Editors are text-related “doctors” who usually have an academic background in the field of humanities. Their job is first and foremost of an editorial nature. In addition to proofreading, editors are responsible for editing i.e. revising manuscripts regarding content and form in cooperation with the author. One has to distinguish between publishing editors and those freelance editors that work outside of publishing houses as well. Publishing editors are not only editors of written text; they also are product managers and program planners: they support authors throughout the publishing process, look out for suitable projects for publishing programs, create advertising and cover texts in unison with the marketing department, as well as support authors that belong to the publishing house. Publishing editors typically obtain their position by way of volunteer work.
Freelance editors that do not work for publishing houses often work for public institutions, or advertising agencies. Another attractive and promising field of work for editors is ghostwriting as well as academic ghostwriting. Editing is a standard service of any ghostwriting agency. Why? Because when it comes to important texts, compliance with specific formal and content-related criteria are mandatory. This applies in particular to academic texts – whether it be before submission with the university or with a publisher. Without editing, a term paper or degree thesis may have a worse result; a publishing manuscript may lead to embarrassing irrevocable mistakes and reputational damage. In awareness of this risk, several authors are glad to use the editing services of ghostwriting agencies. In the context of (academic) ghostwriting, an editor’s job is to identify structural discrepancies, to point out content-related inconsistencies, to examine the appropriateness of the author’s style of writing, to remove redundancies and repetitions of words, to eliminate grammatical as well as orthographical errors, to rewrite convoluted sentences, to optimize sentence structures, as well as to remedy formatting mistakes. And what is also interesting to know: Depending on the respective ghostwriting service provider, earning opportunities in the ghostwriting business may actually be more lucrative compared to, say, working on a freelance basis for a literary publishing company.
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