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Virtual Classroom

Editorial Project Management

Develop your editorial project management skills and learn how to plan and complete editorial projects effectively, on time and on budget.
DATES

19.10, 21.10 & 23.10.2026

TIME

9.00am–12.30pm

FORMAT

Virtual classroom via Zoom

WHAT'S INCLUDED

  • 3 training sessions
  • Completion certificate
  • CIEP membership upgrade

PRICE

£720 + VAT
£620 + VAT

See available discounts
Looking for training for your team?
This course is also offered as Team Training for organisations.

Why should I take this course?

Managing editorial projects brings risks and challenges but also rewards – whether you work in-house or freelance. This course will give you the confidence to navigate your way successfully through each stage of your project.
Clear explanations of best-practice theory and terminology, combined with hands-on practical experience, will give you the tools to effectively manage both print and digital editorial projects.

The course promotes active learning, using a blended approach of self-study, interactive activities, group work and an in-depth editorial case study to guide you through the practical tasks required for the job.

You will learn how to set up a project, handle issues and changes, manage resources and prioritise effectively.

At the end of the course, you will have gained skills and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. Plus, you will have access to a suite of templates and documentation to help keep your editorial projects running smoothly and successfully from start to finish.

Note that this course focuses exclusively on editorial projects. If you have a non-editorial role and want to gain an understanding of general, non-editorial projects, we recommend Introduction to Project Management.



Benefits

Control how you learn and progress

Who is it for?

Anyone who manages editorial projects, in-house or freelance, including:
  • desk editors
  • editorial project managers
  • editors
  • freelance editors
  • managing editors who are responsible for the management of complete editorial projects
  • production editors
  • project editors.

Learning outcomes

On completing this course you'll be able to:
  • assess the scope, needs and risks of an editorial project
  • set up robust processes to maintain and document progress and issues
  • accurately estimate timings to produce a detailed and reliable schedule
  • create and maintain the project budget to ensure profitability
  • effectively manage and communicate with your team and other stakeholders, wherever they are.

Programme

Day 1 

Session 1: Setting up a successful project   

  • Leading a project – skills, accountability and responsibility  
  • Understanding goals and objectives 
  • Determining workflow and dependencies 
  • Assessing and mitigating risk 


Session 2: Managing content and processes  

  • Documenting progress, content and issues 
  • Managing complex, multi-part projects  
  • Working for continual improvement  



Day 2 

Session 3: Managing your time and tasks  

  • Techniques to keep on track
  • Defining and prioritising tasks 


Session 4: Scheduling 

  • Estimating and allocating time
  • Mitigating delay and why  
  • Scheduling tools and tips
  • Linking dependencies 



Day 3 

Session 5: Budgeting  

  • Estimating costs  
  • Understanding profitability   
  • Using contingency   
  • Keeping to budget 

Session 6: Working with suppliers   

  • Negotiating fees 
  • Briefing suppliers – local and offshore   
  • When things don’t go to plan 

Session 7: Talking teams  

  • Roles and communication 
  • Leading virtual/hybrid teams  
Details

What you need to know

Delivery

The course consists of 3 x 3½-hour sessions, each a mixture of delivery and interaction using Zoom breakout rooms and other online tools. There will be breaks in the session with the opportunity to do exercises and take a break. The course will run on from 9.00am to 12.30pm on each day.

Zoom

You will need to activate a free Zoom account to join the course. This takes 2 minutes and does not require any payment. It is purely for administrative purposes. 

Chartered Institute of Editing & Proofreading (CIEP) membership upgrade

Completing this course counts towards the continuing professional development (CPD) requirement of a CIEP membership upgrade. For more information about upgrade criteria, visit the CIEP Membership Upgrade Hub.

Certificate

Upon completing the course you will receive a certificate from the Institute of Publishing.

Accessibility

Please contact us with any accessibility or special requirements, for example having in-session captions or the learning materials sent to you in advance.

Team Training

This course is available for in-house training, delivered either virtually or at your offices. The content can be tailored to meet your organisation's requirements.

What our students say

I enjoyed the course a lot and thought it was instructive. I have a clear overview of project management and tools to keep everything on track.

Freelance Editorial Project Manager

The course was brilliant. I have gained the confidence that I can project manage! It was great to go through all the aspects of it. Really liked the templates folder too.

Senior Development Editor, Oxford University Press (in-company training)

What our students say

Sarah is an excellent teacher and was positive and supportive throughout, encouraging us to share thoughts and giving useful feedback on homework. I also enjoyed the breakout rooms – Sarah went through the tasks really clearly beforehand. I’ve gained confidence in briefing and staying updated with freelancers, a better understanding of project costs and some really good ideas on how to improve my schedules and collaborate with others using Google Sheets and Miro.

Assistant Editor, Bloomsbury Publishing

The content was clear, interesting, and engaging. There was a lot of extremely useful practical advice, applicable to my own projects and work. Sarah was a great trainer and I would like to thank her for putting this course together! I have already started applying things I've learned in the course to my own work, such as time management and organisational skills, and have already seen an improvement in my day-to-day work. I have also applied the key learnings such as project scheduling, risk assessment, and stakeholder management to my project plans and feel like I am on track for success with these tools.

Delegate, Springer Nature

What our students say 

Sarah was absolutely brilliant. She made it relevant, personalised, engaging and fun! I have a greater overall understanding and some very specific helpful techniques.

Delegate, Oxford University Press (in-company training)

Sarah was engaging, clearly experienced and helpful with feedback and advice. The content on scheduling and budgeting, and the templates provided, have been particularly helpful. It was great to have group tasks to complete to practice and work together.

Delegate, Kogan Page

What our students say

This course will really benefit me as a new editor. The pacing throughout was great, Sarah's energy was good and she was really relatable. I’ve gained practical skills, industry knowledge and tools for management.

Delegate, The Educational Company of Ireland

An excellent course that covered all areas of project management, from technical skills to teamwork. I learned that a good project manager is empathetic as well as pragmatic, and structured but flexible in their approach. Sarah has an engaging style and drew on anecdotes from her years of experience to illustrate the coursework, which made the course very enjoyable. I’ve gained confidence and knowledge.

Project Editor, Gill Education

About the trainer

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Sarah Sodhi

Trainer
ABOUT SARAH SODHI
For over 25 years, Sarah Sodhi has proofed, tagged, bound, corrected, edited, managed, commissioned, subbed, scheduled, estimated and produced a great deal of content – from interactive, multi-media resources to marketing leaflets, from monthly magazines to 900-page medical tomes.

Starting her career at a small medical publisher in Oxford, Sarah produced medical textbooks, journals and a bi-monthly magazine. She then moved into the public sector to work for an adult education charity, introducing formal scheduling procedures, progress-chasing systems and detailed budgets. After this, she immersed herself in the education sector, editing and managing digital and print resources for primary, secondary and adult education publishers.
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