Writing has become a popular way for people to earn income from home. Of course with writing there is always the need for editors. If you’ve thought about becoming an editor yourself, then you might want to take a look at the following list. Here are 7 tips on being an editor and what might help you succeed in this line of work.
A good editor is able to write well. Take a couple of writing classes and try your hand at composing some meaningful pieces. You need to be aware of proper grammar, sentence structure, and have a handle on the language you are writing in. It’s difficult to be a good editor when you have trouble with writing a simple sentence.
Even if you can land only a part time gig as an editor, every little bit of experience helps. It wouldn’t hurt to simply talk with the editor of the newspaper to see what this job entails. You might learn something you didn’t know and you also might be able to tell if this is a job you actually would like to do.
I’m always surprised at how many mistakes I pick up when reading different forms of literature. I’ll spot mistakes in advertisements, editorial pieces, and sometimes even in a novel I’m reading. Being an editor requires you to do a lot of reading and rather quickly as well. The more you read, the easier it will be to accurately skim over passages and spot mistakes without taking all day to read the same piece over and over again.
Depending on what magazine you are seeking an editorial job with, this could be a full-time or a part-time job. Some magazines rely solely on ads for their financial support, so there will be few articles for you to edit in these, but you’ll be responsible for making sure the layout of the magazine looks correct. On the other hand, if you are planning on working as an editor for a magazine that is filled with articles, then you’ll most likely be reading a lot of articles for editing purposes.
You’ll have to show some form of enthusiasm when applying for the position as editor. If you have any past experiences that involved editing that you truly enjoyed, be sure to discuss these in depth with your future employer so he/she can get an idea of what you’ve already done. The more enthusiastic you can appear, the more likely the employer will be to consider hiring you.
Having a degree in one or two of these areas will help you grasp the basics of language, thus making it easier to understand what you are looking for as an editor. You’ll need to be able to identify errors and know how they should be fixed. If you have difficulty with this in your own writing, then you might want to think twice about becoming an editor right away.
The best way to become a good editor is to get some writing experience, no matter how miniscule. Just as with reading, doing a lot of writing will also help you grasp the basics of the written language and make it easier to edit written pieces.
Out of these 7 tips on being an editor, which do you find to be the most useful?
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