The whole editing job starts with an idea. The person, who comes up with the idea and does the writing part, is called the author. The editor must possess good creativity. He must also have people skills because, at almost all levels, he will be dealing with people. Almost all of the journalism jobs there are demand good people skills. Often the editor and the author must work hand in hand to complete the entire process.
Editorial jobs involve many facets. There is the manual type of editing, where the piece of writing is personally edited. Then, in today’s age, there is a semi automatic type of editing where the editing functions are partially supported by software, perhaps. Then, there is the automatic editing. In this case the magazine editor would give instructions to another journalist to edit the article, but would not interfere in any way.
There is no doubt that the magazine editor will need several staff members to fill the writing jobs. Then there are junior editorial assistants. These individuals are often just starting out in journalism writing by way of becoming astute at editing as opposed to reporter writing. These junior editors are answerable to the senior editors. There is a fairly extensive chain of command in editorial positions. Most often, especially in large magazines, the set of senior editors report to senior executive editors. These senior executive editors are then responsible for developing the article to the point where it is ready to go to print.
In a small magazine the typical magazine editor may be found fulfilling a variety of roles that would generally be divided among various editors in a larger magazine. After all, when it comes to publishing a magazine there is a large amount of editing involved. Writer’s work does not entail the final copy. There is normally a team of copywriters; these copywriters have the responsibility of altering the details in the articles that could be detrimental to the position of the magazine. Then there are editors who must check the spellings, grammar, and overall style of the articles. Another duty the magazine editor is faced with is developing new topics for articles. Depending on the level of the editor, the responsibilities can be enormous. To be able to fill any editorial position the candidate must have received some excellent journalism training.
Journalism ethics go a long way in this industry. It can make a difference to the type of position you will acquire within the industry. You will often hear different terminology when it comes to magazine editing. For example, in UK and Australian writings, the term sub editor is often used. Then there is production editor, who is often the printer. Then you have a layout editor, and a design editor, who was referred to as a makeup editor in the past. This editor is now mostly referred to as the news designer. Then towards the top of the magazine editor’s ladder there is the editor in chief.
If you aspire to become some kind of an editor further down in your career then you must first seek out diversified journalism employment to develop your skills. You should strive to earn as many journalism awards as possible. These always look impressive on the resume when you trying to obtain an editorial position.
Print journalism is always an intriguing and exciting field, whether you are in an editor’s position or not. There are many benefits to being a journalist. If you are into sports journalism and hope to get into editing, then you will want to keep your eyes open for editorial positions in sports related magazines.
There is just so much available when it comes to journalism. If one enjoys writing and really wants to embark on a career they will love, then this is the choice to make. Another interesting factor is, if you don’t like one area of journalism then you can switch to another. You can keep trying different areas until you find the one that you primarily want to focus on as the major for your career.
Once you have decided that you want to become a magazine editor you need to decide as to what type of editor you want to be. Ideally, take any position that you are qualified for to get your foot in the door of the magazine you are interested in. Once there, you can prove how good you are and in time, you can work your way into the position you really want.
Remember, no matter what industry one chooses as a career, working your way up the ranks takes time and perseverance, and journalism is no different. Another important thing to take into account as well is relevance. If you are seeking an editorial job then make sure it’s in an area of your interest. If you enter into a position with a magazine that you don’t enjoy then it is quite likely that you are not going to progress.
