Editors typically work for publishers in a position responsible for taking the writing of an author and editing it into a finished product ready for the reader. If they are working for a book publishing company, for instance, they might be in charge of reviewing submissions for fiction novels, deciding which are suitable for their company to publish. They would have to spend a lot of their time reading; speed-reading skills would be valuable. These editors would have to learn to determine quickly if a submission is not one they want to accept so that they do not waste their time reading something that is not going to make a profit for their company. If they do like a manuscript submission, then they find themselves in the position of a salesman, representing the author and the manuscript to the senior editor or to the board of directors and convincing them that this submission is worth the huge investment of their company in preparing, publishing, and marketing the novel. The editor would then assume the job of carefully reading the manuscript, searching for spelling and grammatical errors and correcting them. They would also look for flaws or inconsistencies in the story line and work with the author in correcting them. They look for things such as readability. Are sentences and paragraphs too long or too short? Are there too many big words for their target audience?
A newspaper editor reviews articles written by reporters for publication in the newspaper. They also check for accurate spelling and grammar, make sure there is proper use of English, and make sure the article is readable by a large general audience. They check the story for accuracy and consistency. They might make adjustments to it for marketability. Typically a newspaper article gives a generalized, short version of the story in the first paragraph or two, then elaborates and gives more details in the subsequent paragraphs. Readers might be trying to read a whole newspaper in a ten-minute coffee break and do not want to waste their time reading the whole article, but want to be up to date on current events. They could get a general idea of the day’s news by reading just the first two paragraphs of each article. If there is a subject of particular interest to them, then they could go on and read that entire article and get all the details. Professional editing of a newspaper article makes the difference between a whole bunch of incongruent facts, and a readable, informative, and perhaps even entertaining story. The reporter shoots for who, what, why, when, where, and how. The editor gears it to the reader, checks it for accuracy, spelling, grammar, and refines it into a finished product for the newspaper to publish.
Technical editing jobs are available at trade journals, magazines, and newspapers for individuals who have specialized knowledge in the technical field of the publication. For example, you might be the editor for a computer journal and would need to have specialized knowledge of computers and the latest programs’ gadgets available. Technical editing jobs could include medical editing jobs working for professional medical journals or even for drug companies writing such things as marketing materials to doctors or submissions to the Food and Drug Administration in the lengthy process of gaining approval for new drugs. The doctors and scientists who invent, develop, and test new drugs are responsible for the safety and effectiveness of the drug. However they might not necessarily be experts at English in actually writing up their results for others to review. A medical editor is an expert in English, but is not necessarily a doctor or a scientist. They need to have extensive background knowledge in the field so they can write intelligently about it. They must know enough about the subject matter to review it for writing accuracy, but they are not the ones responsible for the validity of the results of medical experiments and tests being performed.
Another specialized area in the field of technical editing jobs is in the area of scientific editing jobs. Editors in science editing jobs might work for magazines such as Popular Science, Discover, or National Geographic. Such magazine editing jobs play an important role in taking the work and submissions of real scientists and making their work readable for the lay person who has an interest in science, but perhaps does not have a thorough understanding of science. The scientific editor for such a magazine is not so much concerned with accuracy, although they do want to verify the validity of their stories and sources; they are most concerned with making articles interesting and marketable.
At the other end of that spectrum, a scientific editor for a professional science journal, such as the scientific journal Nature, must be highly educated in the field of science. Scientific journals accept submissions from scientists on the cutting edge of science, who through theory or experimentation are trying to learn and submit new knowledge to the scientific community. These editors are not as concerned about marketing and readability as they are about accuracy. A scientist who wants to be published in a respectable scientific journal has to present valid evidence. The experiments cited must be viable and reproducible by other scientists. The entire submission is subject to peer review by other scientists who are experts in the same field. In cutting-edge science there will usually be debate and criticism. If a reputable science journal allows something to be published without the proper and complete review and validation process, they might inadvertently publish a theory or experimental result that is later proven to be false or incorrect. This will result in that journal losing some of its prestige and credibility. If they err on the other extreme, and demand too much verification before they publish, some other journal might beat them to the punch, and they will not get the credit for publishing new knowledge to the world. So you can see the importance of having capable and qualified science editors.
Whether you become a newspaper or magazine editor or a technical editor, you will need a good education, especially in English, and then a specialized education in your chosen field. Perhaps this highly prestigious and rewarding field would be the right career path for you.
