Thanks to technological advancements that have resulted in a wide variety of publication options, there are many different types of traditional and freelance copy editor jobs available. Copy editors, in general, plan, coordinate, research, correct, and organize materials for publication in a variety of formats, including print and electronic. News publication editors, book copy editors, online copy editors, technical copy editors, and advertising copy editors are the most common copy editor jobs.
Newspaper, journal, and magazine copy editors work for both print and electronic publications. Gathering news stories and researching the facts surrounding local or regional events may be part of the job. Because news editors are in charge of writing, designing, and editing large sections of a publication, news copy editor jobs can be extremely demanding and necessitate the expertise of seasoned professionals.
With both print and online news and advertising operations, advertising copy editors play an important role. Advertising copy editors are in charge of, among other things, graphic ad design and typesetting. Advertising copy editors must be able to create accurate ads for clients in order to ensure that their advertising dollars are well spent.
Publishing houses and independent publishers are both good places to look for book copy editor jobs. While these jobs can be in-house or virtual, they all require the ability to review, correct, and fact-check lengthy documents prior to publication. Because of the growing number of straight-to-digital projects compared to print book formats, many book copy editors choose to freelance.
The number of online copy editor jobs has risen dramatically as a result of the internet. Much of the content that appears on websites is written, researched, and edited web copy editors. In order to create digital copy that performs well in search engine results, web developers frequently hire freelance web copy editors to work with client information.
Technical copy editor jobs are also in high demand to oversee the meticulous writing, illustration, editing, and fact-checking that goes into the creation of technical and instructional materials for products. Technical copy editors often have a broad understanding of technology thanks to their prior experience in the fields in which they specialize. Jobs for technical copy editors can be found in a variety of industries, including scientific, medical, research, product development, and information technology.