Introduction to the role

We have an exciting opportunity for someone looking for a Publishing Assistant role with a passion for romantic fiction.  Mills & Boon is a heritage brand, established in 1908, and is the UK’s #1 publisher of romantic fiction. We publish over 700 books a year and with five series to choose from have a romance for every reader. This role will also manage Mills & Boon’s new trope-led imprint, Afterglow Books, which publishes two books per month, as well as ad hoc Mills & Boon Trade titles.

The role is an integral part of the Mills & Boon team, providing publishing and administrative support, reporting into the Marketing & Operations Director. As Publishing Assistant, you will facilitate the smooth running of the department, working in conjunction with other members of the division. As an efficient and hard-working member of the team your responsibilities will be to ensure the books across our different series and imprints are kept to critical path in order to be published on time every month.

This role will also create new opportunities to sell backlist content through our anthologies programme and strategic backlist repackaging. This role will be responsible for driving digital sales of all of our titles with a key focus on best-in-class metadata, constantly optimising titles to ensure greater visibility on digital retailers. Understanding the market and key trends in order to inform our optimisations is critical, so the successful candidate should be fully emersed in romantic fiction and have an understanding of popular themes.

In addition to this, there will be regular opportunities for the successful candidate to develop their editorial skills, assisting with cover briefs for books, and writing cover copy and AI sheets. This role will also comprise the creation of printed marketing materials, advertising the books to our direct-to-consumer subscription parcels.

This role is ideally suited to an organised and detail-focused candidate who has both initiative and energy. They will have a keen interest in romantic fiction, read widely, and be excited at the prospect of applying creative flair to the publishing process, ensuring that our publishing continues to stand out at the forefront of a competitive market.

Key tasks and accountabilities

Publishing

• Responsible for the full publishing process for Mills & Boon, including series, anthologies, Afterglow and Mills & Boon Trade

• Ensure all titles are delivered to their critical paths

• Use analysis to identify key trends which will help inform titles from our backlist with wider commercial opportunities

• Creation of our anthology programme (4 books per month), which involves following market trends to identify key themes, putting the books through production, briefing covers, preparing prelims and back cover blurbs, and optimising all metadata

• Manage the publishing of our Afterglow imprint, across all formats – including creation of proofs, cover briefing, prelims, writing back cover copy, putting the books through production and metadata.

• Creating cover briefs for Modern, True Love and Anthologies

• Proof-read and sign off jacket and cover copy

• Scheduling of titles across all formats

• Ad hoc Mills & Boon backlist projects and Mills & Boon Trade (PB, EB and EA)

• Create Prelims

• Oversee books through the production process

• Write back cover copy and maintain in eHers and Plan G

• Complete all metadata for our list across all formats

• Ongoing optimisation of metadata, particularly focussing on key seasonal/national opportunities and trends, plus any promotional titles

• Creating and monitoring timelines for series publications in adherence with critical path

• Working closely with Sales and Marketing to help promote titles across the list

• BIC completion and compliance in internal systems

• General ad hoc administrative duties to support the Editorial and Marketing Teams

• Attending various internal meetings such as covers, scheduling meeting, title/sub-title meeting

Marketing

• Write and brief DTC flyer and proof materials supplied from Design

• Title selection for sales catalogues and monitoring stock levels

• Source quotes for printing of DTC materials and raise POs

• Book delivery of materials into the warehouse

Skills required

• A passion for romantic fiction and an avid reader

• Some administrative and organisation experience

• Excellent attention to detail

• Advanced MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint

• Excellent organisation skills and the ability to keep to strict deadlines

• Ability to manage workload and multiple work streams

• Ability to work as part of a team and use your own initiative

• Cope well in pressurised environment

• Be an effective multi-tasker

• Possess excellent time management skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

• The ability to work calmly and effectively under pressure

• Ability to use data and analysis to influence your decision making 

Benefits

• Hybrid working model (3 days in the office)

• 28 days holiday plus bank holidays (option to buy and sell holiday days) 

• Enhanced pay for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave 

• Private healthcare cover and life assurance 

• Summer Hours  

• Free access to HeadSpace, employee assistance programme (24 hour helpline), mental health first aiders, and a wellbeing portal 

• Season ticket loans (from day 1 for entry level) and cycle to work scheme 

• Relocation Rent Support Loan  

• Employee networks: HC All In (open forum), Elevate (for ethnic minority colleagues), HarperParents, Menopause at Work, Pride at HC, Social Mobility Network and Neurodiversity at Work

• Unlimited training on our Learning and Development portal, management courses (up to MA level) and mentoring programmes 

• Virtual GP and eyecare vouchers 

• Gym membership discount 

• Onsite physiotherapy (London only) 

• Charitable donation matching and 2 volunteering days 

• We're a certified Carbon Neutral company

• Green Electric/Hybrid Car Benefit Scheme (salary sacrifice)

• With Trees for Life we plant a tree in the Highlands of Scotland for every permanent hire

• Free e-books and audiobooks, digital newspaper subscriptions and discounts on books 

• Subsidised canteen and retail discounts 

• Onsite prayer room 

• The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking internships or entry level positions. For more information visit  https://www.btbs.org/

At HarperCollins, we value authenticity and integrity in our recruitment process. To ensure a fair and accurate evaluation of all applications, we ask that all responses to assessment questions reflect your own thoughts, experiences, and capabilities.  This allows us to fairly assess your knowledge, skills, and experience to determine how they align with the role. We value diverse perspectives and genuine contributions, even if answers are not perfect. The use of AI tools or external assistance to generate responses is discouraged unless explicitly permitted for specific tasks.

If you wish to discuss anything regarding this position and/or your application to this role, please reach out directly to stephanie.jemmett@harpercollins.co.uk with subject heading ‘Vacancy Query’ plus the job title and we will aim to get back to you within 5 working days.

Please note, if you are interested in the role you would need to submit your application via Applied. We do not accept email applications.