Publishing careers

Departments - Editorial

It's what most people think of when they think of publishing and it's what most people are interested in when looking at careers in the industry. It can, however, mean a number of different things.

Specifically, there is a difference between commissioning editors and desk editors. The former are involved in developing ideas for books. In some publishing houses, this means coming up with the idea, then finding an author to do the writing. In others, it may mean looking after a list of established authors, many of whom will be pitching their own ideas. Either way, a commissioning editor needs a good understanding of what will make a commercial success. Part of the process is also selling the idea internally and convincing the powers that be that a particular project is worth investing in.

Commissioning editors therefore need quite a range of skills, from the creative (more so in trade publishing than in other areas), to sales and presentation, to financial. This means that, although you may have come into publishing from an arts background, you will need to ensure that you are confident working with figures.

Desk editors are more concerned with the manuscript (or typescript) once it has been written. They are responsible for ensuring that it is written in an acceptable standard of English (not always the same as English that is 100% grammatically correct), that it contains no errors and that it conforms to the 'house style' of the publisher (every publisher has a house style in which questions of consistency, such as the spelling of words such as 'organise' – 'ise' or 'ize' – are settled).

Much of the actual work is now given to freelancers, with the role of the in-house editor being to oversee and manage the whole process.

This kind of work requires a meticulous attitude, an eye for detail, great organisational skills and an excellent standard of English.

As a new recruit to an editorial team (most likely an editorial assistant), you may well get a taste of both sides of the process, although at some stage in your career, you will probably have to decide which aspect suits you best. If you plan to make it to the top (i.e. director level) in editorial, you are likely to have to get involved in commissioning at some stage.

If you prefer working on the fine detail of authors' manuscripts, then the opportunities for advancement in-house are limited, but a freelance career may well be open to you.

Towards the end of the editorial process, there is proofreading. This is designed to be a final check on the document to be published before it goes to print. Proofreading is another job that is often done by freelancers, working from home. Some of those freelancers will have started off working in-house, but this isn't essential and many others come to proofreading from other careers.

Proofreaders need an excellent eye for detail, but also a good enough understanding of the publishing process to know where to draw the line – correcting mistakes at this late stage can be expensive. Proofreaders therefore have less scope to make big changes to the text than editors do.

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