How to find your ideal editorial project manager

If you're publishing a book or report that's particularly complex or has multiple stages or components, you might need more than just a single editor or proofreader. Enter the editorial project manager. This person can design processes; create and monitor schedules and budgets; coordinate authors, freelancers and other stakeholders; and generally problem-solve and keep your project moving.

But where do you start if you haven't worked with an editorial project manager before? How do you find a person or organization that will best suit your requirements in terms of quality, cost, scalability and oversight?

Broadly, editorial project management models can be categorized into three types: 

• Freelance
• In-house
• Vendor

This article considers potential advantages and disadvantages of each type, plus some grey areas.

But first, some definitions:

• Publisher refers to the entity that ultimately owns the publishing project. This might be a traditional publishing house, a business, a charity, a public sector organization, an author, or indeed anybody or anything. The point is that they initiated the project and are funding it.
• Project manager refers to the person contracted by the publisher to plan and oversee whatever editorial stages are required to create the final form of the published work (e.g. developmental editing, design, photography, copyediting, typesetting, proofreading and indexing).
• Suppliers are individuals and businesses who receive briefs from the project manager to provide specialist services at specific points during the project (such as for typesetting or proofreading). They may be contracted and paid by the publisher or by the project manager.

In practice, of course, the situation is less clear-cut than the division above implies – for example, an in-house project manager may manage several suppliers directly but also engage a vendor project manager to manage a subset of suppliers. Nevertheless, it can be useful to keep these definitions in mind.

Each of the three project manager models – freelance, in-house and vendor – has advantages, disadvantages and grey areas where the specific circumstances will determine what's best.

Freelance editorial project manager

In this model, the publisher contracts an individual project manager to oversee whatever stages are required. The freelancer is handed responsibility for delivering the project to an agreed standard and according to the publisher’s requirements, which may vary considerably from project to project.

Advantages

• The publisher is contracting an specific identifiable person to carry out the work. They can therefore research this person in detail before beginning a discussion with them, and can allocate projects according to the person’s specific skillset. It is also always possible to talk directly with the person doing the work if problems arise (unlike in a vendor project management setup, where the project manager and the account manager may not be the same person).
• Most freelance editorial project managers start work as editors or proofreaders, so they have deep knowledge of the industry. They know what to look for in suppliers and can reliably assess the quality of suppliers’ work.
• Freelance project managers can become flexible extensions of in-house teams – a close understanding of each other’s working practices can be developed, but at the same time there is usually no obligation to use the freelancer except when required.
• Freelance project managers are likely to have broad experience with a variety of clients, sectors and editorial styles. As a result, they can usually offer significant problem-solving skills and new workflow solutions.
• A good freelance project manager should be strongly invested in the quality of a project – it is easy for publishers to go elsewhere if a freelance project manager doesn’t deliver. Equally, a freelance project manager is likely to have a relatively small number of projects on the go, which means they can devote considerable personal attention to each one.
• Setting up a relationship with a freelance editorial project manager is a comparatively quick and easy way to get external resources on board when required. Equally, if the publisher doesn’t like the work of the freelancer, it is usually easy for them to go elsewhere (there is unlikely to be a long-term contract).
• The project manager may sometimes fulfil one of the editorial supplier roles (e.g. copyediting) themselves. This can create efficiencies and avoid potential complications (and therefore quality issues) on complex projects.
• The freelance mentality can be a huge bonus. Self-motivation and thinking ahead are the lifeblood of freelancers' businesses, and a good freelance editorial project manager will be a proactive, energetic partner.

Disadvantages

• The project manager is external to the publisher’s organization and so may not have quick access to key decision-makers when queries arise.
• Accountability and lines of reporting need to be handled carefully, especially if a supplier is briefed by the freelance project manager and paid by the publisher. Accountability may also vary according to whether the project manager has free choice of suppliers or chooses from a list approved by the publisher.
• If the project manager also acts as a supplier of services (e.g. copyediting), there is no separate entity to quality-check the copyeditor’s work. (A scrupulous project manager should be aware of this possibility and take measures to check their own work, but it is still a potential loophole.)
• Freelancers are likely to have less capacity than vendor project managers.
• If a new service is required that the project manager can’t offer, there may be a need to change suppliers altogether (in contrast, a vendor project manager may be more likely to be able to bring in a new resource to fill the gap).

Grey areas

• Some freelance project managers are happy to engage and pay suppliers directly on the publisher’s behalf (with the publisher paying the project manager an overall project fee). Others prefer the publisher to pay suppliers directly, which could be a problem for a publisher.

If you've already decided you need a freelance editorial project manager but you're not sure what to do next, I've provided a step-by-step process in my article How to hire a freelance editorial project manager.

In-house editorial project manager

In this model, an employee of the publisher manages projects as the whole or part of their day-to-day job. They engage suppliers as required, but the core responsibility for delivering the project remains within the publisher.

Advantages

• An in-house editorial project manager may have a high level of investment in the quality and long-term development of the publishing programme, as it is ‘theirs’.
• They know the publisher’s requirements and style inside out (and may even have developed them). Requirements can also be changed without the need to communicate externally, with a relatively high level of flexibility.
• They have direct access to the project’s owners within the business (i.e. the individual or department that commissioned the project) and so may be able to get queries resolved more quickly than an external project manager.
• The publisher has direct relationships with suppliers, meaning there is no risk of losing access to trusted suppliers by changing project manager.
• There are clear lines of accountability: the publisher hires all suppliers directly.

Disadvantages

• In this model, the publisher pays all suppliers directly, meaning more staff time is taken up with managing contracts and payments.
• If the publishing programme has variable throughput, project managers may find themselves with little to do during quiet periods.
• In-house editorial project managers’ day-to-day perspectives are necessarily more limited to their own organization: investment in training may be required to keep them up to date with new techniques and trends.

Grey areas

• If the in-house project manager doesn’t have direct experience of the editorial world, they may require training and on-the-job experience before they can reliably choose and manage suppliers, and provide quality control.

Vendor (typesetter/designer) editorial project manager

In this model, the publisher contracts with a large publishing services provider (traditionally a typesetter or design agency) to manage the project and engage suppliers as required.

It’s important not to lump all vendor project managers into one category – some are enormous global enterprises working on hundreds of projects at once, whereas others are small entities that are in fact much closer to freelance project managers in how they operate. The advantages and disadvantages will therefore vary considerably according to the specific nature of the vendor.

Advantages

• An organization with its roots in typesetting or design will have strong knowledge of the design and layout aspects of a publication and so is likely to anticipate and avoid issues in those areas.
• Vendor project managers often contract suppliers directly, with the publisher paying the vendor a set amount. This can save publishers hassle (dealing with suppliers) and be financially advantageous.
• Larger vendors can handle huge numbers of projects and can quickly draw on significant resources, giving publishers flexibility with their throughput.
• Larger vendor project managers see the publishing industry from multiple angles and may have considerable breadth and depth of experience. 
• Vendor project managers are responsible for their own staff training.

Disadvantages

• The project manager is external to the publisher’s organization and so may not have quick access to key decision-makers when queries arise.
• Because larger vendors handle vast numbers of projects, individual projects may lack the detailed attention they might receive from an in-house or freelance project manager.
• The publisher has no or reduced control of the suppliers who are engaged, and so has less influence on quality.
• If their specialist area is design or typesetting, a vendor may have a lower level of knowledge of the intricacies of editing and style. As a consequence, they may need to escalate more editorial queries to the publisher than a freelance project manager would.
• Because larger vendors may work on many projects and with many suppliers, there may be less flexibility around quickly or frequently making changes to documentation (e.g. on the publisher’s requirements or style).
• The publisher has no control over staff turnover or training.

Grey areas

• Supplier accountability needs to be made clear: do suppliers ultimately report to the publisher or the project manager? This may especially be an issue if suppliers are paid by the vendor but asked to follow guidance documents created by the publisher.

Choose the editorial project manager who's right for you

When setting up or expanding an editorial project management model, it is important to consider your options carefully. For larger publishers, the scale and resources vendors offer can be indispensable. And many publishers will find a close-knit and dedicated in-house team to be a huge asset.

I will of course admit to a certain amount of bias as a freelance editorial project manager myself. But I have also worked in-house and collaborated with many vendor editorial project managers. Since I started out in publishing in 2007, I have seen many examples of how freelancers can provide resource flexibility while at the same time offering a dynamic and engaged service that is tailored to the client's requirements. Engaging a trusted freelance editorial project manager can give you access to new ideas and hard-earned experience swiftly and without any need for a long-term commitment.

In short, a freelancer can be your shortcut to a top-quality editorial project management programme that adapts to the world around you.

If you're interesting in engaging a PRINCE2 Practitioner qualified freelance editorial project manager for a non-fiction project, check out my editorial project management services.