Editorial Project Management

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Managing editorial projects brings many risks and challenges, but also rewards. This in-depth course will help you to use both traditional and Agile project management techniques to navigate your way successfully through each stage of your projects.

Clear explanations of best practice theories and terminology, combined with hands-on experience, will give you the tools to effectively manage your print and digital editorial projects.

The course promotes active learning and uses a blended approach of self-study, interactive activities, group work and an in-depth editorial case study to guide you through the practical tasks.

Using the case study as the core, students take a step-by-step approach to setting up and running a project, learning how to handle issues that arise along the way. How to estimate costs, manage your budget, maintain profitability, control costs, assign tasks and document processes are all covered.

At the end of the course, you will have gained skills and knowledge to put into practice immediately. Plus, you will have access to a suite of templates and documentation to help keep your editorial projects running smoothly and profitably from start to finish.

Please note that this course focuses exclusively on editorial projects. If you have a non-editorial role and want to gain an understanding of general, non-editorial projects, we recommend Introduction to Project Management.

Who is it for?

Editorial Project Managers
Editors
Desk Editors
Project Editors
Production Editors
Managing Editors who are responsible for the management of complete editorial projects

What will you achieve?

On completing this course you will be able to:

assess the scope, needs and risks of an editorial project
set up robust processes to maintain and document progress and issues
accurately estimate timings to produce a detailed and reliable schedule
create and maintain the project budget to ensure profitability
effectively manage and communicate with your team and other stakeholders, wherever they are

Programme

Before the first session, you will be sent details of the editorial case study that forms the central example for the course. Completing the tasks will take 30 minutes and is required before attending on Day 1. There will also be homework tasks set between the three days, each requiring around 30 minutes' study time.

Day 1

Setting up a successful project

Leading a project – skills, accountability and responsibility
Understanding goals and objectives
Determining workflow and dependencies
Assessing and mitigating risk

Managing content and processes

Documenting progress, content and issues
Managing complex, multi-part projects
Working for continual improvement

Day 2

Managing your time and tasks

Agile techniques to keep on track
Defining and prioritising tasks

Scheduling

Estimating and allocating time
Mitigating delay and why
Scheduling tools and tips
Linking dependencies

Day 3

Budgeting

Estimating costs
Understanding profitability
Using contingency
Keeping to budget

Working with suppliers

Negotiating fees
Briefing suppliers – local and offshore
When things don’t go to plan

Talking teams

Roles and communication
Leading virtual teams

How the course is delivered

The course consists of three x 3.5-hour sessions, each a mixture of delivery and interaction using Zoom breakout rooms and other online tools. There will be breaks in the session with the opportunity to do exercises and take a break. The course will run on from 9am to 12.30pm on each day.

You will need to activate a free Zoom account to join the course. This takes two minutes and does not require any payment. It is purely for administrative purposes.

Any information to be completed beforehand will be sent via email.

If you have any concerns about technical requirements or access please contact us on courses@publishingtrainingcentre.co.uk or telephone (+44) 020 8874 2718.

Delegate feedback

“The course has boosted my confidence and given me the tools to take the next step in my career. The content was relevant and delivered professionally. I felt supported during the more challenging exercises, and enjoyed the presentation and working on the case studies with the other attendees. I highly recommend it!” Freelance editor and author

“I enjoyed the course and have gained a high level project management understanding which is relevant to my editorial work.” The Physiological Society delegate

“It was really helpful to learn ways for scheduling and budgeting a project. I learnt how to think about risk assessment and how this can help with mitigating any problems to schedule/budget/team etc.” National Trust delegate

“The course was great and had the ideal blend of presentations and activities. Sarah is a very personable and informed tutor. The documentation provided will streamline my processes.” University of Southampton delegate

“I enjoyed the course and felt it achieved a good balance of pace between input and practical exercises done with the other editors. I feel able to plan my work better and have gained confidence in my abilities as an editor and potential project editor.” Editor, Calon Wellbeing Publishing

“I have little experience of project management and this gave a great overview. I really benefitted from the scheduling spreadsheets, pomodoro technique, and the budgeting information.” Gill Books delegate

“Our tutor was excellent. I’ve gained some useful tools to better manage my time and project schedules.” Carlong Publishers Limited delegate

“I absolutely loved it. Sarah is amazing. I can't compliment her enough and am incredibly thankful for how she delivered the course. I’ve gained a better understanding of streamlining and automating key processes.” Science Development Editor, York Press

“I really enjoyed the course and now have a better framework to do things in a more structured way.” IMG delegate

“Sarah is a fantastic tutor and adapted the course to the virtual set up very well. The polls, breakout groups and interactive sections were well balanced with the presentation sections. All the content was relevant and useful. I now have the confidence, skills and ideas to manage current and future projects; knowledge of budgeting and how to schedule using Excel; a sense of the wider publishing world from discussions in breakout groups; and an understanding of the Pomodoro technique for time/distraction management!” Cicerone Press delegate

“I enjoyed the course a lot and felt engaged and interested. I have a renewed sense that being on top of things is achievable, and some practical tips and tools to help keep projects on track and in budget.” Poetry Translation Centre delegate

“Very good course, run by a knowledgeable and dynamic tutor. It combines theoretical and practical parts (with breakout sessions), and worked well in the virtual context. The choice of topics covered is diverse and interesting. I enjoyed it a lot, also thanks to the very motivated other participants. Immediate skills gained include planning of projects, risks assessment, use of excel functionalities, other methods.” Publications and Digital Communication, EMCDDA

About the tutor(s)

Since 1999, Sarah Sodhi has proofed, tagged, bound, corrected, edited, managed, commissioned, subbed, scheduled, estimated and produced a great deal of content – from interactive, multi-media resources to marketing leaflets, from monthly magazines to 900-page medical tomes.

Starting her career at a small medical publisher in Oxford, Sarah produced medical textbooks, journals and a bi-monthly magazine. She then moved into the public sector to work for an adult education charity, introducing formal scheduling procedures, progress-chasing systems and detailed budgets. After this, she immersed herself in the education sector, editing and managing digital and print resources for primary, secondary and adult education publishers.

Sarah has been involved in the following projects:

Oxford International Computing for Primary and Lower Secondary – Publishing a 12-book computing textbook series to coincide with the launch of a brand-new curriculum. Coordinating a multi-author team, a large freelance editorial team and design professionals, both in-house and off-shore.
Scholastic's Disgusting Poems Anthology – Relaunching a successful 10-book poetry series, involving a redesign, commissioning more than 800 new artworks and clearance of 800 copyright licences.
Twenty First Century GCSE Science – Coordinating the authoring, editing and development of over 2000 online interactive resources to support the suite of print and digital blended learning materials.

For more information about any of these courses, please email courses@publishingtrainingcentre.co.uk or sign up to receive our newsletter for updates on these and our other offerings.

Please read our Terms & Conditions

Session 1: 24 January 2022 | Session 2: 26 January 2022 | Session 3: 28 January 2022 (mornings only)

Monday, 24 January 2022

Monday, 11 July 2022

Monday, 10 October 2022

£650+VAT

A number of discounts are available

Date information for future sessions

January 2022

Dates: 24, 26 & 28 January 2022
Times: Each session will run from 9.00am-12.30pm

July 2022

Dates: 11, 13 & 15 July 2022
Times: Each session will run from 9.00am-12.30pm

October 2022

Dates: 10, 12 & 14 October 2022
Times: Each session will run from 9.00am-12.30pm

Course format

Virtual classroom
9.00am to 12.30pm
Three x 3.5 hour sessions including breaks, comprising three half-day sessions on three days

A number of discounts are available

Enrol on this course

What you will need

To join the course, you will need access to a computer or laptop with a camera and microphone. You will need to activate a free Zoom account to join the course. This takes two minutes and does not require any payment. It is purely for administrative purposes.

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