Editorial Manager

Description

Who We Are

Founded in 1926, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation is a private, not-for-profit educational, historic, and cultural institution that owns and operates one of the largest and best-known museum complexes in the world. Our mission is “that the future may learn from the past” through preserving and restoring 18th-century Williamsburg, Virginia’s colonial capital. We engage, inform, and inspire people to learn about this historic capital, the events that occurred here, and the diverse peoples who helped shape a new nation.

Today, Colonial Williamsburg is the largest living history museum in the U.S. The Historic Area is the 301-acre restored colonial capital with 88 original buildings and 525 buildings reconstructed to how they appeared in the 18th century through extensive archaeological, architectural, and documentary research. The Historic Area is staffed by highly trained, historically dressed interpreters and expert tradespeople who bring the 18th century to life. The Foundation also owns and operates two world-class museums, the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, The Bob and Marion Wilson Teacher Institute, and a renowned research library, the John D Rockefeller Jr Library.

Additionally, Colonial Williamsburg is home to five world class accommodations at the Williamsburg Inn, Williamsburg Lodge Autograph Collection, the Griffin Hotel, the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotels and Suites and the unique Colonial Houses in the Historical Area. Visitors may also indulge in food and drink at our many on site restaurants and taverns that blend a historically inspired dining experience with today’s evolved tastes. Each year over 5 million people visit Williamsburg and another 20 million engage with us digitally.

About the Position

The Editorial Manager oversees editorial content for the Publication divisions’ book program as well as Trend & Tradition: The Magazine of Colonial Williamsburg, a quarterly magazine distributed primarily to donors to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and which is also sold on local newsstands.

For both books and the magazine, the Editorial Manager is expected to be a leader in a collaborative creative process, working in concert with the vice president of communications, Creative Director, and graphic artists, production manager, staff and freelance writers, editors and photographers to ensure smooth and on-time production. The Editorial Manager maintains an editorial book schedule for writing and editing.

The Editorial Manager determines, in concert with the vice president of communications, the editorial direction for selected book projects, and assigns writers, editors and indexers, handling contracts when necessary. The Editorial Manager also makes story assignments for the magazine and coordinates written contributions from participating Foundation departments, and supervises the flow of written content. The Editorial Manager has editing and proofing responsibilities for books, along with supervision of the internal vetting process. The Editorial Manager functions as both a writer and content editor for the magazine, and initiates and coordinates additional editing by content and copy editors. The Editorial Manager participates in the magazine’s production process by writing headlines and photo captions for all feature stories and copy for various department features in the magazine, disseminating stories for vetting, and engaging in final proofing of magazine galleys.

The Editorial Manager supervises a staff of writers and editors. The Editorial Manager also participates in the development of complementary web features and social media, and seeks cross-promotional opportunities for web, video, podcast and magazine content through other Foundation partners, including the Innovation Studios, Public Relations and Social Media. The Editorial Manager handles any editorial contracts for freelance work that may be required for the magazine and handles any administrative work to initiate payment.

Essential Functions:

Editorial Oversight

1. Conceives new book projects in concert with colleagues in Publications and across the Foundation.

2. Maintains editorial schedules for selected book projects in concert with the vice president of communications and staff writers.

3. Performs editing and proofing for selected book projects.

4. Works in collaboration with the artistic director, graphic artists and the production manager to provide captions and related materials for book projects.

5. Works with production manager and retail partner Aramark to reprint Colonial Williamsburg books, based on sales history and demand.

6. In concert with the vice president of communications, helps establish the editorial direction for each Trend & Tradition quarterly magazine issue.

7. Assigns magazine stories to Foundation writers and freelance writers. Also writes feature stories and magazine department copy as needed.

8. Coordinates with Foundation colleagues who provide information for magazine sections.

9. Manages magazine copy flow to ensure that key deadlines are met, including initiating vetting of stories by Research, Art Museums, and subject-matter experts across the Foundation.

10. Reviews content for clarity and accuracy at each stage of the editorial process, and through the layout and production stages. Provides editing and rewrite direction to writers.

11. Collaborates with art director, graphic designers and photographers to develop creative illustration of print feature stories and magazine cover art.

12. Maintains editorial process guidelines and calendars for current and subsequent magazine issues.

13. Monitors the magazine’s editorial quality, reviewing and editing copy for consistent style, tone, grammar and a high level of quality, adhering to Associated Press Style and any Foundation-specific style guidelines.

14. Seeks opportunities to cross-promote content across multiple platforms, including web, video, podcasts and social media. Works with the production manager and artistic director to provide needed collateral material for magazine features that appear on colonialwilliamsburg.org.

15. Handles administrative duties attached to the payment of freelance writers, including the initiation of contracts and invoices.

16. Provides editing and proofreading support to the vice president of communications on an as-needed basis.

Required and Preferred Education and Experience:

Required: