Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung (BIBB)

Designation of occupation

Publishing house clerk (m/f)
Recognized by ordinance of 15 May 1998 (BGBl. I, p. 1038)

Duration of traineeship

3 years
One third of the training time is devoted to one of two specialist areas:

• newspaper and magazine publishing
• book publishing

 
The venues for training are company and vocational school (Berufsschule)

Field of activity

Publishing house clerks are employed in newspaper and magazine publishing houses as well as in book publishing houses, where they analyse the various media markets and apply the findings to pr oducts in accordance with customer preferences. The main duties of publishing house clerks are sales, marketing, advertising, management of rights and licences, commercial planning, management and control, editing/reading and production. Publishing house clerks may work in-house or externally.

Occupational skills

Common core skills
Publishing house clerks

• monitor and analyse the various media markets and social developments;
• assist in product and programme planning;
• develop and implement marketing concepts and sales strategies;
• apply the regulations of press and copyright law;
• advise clients about newspapers, magazines, books and electronic publications;
• assist in the purchase and sale of rights and licences;
• distribute newspapers, magazines, books and electronic publications;
• purchase materials, production media and services,
• handle accounting and controlling procedures;
• use information and communication systems;
• work in a team-oriented and process-oriented manner.

Specialist skills
Publishing house clerks specializing in newspaper and magazine publishing

• conduct sales discussions with advertising agencies, advertising customers and sales clients;
• advice clients in matters of advertisement design and placement and the conditions attached to advertising and special insertion forms;
• offer clients advertisements and supplements;
• are involved in sales and advertisement marketing;
• calculate production and marketing costs, schedule print-run numbers and size;
• support the design and production of newspapers, magazines and electronic publications.

Publishing house clerks specializing in book publishing

• implement editorial and reading department decisions in compliance with commercial principles;
• draw up publishing contracts;
• process manuscripts;
• attend to the design and production of books and electronic publications;
• calculate production costs and carry out other calculations;
• handle sales and marketing operations;
• counsel and supply customers.

Last modified on: December 12, 2006