Chief Literature & Publishing Officer (CLPO) (Volunteer)

Chief Literature & Publishing Officer (CLPO) (Volunteer)

PromisePages | Literature, Publishing, Illustration, Editorial & Educational Works

Organization: Mentor A Promise (MAP)

Division: PromisePages

Location: Fully Remote — United States, with NYC-based collaboration as needed

Type: Volunteer Executive Leadership

Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week

Minimum Commitment: 6 months

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Leads: PromisePages

Works Closely With: PromiseLearning, PromiseStudios, PromiseVoice, PromiseBrands, PromiseMeasure, PromiseTrust, PromisePrograms, and Executive Leadership

About Mentor A Promise

Mentor A Promise (MAP) is a New York City–based nonprofit serving children and youth ages 5–18 experiencing housing instability through mentorship, education, literacy, social-emotional learning, creative expression, career development, advocacy, and community-centered opportunity.

Stories, books, illustrations, and educational materials can help young people discover new ideas, understand themselves and others, develop literacy, exercise imagination, and see possibilities beyond what is immediately around them.

PromisePages exists to create those possibilities.

About PromisePages

PromisePages is MAP's literature, publishing, illustration, editorial, and educational works division.

The division develops original written, illustrated, and educational works that can stand independently as publications or become foundations for experiences across MAP.

Its portfolio may include:

• Children's books
• Picture books
• Creative writing
• Short stories and literary works
• Academic and educational writing
• Educational materials and learning resources
• Illustration
• Editorial development
• Editing and proofreading
• Literary development
• Publishing
• Youth-created works
• Original literary properties
• Multidisciplinary storytelling projects

PromisePages begins with the page—but its possibilities do not have to end there.

Role Overview

The Chief Literature & Publishing Officer is MAP's senior executive responsible for the vision, strategy, quality, development, and growth of PromisePages.

Reporting directly to the CEO, the CLPO leads the complete development of MAP's literary and publishing portfolio—from the earliest idea through writing, illustration, editorial development, educational review, production readiness, publication, and potential adaptation.

The Chief connects:

Idea → Research → Writing → Illustration → Editorial Development → Educational Review → Design → Quality Assurance → Publication → Distribution → Adaptation

The central question is:

What stories, ideas, and educational works are worth creating—and how do we develop them with enough imagination, rigor, and care to become something young people will want to read, learn from, and carry with them?

This is not simply a writing position.

The CLPO builds a publishing organization.

Literary Strategy & Vision

Develop the long-term creative and literary vision for PromisePages.

Establish priorities for books, stories, educational works, youth writing, illustrated projects, and other publishing initiatives.

Create a portfolio that reflects MAP's mission while allowing creativity to remain creativity.

Not every story needs to become a lesson.

Not every educational resource needs to feel like a textbook.

And not every good idea needs to become a book.

The Chief must help MAP determine which ideas deserve development and which should remain ideas.

Children's Books & Literature

Lead the development of high-quality literature for children and young people.

Support work across picture books, illustrated stories, short fiction, chapter books, poetry, and other age-appropriate literary formats.

Ensure projects demonstrate:

• Strong storytelling
• Developmental appropriateness
• Authentic characters
• Compelling language
• Imagination
• Emotional intelligence
• Cultural responsiveness
• Accessibility
• Respect for young readers

Children's literature should never underestimate its audience.

Young people deserve stories created with the same artistic seriousness expected of literature for adults.

Creative Writing

Build and support MAP's community of writers.

Develop systems through which ideas can move from early concepts to finished manuscripts.

Guide:

Concept → Outline → Draft → Developmental Review → Revision → Editorial Review → Final Manuscript

Support writers without requiring every writer to sound the same.

The goal of creative leadership is not uniformity.

It is intentionality.

Academic & Educational Writing

Develop standards for MAP's academic and educational materials.

Partner with PromiseLearning and subject-matter experts to create resources that are accurate, understandable, engaging, age-appropriate, and educationally meaningful.

Educational works may include learning guides, literacy resources, activity materials, supplemental curricula, educational publications, youth resources, and other mission-aligned materials.

Educational content should begin with a learning purpose.

Learning Goal → Audience → Content → Experience → Practice → Application → Review → Improvement

Illustration & Visual Storytelling

Provide executive leadership for illustration within PromisePages.

Ensure illustrators are involved as creative collaborators rather than treated simply as people who decorate finished manuscripts.

For illustrated literature:

Story → Visual Concept → Character Development → Art Direction → Illustration → Editorial Integration → Review → Final Art

Words and images should strengthen one another.

In children's publishing especially, the illustration may carry meaning that the text intentionally leaves unsaid.

Editorial Leadership

Establish rigorous editorial standards across PromisePages.

Build processes for:

• Developmental editing
• Line editing
• Copyediting
• Proofreading
• Fact-checking where appropriate
• Educational review
• Illustration review
• Accessibility review
• Final quality assurance

Editing should strengthen the author's work without erasing the author's voice.

Dignity should survive editing.

Publishing Operations

Build a disciplined publishing lifecycle from concept through release.

Establish systems for:

Concept → Evaluation → Development → Manuscript → Illustration → Editing → Design → Proof → Approval → Publication → Distribution → Archive → Learning

Create clear ownership, deadlines, review points, and approval standards.

A manuscript being completed does not mean a book is finished.

The Chief is responsible for helping PromisePages develop the discipline required to bring strong ideas all the way to completion.

Portfolio & Project Selection

Establish a thoughtful process for evaluating proposed publishing projects.

Consider:

Mission Alignment → Audience → Creative Strength → Educational Value → Capacity → Resources → Rights → Distribution Potential → Strategic Value → Decision

PromisePages should not publish something simply because MAP has the ability to create it.

Every major project consumes time, creative capacity, editorial attention, and organizational resources.

Selection is part of creative leadership.

Youth Voice & Youth-Created Works

Create meaningful opportunities for young people to participate in writing, illustration, storytelling, editing, and publishing.

Youth should have opportunities to become creators—not simply audiences.

When MAP publishes youth work, participation must be voluntary, appropriately safeguarded, and respectful of authorship, consent, privacy, and intellectual contribution.

Young people's voices should not be rewritten until they sound like adults.

Educational Integrity

Partner closely with PromiseLearning when publications are intended to teach.

Ensure educational claims, instructional approaches, reading levels, learning objectives, and developmental considerations receive appropriate review.

PromisePages owns the publication.

PromiseLearning helps protect the integrity of the learning experience.

Research, Evidence & Accuracy

Partner with PromiseMeasure, PromiseLearning, and appropriate subject-matter experts when publications contain factual, academic, research-based, or impact-related claims.

Distinguish clearly among:

Creative Expression → Factual Claim → Educational Content → Research Finding → Organizational Interpretation

Creative freedom does not eliminate responsibility for factual accuracy when a work presents something as fact.

From Page to Screen, Sound & Experience

Build a strong creative-development relationship with PromiseStudios.

Selected PromisePages works may become:

• Animation
• Short films
• Video
• Audiobooks
• Podcasts
• Music
• Original soundtracks
• Narrated experiences
• Interactive or multimedia works

The pathway may become:

Published Work → Adaptation Assessment → Creative Development → Rights Review → Studio Collaboration → Production

PromisePages develops and protects the literary foundation.

PromiseStudios leads audiovisual production.

Adaptation should expand a story—not simply reproduce it in another format.

Collaboration With Music

Work with PromiseStudios and its music and audio teams when literary projects would benefit from original music, composition, narration, sound design, or other audio experiences.

A children's book, for example, might eventually become an illustrated publication, narrated experience, animated short, and original musical work.

These collaborations should begin with creative purpose rather than adding media simply because MAP has the capability to produce it.

Collaboration With PromiseVoice

Partner with PromiseVoice on communications, marketing, publicity, editorial promotion, media opportunities, launches, and audience development.

PromisePages creates and publishes the work.

PromiseVoice helps audiences discover and engage with it.

The marketing strategy should never determine the integrity of the story.

Collaboration With PromiseBrands

Partner with PromiseBrands when literary properties extend into appropriate products, creative experiences, campaigns, or other brand opportunities.

PromisePages protects the integrity of the literary work.

PromiseBrands develops appropriate brand expressions around it.

Commercial opportunity should never become the reason a story loses what made it worth creating.

Rights, Permissions & Intellectual Property

Partner with PromiseTrust on copyright, permissions, licensing, contributor agreements, publishing agreements, adaptations, intellectual property, and other legal considerations.

Ensure rights questions are addressed before projects reach advanced production.

A creative project should not reach publication only for MAP to discover that ownership or permissions were never clarified.

Accessibility

Build accessibility into the development of publications and educational materials.

Consider readability, format, language, visual presentation, digital accessibility, learning differences, and other barriers that may affect participation.

Partner with PromisePublic's Disability Justice & Accessibility function and PromiseLearning when appropriate.

Accessibility should begin during development—not after publication.

Publishing Quality

Establish standards that allow PromisePages to ask difficult questions before releasing work.

Is it ready?

Is the story strong?

Is the writing clear?

Does the illustration strengthen the work?

Has it been properly edited?

Are factual claims supportable?

Are permissions complete?

Is it accessible?

Would we be proud to place MAP's name on it five years from now?

Publication should represent completion of a disciplined process—not exhaustion with the project.

Team Leadership

Build a multidisciplinary PromisePages organization.

Develop teams and leaders across areas such as:

• Children's Literature
• Creative Writing
• Academic & Educational Writing
• Illustration
• Editorial
• Editing & Proofreading
• Publishing Operations
• Literary Development
• Educational Materials
• Youth Writing & Publishing

Recruit, mentor, develop, and retain writers, illustrators, editors, educators, designers, publishing professionals, and creative leaders.

The Chief should not become MAP's best writer, editor, or publisher.

The Chief should build an environment where exceptional writers, editors, illustrators, and publishing professionals can do exceptional work.

Executive Leadership Expectations

As a MAP Chief, the Chief Literature & Publishing Officer will:

• Participate consistently in weekly Chiefs meetings.
• Maintain regular communication with the CEO.
• Establish quarterly PromisePages priorities and measurable commitments.
• Maintain regular communication with PromisePages directors and team leaders.
• Develop and oversee the division's publishing portfolio.
• Identify creative, publishing, operational, and rights-related risks early.
• Recruit, develop, and retain capable volunteers.
• Build productive relationships across MAP divisions.
• Follow through on commitments.
• Protect creative quality while respecting organizational realities.
• Model curiosity, judgment, imagination, accountability, collaboration, and integrity.

Decision Authority

Within approved organizational strategy and delegated authority, the CLPO may establish PromisePages creative priorities, editorial standards, publishing workflows, portfolio-development processes, and team structures.

The Chief may recommend projects for development, publication, adaptation, expansion, pause, or closure.

The Chief does not independently execute contracts, authorize significant expenditures, determine legal rights, license intellectual property, make unsupported educational claims, or commit MAP to external publishing arrangements beyond delegated authority.

Creative leadership does not eliminate organizational accountability.

First-Year Priorities

The CLPO should help MAP:

• Establish a comprehensive PromisePages strategy.
• Define MAP's publishing and literary standards.
• Review and prioritize the existing publishing portfolio.
• Build a disciplined manuscript-development process.
• Establish illustration and visual-development standards.
• Strengthen developmental editing, copyediting, and proofreading.
• Develop standards for academic and educational materials.
• Establish project selection and greenlight criteria.
• Strengthen publishing schedules and production workflows.
• Develop youth writing and publishing opportunities.
• Establish rights and permissions workflows with PromiseTrust.
• Build collaboration pathways with PromiseLearning and PromiseStudios.
• Develop processes for adapting literary properties into animation, video, music, and audio.
• Strengthen accessibility across publications.
• Recruit and develop PromisePages leadership and creative teams.
• Build institutional knowledge so projects do not depend on any single contributor.

Qualifications

Strong candidates may bring senior experience in publishing, children's literature, literary development, editorial leadership, educational publishing, writing, illustration, academic publishing, creative development, or related fields.

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Significant experience in publishing, literature, editorial, or related creative work.
• Strong understanding of manuscript and publication development.
• Excellent editorial and literary judgment.
• Experience working with writers, editors, illustrators, or multidisciplinary creative teams.
• Understanding of children's literature and/or educational publishing.
• Ability to evaluate creative work constructively.
• Experience developing projects from concept through completion.
• Strong organizational and project leadership.
• Ability to balance creative ambition with practical execution.
• Understanding of intellectual property and publishing rights sufficient to recognize when specialized review is necessary.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Ability to lead volunteers and multidisciplinary teams.
• Commitment to accessibility, dignity, inclusion, and ethical storytelling.
• Alignment with MAP's mission and values.
• Residence in the United States.

Experience across multiple areas of publishing, literature, education, illustration, or creative development is strongly valued.

What Success Looks Like

PromisePages has a clear literary and publishing identity.

Strong ideas become completed works.

Writers receive meaningful creative development.

Illustrators are treated as storytelling partners.

Editing strengthens rather than homogenizes voices.

Educational materials have clear learning purposes and appropriate review.

Projects move through defined development and publishing pipelines.

Children and youth have meaningful opportunities to create.

Rights and permissions are addressed early.

Published works meet consistent quality standards.

PromisePages collaborates effectively with PromiseLearning, PromiseStudios, PromiseVoice, and PromiseBrands.

Original literary properties can responsibly expand into animation, video, music, audio, and other experiences.

And MAP develops a growing body of literature and educational work that young people genuinely want to read, experience, and remember.

Why This Role Matters

A page can do extraordinary things.

It can introduce a child to someone they have never met.

It can take them somewhere they have never been.

It can explain something that once felt impossible to understand.

It can make them laugh.

It can help them imagine.

It can give them language for something they already felt but did not yet know how to say.

And sometimes, it can help a young person see a possibility for themselves that they had not seen before.

PromisePages exists to create those pages.

The Chief Literature & Publishing Officer ensures they are created with imagination, discipline, respect, and care.

Volunteer Commitment

This is an unpaid executive volunteer position requiring approximately 5–10 hours per week with a minimum six-month commitment.

Consistent executive participation, regular communication with the CEO and PromisePages leadership, cross-divisional collaboration, and reliable follow-through are essential.

Volunteers should provide at least two weeks' notice when ending their service whenever possible.

How to Apply

Please apply through Idealist only and submit:

• A current résumé
• A cover letter explaining your interest in Mentor A Promise and PromisePages
• Relevant writing, publishing, editorial, illustration, or creative-work samples where applicable

Please highlight experience in publishing, children's literature, creative writing, academic or educational writing, illustration, editing, literary development, educational materials, or multidisciplinary storytelling.

At this time, MAP volunteer opportunities are limited to individuals based in the United States due to legal, safeguarding, data-privacy, compliance, and programmatic requirements.

Begin with the idea. Respect the writer. See the illustrator as a storyteller. Edit with purpose. Protect the integrity of the work. Finish what we start. Publish something worth reading. And create pages capable of becoming stories, learning experiences, worlds, and possibilities that travel far beyond the page.