Editors

Employment for editors is expected to decline 2 percent through 2033, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Competition for editing jobs will remain intense, since many people want to enter the field. It will be especially difficult to land a job with newspaper publishers. Employment for editors at newspaper publishers is expected to decline by 19.4 percent through 2033. Book publishing will remain particularly competitive, since many people still view the field in a romantic light. Much of the expansion in publishing is expected to occur in non-publishing industries, where businesses will be looking for editors with strong technology skills to create and manage content for their Web sites and other online ventures. Some bright spots are the advertising and public relations sectors, where employment for editors is expected to grow by 8.1 percent through 2033.

One of the major trends in publishing is specialization. More and more publishing ventures are targeting relatively narrow markets, which means that there are more opportunities for editors to combine their work and their personal interests. It is also true, however, that many of these specialty publications do not survive for long. A fairly large number of positions—both full-time and freelance—become available when experienced editors leave the business for other fields. Many editors make this decision because they find that they can make more money in other businesses than they can as editors.