Which skills should an editor have?

You become a book editor by getting a job as an editor, and you do that by demonstrating competence and getting references. It's the same chicken-or-the-egg dilemma as in any field.

Editors of manuscripts need a fairly consistent set of skills. There's no standard educational background for an editor, although an English degree is useful to get a job with a publishing house or book agency.

For fiction, editors need a good feel for story, structure, and language. Editors should be at least reasonably well-read, with an appreciation for the history of the genre a book is in. If an editor doesn't appreciate that plot X has been done before numerous times, they can't help a writer avoid a clichéd plot.

For non-fiction, editors need not only knowledge of book structure and section design, but knowledge of several style manuals and their common applications. (Chicago for general text, AP for journalistic work, APA/MLA for academic/medical/tech work, etc.)

For any manuscript, editors need a working knowledge of grammar, language, and syntax. Editors don't need to be grammarians: I've met more than a few who can barely tell the difference between an adverb and an adjective but have an uncanny sense of correct phrasing and grammar. At the very least an editor needs to know enough grammar to guide a writer in the right direction. Of course, technical knowledge of grammar is extremely helpful to both editors and writers, in the same way that music theory is helpful to musicians. And there are many situations where the "correct" way is not the right way to write something, and an editor needs an eye for style to appreciate these moments. (For example, correcting all the uses of passive voice is a classic new-editor mistake.)

Finally, all editors need to be able to suggest changes in a helpful, diplomatic way. Telling a writer "this sentence is ridiculously overwritten" will often make a writer bristle and get defensive, where simply writing "this would be more effective if streamlined, like so" is offering a useful, helpful suggestion.

posted over 9 years ago

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Neil‭

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