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I've been trying to figure out what I'd actually enjoy doing with my life if I never succeed, or take a long time to succeed, at becoming a novelist. It occurred to me I'd love being an editor. Now, how would I go about doing that?

I'm assuming for magazine or newspaper editing, you'd want a general journalism track? What about the sort of editor who, um, edits other people's books before they're published? Picks those books (or am I getting jobs mixed up here)? Would you just get a lower job in a publishing house and work your way up? What kind of lower jobs are there?... and what would be a good thing to do in college, for this? Just English? Does it matter?

I was just wondering, so if anyone has any thoughts or advice I'd appreciate it! Thanks.

By Marcie (Marcie) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 01:18 am: Edit

I've worked as an editor and writer for over 20 years, and I would be glad to try to answer questions for you. You are right that most magazine and newspaper editing jobs are more related to journalism degrees and most book publishing jobs are more in the realm of English degrees, but I have known people in both areas with the other degree. There are several kinds of editors in book publishing (my field): copy editors edit the books for style and acquiring editors are the ones who buy the books (they sometimes also copy edit). Usually people start out in low-level asst. editor jobs and you work your way up, getting trained on the job. There are a few colleges that offer some editing classes or a publishing minor and a few in New York City that offer a major, I believe. There are also some certificate and summer programs in editing (college level or post-college).

Editing can also be quite specific: there are education editors, science, children's books, and so on. Often you need a master's degree in the specific discipline as well. An English or journalism major is your best bet in college, plus creative writing classes and possibly work on the college newspaper. If you want to work in book publishing, read the New York Times Book Review and look at Publishers Weekly (trade magazine).

Let me know if you have more questions.

By Marcie (Marcie) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 01:25 am: Edit

a few more thoughts:
You could also major in technical or professional writing or in communications, or some combination of one of those with English. A well-rounded liberal arts education and wide-ranging reading is helpful as an editor.

By Sac (Sac) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 02:23 am: Edit

Marcie gave you great advice. I'd only add that if you decide you're more interested in newspaper or magazine editing than book editing, get some experience on a college publication. This not only would help you decide whether or not you like it, but give you some experience that could lead to an internship or job -- something beyond being an English major. To get an editing job in journalism, publications will usually give you an editing test. So, again, they are looking for experience beyond your major. Copy editors on newspapers are usually in demand because it's a job that attracts fewer people than those who want to be reporters, usually people who adored learning grammar. But it's not a job that often leads anywhere. The editors (such as feature editor, managing editor, news editor, etc) on newspapers and magazines more often come from the ranks of reporters and writers.

By Anya (Anya) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 03:44 am: Edit

Wow, thank you both so much! That was really helpful... I'm pretty much wandering around in the dark as far as what I'm going to do, but this makes me feel a little more informed. I think I'll probably just do an English major; I think I would like book editing more, so I hope that works out okay. No matter what I hope to be involved in some sort of college publications.

Marcie, if you have time to answer a couple of questions, what kind of editor are you? What did classes/experiences did you find the most helpful in college? How necessary do you think it would be to have a master's for being a copy or acquiring editor for young adult fiction? Thank you!

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 10:47 am: Edit

I've worked as a journalist, including doing some copy editing, taught journalism (including editing), recruited journalists for a Fortune 500 newspaper company, and am married to a prof who for years was an editor for a couple of major newspapers, and who now works summers as an editor.
If you want to be an editor, there are 2 routes you can take. With either, it would be virtually essential to work for the student publications at your university. That's where you'll get the bulk of your editing/journalism experience. Without extensive experience editing student publications, in general it will be very hard to get into the newspaper or magazine field whether or not you have a journalism degree.
You can go to a college and major in journalism. The best colleges for this are: U of North Carolina, Missouri, Northwestern ( While it's only a second tier university overall, Missouri's J school is world class, but is behind the other 2. It does have a distinguished professor who specifically works with editing).

Other excellent journalism programs include: U of Maryland (gets lots of top Washington DC working journalists as adjuncts, and after they retire, as profs), Virginia Commonwealth (good for editing), Ohio U in Athens, , U Texas, Syracuse, U Minnesota, Arizona State, U Arizona, U Kansas, Kansas State, San Francisco State.
You also can go the liberal arts route. This is a harder route to go because you have to be self motivated to work on your student publications. At the places with J Schools, it's easier to work for student publications because you will have to do some work there as part of your coursework.
If you go the liberal arts route, make sure you go to a place with an excellent daily. Harvard, Princeton, Yale have excellent, student-run dailies. I am not personally familiar with what the other Ivies have to offer, but they probably also have excellent dailies. I know someone who went to Georgetown, did extensive work editing and reporting for their paper, and now has a very, very low level entry job with, I think, National Geographic.

You can choose to major in anything at a liberal arts college. Having a broad background is helpful in journalism, including editing. A criticism that some recruiters have about J school grads is that they've been too narrowly focused, and know journalism, but not other things.

If you go to a liberal arts college, start working for their daily your freshman year. Start out as a reporter so you know how best to put stories together. Get into editing later.

When it comes to getting jobs in the journalism field, what counts is what work you did in the field when you were in college, not your grades. I've seen straight A students pased over for C students with excellent internships and experience at their student papers.

Make sure while you're in college that you do summer internships. Newspapers are desperate to find people who are interested in copy editing. One of my former students who had done several internships during college plus had worked extensively at her school paper and spoke 3 languages, started at a major paper at $51 k about 7 years ago when she got her undergrad degree.

An internship to remember are the Dow Jones copy editing internships. Look them up on the web. They are the top editing internships for college students. Some top newspaper (and probably magazine editors) in the country have done those. Definitely apply for this when you're a junior.

To be a good editor, it helps to develop the following skills: excellent grammar, punctuation, spelling (aspiring copy editors have to take tests measuring their skills.

Their skills typically are expected to be at least as high as those getting about 650 or higher on the SAT v), good design skills (depending on the place, some editors also do design), excellent general knowledge, including of current events (read newspapers, magazines in a variety of fields, books on a variety of subjects).

Being knowledgeable enough about good literature that you can help writers hone their writing also is very useful. And good people skills are a plus as writers tend to have very tender egos.

For magazines, copy editing or designing are entry level jobs. Magazines do not hire very many people, so one has to be extremely good to be hired. Starting in newspapers can be a good way to get the skills and background to go to magazines. It's very hard to get paid magazine internships. There aren't very many. Again, newspapers is the way to go for most people.

I don't know that much about book publishing, so can't help you there.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 01:09 pm: Edit

I have worked in book publishing as well as journalism. The advice everyone has given you is right on target. However, in addition to the schools already mentioned, I'd suggest you look at Syracuse University which has a top journalism program and excellent internship program. It is possible to major in magazine journalism there but all of their communications major programs really stress editing skills. Also, NYU is a great school for communications and has some good internships in the book publishing industry available for students. Finally, Boston University is another good school with a magazine journalism program.

If you decide you would like a smaller school or to major in English, I'd recommend Kenyon College in Ohio - excellent English programs and they publish a well-respected literary journal that provides hands-on opportunities for learning about editing.

By Marcie (Marcie) on Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 06:00 pm: Edit

Hi Anya, I'm glad you found my advice helpful. I have been a children's book editor (working in several areas: copy editing, art, and educational publishing) and a university press copy editor. I have also had many children's books published, including two young adult novels. If you want to work in children's publishing (young adult is part of that division), be prepared to go to New York because that is where most of the jobs are. I got into editing after being a children's librarian, and my master's is in library science. I didn't start out to be an editor, but I actually was editing since college because I used to go over papers for friends quite a bit. I took young adult literature in my master's program and that was helpful later. If you could take children's literature and young adult literature, that would be a good start. Actually if you really want to pursue working in young adult literature, you might want to consider working in a public library or volunteering. Also get to know a children's librarian and start reading upper elementary level fiction and young adult fiction. You are way ahead of the game in your career planning because most people who become book editors kind of fall into it at a later stage.

I can't think of any other classes that were particularly helpful, because I wasn't intending to be an editor, and my college didn't offer any editing classes at that time. If you want to edit young adult fiction and work up to being an acquiring editor, you need the background of an English major, I think. Most of what you study re fiction for adults will also apply to fiction for children/young adults. I don't think you would need a master's to pursue this part of the field. I am happy to answer any more questions you may have. No one has ever asked me this before!

By Anya (Anya) on Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - 07:12 pm: Edit

Thank you everyone! Marcie, I don't think I have any more questions right now, not that I can think of at the moment at least, but thanks so much! It was very very helpful.

By Uschicka (Uschicka) on Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 02:28 am: Edit

Anya, I've been going through the same issues. I'm a freshman this year at USC and am currently a pre-business major. I've realized that business just doesn't make me happy, and that I love to read, so I've been seriously considering becoming a book editor. I've been all around campus trying to figure out the best major. I've gone to meetings for communication majors and for journalism majors. Basically, I've found that for book editing English is probably the best route, at my school at least. Journalism is more for broadcast and print, etc, and it's not really relevant for my interests, except for one copy editing course. So I'm figuring I'll major in English. I'm scared though, because I love to read, but some classics scare me. I'm taking my first English class next semester, so I guess we'll see. I'm also scared because I've seen that editors are really low-payed. I by no means want to sacrifice my happiness for money (or else I'd continue as a business major), but I would like to find a balance of the two. Oh well.

Marcie- I'd like to eventually work up to a top position in editing. I associate copy editing, etc, with being an editor, but I've heard that high end jobs don't always do that part of the work. What other types of work should I expect to perform as an experienced editor? Thanks!

By Momstheword (Momstheword) on Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 10:02 am: Edit

USChicka--I was a magazine editor and now write books. It's true that editors are generally low paid. But the beauty of this field is that your career track can be interesting and varied as well as flexible. I loved my years at the mag. I used to wake up every morning so excited to go to work. It was frustrating to have to take time to get ready in the a.m.--I just wanted to be at my desk editing! To me, that feeling made up for low pay.

By Uschicka (Uschicka) on Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 04:08 pm: Edit

Thanks Momstheword- hopefully I'll be as happy as you were being an editor.

By Prinsess (Prinsess) on Saturday, January 03, 2004 - 07:33 pm: Edit

I've been trying to find information on this topic for several months. Thank you all so much, this information will be incredibly useful!