Freelance Ebook Design Jobs (NOW HIRING)

W. W. Norton & Company is seeking an organized, motivated, and methodical Digital Producer to join the Digital Publishing, Production, and Design group, reporting to the Associate Director of Digital Production. The Digital Production team creates Norton's ebooks and media for several editorial departments, including Norton Lifetime Learning, the publishing group dedicated to empowering adult learners to build skills, advance their careers, and pursue interests beyond traditional degree programs. This position focuses on Norton Mental Health Media and other continuing education projects originating in Norton Lifetime Learning.

Digital Producers work cross-functionally to oversee digital projects from conception through publication and to manage the assets and dependencies used in Norton's digital teaching and learning tools. Norton is a highly collaborative company: while assignments are completed independently, success requires daily coordination with print production, media/editorial, manuscript, design, metadata, distribution, and ecommerce teams. Strong technical acumen, project management skills, and transparent communication-particularly in fully remote settings-are essential.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Planning, Communication, and Coordination

• Represent Digital Production responsibilities, specifications, workflows, and questions at project planning, kickoff, and status meetings
• Consult with editorial and media colleagues to understand project goals and communicate digital production strategies, trade-offs, and constraints
• Maintain a production tracker for all assigned projects, including Norton Illumine ebooks, EPUBs, videos, and downloadable learning materials (PowerPoints and PDFs)
• Create and manage schedules for all production dependencies, ensuring dates are realistic, attainable, and clearly communicated
• Communicate regularly with editorial and production colleagues to resolve blockers and ensure timely delivery of materials
• Route projects through planned production workflows, coordinating with vendors, editorial, and design through multiple QA rounds

Production

• Produce videos, including AWS hosting setup, processing and optimization, editorial revisions, thumbnails, closed captions, audio descriptions, corrections, and final delivery; manage outsourced video production as needed
• Manage production of continuing education learning materials, including assessments, PowerPoint presentations, and downloadable documents (study guides, worksheets, exercises)
• Manage production of Norton Illumine ebooks for Norton Mental Health Media and EPUBs for Norton Professional Books
• Set up and manage project workspaces for Norton Illumine ebook and EPUB development in content management systems (GitLab)
• Set up and manage workspaces for interactive digital assets on AWS, GitLab, and Norton Testmaker
• Prepare files for ebook development by converting source formats; cleaning JSON and HTML; optimizing images; writing metadata; applying semantic tagging for styling and accessibility; and committing changes to GitLab
• Manage production and integration of interactive activities, animations, and "Check Your Understanding" content
• Manage creation and correction of alt text and detailed visual descriptions
• Provide instructions and files to outsourced vendors and freelancers, respond to production questions, and ensure on-time delivery

Product Delivery and Maintenance

• Deliver finalized Norton Mental Health Media assets and learning materials for posting to continuing education platforms and learning management systems
• Coordinate with Metadata & Distribution to distribute EPUBs to third-party retail channels
• Coordinate with Product Operations to ensure accurate setup and delivery of digital products via the Norton website
• Package, clean up, and archive project files upon completion
• Implement post-publication errata and distribute corrected files to published, retailer, and archival channels
• Coordinate with Customer Experience to triage and resolve digital content-related defects when needed
• Provide feedback to the Product Manager for Digital Publishing Solutions to improve digital production tools and workflows

Required Qualifications

• 1-2 years of video production experience
• 1-2 years of digital content production experience (publishing, web design/development, CMS management, etc.)
• Experience collaborating with remote teams
• Experience maintaining version control for large, dependency-heavy projects
• Ability to learn new tools and technologies quickly
• Strong organization, independence, discipline, and self-motivation
• Excellent written and verbal communication and responsiveness
• Strong time management and prioritization skills
• High attention to detail and accuracy
• Demonstrated systems-thinking and a holistic understanding of interconnected processes and improvements
• Interest in the evolving publishing industry
• Interest in accessibility and usability best practices for educational products

• Employment eligibility to work with W.W. Norton & Company in the US is required.
• While this position is fully remote, occasional travel may be required.
• Must be able to work full business hours.

Technical Skills

• Working knowledge of video editing and production software, preferably in Adobe Premiere (links to samples will strengthen your application)
• Working knowledge in optimizing assets for web delivery, such as appropriate a/v codecs, resolutions, bitrates, and compression (links to samples will strengthen your application)
• Working knowledge of HTML and CSS (links to samples will strengthen your application)
• Familiarity with project management and collaboration tools like Smartsheet, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint
• Familiarity with the W3C EPUB 3 family of specifications
• Familiarity with git platforms like GitLab, GitHub, etc., is a plus
• Current knowledge of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) is a plus
• Comfort with a command line interface (macOS/Windows/Linux Terminal) is a plus

Compensation and Benefits*

Currently available benefits include:

• Annual compensation for this position is $50,000-58,000. All salaries and salary ranges posted by Norton may vary depending on experience, skills, location, and like considerations.
• Generous paid time off, paid holidays, and summer Friday afternoons beginning in July
• Generous health benefits, including PPO, EPO, and High Deductible (with HSA) medical insurance options, vision insurance, dental insurance, flexible spending accounts for healthcare, dependent care and commuter, gym membership reimbursement, and more. Coverage for spouses, domestic partners, and dependent children is available.
• Profit-Sharing and 401(k) benefit plan with discretionary contribution matching by employer
• Disability and life insurances
• FMLA, parental and other leave
• Employee Assistance Program (for mental health, financial planning, and other needs)
• Company-provided laptop
• Employee discounts on Norton books
• Limited matching of employee donations to select non-profit organizations

*All policies and benefits described are subject to change at any time.