What is life like for an editor?

Question

high school student researching jobs, i love to read and write and it sounds like a interesting job.

Answer 1

It's not all reading and writing. It's very much a job of working with people: most books are worked on by several people at a publishing company, not just the editor. And at larger companies, there's a lot of work you need to do to garner support for an "acquisition" and to keep track of how your books are doing.

This article should give you some idea of what happens at a publishing company. It's written for writers but it does cover what an editor does: http://www.underdown.org/insidebz.htm

Other articles on my site may help as well. I'm a children's book editor with almost 20 years' experience.

Answer 2

Editing is a dog's life.
Chained to a keyboard every day, going over the same old stuff, it's just so depressing and time-consuming. It's not even your work.
The upside is when the book is finished, there's a magical sense of achievement. You feel euphoric.
That's all very well, but the euphoria fades, and the feeling doesn't make up for all the hard work you've put in.
Another thing is you don't get the credit for the work: the writer does.

Answer 3

I think the most frustrating thing for editors is trying to convince writers that every word they write is not pure gold.
Some of them are so attached to their prose that it's like pulling out teeth with an elastic band trying to get them to change something without hurting their feelings and making them hostile.