I want to be a book editor - is English the right major for me?

Question

I am a sophomore in college and need to declare my major soon. I love to read and write and I consider myself to be alright at both things. I was thinking English would be a good fit for me. I've always had dreams of being a book editor for childrens or young adult books. But I'm wondering if English would be the right major? Would it give me the experience and correct classes for this job? Or would, let's say Journalism be more suitable?

Answer 1

a book editer does need to be good at grammer. I would have to say that english is probably a boring major, but if you want to be an editor then i would say go for it.

Answer 2

Don't listen to the person above who writes that a book editor doesn't need to have grammar skills -- an editor is "one who edits," and hence must have above average grammar and spelling skills. As far as your major, I think you should do something with both English and Journalism. An English major is more focused on literature, while a Journalism major is more focused on writing. You'll need both of these for a publishing career. You can either do a double-major or you can major in one and minor in the other. Either way, they'll both be helpful. You should also consider at least taking a few Communication classes, even if you don't make it a focus of your education by declaring it as a degree. These are the three major components if you want to get into publishing; you should also consider getting your Master's degree after you're finished with undergrad (though this isn't totally necessary). Only a few schools have grad programs for Editing and Publishing -- I know of Emerson College in Boston and Rosemont College in PA -- but they would be a big help.

Answer 3

I am surprised at some of the previous answers you have received. While it is true that authors and journalists share some common ground such as the English language and the rules that govern it, that's about where the similarities end. Journalists gnerally try to tell a story in 500-1000 words while authors generally try to tell a story in 500-1000 pages. Journalists work on an extremely short deadline, telling the world the news while it is still new. There are exceptions to this in certain magazines such as Smithsonian. Authors often take years to get their books written for a number of reasons including story development, character development, extremely detailed research, etc. Journalists mainly do research for two reasons; develop the story and check the facts. Journalists don't develop characters. They develop sources. Journalists report behavior and do interviews to get the perspective of the persons involved. Authors have many different ways of squeezing the story out of themselves and often times editors are involved in the process. I point all of this out to help you understand that newspaper and magazine editors work with journalists in a completely different way than book editors work with authors. If you want to edit books then I would encourage you to learn the whole process of how a book starts as an idea in somebody's mind and ends up on the New York Times Best Sellers List. There's a lot more to it than loving to read and write. Talk to the people that do this for a living and find out how they got there. And talk to some newspaper and magazine editors. You might decide you'd rather do that kind of work. Good luck.

Answer 4

"Most book editors are college graduates. Many of them major in English, history, or journalism and have advanced degrees in literature or specialized fields. For example, textbook editors may have a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree in a specialized subject, such as science or mathematics. All editors must have a strong command of English grammar and spelling and be comfortable working on a computer. Previous writing experience on school newspapers and magazines is helpful."

Answer 5

Someone told me in 1994 that she thought you couldn't be e book editor unless you majored in Journalism. She assumed that somehow my degree in English wouldn't even be useful for book editing!(?) Journalism or communications can't hurt, but I just got through looking up a fantasy author who had studied Creative Writing and Literature. Also, this search yields some sensible results: https://www.bing.com/search?q=How+Do+You+Become+a+Book+Editor&FORM=R5FD. Good luck. I think I'll send out resumes to some of the book editing and publishing companies.

Answer 6

I beg to differ that an editor doesnt need to be good at grammar. Grammar is a huge part of an editor's job! Can you double major? I did. Both would be helpful to you. Why not talk to your advisor and ask them. They should be able to help you. Also if you go online, there are many interviews with editors from literary magazines. You could read some of them and see how they did it. Pax -C

Answer 7

English is usally the traditional degree, but other liberal arts fields are appropriate too. Communications, Business, Political Science anything that encourages critical thinking. Caveat: 1 in 6 people with an English degree wind up working in pink collar jobs. There are more degreed people than actual jobs available in publishing. So I STRONGLY recommend an unrelated minor

Answer 8

you might want to take journalism since you'll be taking courses in editing, but check first before you sign for anything. Also, get on your college paper and get as much proofreading and editing as possible. Hit the college writing center and bone up on your grammar. Also take layout and graphic design, editors will want you to be able to do design a page. With so much of today's papers going online you might want to learn web design as well.Good luck and peace.

Vin

PS you might want to consider a major in english and minor in journalism heavy on editing, layout and design courses. definately keep up with the grammar and spelling basics.