Business Development Acquirer, Cornerstone

Business Development Acquirer

Are you skilled at generating leads and an expert at developing meaningful professional relationships? Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit and would relish the opportunity to turn the latest trends into a lasting physical product? Have you ever thought about a career in book publishing?

We have an exciting opportunity for a proactive and ambitious Business Development Acquirer to join us at Cornerstone, one of the leading publishing houses within the Penguin family. You will help to drive growth and new acquisitions across Century non-fiction, thinking creatively to find and acquire new books directly from authors, entrepreneurs and online platforms. We aren’t looking for any prior publishing experience, just a genuine curiosity and appetite to grow the business combined with a knack for seeking out undiscovered talent and opportunities.

About the team

Cornerstone is home to seven imprints: Century, Del Rey, Inklore, Hutchinson Heinemann, #Merky Books, Cornerstone Press and Evermore and has an enviable track record of bestsellers, prize winners and culture-shaping books, working with many of the world’s most interesting voices, often throughout their entire career. Our books span genres, categories and marketplaces globally.

Century is one of the most successful and well-regarded commercial imprints in the UK. Century Non-Fiction publish books from authors who are the very best at what they do. Our authors include online creators such as Simon Squibb, Hayley Morris and Dr Karan Rajan; acclaimed figures including Gareth Southgate, Serena Williams and Tim Peake; and global artists, actors and musicians including Banksy, Al Pacino, Barbra Streisand and Will Smith. On the fiction side, we publish some of the biggest brand authors in the UK, including James Patterson, Lisa Jewell, Harlan Coben, Paige Toon, Diana Gabaldon and Rob Rinder.

The role

You will be responsible for finding and nurturing new business prospects and turning those into meaningful acquisitions for the division. Using a variety of sources and tools, you’ll be expert at uncovering new leads and chasing these down, quickly establishing trusted relationships and making smart decisions about which opportunities to pursue. You’ll get to combine your creativity, relationship building and commercial skills in a fast-paced and high-performing environment to really make a difference and help us grow the business as we diversify our approach to finding and publishing the best books.

Key responsibilities:

• Developing proactive relationships with authors, entrepreneurs and online figures, platforms and sources to directly commission books
• Honing proactive pitches and ideas to seek out new projects, networks and contacts – by phone, in-person and online
• Showing curiosity, persistence, hunger, resilience and a can-do attitude to chase down new leads ‘cold’
• Establish trusted relationships quickly in order to creatively negotiate and land book deals which may be non-traditional in approach
• Developing proposals for book ideas with Publishing Director and pitching them externally to prospective authors as well as internally at new project meetings and acquisitions meetings in order to get team buy-in
• Determining viability and profitability of acquisitions
• Dealing with negotiations around the book within agreed tactics and values before and after acquisitions meetings
• Keeping abreast of competitors and maintaining market awareness in order to adapt to changing markets and seek out new publishing opportunities
• Project managing your commissioned books, including structural editing with authors, liaising with the internal managing editorial team, and creating copy. There would be training and support offered for this editorial work
• Actively promoting and selling your books in-house
• Developing a distinctive, personal acquiring style
• Showing regular and notable success and profitability of commissioned titles from year to year

What you’ll bring

Essential criteria:

• Strong pitching skills with ability to quickly build rapport and establish credibility with new prospects
• A commercial mind-set, combining financial awareness and analytical ability
• Strong internal and external relationship management skills
• A confident negotiator who is not afraid to constructively challenge when required
• A good mix of strong creative and analytical skills
• Attention to detail
• Strong personal organisation and time management skills
• The ability to multitask and handle competing priorities
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively to a wide range of people
• A self-starter who thinks entrepreneurially
• Resilient and the ability to work under pressure
• Confident in your own judgement
• A strong team player with interpersonal sensitivity
• The ability to work autonomously using initiative

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on 11th August.

As part of your cover letter and in no more than 250 words, please tell us how you might bring your previous experience to this new role, particularly as it relates to generating new leads and turning those to meaningful commercial opportunities.

Salary

Circa £38,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

Hybrid working

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will attend the office a minimum of three days per week.

Company: Penguin Books Limited | Job ID: 281625

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