The duties of an editor include planning the content of publications such as magazines, newspapers and books. An editor may also review story ideas presented by writers and staff and decide which of the materials would be most appealing to readers. Editors also review and edit drafts of articles and books, or they may offer comments on what can be done to improve other people’s work, and they sometimes suggest possible titles to written work or oversee the production process. In book publishing the editor’s primary role is reviewing proposals for books and decides if it would be desirable to buy the publication rights.
Most editorial employments are held by former writers who are adept in identifying stories and recognizing talent in writing. Large publications employ several editors who have different responsibilities. Executive editors make the final decisions as to what materials will be published and they oversee assistant editors. Assistant editors are responsible for specific subjects like the headlines, local news, international news, or sports news. Managing editors are responsible for the news departments’ daily operation. Assignment editors give out assignments to reporters. In smaller operations a single editor could be doing all of the aforementioned work or sharing it with a few other editors. Executive or managing editors can also be responsible in hiring reporters, writers and other employees and plan budgets or negotiate contracts with “stringers” or freelance writers. Copy editors are the ones who review materials to be published for grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors and check for readability and style. They could suggest corrections like rearranging or changing words sentences or paragraphs for better accuracy and clarity. They could also need to do some research to confirm sources and verify dates, statistics, and other facts or they could hire assistants or interns to do this for them. Additional work could be arranging of page layout of articles, adverts and photos; composing headlines; and preparing materials for printing.
Editorial jobs generally require a Bachelor’s degree or higher. Editors these days need to be knowledgeable with the use of computers and other communications equipment, such as mobile phones, to be able to easily contact writers, sources or other staff members with regards to assignments, projects or other material being worked on. Since writing skills are paramount in this occupation, employers will more likely hire people with degrees in communications, English, or journalism. Some people who do not have this educational background but are able to demonstrate good writing skills can start as writers and then move up to become editors. Some editors who focus on a particular topic, such as fashion editors, need some formal training or experience related to that topic. Early training can be obtained from working in school and community publications, submitting original work to magazines or working in television or radio stations. Aspirants can also enter internship programs in broadcast stations or newspapers and magazine publishers. Other qualities needed are the ability to express ideas logically and clearly and taking joy in writing. You also need good judgment and strong sense of ethics to decide what materials to publish. You must also be able to work under pressure and easily focus on your work. As editors you must also be tactful and able to encourage and guide others. Currently, it is also helpful for editors to be familiar with electronic publishing methods, multimedia, graphics and web design and using wireless and other electronic communications equipment for sending e-mail or finished work to be reviewed. For online publishing you will need knowledge of computer editing software that combine text with audio, video, animation, or graphics.
Outlook for editorial careers is good and expected to grow by 8 percent which is near the average for all occupations. Around 12 percent of all editors are self-employed while just over half of all salaried editors work in publishing, not including electronic publishing. The rest are employed in other industries such as editing publications or web content of educational institutions, information services and other organizations. The median annual wage for editors as of 2008 was $49,990. If you are looking for editorial jobs according to geographical location then the best places to look for are in cities where major entertainment and media companies are concentrated such as in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, DC. However, job location is not as much of a requirement as it once was because of advances in communications and internet capabilities.
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