Junior Ebook Producer

Job Description:

W. W. Norton & Company is seeking an organized, diplomatic, and methodical Junior Ebook Producer to join our college and high school Ebook Production team in the Digital Publishing group, reporting to the Manager of Ebook Production. The Ebook Production team is responsible for the making of Norton’s college, high school, and custom educational ebooks. The Junior Ebook Producer is an entry-level role that coordinates the scheduling, production, corrections, and archiving of a growing list of interactive, interdisciplinary ebooks in Norton’s acclaimed textbook list, which includes The Norton Anthologies, The Enjoyment of Music, Give Me Liberty, Interactive Psychology, Molecular Biology of the Cell, the Norton Critical Editions, among many other iconic books.

Norton is a highly collaborative company, and this job involves daily teamwork among Ebook Production colleagues, print edition production managers, metadata, distribution, art direction, editorial, manuscript, and ecommerce colleagues as you usher content from its stages as raw manuscript or typeset print book files through project planning, design, digital development, quality assurance, and eventual publication as a digital textbook.

The best candidates will demonstrate strong technical acumen and project management skills, will be seeking to grow into a career in digital publishing or digital products, and will inspire confidence through transparent and honest communication, particularly in fully remote work settings. As they mature in their role and gain experience, Ebook Producers generally grow to manage projects of high profile and complexity, which require strong technical knowledge, and will often advise on the development direction of Norton’s educational content and digital products.

Essential Job Responsibilities Include:

• Create and track ebook production schedules in collaboration with Media Editors, Project Editors, and the Manager of Ebook Production, ensuring adherence to sensitive dates.
• Lead project launch meetings with Media Editors, Designers, and Project Editors to plan the development of new ebook editions for the titles assigned to you.
• Prepare files for ebook development by converting them to Norton’s digital formats, including the cleanup of HTML, proper semantic tagging of the content for accessibility, optimization of images and other media, and metadata setup.
• Set up projects for ebook development in version control repositories. Norton uses git (on the GitLab platform) to manage ebook content development.
• Write and deliver instructions and files to/from outsourcing vendors, answering vendor questions as they arise, for sample chapters and full ebook projects.
• Move ebook files through the production workflow, coordinating with Design, Project Editors, and Media Editors throughout multiple rounds of quality assurance and corrections.
• Manage and implement post-publication corrections to existing ebook files, and help keep published, retailer, and archival versions up to date.
• Communicate with print edition Production and Editorial colleagues to ensure the timely delivery of materials to Ebook Production.
• Coordinate with the Website & Ecommerce team to ensure the accurate and timely publication of ebook files to Norton’s student-facing platforms.
• Coordinate with the Metadata & Distribution team to ensure the timely distribution of ebook files to retailers like VitalSource, RedShelf, Amazon (Kindle), and others.
• Assist the Ebook Production team in packaging and delivering final production files to the Norton Archives.
• Produce digital preview versions of our textbooks to be used in pre-publication sales and marketing efforts.

Experience and Skills:

Required Qualifications:

• Experience collaborating with teams on projects with strict timelines
• Experience managing many files simultaneously while maintaining version control
• Fast learner, ability to pick up new technologies and tools
• Highly organized, disciplined, independent, and self-motivated
• Good time-management, smartly prioritizing among commitments and responsibilities
• Detail-oriented, ensuring daily activities are handled with accuracy
• Interest in the challenges and opportunities of a quickly evolving publishing industry
• While this position is fully remote, occasional travel may be required.
• W.W. Norton & Company ('Norton') strives to maintain a COVID-free workplace. To that end, being fully vaccinated is a condition of employment for all new Norton hires. Norton makes reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants with disabilities, sincerely held religious beliefs, or other conditions protected by applicable law.

• Must have excellent verbal and written communications skills in a position that demands collaboration across several different departments

• Must be able to anticipate needs and deliver timely, relevant solutions and actions

• Interest in UX best practices for digital publications, such as in ebook platforms and the Web
• Employment eligibility to work with W.W. Norton & Company in the US is required.

• Must be able to work full business hours.

Technical Skills:

• Strong working knowledge of HTML and CSS is required (links to samples are welcome)
• Knowledge of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and HTML structural semantics strongly desired
• Working knowledge of git (GitLab, GitHub, etc.) strongly desired
• Comfort with a command line interface (macOS/Windows/Linux Terminal) strongly desired
• Current knowledge of ebook standards (EPUB 3) a plus
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign and Photoshop a plus
• Knowledge of Microsoft Word style libraries a plus
• Familiarity with database, project management, and collaboration tools like FileMaker Pro, Jira, Smartsheet, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint

Annual compensation for this position is $42,000. All salaries and salary ranges posted by Norton may vary depending on experience, skills, location and like considerations.