Crooked Lane Books / Alcove Press

Title/Position: Head of Content Strategy--Commercial Fiction
Location: New York, NY--Hybrid (open to Remote)
Employment Type: Full Time
Min. Experience: 5-8 years
Salary: $80,000-$110,000 w/ benefits, depending on experience

The Mission
Crooked Lane Books/Alcove Press is looking for an analytical, systems-focused Head of Content Strategy to lead and aggressively scale our commercial fiction acquisitions by 50%. As the bridge between the publishing house’s long-term growth objectives and the team’s day-to-day execution, you will master, improve, and own our entire high-velocity acquisitions pipeline from trend spotting and agent outreach to offers, negotiations, and final contracts. You will prioritize the performance of our 11 person editorial team by ensuring 100% alignment with our strategic buying criteria. You will have the autonomy to approve titles, while declining projects to ensure our list consists exclusively of high-demand titles.

We are a flat organization that favors process and innovation over tradition. This role offers the heart and speed of independent publishing, leveraging the powerhouse sales and distribution of Penguin Random House. If you love to work on the books that readers love to read and believe that data-backed systems create the best possible path for a book’s success, come help us build the acquisitions framework that ensures our stories reach the widest possible audience.

Essential responsibilities:

• Architect and own the end-to-end acquisitions pipeline, enforcing our acquisitions rubric and integrating systems to streamline and reduce repetitive tasks to make even more room for high-level discussion and judgment
• Exercise authority to greenlight projects that meet our prescribed standards while declining projects that do not, protecting margins and ensuring our list consists exclusively of high-demand titles
• Act as a performance coach and mentor to our 11+ editors, engineering a top-tier execution culture that motivates the team to routinely surpass their output goals
• Relentlessly monitor trends and changes in the industry and conduct sales, marketplace, and reader research to identify emerging genres and hooks
• Shape offers with a deep understanding of the market for literary works and book sales as well as profit and loss statements while overseeing the negotiations, directly or through editors, to close the best possible deals for all parties
• Build and maintain a network of literary agents and authors to secure a consistent volume of top submissions
• Champion titles at internal and external meetings, translating evidence-based logic into compelling commercial narratives for our sales partners

About you:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher
• 5-8 years of experience in an acquisitions and managerial role at a trade publishing house or high-growth media company with a proven track record of scaling commercial fiction lists and managing editorial teams
• Expert proficiency in Excel and pipeline management tools, with the demonstrated ability to translate sales tracks and P&Ls into high-margin acquisitions strategies
• A logical, systems-first thinker who thrives on process and SOP documentation to ensure consistent commercial results
• Experience leveraging technology to optimize operational throughput, removing friction and maximize the team’s capacity for high-level judgment
• An established, high-conversion network of agents and authors capable of fueling a consistent, high-volume submission pipeline
• Exceptional ability to identify and capitalize on emerging trends and hooks within books and adjacent entertainment sectors and conceive of high-profile projects
• Elite writing and presentation skills, with the ability to evangelize analytical logic into compelling commercial narratives that drive alignment from acquisitions through to sales and distribution partners
• Ability to prioritize and manage accelerated workflows with a relentless attention to detail and a zero-ego approach to process improvement

Founded in 2014, Crooked Lane Books publishes the highest quality crime fiction, horror, and speculative titles. Founded in 2020, Alcove Press is an imprint of Crooked Lane Books. It is dedicated to publishing reader-centric fiction across genres that embrace stories with new perspectives on our shared human experience. With our experienced team, data-driven approach, and innovative market strategies, Crooked Lane partners with each author to consistently excite, delight, and entertain the many devoted fans of genre fiction.