Description:
The Managing Editor, Ploughshares position reports to the Editor-In-Chief and will manage the staff, production, circulation, marketing, revenue generation, and operations of the journal, in addition to providing oversight with strategic involvement of financial management, fundraising, and event planning. This position will conduct all activities with the overall aim of protecting the journal's reputation, financial health, and devoted readership to sustain its longevity. This is an important role that requires strong project management skills, and the ability to collaborate well with other internal and external stakeholders.
ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES
- Hire, supervise, schedule, and evaluate staff, identifying evolving staffing needs and overseeing staff training.
- Serve as both "macro-level" and "micro-level" project manager for all staff projects, creating project deadlines and keeping all staff on deadline.
- Develop and provide strategy for the completion of all job functions, serving as point person for all questions related to staff job functions.
- Anticipate the flow of circulation across the year and across multiple years for strategic planning.
- Project paper needs and maintain relationship with the printer to maintain access to paper supply.
- Identify shipment and storage needs and create solutions with staff and printer.
- Conceptualize, strategize, and project managing all direct mail and renewal campaigns to maximize subscriber acquisition and retention.
- Oversee the development of marketing strategy, overseeing the Emerging Writer's Contest, ideating and overseeing brand partnerships, overseeing the submission of award nominees, project managing festival attendance, analyzing audience and traffic data, and adjusting strategy in response.
- Oversee brand parameters and adherence to them.
- Provide direction for the deployment of social media, newsletter, and other communications.
- Identify opportunities for business development, focusing on product, content packaging (subscription offerings), and pricing.
- Oversee the development of the annual, two-year, three-year, and five-year budgets, anticipating potential problems and opportunities for business development and expense needs.
- Oversee fundraising strategy, editing fundraising communications, collaborating and strategizing with other personnel and departments on fundraising goals and events.
- Apply to the National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and smaller grant programs; administer and report on grants.
- Manage contract content, identifying problems and opportunities, and negotiating rights with agents and permissions-seekers.
- Liaise with the college's Legal department to develop contract templates and other one-off legal needs.
- Liaise with the college's Web Services and IT departments to identify website and email issues, and to collaborate on the development of web structure and capabilities.
- Serve as Blog Editor, developing editorial strategy for blog.pshares.org, recruiting and hiring additional blog editors and contributors, creating annual blog editorial calendar, doing developmental, substantive, paragraph, and line editing on all blog posts, and setting copy-editing guidelines.
- Perform other miscellaneous duties as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Master's Degree in Marketing or English or equivalent experience strongly preferred.
- 3-5 years of publishing experience required. Experience in magazine publishing preferred
- Exceptional accuracy and attention to detail required
- Author of published works preferred
- Experience of higher education teaching preferred
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
- Deep knowledge of publishing
- Basic editing skills
- Understanding of the power and the perils of social media as a marketing tool
- Sensitivity to the tens of thousands of varied stakeholders in Ploughshares, including, but not limited to, subscribers, submitters, writers, donors, board members, bloggers, blog readers, and college administrators.
- Big picture thinker with great ability to manage multiple projects and people
- Strong grasp of subscription campaigns, budgets, and contemporary literature
- Ability to anticipate and avoid problems that could cost the publication's reputation
- Proficiency in data analysis
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills and the ability to communicate in writing to many demographics and stakeholders
- Ability to assess short and long term goals and priorities and to strategize plans to achieve these goals
- Strong organizational skills and excellent problem solving and decision-making skills
- Basic knowledge of web development
- Basic knowledge of contract language and negotiating