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Trends in Writing and Editing Make English a Marketable Degree

You probably know already that writing and editing seem like obvious career choices for English majors. What you may be surprised to know is that it's a growing field, depending on the type of writing you want to do.

Michael Pilot, writing for the 1998-1999 Occupational Outlook Handbook, says that "[e]mployment of writers and editors is expected to increase faster than average for all occupations through the year 2006." (See the chapter on Writers and Editors for more details.)

Writers work in all sorts of settings on a wide variety of projects. You can find them developing fiction and nonfiction; writing for magazines, trade journals, and newspapers; creating technical reports and company newsletters; and writing for radio, television, and movies.  Technical and scientific writers are especially in demand.

  • In journalism, "editors select and prepare material for publication or broadcasting and    supervise writers. News writers prepare new items for newspapers or news broadcasts based on information supplied by reporters or wire services" (Pilot).
  • In advertising, "copywriters write copy for use by publication or broadcast media, to promote the sale of goods and services" (Pilot).
  • In business & industry, "technical writers make scientific and technical information easily understandable to a nontechnical audience. They prepare operating and maintenance manuals, catalogs, parts lists, assembly instructions, sales promotion materials, and project proposals. They also plan and edit technical reports and oversee preparation of illustrations, photographs, diagrams, and charts" (Pilot).
  • In many levels of government, writers write grants, speeches, and legislation.
"Editors frequently write and almost always review, rewrite, and edit the work of writers. However, their primary duties are to plan the contents of books, magazines, or newspapers and to supervise their preparation," Pilot says. They make decisions on what the readers might like. In some small businesses, the editor may be responsible for every subject. Editorial assistants assist with the proofreading of materials, page layouts, photographs, and advertising.