When Two are better than One
how to pitch a job share by Sam Eades and Sophie Wilson
Sam is an award-winning publisher, editor and publicist with 20 years’ experience working on commercial fiction bestsellers. Authors she has worked with include MJ Arlidge, Sharon Bolton, Cathy Bramley, Harlan Coben, Michelle Paver and Sarah Pinborough.
Sophie began her career at Transworld and has since worked at Headline on crime and thriller, literary and book club fiction. She has worked with authors such as Lorraine Kelly, Celia Imrie and Julian Clary and rising talent including Candice Carty-Willams & Emma Jane Unsworth.
Together they are the publishers of Skylight, a new fiction imprint at S&S UK.
Since our new part time role at Simon & Schuster was announced, we’ve had messages from others across the industry asking for advice on how to pitch a job share. Thanks to the wisdom and support of Suzy Astbury at Inspired Selection, our experience has been a wholly positive one. We wanted to share with readers of The FLIP practical advice on how to nail the pitch and approach a publisher to inspire others who want to work more flexibly to take the first step.
A job share is a form of flexible working, where employees share the responsibilities and remuneration of a full-time position. We work three days a week each in-house at S&S UK. Sam has two small children and wanted a part-time role to allow her to spend more time with them. Sophie wanted the flexibility to carve out creative space to support her own writing career.
Here are our top five tips if you’re considering pitching a job share at your own company or at a new workplace:
“You are bringing together two different sets of experience, two brains to work on a project or generate ideas.”
Decide on the perfect partner
We started our careers – and indeed our friendship – fifteen years ago at Transworld Publishers. Though our careers took us in different directions and to different countries, we’ve always stayed in touch and in recent years have had the pleasure of working together on a number of bestselling books. During these projects our creative partnership felt like magic, we have always brought out the best in each other. Whilst we have similar values which is crucial for a successful job share, we have differing strengths. As an ex-publicist, Sam is energized by meeting new people, and as an author herself, Sophie has an unique understanding of the creative process that makes her a phenomenal editor. When finding your perfect partner, your individual strengths are just as important as your combined expertise.
Highlight the business benefits
After an initial call with Suzy, she asked us to pull together a one-pager on how we thought the job-share could work in practice and how we could add value to a business. From thirty-five years of experience to our dual skillset to the way our different perspectives would lead to better decision making, the benefits were numerous! When pitching for a job-share, think of how your contribution is doubled, not divided. You are bringing together two different sets of experience, two brains to work on a project or generate ideas. That results in a huge amount of energy, and often higher quality decisions.
“Crucially, we aren’t competitive with one another – success is shared.”
Present a workflow plan
We thought carefully about how we would divide our responsibilities in a shared role to ensure that handovers were always smooth. We decided that rather than one check-in/check-out day we wanted to overlap two days a week so we would have more time together for ideas generation, collaboration and communication which is a real strength of ours. This set-up is working well and we were thrilled to share our first projects together with the team at S&S UK.
Anticipate challenges
One question Suzy asked us was how we might handle possible disagreements. It forced us to reflect on how we’ve handled disagreements in the past and how to identify triggers that could lead to conflict. This has allowed for greater empathy and understanding of how the other person operates under stress. We are very open with each other about our strengths and weaknesses, always taking the other’s perspective into account before making a decision, and committed to supporting the other. This is something that is built with time, and plenty of open conversations. Crucially, we aren’t competitive with one another – success is shared.
“job shares are the future of publishing.”
Find the right home
When Suzy suggested we pitch the job share to Perminder Mann and Phoebe Morgan, we instinctively felt S&S UK would be the right home for us. They instantly ‘got’ the notion of a job share and saw the advantages of it, and brought their own suggestions for how to adapt the role to fit us. The team has a reputation for doing things differently, for being inclusive and innovative, and it’s brilliant to be part of this shift. Do take your time to find the right home, where you feel supported and energized.
We believe job shares are the future of publishing. They help retain people in the workplace, increase productivity and support diversity. A job share has allowed us to improve our work-life balance and we are doing our very best work as a result. If you’d like to pitch a job share, do contact Suzy Astbury at Inspired Selection. Suzy is leading the charge for more inclusive working practices and has plans to further raise awareness of the benefits of job shares.
