Publishing & Production Co-ordinator

Background

Book Dash is a South African not-for-profit, social impact publisher of new, high-quality African picturebooks for young children. Our overarching vision is that “Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five”. 

To that end, Book Dash gathers creative professionals who volunteer to create new, African storybooks that anyone can freely translate and distribute. We employ our unique, 12-hour publishing methodology to create beautiful new books in just one day. Then, we share the books with the world, digitally-first and then in print format for children and families to own. Book Dash started in 2014 and has achieved significant growth in the past 8 years. In 2023, we will distribute our 3 millionth book to a child. See more and read all the books at bookdash.org.

We’re known for being bold, impactful, innovative and open. For more details on our work, see bookdash.org/what-we-do/how-we-do-it. We’re based in Cape Town, but work with partners nationally and internationally for a global footprint.

Purpose

Book Dash is looking for a Publishing and Production Co-ordinator to co-ordinate our publishing and production work, including book-finishing and publishing, translation projects, file and metadata systems, and print and distribution management. 

Location

Cape Town, Woodstock. In-office position with flexibility for work-from-home options

More about the role & how to apply

Watch the video below for an idea of who we’re looking for.

Read the full job advert below, or view and download it as a PDF here.

This is a co-ordinator level, implementation role which means it requires great organisation, good judgement, flexible, analytical thinking, persistence beyond the obvious, problem-solving, gathering and presenting data in coherent formats to inform decision-making by management. The role may be consulted in management-level decision-making but will not be solely responsible for it.*

Book Dash is run by a small, high impact core team. The role would be managed primarily by the Director, but may take direction from the Executive Director and Digital Publishing Manager, and will work closely with the Administrator on certain tasks.

Book Dash has 186 original titles and an additional 515 translations in our catalogue. On average, we publish 20 new titles per year, plus about 80 new translations. We print 800,000+ books per year, working with 170+ partners all over the country, and our output is growing steadily.

Key areas of responsibility

  • Book-finishing and publication: incl. liaising with the creative teams, designer, publishing the books online
  • Translation layout project co-ordination: incl. communications between translators and briefing designers
  • Content and metadata systems: incl. updating and maintaining content and metadata systems.
  • Production/print-run management: incl. sourcing quotes, updating files as needed, approving proofs, preparing print job spec sheets and communicating with the printers.
  • Distribution and logistics management: incl. creating distribution schedules, packing sheets and communicating with printer and couriers for mostly local, country-wide deliveries.

*If the candidate has sufficient prior experience in a management-level role, this will be considered in the appointment and contracting process.

Requirements 

Qualifications & experience

  • 4+ years’ experience working in an office environment in a similar role
  • Excellent computer skills. Specifically:
    • Experience working with a form of  the below (specific training will be provided)
      • publishing/title-management system (e.g. Bookmaster, Consonance)
      • project-management systems (e.g. Trello, Asana, Monday.com, BaseCamp)
      • content-management systems, filing taxonomies and naming conventions (AWS, Dropbox, Google Drive)
    • Great knowledge of Acrobat Pro, and a working knowledge of InDesign, Photoshop and/or Illustrator would be advantageous.
    • Working knowledge and experience with Google Workspace or Microsoft Office (specifically Excel/Google Sheet – working with formulas, filtering, VLOOKUP, macros etc)
  • Unendorsed Code 08/B driving licence

Competencies and personal qualities

Our ideal candidate

  • is a calm, positive, approachable person who thinks systematically and can communicate information both clearly and sensitively (verbally and in writing)
  • can liaise comfortably with everyone in the Book Dash publishing and production chain: from creative volunteers and designers to couriers and printers
  • takes pride in their work, is technically-skilled, proactive, curious and meticulous
  • derives satisfaction from working within and maintaining well-run, efficient systems and projects and enjoys finding neat solutions to problems as they arise
  • works well in a small team, but can also work independently by managing their time and priorities according to discussions with the rest of the team
  • has a high degree of integrity and is willing to get involved outside of specific areas of responsibility where needed, to support Book Dash’s mandate
  • is generally a happy presence, has a sense of humour and a passion for the work that Book Dash does

All Book Dash team members are guided by the Code of Conduct to which they agree. 

Applying

Email the following information to team@bookdash.org with your full name and “Publishing & Production Co-ordinator” as the subject line:

  • Name & Surname
  • City of residence
  • 1-2 page letter of motivation: This should highlight why you’re best-suited for this role, and mention all skills, experience and education that would make you the perfect fit.
  • Attach an up-to-date CV with references & contact details. Note that we will only refer to CVs for shortlisted candidates, so anything you’d like us to know needs to be in your written letter of motivation.

Book Dash strives to be a diverse and equitable organisation. Preference will be given to South African black candidates as defined by the B-BBEE Act. 

Timelines

  • Applications are open from 1 March until midnight SAST on Sunday 19 March 2023
  • Interviews & practical assessments are planned for 27 March 2023
  • Please accept your application as unsuccessful if you have not heard from us by 1 April 2023

Offer & Compensation

Exact start date, salary offer and additional benefits will be discussed with the preferred candidate informed by experience and skillset.