Production Assistant

Job Description:

W. W. Norton is seeking an Ebook Production Assistant to join its Ebook Department. This is a collaborative team that handles all ebook operations in the company, including production, distribution, content management, and archiving. This role assists the Ebook Department with the development of higher-education digital textbooks; manages the production of college ebooks; maintains conversion schedules and follows up with affiliate publishers and Norton production staff on time-sensitive projects; updates department databases with the latest production information; and occasionally assists the Digital Content and Distribution operations with ebook quality assurance and distributions to e-retailers.

Essential Job Responsibilities Include:

• Track ebook production schedules in collaboration with the distribution coordinator and ebook department manager, ensuring adherence to sensitive dates.
• Route instructions and files to/from outsourcing vendors, answering vendor queries.
• Turn over ebook content for QA and distribution.
• Communicate with Norton production and editorial staff for the timely delivery of ebook production materials.
• Liaise with Norton affiliate publishers who produce/distribute ebooks through our Ebook Department, and keep clients abreast of their project statuses.
• Make routine corrections to existing ebook files and help keep ebook distribution and archiving operations up-to-date.
• Occasionally assist the ebook distribution manager in tracking and distributing ebooks through our online distribution hub and help document the steps in database tracking.
• Assist the department manager in routine tasks.

Please note - this job description is not designed to cover all activities required of the employee.

Experience and Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Employment eligibility to work with W.W. Norton & Company in the US is required.
• Must be able to work full business hours form Norton’s New York City headquarters. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are temporarily providing employees the option to work remotely.
• 1-2 years of ebook production or other web technology experience desired, though not required.
• Must be highly organized, disciplined, and self-motivated in a fast-paced environment.
• Must have excellent verbal and written communications skills in a position that demands collaboration across several different departments.
• Must have good time management skills and be capable of prioritizing among responsibilities, activities, and side projects.
• Must be self-directed and independent.
• Must be detail-oriented, making sure that all aspects of the daily activities are handled with accuracy and minimal mistakes.
• Must have a demonstrated interest in the challenges and opportunities of an ever-changing and quickly evolving publishing industry.

Technical Skills:

• Working knowledge of HTML and CSS highly desired.
• Current knowledge of ebook formats (EPUB 3 in particular) highly desired.
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign and Photoshop a plus.
• Proficiency with database and project management systems like FileMaker Pro, JIRA, and Confluence a plus.
• Experience managing large volumes of files and maintaining version control a plus.