Publishing Sector

The publishing sector in the UK

• The publishing industry employs over 195,000 people which represents 36% of the creative media workforce
• 50,500 work in journals and magazines

www.creativeskillset.org

My review of two job lists from magazines

I can see small differences and similarities in the jobs from both magazines. 'Q' has a lot less jobs in the editorial section compared to 'NME' who have a lot of jobs listed there. This could possibly show that they think that editing their magazine is a big part of the production. 'NME' have headings such as 'Innovators' and 'NME.com' whereas 'Q' has headings such as 'Reader Services'. Both magazines use similar job titles, Such as editors and designers. 'Q' uses 'Chief' as a title whereas 'NME' doesn't. This shows that 'Q' has a focus on team leaders who run each each job sector. 'NME' has a job section called 'NME.com' which shows they may have a heavy focus on their website and have a whole team dedicated that they think are a key role in the company.

Hierarchy within their team (top to bottom)

Editor in chief / Executive editor / Editor /

Responsible for all policies and operations.

Editor at large and Contributing editor

Advanced freelancers who contribute.

Managing editor

Co-ordinates the publications editorial activities: budget, staffing, schedule etc.

Commissioning / Acquisitions editor

Arranges writers to produce content.

Section editor

Oversees all of the content in certain sections of the publication.

Copy / Sub editors

Edit text across page, check for errors, facts and corrects anything.

Reporters

People who write the stories.

What do you think are the responsibilities of a chief editor?

They are the public face of the magazine on the website, magazines and events like awards ceremony's. They take responsibility for how everything runs and make sure that all the editors are doing their job and delegate them specific tasks. They host meetings and make decisions on what the theme of the magazine will be for example 'Glastonbury'. The Chief editor will control the budget and control legal decisions.They set deadlines and calendars for their team and make sure that the magazines content is correct. They have to liaise with the publisher, marketing departments, media sales team and PR agencies. They will finalise the magazine and make the last decisions before they go to press. We watched the following details which gives us an idea of what it takes to make it into the industry:

HOMEWORK due Tuesday 17 th for Miss Chinn

After doing some research on http://creativeskillset.org/publishing I found out some more specific job roles in the publishing industry, such as:

Copy editor

A copy editor is basically the proof reader of the publication, they check that the text is readable, accurate and ready for publication.They work on all types of publications such as newspapers and magazines.They make certain it fits in with the house style, correcting any errors or typos in the text, checking that the images that are used in the magazine have the correct captions under or beside them.

Art editor

Art editors work in the design or art sector of a magazine team and look after how a magazine looks, this includes images and things like colour themes that run throughout. An Art Editor is in charge of making the magazine look good and easy to read. Their typical work would be to; laying out the pages and using the most suitable graphics and photographs.

Web content manager

A web content manager is responsible for the information that is displayed on a company's website. They ensure it is suitable for customer needs. They normally work along side the art editors to make sure the website fits in with the house style and theme if the magazine.

Qualifications training and standards

The publishing industry requires high qualifications with 51% of their highly qualified workforce holding an undergraduate degree or equivalent. As a result having a higher education will provide a substantial pathway into the industry.