For many avid readers, becoming a fiction editor is a dream job. With a college degree, some experience in the field, and the desire to keep working toward your goal, you can become a fiction editor. Book publishing is a competitive industry with a higher demand for jobs than a supply of available positions. Working on a school newspaper or doing a publishing internship can help you gain the experience you need to become a fiction editor.
For editorial positions, a bachelor’s degree in a related subject, such as English, is frequently the minimum educational requirement. You could tutor writing students in addition to working as an editor for your school’s newspaper. This can provide you with early experience working with writers to help them improve their work; it doesn’t have to be fiction at this point, but you could tutor students in creative composition and poetry classes. If you want to work as a fiction editor, you should begin learning the necessary skills as soon as possible and document your progress on your resume.
If you keep trying to break into the fiction publishing field persuading a senior editor to give you a chance, you’ll eventually get the chance you’re looking for. To advance from assistant to fiction editor, you’ll need to continue to meet the publication’s standards while also learning new skills. Knowing how to spot talented writers among the mostly unpleasant manuscripts that may cross your desk when you first start as a fiction editor is crucial, and it can help you advance faster up the editorial ladder.
Even if you have to work for little or no pay at first as a junior editor at a small literary magazine rather than the large book publisher you hope to work for someday, you can still use the experience to build a resume and a good reputation for working with writers. Good editors are frequently followed writers from one publication to the next. This industry phenomenon may persuade your bosses that hiring you as an editor is a worthwhile investment.
Follow blogs and attend events to network with people in the publishing industry as you gain experience. Continue to look for internship opportunities with fiction book publishers, such as those in New York City. Even if you’ll mostly be reading piles of unsolicited manuscripts and running to the coffee shop, if you demonstrate that you have the skills and desire to work as a fiction editor when the opportunity arises, you might be hired on in a junior position after the internship. Editing workshops can provide you with another opportunity to network with professionals in the fiction publishing industry.