Director of Copyediting & Editorial (Volunteer)

Director of Copyediting & Editorial (Volunteer)

PromisePages | Editorial Quality, Copyediting & Publishing Standards

Organization: Mentor A Promise (MAP)

Division: PromisePages

Location: Remote — United States

Type: Volunteer Editorial Leadership Role

Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week

Minimum Commitment: 6-month commitment required

Reports To: PromisePages Leadership

Works Closely With: Editors, Copy Editors, Writers, Authors, Proofreaders, PromiseVoice, PromiseStudios, and other MAP creative and communications teams

About Mentor A Promise

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

Through PromisePages and MAP’s broader storytelling work, we are building original publications and written experiences that reflect imagination, dignity, creativity, and the full humanity of the children and communities connected to our mission.

About PromisePages

PromisePages is MAP’s publishing and literary division.

The division develops and supports books, children’s literature, stories, educational publications, and other original written work. PromisePages brings writers, editors, illustrators, designers, and publishing professionals together to move ideas from early manuscript through editorial development and publication.

Strong publishing requires more than strong ideas. It requires rigorous editing.

Role Overview

Mentor A Promise is seeking an experienced, thoughtful, and detail-oriented Director of Copyediting & Editorial to lead editorial quality and copyediting across PromisePages.

The Director will establish editorial standards, oversee editors and copy editors, strengthen manuscripts throughout the editorial process, and help ensure MAP publications are clear, accurate, consistent, age-appropriate, and publication-ready.

This is both an editorial leadership and hands-on editing role.

The Director should be equally comfortable reviewing a manuscript, resolving an editorial question, developing a style guide, giving constructive feedback, and helping another editor become stronger at their craft.

The goal is not to make every writer sound the same.

It is to make every piece the strongest version of what it is trying to become.

Key Responsibilities

Editorial Leadership

• Lead PromisePages’ editing and copyediting function.
• Establish clear editorial standards, workflows, and quality expectations.
• Assign and coordinate editorial work across editors and copy editors.
• Review work at critical stages before publication.
• Help determine the appropriate level of editing for each project.
• Maintain consistency across PromisePages publications without eliminating individual author voice.
• Identify editorial risks, gaps, and quality concerns before publication.

Editing & Copyediting

Oversee and perform editing involving:

• Grammar
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Syntax
• Clarity
• Sentence structure
• Word choice
• Tone
• Style
• Consistency
• Continuity
• Readability
• Usage
• Formatting
• Age appropriateness
• Basic fact-checking and verification

Identify contradictions, unclear passages, repetition, inconsistencies, missing information, and other issues that could weaken a manuscript.

Never introduce unsupported facts simply to resolve an editorial problem.

Developmental & Structural Editing

When appropriate, help writers strengthen:

• Structure
• Organization
• Narrative flow
• Pacing
• Character development
• Dialogue
• Voice
• Audience alignment
• Transitions
• Story logic
• Emotional coherence
• Overall readability

Provide substantive recommendations while preserving the writer’s creative ownership and intended voice.

Editorial Standards & Style

Develop and maintain editorial guidance for PromisePages, including:

• House style
• Grammar and usage
• Formatting conventions
• Terminology
• Capitalization
• Numbers and dates
• Titles
• Citations where applicable
• Inclusive and respectful language
• Age-appropriate language
• Editorial review procedures

Ensure teams understand when MAP house style applies and when a project appropriately requires a different editorial approach.

Children’s & Youth Publishing

Help ensure material created for children and young people is developmentally appropriate, engaging, understandable, and respectful.

Consider:

• Reading level
• Vocabulary
• Emotional complexity
• Narrative clarity
• Age appropriateness
• Representation
• Sensitive themes
• Educational value
• Audience experience

Children’s literature should never confuse simplicity with lack of depth.

Editorial Team Leadership

• Recruit, onboard, mentor, and support editors and copy editors.
• Assign work based on experience, strengths, and project needs.
• Provide constructive editorial feedback.
• Develop team members’ judgment and technical skills.
• Establish clear review and escalation processes.
• Create shared resources and editorial references.
• Build a collaborative culture where editors can respectfully challenge one another and improve the work.

The Director’s responsibility is not to personally edit every sentence MAP publishes.

It is to build an editorial team capable of maintaining exceptional standards.

Editorial Workflow

Help establish a disciplined publishing process:

Manuscript → Developmental Edit → Author Revision → Copyedit → Proofread → Final Review → Publication

Ensure editorial stages are not unnecessarily skipped or collapsed.

Work with publishing, design, illustration, and production teams to coordinate deadlines and prevent late-stage editorial changes from creating avoidable production problems.

Accuracy & Editorial Integrity

• Verify factual claims when appropriate and feasible.
• Flag information requiring subject-matter review.
• Identify potential attribution or sourcing concerns.
• Protect against accidental plagiarism and unsupported claims.
• Maintain confidentiality around unpublished manuscripts and materials.
• Escalate legal, copyright, safeguarding, or other specialized concerns to the appropriate MAP team.

Editors should never silently rewrite uncertainty into certainty.

Cross-Division Editorial Support

Collaborate with other MAP divisions when specialized editorial support is needed for publications, long-form storytelling, educational materials, scripts, public-facing writing, and other significant content.

PromisePages owns publishing editorial expertise while the originating division retains responsibility for the purpose and substance of its work.

Ideal Candidate

This opportunity is particularly well suited for an experienced:

• Managing Editor
• Senior Editor
• Copy Chief
• Copy Editor
• Developmental Editor
• Book Editor
• Publishing Editor
• Children’s Book Editor
• Editorial Director
• Journalist or publishing professional
• English, literature, journalism, or publishing professional

Strong candidates will demonstrate:

• Excellent command of English grammar, usage, punctuation, and style
• Strong copyediting and proofreading skills
• Experience editing substantial written work
• Excellent editorial judgment
• Ability to preserve author voice while strengthening writing
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to give clear and constructive feedback
• Experience managing editorial workflows or teams
• Familiarity with established editorial style guides
• Strong organizational and deadline-management skills
• Respect for cultural nuance, representation, and inclusive language
• Genuine commitment to MAP’s mission

Experience with children’s or young-adult publishing is highly valued.

What Success Looks Like

Success means:

• PromisePages develops clear and consistent editorial standards.
• Manuscripts move through defined editorial stages.
• Errors and inconsistencies are identified before publication.
• Writers receive thoughtful, useful, and respectful editorial guidance.
• Editors understand their responsibilities and quality expectations.
• MAP’s publications become increasingly polished and professional.
• Author voice remains intact even after rigorous editing.
• Editorial concerns are raised early rather than discovered after publication.
• The editorial team becomes stronger and increasingly self-sufficient.

The ultimate standard is simple:

A reader should never be distracted from a great story because the editing failed it.

Why This Role Matters

Readers may never know the name of the editor who strengthened a sentence, caught a contradiction, questioned a fact, repaired a transition, or prevented an error from reaching print.

That invisibility is often the mark of excellent editorial work.

At MAP, editing is not about making writing sound perfect.

It is about respecting the writer enough to challenge the work, respecting the reader enough to demand clarity, and respecting the publication enough to protect its quality.

The Director of Copyediting & Editorial will help establish that standard across PromisePages.

Commitment

• Approximately 5–10 hours per week
• 6-month commitment required
• Regular collaboration with PromisePages leadership and editorial teams
• Participation in editorial reviews and publishing meetings as appropriate
• Consistent communication and follow-through
• Completion of applicable MAP onboarding requirements
• Protection of confidential and unpublished materials

What You’ll Gain

• Opportunity to lead and develop a mission-driven editorial team
• Leadership experience across editing, copyediting, and publishing
• Experience establishing editorial systems and standards
• Opportunity to work on original books and creative publications
• Collaboration with writers, illustrators, designers, and creative professionals
• Opportunity to mentor emerging editors and writers
• Professional references and letters of recommendation
• Meaningful opportunity to strengthen literature and publishing connected to MAP’s mission

How to Apply

Interested candidates should apply directly through Idealist and submit:

• Resume or CV
• Cover letter
• Editorial or writing samples, portfolio, or examples of relevant work where available

Please highlight relevant experience in editing, copyediting, developmental editing, publishing, journalism, children’s literature, editorial leadership, or related fields.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering with Mentor A Promise. At this time, volunteer opportunities are limited to individuals based in the United States due to legal, safeguarding, data-privacy, compliance, and programmatic requirements.

Protect the voice. Strengthen the story. Catch what others miss. Build an editorial standard worthy of every page we publish.