HIRING: Book Editors for Alternating Current Press

Flatiron Foothills Publications, LLC, is bringing on 3 Book Editors for Alternating Current Press.

We are NOT looking for editors who will work for a week, then bail on us. We’re looking for committed editors who want to be a part of our press imprints and help shape the future for those presses. If you do not have the time to commit to playing an active role in editing manuscripts, which takes a good deal of time, please do not apply. We are currently ONLY hiring for book editors for ACP; if that is not what you want to do, please do not apply.

We are a liberal press partnership that welcomes people of all ages, abilities, and cultural backgrounds, and we are a BIPOC+ and LGBTQUIA2+ safe space. We are additionally not interested in bringing on readers whose content and editing decisions are informed by religion.

Job Details:

• Process: You will be responsible for being 1 of 3 editors to edit the manuscripts accepted by Alternating Current Press to help prepare the books for publication. When a manuscript is accepted through our submission readers and editorial board, it will be assigned to 1 of you 3 editors, and you will edit the manuscript thoroughly with deep-cut edits, copyedits according to house style, sensitivity edits, developmental/structural edits, fact-checking, proper-noun spellchecking, and eagle-eyed line edits back and forth with the author, as needed, until the manuscript is ready for the editor-in-chief to look over. Once the editor-in-chief has edited the book, you will be responsible for making those next rounds of edits with your author. You will be responsible for making sure the author turns in all supplemental materials for the book, as needed. Once the book is laid out in ARC (advance reader copy) form, you will read over the final PDF to catch any last-minute errors before publication. Manuscripts are full-length nonfiction, fiction, and poetry collections; mixed-genre anthologies; and chapbook-length mixed-genre collections. Some manuscripts are quick and easy; some take a good deal of time.
• Readers work remotely. Please note, however, that because we are a U.S.-based press working in American English with mostly U.S.-based authors, we will give preference to native American English speakers and those living in the U.S. who are close to the U.S. book-market industry, understand the speaking conventions of American English, are in our U.S. time zones for easy communication, and have a good grasp of U.S. publishing-industry standards and trends.
• Hours are flexible around your schedule, and we will not micromanage time or scheduling provided that books are being actively read and edited within the press’ stated timeframe for each individual book. We generally want manuscripts handled within a few weeks of being received. (If you know that you will not be able to take on a certain manuscript for time constraints, we can assign the manuscript to one of the other editors instead. We would ideally like to work on a 3-editor rotation for each next manuscript in line.)
• Editors will correspond with the authors directly, so you must have the ability to communicate kindly, clearly, efficiently, and effectively with the authors. You will use your own email address (or can create one to use for this purpose), a shared Dropbox folder, and shared forms, spreadsheets, author guides, style guides, and folders via Google Docs.
• Manuscripts are handled in the order that they are being published.

Requirements:

• Past editing experience is definitely a must. Please show us in detail any experience you have.
• An obsessive knowledge of Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition.
• An exceptional grasp on American English, but an even more exceptional grasp on the understanding of “author voice,” including knowing when to edit and when not to.
• An eagle eye and perfectionist attention to detail at the line level. If you are a skimmer or speed-reader, this job is not for you.
• A Gmail account (which can be created for free if you don’t have one). You will have to access/upload/share materials through Google Docs. A passing knowledge of Google Docs, Google Forms, and Google Spreadsheets is also helpful. You will use your own Gmail account to talk directly to the author during the editing phase.
• The ability to communicate kindly, clearly, efficiently, and effectively with the authors.
• The ability to make tough, deep edits and comments that still remain kind, respectful, and technical, not mean and not personal.
• Your own copy of Microsoft Word and knowledge of how Word’s tracking, comments, and review features work.
• A passing knowledge of Dropbox and file-sharing through uploads/links rather than through attachments. (We do not work with attachments. Everything is in the cloud. If you don’t have Dropbox and want to sign up, you can sign up for Dropbox Basic for free using our referral link here, and we will both get an extra 500 MB of space for free if you use the referral link to install the software.)
• A few hours to dedicate to editing manuscripts every week or as needed. We try to work at a gentle pace for everyone, but time required for completion of manuscripts will vary widely from book to book.
• Ability to attend virtual group meetings via Zoom or Google Meet a couple times per month.
• Access to a computer or device where you can edit manuscripts digitally and correspond online.
• Ability to be paid via direct deposit through Stripe Connect (requires a bank/credit union account).
• A desirable applicant is someone who regularly reads books and online content in multiple genres, but namely literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, to be familiar with the industry and publishing landscape.
• Discretion about manuscripts in the public sphere. You will have privileges for reading manuscripts that are not yet published, and the authors’ privacy, material, and copyrights should be respected in all public spaces.
• Editors should have thick skin and should not be prone to trigger/content warnings (although you should also be able to recognize when material may be problematic or require a content warning or require further sensitivity editing). A lot of literary material is controversial and heavy, and editors should be careful that their own experiences, traumas, and biases don’t overly inform decisions for editing. We tell you this upfront because if material is too heavy for you, then you’ll quit editing it, and that just wastes both of our time, so know in advance that some work is hard to handle.
• If you leave the position, we ask that you help with onboarding and training for the next person who replaces you.

Alternating Current Press is hiring for:

• 3 Book Editors

Payment is $80 per full-length fiction or full-length nonfiction manuscript; $60 per novella or almost-full-length fiction or nonfiction manuscript; $40 per full-length poetry manuscript; and $30 per chapbook or almost-full-length poetry manuscript, tallied upon delivery of a completely edited ARC, and paid out via direct deposit every 3 months through Stripe Connect if a minimum of $30 for a payout has been reached. You also receive a hardcover (if applicable; softcover if there is no hardcover) copy of the finished book with your editor credit inside it.

Flatiron Foothills Publications, LLC, Code of Conduct: FFP expects its authors and staff to be kind literary citizens within the industry and to conduct themselves with decency in the public sphere, which includes social-media profiles. We reserve the right to sever ties and contracts with authors or staff who target or harass others; use racist, homophobic, xenophobic, ableist, or otherwise derogatory remarks toward others in public media; publish external material that is harmful to others; or otherwise conduct themselves in a way that would reflect poorly on our imprints. Literary citizenship is important to us, and the literary community is small and tight-knit. We all need one another, and we rise by lifting others.