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Types of jobs

What sorts of jobs can you hope to find? As publishing is a bit of an umbrella term, then the jobs are equally varied. In smaller publishers it is common for more than one role to be combined.

Working in the editorial department will involve a different set of tasks and skills from those demanded in the production department where a more technical knowledge is required.

The marketing department demands imagination, persistence and networking skills. There are also the lesser-known jobs (but no less interesting) such as selling rights or being a sales rep for a company.

Skills in planning, analysis and basic finance are useful and valued in most areas. 

Typical job titles/roles include:

  • Editorial assistant | Editor | Managing Editor | Commissioning Editor | Publisher
  • Marketing | Publicity | Socia Media | Events
  • Designer | Art Director | Production
  • Sales | International Sales | Rights Sales
  • Big companies will also have support staff such as HR | Finance | Legal | Customer Service | IT

You can find out more about some of them in Meet Some Publishers.


The National Occupational Standards for Book and Journal Publishing provide very detailed descriptions of and standards for various publishing skills and job functions from understanding your publishing organisation and its market to defining technical and project specifications for digital markets. See the NOS website (choose the publishing suite filter to access SKS PUB1 to SKS PUB27).