing trainee will be based in EUP’s books editorial department. They will have the full support of 3 experienced members of staff who will lead and guide them as they are introduced to life in an office setting. For the first month, they will spend most days of the week in our Edinburgh office to facilitate learning and development. After that they will follow our standard hybrid pattern (2 days per week minimum in our Edinburgh office and the option of being based either in the office or at home on the other 3 days).

To ensure that the publishing trainee learns as much about academic publishing as possible, they will, while being based in our editorial team, also have monthly rotational placements in other EUP departments. This will include journals, marketing, sales, rights and production. They will spend 2 days a week in each department, alongside their 3 days per week in the editorial department, to gain further skills and see which area of publishing suits them best.

Within each part of the placement the trainee will learn the fundamentals of academic publishing. Beyond that they will:
• Attend in-person academic committee meetings, conferences, book launches and sales conferences, in addition to gaining an understanding of the core functions of each department
• Learn how to manage a Title Management System, a CRM system, and use key partner platforms like MDL and Ingram iPage
• Build a fully rounded understanding of publishing

The trainee will be supported throughout the six months by experienced colleagues within the Press, an EUP buddy, and a mentor, as well as a learning and development budget (funded by EUP), supplementing the training covered by the Springboard programme, to help them prepare for work in the long term.

On a day-to-day basis, their main areas of training will cover:
• Contracts
• The importance of author care
• Peer review
• Keep book records up to date
• Get books ready for paperback publication
• Secure permissions for illustrations
• Process payments
• Prepare metadata for books before publication
• The implications of Open Access and AI
• Developing their knowledge and customer-service skills to be able to answer general queries about our books

This will be supplemented with additional areas of training within the rotational placements in other EUP departments.

We’d love it if you had…

• Strong written and verbal communication skills and attention to detail
• An understanding of the importance of a customer-focused culture
• Prioritisation skills and the ability to meet deadlines and think creatively
• Collaborative team player with a proactive approach
• Digital skills including working with systems, using Microsoft Office, writing emails, and using AI tools appropriately

Employer details

Edinburgh University Press is the premier Scottish publisher of academic books, ebooks and journals. Our ambition is to create a community of authors, editors, advisors and practitioners committed to publishing world-class academic research that amplifies the critical role of the humanities and social sciences in shaping the way we think about and tackle global and local issues. Sharing our University Press knowledge and expertise, we nurture every project from idea to publication and beyond, to maximise its influence and impact. We work with academics from across diverse backgrounds, and from early and mid-career researchers to professors, to give voice to a wide range of international perspectives. And we are building partnerships to create and deepen connections with our parent institution, the University of Edinburgh, and with wider civic society.