Concert Calendar New Releases Artist of the Week Classic Hits Links Listen Now Join the Workforce Promotions JC & the U-Man All Around Town Singles Connection Air Personalities Contact Info Advertise With Us Great Outdoors Clubs / Venues St. Louis Attractions Career Channel Autoworld Traffic		Editing and Writing Career Overview Anyone who's corrected the spelling on a memo or questioned the insight of a newspaper reporter has edited. If you've composed a letter or an e-mail, you've written. If you want to turn that editing and writing into a career, you'll need an ongoing engagement with language-and a keen desire to communicate ideas to people effectively and efficiently. What You'll Do Editors and writers tell stories. Business writers tell stories about companies and their management teams, organizational structures, and economic successes and failures. Feature writers tell stories about celebrities, movies, and people doing different, sometimes unusual things. Copywriters use language to convey a story about the benefits of a brand or product. Writing almost always requires research or knowledge about a particular subject. While many writers start out as generalists, in the course of reporting or writing a story, they must become experts. An investigative story in a magazine into the causes of drug abuse, for instance, might include conversations with doctors, drug abusers, sociologists, legislators, drug-policy-reform groups and experts on organized crime, as well as research into public documents about government policy and the causes of drug abuse. The reporter then analyzes and synthesizes interviews and research, and organizes it into a story-hoping, perhaps, to win a Pulitzer Prize. Editors often start out as writers, and in many cases their role involves substantial writing. However, their role also bridges the space between writer and publication. They help writers craft stories, make sure writers adhere to style guidelines and rules of grammar, and ensure that every article is suitable for a particular publication. In their role, they straddle management and production, managing writers and budgets, setting deadlines, scheduling what will run and when, and enforcing general editorial standards of quality. Writing and editing careers vary widely. The subject, length, and style of what one writes or edits are variables that depend on where one works and what one has chosen to do. Varieties of Opportunity Editorial and writing careers span industries. Advertising agencies hire copywriters to create compelling copy that will sell readers on a brand. PR agencies use writers to create press releases, write annual reports, draft speeches, and create op-eds (opinion pieces that PR firms try to "place" in newspapers to reach target groups). Computer software and hardware companies use technical writing and editors to develop documentation and technical information on software and hardware products. Who Does Well Editors and writers need to have a strong command of language. You'll need to understand its rules-and when to break them. Writers and editors should be curious and resourceful, able to find information, synthesize it, and explain it. While some writing is highly persuasive, writers and editors should be able to look at a subject objectively. You will be required to interpret the facts you find, and the best approach to those facts is with an open mind. An ability to organize language and think critically and a desire to communicate to others are critical skills. A good sense of how to tell a story is also important, as is a mastery of the form in which your work appears. Most jobs require both writing and editing skills, though people generally start off in a role more primarily writing-based or editing-based. As a truism goes, all good editors are writers, and all good writers are editors. Job Outlook According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of writers and editors should increase at a rate significantly greater than the average for all occupations. In the shorter term, though, writers and editors are finding that the current economic decline has ended a heyday; many Internet-related jobs in the field have disappeared along with the companies that provided them. Competition for writing and editing jobs can be stiff-especially given increasing use by businesses of syndicated (rather than original) content. Jobs at local newspapers and broadcast communications in smaller markets are easier to find than those in larger markets. Similarly, those who have experience in and/or uncommon knowledge about a specific industry, such as telecommunications, may find it easier to land a job at a niche publication than at a major-market publication with national cachet. « Return to Previous Page Career Content ©2003 The Employment Channel		Do you think that performances on television have gotten out of control? • Yes • No • Undecided MO Power Ball:  4, 5, 11, 17, 47, Powerball: 35, Power Play: 5 IL Mega Millions:  6, 11, 43, 49, 52, Mega: 21 results posted by 9am following day Saint Louis, MO Clear 41°F MORE→
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