Editors are primarily responsible for planning, coordinating, and revising the content of different publications. These publications can consist of magazines, books, online blogs, websites, and online news content for a variety of industries. Learning more about the role of an editor can help you determine whether this is the right career for you. In this article, we answer “What does an editor do?”, explore different types of editor jobs, discover the recommended education and training for the role, and explain the working environments of editors.
What does an editor do?
You may wonder, “What does an ion casino editor do?” Their goal is to improve the quality of communication for a piece of writing. Editors are responsible for ensuring that content is clear, easily understood, interesting, and accurate. An editor may carefully review each word of the text, marking and noting any redundancies and making suggestions for how to improve it. They are usually the ones to review the final draft of any piece of writing before publishing and examine the document for any inconsistencies.
Editors have a variety of responsibilities and duties, depending on the project and the industry type. Their main concern is improving the readability of the document. Here are some of the primary responsibilities and duties of editors:
- Making suggestions on content types that may perform well with certain audiences
- Creating and maintaining publication standards
- Planning content with authors
- Organizing content
- Ensuring compliance with any editorial policies and publication styles
- Suggesting rewrites, or performing rewrites, of any sections that lack readability
- Verifying stated facts by checking sources
- Ensuring that project progress is staying on time and can meet deadlines
- Administering the layout of the artwork, design, and photography
- Reviewing final drafts and approve for publication
- Evaluating multiple submissions and deciding which articles to publish
Related:
Types of editor jobs
There are varying types of editor jobs, depending on the size of the editor’s team and the size of the publishing company. Below is a list of the different types of editor jobs:
Beta reader
A beta reader assesses a piece of content and provides feedback from the perspective of a general reader. As beta readers only give this type of opinion, they rarely require having much of a background in editing. Beta readers give important feedback that can affect the marketability and appeal to the specific audience. This advice can help restructure the plot, pacing, and consistency of the story.
Critique partner
Critique partners focus on giving feedback from the point of view of another author, as they are usually authors that have published work. Often, there’s a reciprocal agreement, where authors review each other’s work. A critique partner is ideal when an author requires advice for helping to develop a plot, or helping to develop characters. Many aspiring authors seek established critique partners to help develop and improve the quality of their work.
Assistant editors
Editors who focus on a particular subject matter are known as assistant editors. These subject matters can include the sports sections of newspapers, the business reporting sections of a magazine, or a particular discipline like neuroscience within an academic publishing company. Newspapers, marketing firms, book publishers, and magazines typically employ assistant editors.
Proofreaders
Proofreaders are one of the most common types of editor roles. They identify any errors in punctuation, grammar, and spelling before a piece gets published. Proofreaders are generally less involved in assisting with the quality of the content or the overall layout.
Commissioning editor
A commissioning editor decides which articles or books to publish. They review an array of sources and seek the most suitable ones for a publishing house or other type of organization. Commissioning editors require a significant amount of experience to understand which types of articles are more marketable and which authors are the most promising. Authors who want to publish their content can send their work to commissioning editors for review and consideration.
Copy editors
A copy editor’s role usually involves improving the clarity or accuracy of a body of work by making suggestions on changing words and rearranging sentences and paragraphs. Their role also includes identifying errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Some copy editors even arrange the layout of the publication, including the placement of photographs, artwork, graphs, and other elements.
Related: Copy Editing vs. Proofreading: Definitions, Skills, and Duties
Developmental editor
Developmental editors help and encourage authors to develop their stories. They can act as coaches for the authors throughout the process and help the authors maintain a consistent voice, tone, and structure. These editors continually remind the author of who the intended audience is and review their drafts throughout the creation of the project. They may even contradict the author for the betterment of the story, as some authors may overlook the original intention because of their personal or emotional attachment to their work.
Executive editor
Executive editors, also known as chief editors, are the editors in charge of each project and usually have the final say if a piece of writing is ready to be published. They are typically in charge of planning the budgets for each project and for hiring the authors, reporters, and other team members. In some instances, they even negotiate contracts for freelance writers. To be an executive editor requires many years of experience in editing.
Editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief oversees the entire editing department and manages the hiring duties of its employees. They are also responsible for creating and maintaining the voice, the style, and the publishing guidelines for the entire organization. Editors-in-chief choose which large projects the company can undertake and then distribute the specific tasks to the editing team.
Online editors
As the demand for online publishing continues to grow, the demand for online editors is also increasing. Online editors can either work as freelancers or work directly for an online publishing company. Many online editors specialize in a certain type of content and offer their services through their own websites. This type of role offers the most flexibility in terms of working hours and working environments.
