Editorial Assistant Graduate Student Internship

Work Location:

University of Cincinnati Press, RieveschlChem/Bio Library

Hours:

Flexible between the hours of 8:00 and 5:00

Length of position:

Nine-month academic year and requires a commitment to work an average of 20 hours per week

Reporting Structure:

Work and mentoring provided by the University of Cincinnati Press acquisitions editor and press director

Description:

The University of Cincinnati Press was founded in 2016. The Press publishes and broadly distributes leading-edge, peer reviewed monographs and theory-to-practice booksin transdisciplinary social justice, community engagement, collective impact and regional Cincinnati written by diverse scholars and authors from across the globe that engage academics, educators, practitioners, educated lay people, students and general readers. The Press is located within the UCL and back office staff is shared with the library. The press partners with DSC, Scholar @ UC, eTextbooks on campus in an effort to create new modes of scholarship in a sustainable and innovative ways to enhance reader, scholar and author experiences.

Overview:

The position will offer a wide range of potential experienceswithin the university press publishing process. The student will be immersed primarily in the acquisitions department working closely with the director of the press, senior acquisitions editor and authors from proposal submission to transmittal. The student will acquire deep and specialized knowledge of how editors identify emerging areas of scholarship, work with authors to develop manuscripts, manage the process of peer review and revision, present projects for approval, and represent them through each stage of publication. Students will also work on other aspects of book publishing from marketing, to manuscript editorial and production.

Acquisitions Responsibilities May Include:

  • Screening and evaluating manuscript proposals; responding to manuscript proposal inquiries
  • Assisting acquisition editors in selecting outside readers and following up on obtaining and evaluating readers’ reports
  • Researchingcompeting books, potential course adoptions, corporate and non-profit opportunities and areas of growth in emerging fields
  • Preparing materials for Editorial Committee reports
  • Guiding authors in manuscript formatting, art preparation and permissions
  • Assisting with contract requests, production cost estimates, and financial projections for projects
  • Assisting in preparing grant applications for title subsidies
  • Preparing manuscript for production including light copyediting of manuscript and notes, bibliographies, and indexes, evaluate images, tables and charts for production and reformat as needed
  • Attending in-house publishing meetings and participate on committees involving press matters

Production Responsibilities May Include:

  • Checking proofs and transfer author corrections
  • Submitting bid quotes for freelance and print jobs
  • Monitoring production schedules and liaising with freelancers and suppliers as needed

Potential Marketing Responsibilities:

  • Creating bibliographic and marketing metadata for forthcoming books
  • Pulling quotes to use for back cover and marketing copy
  • Drafting descriptive copy for catalogues and jackets/covers
  • Researching and drafting review lists
  • Updatingpress web page

The student may be asked to attend a scholarly exhibits and meetingsthroughout the year. He/she will be offered the opportunity to attend one of two meetings: Library Publisher Coalition 2018 (March 2018), location TBD or the AAUP annual meeting (June 2018) in San Francisco, CA. These meetings offer broad ranging workshops in all areas of scholarly and/or library publishing, networking opportunities with 100+ presses and professional development opportunities.

Requirements:

  • B.A. or B.S.
  • Evidence of superior academic achievement, either in fields relevant to diversity or in fields that correspond to the major lists of the participating presses
  • Interest in the fields of social justice and community engagement
  • A written statement as to why working at a university press is of interestand any experience with university press books
  • Interest in learning about a career in academic publishing
  • Prompt, professional manner
  • Excellent command of Microsoft Word, Excel, Access and PPT.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills
  • Excellent grammar skills, and a willingness to take a copyediting test

Prior experience in any area of book publishing (editing, production, marketing) a plus.

Familiarity with HTML, InDesign, and Photoshop is helpful but not required.