The Everything navigator to a Career in Editing

I grew up near a tiny bookstore that always stocks at least two or three times as many books as what reasonably fits in the space. So they stack all the overflow in front of the shelves, two or three piles deep and as much as eight feet high. Whenever I visit, I slide carefully through tiny winding aisles, feeling that at any instant, the works of thousands of writers and editors could arrive crashing down on me in a literary avalanche. It was and still is one of my favorite places in the globe.

My lifelong adore of reading grew into a adore of writing—and of helping others make their writing the best it can be. That’s why I became an editor. If you’re someone who, like me, adores the written word and is thrilled to be surrounded by stories, you might be considering editing as a career path.

Here’s what you’ll require to recognize about what editors do, how you can become one, and whether it’s the correct job for you. (Already sold and desire to commence your job search? discover editor jobs on The Muse!)

You might ponder of editing as correcting grammar and spelling mistakes, but that’s just one tiny part of the procedure. Editors schedule, coordinate, revise, correct, and format written content for publication—all while working closely with writers to refine their work. “Writers can look at their copy so much that they commence to not be able to view the forest for the trees,” says Jennifer Glatt, Editorial Director of the Office of University Relations at University of North Carolina Wilmington. That’s where editors arrive in.

Editors may be responsible for a wide range of duties, including:

• Revising text for larger issues including content, structure, length, tone, and voice 
• Revising text for paragraph and sentence-level issues such as flow, syntax, and grammar (a.k.a., line editing)
• Delivering feedback and supporting writers across multiple drafts
• Developing ideas and assigning them to the correct writers as well as evaluating proposals from writers
• Communicating and coordinating with writers and other stakeholders (including marketing, legal, finance, and design professionals, among others)
• Managing budgets and negotiating rates or contracts
• Setting and coordinating deadlines to ensure on-period publication
• Ensuring text meets content and style guidelines
• Tracking act of previously published pieces
• Having powerful opinions on the Oxford comma (discretionary)

As an editor, you usually focus on one type of text or medium. Here are a few of the most ordinary areas editors work in, but keep in mind that there may be overlap and this list isn’t exhaustive. (You might also focus on scientific editing or grant editing, for example.)

Book editing

Editing falsehood and nonfiction books “involves assignment managing the entire trip of a book,” and getting it on the shelves, says Rebecca Gyllenhaal, an assistant editor at Quirk Books. These editors assess manuscripts or book proposals (for nonfiction) and decide what projects to receive on. They assist writers with “large structural changes, character arc advancement, resolving plot issues, adjusting the length, adjusting the tone and style for the intended spectators,” and more, Gyllenhaal says.

Many book editors work for the largest publishing companies in the U.S., known—for now—as “The large Five”: Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and HarperCollins. But you can also work for mid-sized, independent, or university presses. “I like independent publishing because there is more chance to work on lots of different kinds of books rather than getting siloed into one genre,” Gyllenhaal says. 

Newspaper editing

Newspaper editors work for print and online information publications, shaping coverage and editing stories filed by reporters and writers. These editors often work for a sure section or on a particular “beat”—for example, population, politics, or sports.

Newspaper editors focus on editing piece text and ensuring it matches their document’s voice, style, tone, and ethical standards. They may also decide which articles get assigned or published and how much focus they get based on their placement within a newspaper or website layout.

Magazine editing

Magazine editors work closely with staff and/or freelance writers to bring a print or online magazine piece from the concept phase through publication, says Muse career coach Eliot Kaplan of Eliot Kaplan Coaching, who worked his way up the ranks as a magazine editor and also served as the VP of Talent buyout at Hearst Magazines. Both editors and writers may arrive up with ideas for magazine articles, but editors ultimately decide which to shift forward with. Magazine editors are then responsible for coordinating all phases of an piece from editing drafts to working with colleagues such as copy editors, truth checkers, top editors, designers, illustrators, photographers, and even lawyers.

Magazine editors can edit a wide range of pieces, both in length and subject. “In my life I’ve edited 150-word stories and 15,000-word ones on all topics,” from health to sports to politics, Kaplan says. 

Online media and content editing

Nowadays, people do so much of their reading online—whether they’re getting the information, learning something, or looking for entertainment. There’s some overlap between these editors and the other categories I’ve mentioned—since magazines and information organizations might publish some or all of their content online. But many other types of websites, or even companies looking to provide content alongside their other offerings (*cough* like The Muse *cough*), also publish online content. Many editors and writers who worked in other, unfortunately shrinking fields—primarily magazines and newspapers—have found a home in online content.

Web editors arrive up with content ideas that will bring readers to their site via Google, social media, email, and other channels. They also assign articles and other written content to freelance or staff writers, assess pitches, manage deadlines, edit drafts, upload text to the site, and track act. You’ll often work for companies that have a number of departments outside of editorial, so you may also collaborate with other teams and be responsible for editing copy for the rest of the corporation. 

Communications editing

Many organizations that aren’t publishers put out written communications internally and externally. Depending on the size of the corporation and their spectators, they may hire editors to ensure this text is high standard and supports the organization’s missions. These editors can work anywhere from an insurance or tech corporation to a nonprofit, government agency, or hospital.

For example, Glatt works for a university. “There’s not much [published] at the university level that I don’t have my eyes on at some point,” she says, including short and longer-form copy for both digital and print versions of the university magazine, marketing copy for the website, admissions material, and more. In other communication roles, you might also edit press releases, website or software copy, or internal documents like training materials or benefits explainers.

So that’s the large picture stuff, but what about the logistical details of editing as a career?

Where can editors work?

Editors can work at any corporation putting out written content or communications—for example, dedicated publishers or a tech corporation like The Muse. Geographically, a lot of editing jobs are based in major metro areas, especially recent York City. Editors can also work as freelancers on a per-assignment basis or for several different clients.

Can editors work remotely?

I’m writing this from my childhood bedroom while I’m home for the holidays and have done multiple jobs remotely, so I can inform you from encounter: yes. Collaboration, communication, word processing, and editing software has made it so that most editors can do at least part of their jobs remotely. Some companies will of course still desire in-person editors, but if you’d prefer to work remotely, opportunities existed before the pandemic and will continue to going forward.

What’s the career outlook?

According to BLS, the number of editor positions is expected to develop 5% between 2020 and 2030, which is slower than the average for all occupations. But this is a high-level view—what and where you edit matters. Overall, “publishing industries (except internet),” including print magazines and newspapers, are projected to view a 4.7% deficit in editor jobs. But the number of editor positions in “other information services,” which includes online publishing, is projected to develop 27.7% in that period.

How much do editors make?

According to BLS, the overall median wage for editors in the U.S. is $63,400. Editors for newspapers, periodicals, and books make the lowest median wage of any of the most ordinary industries at $58,260 annually, while those working for “religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations” have the highest median salary of $71,520. Other information services and “professional, scientific, and technical services” fall in the middle—with median salaries of $69,460 and $69,150, respectively.

You may be thinking that writing is the writer’s job. But to be a excellent editor, you require powerful writing skills. receive Toni Morrison, who was not only one of the best American authors, but also an editor for Random House who was responsible for editing Angela Davis’s autobiography along with a number of other influential works.

Of course, I’m not saying that you require the writing skill of Toni Morrison to be an editor. There would be approximately zero editors if that were the case. But you do require to recognize how writing conveys messages and information and how different choices can affect the way a piece of writing is read and received.

Hand-in-hand with powerful writing skills are powerful critical reading and communication skills. Other challenging and soft skills editors might require are:

• Knowledge of grammar, syntax, punctuation, and other language rules
• Knowledge of narrative and/or piece structure
• Style guides and how to adhere to them (for example, Merriam Webster, AP Style, MLA)
• connection building and interpersonal skills
• Organizational skills
• period management skills
• assignment management skills
• Giving and receiving constructive feedback
• Brainstorming
• innovation
• Adaptability
• Curiosity
• Ability to work under pressure
• Familiarity with word processing software and editing features
• The ability to declare “edited it” out noisy (discretionary)

Depending on what you edit you may require some other skills. For example, if you desire to edit books, you’ll require knowledge of the current publishing economy, Gyllenhaal says. If you’d like to edit any benevolent of nonfiction, you’ll require the ability to quickly discover about a recent topic and may require some subject matter encounter for sure jobs. And if you’d like to edit anything that gets posted online, you might require to comprehend search engine optimization (SEO) or recognize how to use a content management structure (CMS).

Generally, companies require that editors have at least a bachelor’s degree—with majors in English, journalism, communications, or similar being the most directly applicable—but that’s not always the case.

Especially at the early career level, a lot of editing is learned on the job from your managers and coworkers, but companies will desire to view that you recognize the basics of writing mechanics and structure before they hire you. While you’re in college, you can look for extracurriculars to develop your writing and editing chops, such as working for the school newspaper or literary magazine, or for paid work editing essays, tutoring other students, or doing freelance writing or editing. Completing an internship in the industry and/or at the type of organization you’d like to edit for can leave a long way to assist your employment chances as well.

Read More: 6 Ways to construct Up Your Resume When You Can’t Afford to Do an Unpaid Internship

When it comes to graduate degrees, “I would exercise caution,” Gyllenhaal says. If you have an unrelated undergrad degree or just genuinely desire to discover more about writing in a structured surroundings, a master’s in English, writing, journalism, or publishing won’t hurt your chances of getting an editing job, but they’re not required. And there are plenty of other (cheaper) ways to prepare for an editing career.

When you’re first starting your career, you won’t necessarily have the title of “editor” correct away. You might be hired as an editorial assistant—particularly in the magazine and book publishing fields—a position that might include administrative as well as editorial work, or as an assistant editor. In journalism, another ordinary path is to commence your career as a reporter or writer before moving into an editing role. These jobs will assist you discover more about writing, editing, and publishing in your industry while giving you oversight and training from more experienced editors.

As you gain more encounter, you might discover jobs as an editor, elder editor, deputy editor, or managing editor, which is “the person who makes the trains run on period,” Kaplan says, coordinating operations, production, and publishing calendars. At the highest levels, you might view titles like editor-in-chief, editorial director, executive editor, or VP of content—depending on the corporation and the place of written content within the org. In these roles you’re likely doing less hands-on editing and instead making bigger-picture strategic decisions, Kaplan says

Here are a few questions to inquire yourself to figure out if editing is the correct career for you:

• Do you adore reading and language? “You can’t be an editor unless you’re a reader first,” Gyllenhaal says. You can only develop your instincts for great writing from reading copiously. But I’ll receive it a step further: To be joyful in a career as an editor, you’ve got to genuinely adore words, because they’ll be your most constant companions at work.
• Do you desire to be a lifelong learner? In some editing fields, you can completely transformation what topics you’re covering throughout your career. (In my last job, I edited ownership economy articles, and now I cover careers and work.) But in any editing role, you’ll have varied projects, so you’ll discover about recent things constantly.
• Are you OK taking a backseat to writers? “An editor should be OK with being behind-the-scenes. It’s not the editor’s voice that should shine through the copy, it’s the writer’s voice, just with more clarity and finessing,” Glatt says.
• Do you actually desire to be a writer? “Often editors are frustrated writers,” Kaplan says. “Those people make lousy editors.” Depending on your job, you may write as well as edit, but you require to recognize where the line is between these two activities. If you only desire to write, write.
• Do you desire to be a writer with a day job? Do you desire to be an author, screenwriter, blogger, or other type of writer who has a more stable day job? You can work as an editor, but “just recognize that it might be very challenging for you to discover the period and vigor for your own writing after a long day of editing,” Gyllenhaal says. However, if you can push history those hurdles, I’ve seen firsthand how doing both can assist you develop. Glatt, who’s also a freelance writer, adds, “My writing is stronger because I edit, and my editing is stronger because I write.”

In addition to general job search tips, here are some editing-specific pointers:

• Read, read, read: Read the medium you desire to edit, especially what’s coming out now. “Hiring managers desire to view that you’re engaging with the industry as it is today,” Gyllenhaal says.
• Familiarize yourself with the companies you apply to. “Study publications and websites to view what kinds of things they publish,” and arrive into an interview with ideas that fit the publication, Kaplan says.
• Don’t skip the cover note! This is your first chance to display off your writing and editing skills to a potential employer. So don’t half-ass it.
• Proofread all application materials: How embarrassing would it be for your editing resume to have a typo or incomplete sentence on it?
• Prepare for a skills test: You’ll often require to complete an editing test (and possibly a short writing test) to display prospective employers you can handle the work.