About W.W. Norton & Company
What is W.W. Norton & Company?
W.W. Norton & Company is the oldest and largest employee-owned independent publisher in the United States. Founded in 1923 by William Warder Norton and his wife Mary D. Herter Norton (originally as The People's Institute Publishing Co., printing the lectures of working-class educational programmes at Cooper Union), Norton became a full-time publishing house in the 1930s and is best known for its Norton anthologies — the Norton Anthology of English Literature, World Literature, American Literature, Poetry, and many others — which have been a staple of US college English survey courses for generations.
Norton publishes across two main divisions. The College Department produces textbooks, courseware, and digital learning tools for undergraduate humanities, sciences, and social sciences. The Trade Division publishes literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, history, science, music, and Norton Professional Books (mental-health and clinical titles, including its imprint W.W. Norton Books for Mental-Health Professionals). Norton's authors include Patrick O'Brian, Jared Diamond, Stephen Greenblatt, Mary Roach, Hisham Matar, Steven Pinker, Eula Biss, and Jacqueline Woodson.
Where will I work?
Norton's headquarters is at 500 Fifth Avenue in New York City. The College Department employs a national field force of College Publishing Sales Representatives who work from home offices in their assigned territories (Bay Area, Connecticut, Denver, Memphis, New Jersey, North Dallas, Northern Virginia/DC, Oklahoma/Arkansas, etc.) and travel to colleges in their region. Editorial, marketing, publicity, and operations roles are based in New York with a hybrid working pattern; Norton Professional Books and select sales/marketing roles are fully remote.
What is the W.W. Norton team like?
Around 890 employees (Apollo estimate; the company itself describes ~600 staff) work across editorial, design, production, marketing, sales, publicity, finance, and operations. As an employee-owned company, all eligible staff become shareholders through a profit-sharing plan, and many Nortonians spend their entire careers at the company. The culture emphasises intellectual engagement, mentorship (formal pairing of new employees with experienced colleagues), and internal promotion. Norton describes itself as "an independent house, employee-owned, publishing books that live."
Work-Life Balance
Norton offers Summer Fridays beginning in July — a paid, recurring early Friday departure during late-summer months. Quoting the company's standard benefits boilerplate (verified verbatim in active 2026 postings): "Generous paid time off, paid holidays, and summer Friday afternoons beginning in July." This is paired with generous PTO and paid holidays.
Note the timing: Norton's Summer Friday window starts in July and runs through Labor Day, which is shorter than the Memorial-Day-to-Labor-Day window common at many US publishers. It is still a real reduction in scheduled hours during the late-summer months.
Perks and Benefits
- Summer Friday afternoons beginning in July
- Generous paid time off and paid holidays
- Profit-Sharing and 401(k) plan with discretionary employer matching
- Generous health benefits (PPO, EPO, and High-Deductible medical insurance options; dental, vision, FSAs for healthcare/dependent-care/commuter)
- Gym membership reimbursement
- Disability and life insurance
- FMLA, parental, and other leave
- Employee Assistance Programme (mental-health, financial-planning, and other support)
- Company-provided laptop
- Employee discounts on Norton books
- Limited matching of employee donations to select non-profit organisations
- College Publishing Sales Reps: company vehicle (insurance, maintenance, fuel, mileage allowance), reimbursed travel expenses
- Mentorship programme pairing new employees with experienced colleagues
- Strong internal-promotion and career-development culture