Job Description
Manuscript Development Supervisor
Can you spot a good story a mile away? Are you skilled at helping authors find that great story from within, helping them organize it, and put it on paper?
If you have experience ghostwriting non-fiction books for other people, and you can help a sometimes-scattered-and-overwhelmed mind organize and focus around a goal to complete a manuscript, then please keep reading!
We are Book Launchers. We help thought-leaders and people with a powerful story write, publish, and sell impact-driven non-fiction books. Our goal isnt just to help our clients get a book published. We help our clients create great books they will be proud of for years, AND we help them use their books as a tool to achieve their business and brand goals. To achieve that, we have developed an incredible team of publishing professionals who help our authors develop their story, write the book, refine it through editing, and design the book to stand out. During the development and publishing process, we layer in marketing support so our authors are positioned for sales success when their book is done. We also do a wide range of things to support our clients including author platform coaching and development, media pitching, author partnerships, speaking engagement support, and even look for and negotiate wholesale book sale opportunities.
You will report to our Production Manager and will be a driving force behind ensuring our clients books fit our #noboringbooks ideal and are top quality before they go to publication.
This role would ideally be full-time (~35-40 hours/week) which would mean eligibility for profit-share, health, dental, and optical insurance, as well as paid vacation after 90 days, but if youre awesome and would prefer to be part-time, we can also work with you on that.
To apply, please complete the form at the bottom of our Join Our Team page. Please include a rsum and cover letter.
What is your role?
As a ghostwriter, writing coach, and leader on the manuscript development team, you will be a driving force behind ensuring our clients books fit our #noboringbooks ideal and are top quality before they go to publication. In this role, you will work directly with select Book Launchers clients as a ghostwriter and coach, while also helping to nurture the development of the larger team of writers, writing coaches, and developmental editors as a mentor, guide, and resource. You will support the Production Manager with evaluation of incoming manuscripts on client intake, assigning ghostwriters/writing coaches to projects, during milestone submissions from writers, and prior to a project moving from writing to content editing. As needed, you may also provide coaching and guidance to authors to help them improve their stories and material to make it more marketable to the ideal reader.
Our overarching goal is to be our clients first choice for book publishing success and produce multiple books with Book Launchers for years to come.
Specific Tasks Include:
- Within the guidelines of milestone deliverables for writing projects, write engaging manuscripts that fit the hook and outline provided.
- Within the guidelines of milestone deliverables for coaching clients, help the authors to get the content out of their heads and onto the page, ensuring the material they put on the page is in line with the hook and outline provided.
- Communicate with your writing and coaching clients on a weekly basis and reply to all emails within 1 business day.
- Support your team to grow and develop to serve our clients in the best way possible in the development of highly marketable and engaging books.
- Assist with determining milestone deliverables for writing projects and help pair projects with the right team members.
- Provide writing assistance when needed to fill in a gap left by a writer or if a client is struggling with a content edit, and just needs a quick writing assist.
- Support in the development and execution of processes.
- Participate in company meetings, weekly reporting, and complete all communication cadence items in a timely manner.
Job Requirements:
- Must have written at least one non-fiction book in the past and have experience working with authors as a ghostwriter and/or writing coach
- Previous management experience preferred; ability to manage people working under you and give advice/coaching to them.
- Strong conversational skills. An ability to quickly relate to many personality types and have personal conversations is essential.
- Experience with the various processes with writing, creative writing, and editing.
- An understanding of marketing and what is marketable to wider audiences.
- Patience, empathy, and compassion are a must as is the ability to be firm with a client when it requires tough conversations.
- Must be able to deal with moments of high pressure due to multiple deadlines.
- Able to work collaboratively with the team
- Comfortable working alone and from home
- Access to a webcam for video calls, reliable internet connection, and reliable phone signal and service with a North American plan.
- Able to participate in company meetings daily, weekly, and monthly.