The newspapers, magazines and books that we read in our daily life are prepared by many departments. It is not just the task of one department, but a group effort or we can say it follows a layered design flow, in which the last step is the editing of the text in the newspapers, magazines and books. The errors can disturb the comfortable reading of the reader. The errors of spelling, grammar or punctuation can impose a bad effect on the mind of reader and he or she may lose interest in reading further. To prevent this, copy editors work to benefit the reader by editing the texts in the newspapers, magazines and books.
The publisher set called ‘house style’ is a set of text correction rules. All the corrections and editions are made according to these rules by the editor. House style is followed without fail. If a word is spelled wrong on one page, it is the duty of the copy editor that it is corrected. The copy editor also maintains the consistency of the headings and captions on every page of the newspaper or magazine. Not just the grammatical mistakes, but also the checking of the fact is done by the copy editor. He or she checks the information given on the newspaper to know if it is correct or wrong. They check the names, addresses of the people or other important information in the newspaper or magazine. All the facts and details are rechecked by the copy editor to ensure if the data is updated or not. The copy editors work at magazine publishing house, newspapers or books publishing houses etc. Some are employed at full production houses and some work as free lancers. Copy editor job description will now explain about the required qualifications and career growth.
Skills and expertise required
Qualifications required
The people who are seeking career in the copy editing must possess a graduate degree in any field. If the person has English background or degree in literature or grammar then they have a bigger chance. The candidate must have knowledge of other fields like medicine, science or current affairs etc. Many schools and universities give training of copy editing to the students who want to enter the field.
Career growth
The candidate applying for this field may get placed as an editing executive or assistant to a copy editor, but with the experience he or she will become a copy editor in no time. The salary varies but is good at almost every publishing firm.
