JOBS AT JOFFE

COVER DESIGNER, 12-MONTH CONTRACT (MATERNITY COVER)

Joffe Books is looking for a talented cover designer with extensive experience working on commercial fiction books. This is a twelve-month contract.

At Joffe Books, we are a small, passionate and collaborative team that cares deeply about our authors and our readers.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work in-house, in our fabulous Shoreditch office, and work closely with our editorial, production and marketing teams to produce outstanding covers.

The successful candidate will be responsible for designing book covers for eBook, print on demand (POD) and trade paperback formats. They will be working across a wide-ranging list of commercial fiction titles, with a focus on crime and thrillers.

We are looking for a highly organized and creative cover designer, who can hit the ground running and who thrives in a dynamic entrepreneurial environment.

Salary: £30,000-£35,000 per annum (depending on experience)

Key duties include but are not limited to:

  • Designing book covers for single titles and box sets, for eBook and paperback formats.

  • Working across fiction and non-fiction, but with an emphasis on crime and thrillers.

  • Doing picture research and image licensing.

  • Providing the team with insights into cover design trends for key commercial fiction genres, to inform cover briefing and packaging decisions.

Experience / skills required:

  • Extensive cover design experience across commercial fiction genres, especially crime fiction.

  • Experience designing covers for the digital market, and a solid understanding of eBook cover design best practices.

  • Proven track record of creating covers for bestselling titles.

  • A keen and critical eye for emerging book cover market trends.

  • A proven ability to manage competing deadlines, a large workload, and to deliver projects on time and to brief.

  • Experience contributing creatively to cover design briefs and ideas.

  • Excellent Adobe skills, particularly with InDesign, Photoshop and Acrobat.

  • Excellent attention to detail with very strong communication and organizational skills.

  • Meticulous file organization to ensure key files are uploaded to the relevant systems on time.

  • A proactive can-do attitude and a great team player, with the ability to work independently.

  • Cover design experience in non-fiction a plus but not mandatory.

Our benefits include:

  • 10 a.m. – 4.30 p.m. office hours; great for work/life balance

  • Hybrid working pattern with 3 days in the office

  • Flexible work opportunities, if required

  • 25 days paid holiday per year, plus bank holidays

  • Mental health days

  • Pension scheme

  • Company culture! Including staff-nominated charitable giving, access to publishing resources, access to professional training and development, publishing events, being heard and encouraged to innovate, and a shared love for pets, pizzas and pastries!

We are an equal opportunities employer and are committed to making publishing more diverse. We encourage applications from anyone of any background, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, age, ability or socio-economic status. We strive to be a company where you will thrive.

If this sounds exciting, we would love to hear from you!

Please email your CV and a link to your portfolio or example of your work to work@joffebooks.com, stating the job reference in the subject line ‘JB COVER DESIGNER’ by Monday 25th November 2024. Priority for interview will be given to early applicants.

Contact name: Victoria Sigle
Email: work@joffebook.com

About Joffe Books

Joffe Books is one of the UK’s leading independent publishers, specializing in crime fiction, with a huge international audience. We really care about our authors and our readers, and have built a company defined by those relationships. We are proud to publish talented first-time authors, as well as established writers whose books we love introducing to a new generation of readers. Everyone at Joffe Books loves reading and we never forget that it all begins with the magic of an author telling a story. We won Trade Publisher of the Year at the Independent Publishing Awards in 2023 and Best Publisher Award in 2024 at the People’s Book Prize. We have been shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards for the last five years, and were shortlisted for the Diversity and Inclusivity Award at the 2022 Independent Publishing Awards. In 2023 we were shortlisted for Publisher of the Year at the RNA Industry Awards, and in 2024 we were shortlisted at the CWA Daggers for the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher.

FREELANCE MANUSCRIPT FORMATTERS

We are looking for freelancers who can help us on a regular basis to format previously published manuscripts for eBook publication. You would need to format documents into Lume Books style using Microsoft Word, setting up Table of Contents and using PerfectIt software to check for accuracy and text inconsistencies.

Training will be given but good knowledge of using Word Styles, Macros and Wildcards and PerfectIt software would be a bonus.

PLEASE NOTE, THERE IS NO PROOFREADING OR LINE EDITING INVOLVED IN THIS ROLE.

Skills and experience:

  • Experience in book production or manuscript formatting.

  • Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Word, including understanding and using Macros.

  • Knowledge of setting up Table of Contents, creating links and bookmarks within a document.

  • Great attention to detail and meticulous organization.

If this sounds like you, please email work@joffebooks.com with your CV and a short outline of your experience and your availability. Please put ‘LB FREELANCE FORMATTER’ and your name in the subject line.

Competitive rates to be negotiated.

FREELANCE COVER DESIGNERS, EDITORS AND PROOFREADERS

If you are an experienced freelance designer, editor or proofreader with an interest in crime fiction and commercial fiction, and you think you would be a good fit for Joffe Books, please email your CV to work@joffebooks.com.

Please include in the subject line ‘JB DESIGNER / EDITOR / PROOFREADER’, as applicable.

Joffe Books is committed to building a diverse workforce that reflects the varied communities that read our books across the world. We encourage applications from all individuals, regardless of age, religion, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or social background.