We’re Hiring: Sales and Publicity Oficer Wanted

Job Title: Sales and Publicity Officer 
Company: Comma Press 
Location: In-Person (Manchester/New Islington Office) 
Part-time: 3 days per week 
Salary: £22,000–24,000 pro rata 0.6 FTE 
Deadline for applications: 5pm, Friday 14 July. 

Comma Press – an independent publisher and literature development agency, with a focus on short fiction and translation – is seeking a Sales and Publicity Officer to join the team. The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and implementing effective national publicity campaigns for our titles, as well as supporting the COO in the development of sales strategies and relations with trade.

Key Responsibilities:

Publicity
– Developing and delivering national publicity campaigns for all our titles, generating review and feature coverage across all relevant media (newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, online, social media, etc.). This will include pitching to journalists, preparing press materials, responding quickly to media enquiries, coordinating interviews, devising mailings, and working according to the target media outlets’ lead times and forward planning.
– Developing and maintaining Comma’s publicity databases, and building strong relationships with individuals in the media (journalists, reviewers, literary desk editors, radio producers, etc).
– Reporting on media coverage to the team, board, sales reps and trade outlets (Waterstone's, etc), whilst updating AIs, catalogues, PRs and website as coverage comes in.
– Submitting books and authors to relevant prizes, and securing coverage for Comma’s other sector support and literature development initiatives.
– Creating and presenting sales and marketing materials for sales conferences, and other sales presentations.

Sales 
Supporting the Chief Operations Officer in:
– Liaising with external distributors, bookshops, sales reps, wholesalers, libraries, and other accounts for scheduling, orders, returns, discounts and other queries.
– Providing general administrative support, including maintaining title records (and accurate metadata) on UK and US-based online databases and entering titles into promotions.
– Managing sales reports and preparing presentations.

Requirements:
– Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
– Excellent organisational and time management skills
– Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines
– A passion for short fiction, literature in translation, and literary collaboration.

Our ideal candidate will be a resourceful, creative thinker, able to enthusiastically bring attention to Comma Press's work and strengthen our relations with trade, as well as someone with a keen eye for detail and efficiency.

This role will be based in our Manchester office, and employees are expected to present in-person throughout the hours of their employment. Full, in-house training will be given for all aspects of the role. Occasionally you will be expected to support the delivery of out-of-office and out-of-hours events; in the latter case TOIL will apply.

Comma is committed to equal employment opportunities and to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workforce. We welcome applications from all sections of society and are happy to accommodate any specific needs in our hiring or employment process. Please let us know if you have any.

To apply, please email your CV and a cover letter outlining your relevant experience and why you want the role, to Ra.Page@commapress.co.uk by the end of Friday 14 July. Please mark your email with the subject ‘Sales and Publicity Officer’.

For more information and tips on what working in publishing involves, you may want to attend our 'Publishing Insights Day, 15 June. More info here.