The Company

Usborne is an independent, family business, creating books which spark curiosity in children of all ages. These range from books for babies such as the bestselling That’s not my… series, to YA fiction from acclaimed authors such as Holly Bourne and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé – with everything from Magic Painting to Politics for Beginners in between.

Whilst Usborne is now a market-leader in children’s publishing and one of the best-known brands in children’s books, the company retains a friendly, family feel. If you want to work somewhere close-knit enough for people to know your name, but which has a first-class reputation around the world, Usborne is the place for you.

The Department

UK Marketing and Publicity is a close and highly supportive department, creating innovative and award-winning marketing and publicity campaigns that reach audiences, including those outside of the usual publishing spaces, and drive sales. The publicity team maintain and develop the reputation of the Usborne brand, publicising and promoting Usborne books, series, sub-brands and authors, with the overall aim of increasing sales.

The Role  

The role of the Publicity Executive is to devise and implement creative, innovative and impactful PR campaigns for Usborne’s high-profile list and multi award-winning brands, working closely with our in-house and external authors to increase book sales and ensure excellent author care. You will be given a varied and exciting list of campaigns to work on throughout the year with the support and management of the Head of Publicity. Campaigns involve pitching to media and securing targeted coverage across print, online and broadcast platforms and curating and running your own book tours, festival appearances and public events as needed.

• Devising and delivering imaginative, tailored, effective, wide-reaching and well-executed publicity campaigns, across Usborne brands, authors, illustrators and titles

• Organising Usborne presence at festivals, events, and conferences plus launches and book tours and attending these where required

• Developing and maintaining lasting relationships with contacts in all aspects of the media, and within the librarian, bookseller and influencer community

• Acting as a main point of contact for our in-house and external authors, as well as working closely with the Editorial and Sales and Marketing teams

• Providing general administration support where required

Experience

• At least 2 years’ experience in a publicity role

• Experience in delivering creative and strategic publicity campaigns for both established and debut authors and illustrators, ideally within the book publishing industry

• Proven success in organising festivals, events, conferences, launches and book tours

• A working knowledge of contacts in all aspects of the media, particularly within children’s books

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with a keen eye for detail and creative flair

• Good understanding of traditional and digital media including, social media e.g. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter

• Strong organisation and time management skills, and the ability to constantly prioritise in a busy and sometimes pressurised environment

• Strong interpersonal skills to build relationships with internal stakeholders, external contacts and above all authors

• Understanding of how to use publicity databases and mailing systems

• Good track record of engaging influencers on campaigns

• Flexibility to travel and work out of normal office hours when necessary.

• A keen interest in children’s books; experience in children’s publishing desired but not essential

• Basic design skills using Photoshop desirable but not essential

Location and Benefits

We offer a 35-hour working week from Saffron Hill office in London, where after a successful induction period we offer a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home which we feel optimises our opportunities for collaboration and contact with our colleagues.

In addition to our transparent salary grading structure, for this role we also offer a range of benefits which include:

• 25 days paid holiday entitlement increasing with service to 30 days after 5 years;

• Industry-leading Pension Scheme and Life Assurance;

• Employee Assistance Programme through Health Assured;

• Healthcare Cashback scheme;

• Virtual GP service;

• Rewards and Discount services;

• 50% discount on Usborne books.

The Hiring Process

We particularly encourage applications from Black and minority ethnic candidates who are currently under-represented within this area.

Our hiring process will incorporate long-listing from the anonymous scoring, then shortlisting through objective CV scoring. Those shortlisted will be invited to a first interview in person with our Head of Publicity, followed by a further interview via Microsoft Teams with additional members of the Publicity & Marketing team.

We anticipate first interviews will take place w/c 11th December 2023 and second interviews will take place w/c 18th December 2023.