Job Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Press Officer to join our award-winning team and work on publicity campaigns on our Del Rey and Century lists. This is a newly created role with a focus on genre fiction: science fiction & fantasy, crime and thriller and romance and we are looking for a candidate with a genuine passion for commercial books.

About Cornerstone

Cornerstone publishes books that connect with people. We love discovering new voices, unearthing stories and taking them to new audiences. For us, it\xe2\x80\x99s about using our enthusiasm and expertise to bring great storytelling on all kinds of subjects to as many people as possible. Cornerstone is made up of Century, Hutchinson Heinemann, #Merky Books, Del Rey and Cornerstone Press. We publish a fantastic range of both fiction and non-fiction titles across commercial and literary lists. Our authors include Taylor Jenkins-Reid, Chris van Tulleken, Tom Hanks, Lisa Jewell, Robert Harris, Naomi Novik, Holly Black, Katherine Arden, Andy Weir, Hugh Howey, Katee Robert, Danielle Jensen, Paige Toon, as well as franchise publishing including Star Wars, D&D, Marvel, and many, many more \xe2\x80\x93 so no one day is the same as the next!

The opportunity

In this role, you will be responsible for running campaigns focussed on our genre fiction lists (romance, crime/thriller, science fiction, fantasy and manga/graphic novels) with the support of a wider, collaborative publicity team. You will get to work with some of the most creative publishing colleagues in the business, learning from a team of experts in a friendly and inclusive environment that values individuality, champions creativity, and celebrates individual and team successes. You will be involved in every stage of the publishing process from early acquisitions meetings to devising and executing campaign plans and much more.

You\xe2\x80\x99ll work to secure coverage across print, broadcast and online outlets to drive sales for our books, and a key element of this role will be connecting with the online communities and building on our connections within the Instagram, TikTok and wider book loving communities across social media. You will also be expected to set up events and bookshop tours for various authors, as well as assisting on the delivery of our convention and festival programmes.

You can expect to:

• Develop and implement publicity campaigns
• Initiate and maintain relationships with journalists, festival and events organisers, social media bloggers and influencers
• Write press releases; create targeted mailing lists; place features, interviews and reviews across broadcast, print and online media
• Plan and schedule events, signings, and festival appearances such as ComicCon, YALC, Waterstones BookFest days etc
• Liaise with external teams and stakeholders for our franchise publishing including Star Wars
• Communicate effectively with authors and agents, including presenting campaign plans and results
• Manage your campaign budgets: estimating costs, staying within budget and processing invoices
• Read acquisitions and provide feedback from a PR angle
• Undertake general administrative tasks as required to support the department, eg maintaining databases, catalogue mailings, seasonal press releases

This role involves regular out of hours work on weekends and evenings in order to attend events and media.

What you\xe2\x80\x99ll bring

You will have a solid grounding in publicity (at least one year of experience) with excellent communication skills to develop key media contacts and build relationships. It will be a fun and busy role \xe2\x80\x93 we need someone who has strong organisation and time management skills, can work both independently and in a team and remains calm under pressure. You\xe2\x80\x99ll also be a creative individual who isn\xe2\x80\x99t afraid to think outside of the box and will enjoy thinking about innovative ways to create buzz for our books. Skills in social media channel management and content creation are a plus, and a strong understanding and passion for genre fiction.

If you have a keen interest in building your publicity career and are passionate about commercial fiction, this could be the role for you!

How to apply

If this sounds like you and you\xe2\x80\x99re ready for the challenge, please apply with your CV and Cover Letter by 23:59 on Friday 8th September.

About Penguin

We\xe2\x80\x99re the UK\xe2\x80\x99s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you\xe2\x80\x99ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

Salary: up to \xc2\xa332,000 depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus benefits.

Competitive benefits package: Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition.

Our benefits include:

Financial \xe2\x80\x93 discounted shopping, season ticket loan, rental deposit loan

Wellbeing - healthcare cash plan, employee assistance, gym loan

Lifestyle \xe2\x80\x93 taste card, tech scheme, free and discounted books

For our full benefits list please visit:

Hybrid working: We\xe2\x80\x99re experimenting with a hybrid way of working that suits the needs of each team. While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will attend in person meetings and events across the week. We are open to discussing this through the recruitment process.

The recruitment process: You can read about our recruitment process at

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.

We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing . Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.

Company: Penguin Books Limited

Country: United Kingdom

State/Region: London

City: London

Postal Code: SW1V

Job ID: 263169

Penguin Books