Acquisitions Editor

Acquisitions Editor - Children and Family

Job Summary: Assists in manuscript acquisition, editing, development, and production in The McKenzie Group/Children and Family. Works with select high-level authors from the proposal stage and early manuscript development to final galleys. Insures clarity and readability of manuscripts. Serves as a bridge between The McKenzie Group and author on assigned projects. Reviews and critiques prospective editorial proposals and manuscripts, as well as special projects as assigned. Works in conjunction with The McKenzie Group to build relationships with authors.

Essential Job Functions:

1. Acquisitions new authors for The McKenzie Group/Children and Family. This includes meeting with potential authors, agents, and traveling to attend conferences, seminars, and speaking engagements. Creates book concepts and proposals and presents prospective authors and their proposals to The McKenzie Group.
2. Responsible for working in conjunction with The McKenzie Group to prepare and present proposals on selected high level acquisitions.
3. Responsible for working with and contributing to the The McKenzie Group in all capacities of delivering a successful product.
4. Researches various projects as needed, tracking down, compiling, and organizing information that may be helpful for acquiring new authors, developing long-term strategies, or making decisions regarding future publishing directions. Maintains a target author list and develops relationships with potential communicators.
5. Responsible to acquire 10-15 books per year in the key categories identified by The McKenzie Group.
6. Actively develops “big idea” projects and presents these to the group and then optimum author candidates pulling in other team members as necessary to make compelling presentations. Creates original book ideas for publication, which requires a good grasp of current book trends and being well-acquainted with the available author base.
7. Works with the group to assess viability of new and proposed projects as well as repurposing of existing content.
8. Performs substantive editing on acquired manuscripts. This includes working with authors through the initial stages of development and reorganization of their work while maintaining the author’s unique voice and style.
9. Works with group to create cohesive publishing effort for each title acquired. Creates and develops product overview for each acquisition to assist editorial, marketing, and sales. Actively champions acquired projects at brand/sales meetings, supporting all brand and sales efforts.
10. Works closely with the Senior Editor on the major phases of editorial/production planning for assigned book projects. This includes keeping manuscripts on their planned editorial schedule by regularly communicating with authors in order to keep them motivated and enhance their relationship with the company.
11. Works with The McKenzie Group on special projects as assigned.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: Considerable knowledge of the editorial process, including acquisitioning authors, preparing critiques of manuscripts, editing, and writing copy. Should also have an excellent knowledge of the market, book trends, and the available author base.

Qualifications: An equivalent combination of education and experience which provides the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the job. Typical qualifications would be a BA degree in Journalism, English, or related field and three years job-related editing experience or a satisfactory equivalent combination of education, experience, and training.

Job Location and Equipment Utilized: Relocation to Eugene, OR is required.  Work is normally done in an office environment. Requires some travel.