I want a job as an editor...

[nicegrrl]

Is this a good cover letter?

I would like to apply for the assistant editor position at Generic Publications. I have a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a strong interest in creative writing. I worked as the assistant editor of the "arts and living" section of my university newspaper and I also received an award for excellence in writing.
My previous roles on the media teams for the World Economic Forum and British Parliament gave me excellent experience in working in a fast paced publishing environment, working with many different people at once and handling many different tasks at once.
I love to read popular non fiction, romance, fantasy and most other mass market fiction genres. I am excellent at critiquing work and am familiar with common concerns such as handling point of view and developing compelling story structures.
I am very excited about the opportunity to work as an assistant editor and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

my name.

Any input is very appreciated.

thanks!!

[Kristen King]

First, congrats on making a decision to follow this exciting and fun career path! Regarding your letter, I want to know more about what skills are going to make you a good editor. I also want to know if you've enclosed your resume or if you want me to call you or what. It's short, which isn't bad, but not very exciting, which could be. Also, there are some errors, redundancies, stuff you should make sure is intentional (like not using a comma between independent clauses, serial comma, etc.), and unanswered questions that could reflect badly on someone applying for an editing position, in red text below. I hope it's helpful!

I would like to apply for the assistant editor position at Generic Publications. I have a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a strong interest in creative writing [[which is relevant to this position in what ways?]]. I worked as the assistant editor of the "arts and living" section of my [[daily, weekly, monthly, semester-ly?]] university newspaper and I also received an award for excellence in writing [[for what exactly?]].
[[new paragraph???]]My previous roles on the media teams for the World Economic Forum and British Parliament gave me excellent experience in working in a fast paced publishing environment, working with many different people at once and handling many different tasks at once.
I love to read [[so what? sell this in a way that translates to the position.]] popular non fiction, romance, fantasy and most other mass market fiction genres. I am excellent at critiquing work [[says who? and how have you demonstrated it?]] and am familiar with common concerns such as handling point of view and developing compelling story structures. [[this is all subjective--show some concrete examples of your skills]]
I am very excited about the opportunity to work as an assistant editor and I hope to hear from you soon. [[and they'll contact you how?]]

Good luck, and let us know how it goes. (And if any of this is confusing, let me know and I'll try to be more clear.)

Cheers,
Kristen

[nicegrrl]

thank you so much!

I am going to fix this. And if anyone knows anyone that is hiring asst. editors in NYC, please please tell me.

thanks!

[mistri]

I'm going to butt in with a potentially ignorant question. As far as I know, publishers in NY (or the US generally) still hire editorial assistants. So why are you aiming for a rung higher (assistant editor)?

Generally you have to start at the very bottom unless you have significant experience already (in which case you probably don't need help writing a query letter). Sorry if this sounds downbeat, but I was just curious. While I'm from the UK, I used to be an editorial assistant for a publisher (Harlequin) with a New York office, and I frequently used to correspond with my NY colleagues for a moan about how we hadn't been promoted to Assistant Editor yet :D

[nicegrrl]

I apply to the jobs as they list requirements. Usually asst. editor positions say "college degree, experience preferable" Some will say "1-2 years experience required or whatever"

Anyways, am I right to assume that jobs that dont list that experience is required or list a specific amoiunt of experience required are entry level. I called and asked one company and the HR rep told me that asst. editor was an entry level position.

[mistri]

Actually, it does depend on the company, so definitely keep trying for those Assistant Editor positions. I meant more not to look over the editorial assistant jobs, because they can still offer a wealth of experience :)

[Gillhoughly]

You may be in a hurry to post and don't proof your stuff, but the typos in your mails on this thread are a bit off-putting. I'm seeing basic spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors hopping all over the page, breeding like things that breed really fast.

Also, you should be aware that many a top editor began her career reading through the mountains--not kidding, MOUNTAINS--of slush arriving via snail mail to the publishing house. The job requires separating the utterly hopeless from the moderately okay. You shove the rejects into a SASE or the shredder, then open the next effort. Chances are your critiquing skills won't be called upon for that and you will develop a strong addiction to caffeine. There will be times when your eyes start to bleed, but only after you've gouged them out with a spork. Prior to that you'll wander the halls begging other editors for eye-bleach.

Editing sounds like a really cool job, and in some cases it has to be great, but there is a huge amount of drudge work involved.

You will have to:

pore over endless pages of manuscript--perhaps by a writer who bores the hell out of you--without falling asleep;

fight with the suits upstairs who don't want to buy a book you love;

go to Monday morning meetings with more suits, plus the art and marketing departments, each of them having an opinion you hate, working in lunch with agents trying to sell you stuff, then it's back to your desk for a non-stop influx of e-mails, and more and more MS coming in and stacking up;

dealing with snarky, ego-controlled writers like myself who are PO'd that the publisher changed the book's title or hair color of the hero or forgot to include the epilogue of her magnificent novel to end all novels. Multiply that by however many writers have books placed with the house and you'll find out why editors like to hang in bars.

That's the top skin of the ol' iceberg.

Go ahead and hope to start at the mid-point of the application ladder; it might just work for you. Otherwise I would suggest acquiring that 1-2 years of experience by working at a local newspaper or magazine, or a small press if there's one in your area. You can check monster dot com for things like that.

Now I'm going back to being a writer. Editing can be a cool thing, but I can only take it in small doses.

Good luck! :)

[Kristen King]

I think Gillhoughly's comments are right on, and the suggestion to build more experience by working locally is great. I had hoped, although I didn't ask for this, that you would respond with my comments on your letter with some more information about your skills and experience so we could help you more. Next time I'll ask first. This time I'm asking now. :]

Kristen

[nicegrrl]

Hey, I like to write fiction more than cover letters.

Well, I figure all jobs are boring. My previous jobs include telemarketing and working in scientific research. I sort of count on every job being more stimulating than scientific research. Seriously. Put a squeeling mouse through a miniature guillitine and try and pressurize its skull till the brain pops out at just the right time so that it is chemically preservable.

And then do it 30 times more.

Is editing worse than that?

Ok, one second with my cover letter. I have mice to kill.

No, not today. I'm just forcing them to eat cocaine today. Would you believe that mice hate cocaine? You have to trick them into taking it.

siigh.

Are you sure editing is that bad?

[mistri]

You will have to:

pore over endless pages of manuscript--perhaps by a writer who bores the hell out of you--without falling asleep;

fight with the suits upstairs who don't want to buy a book you love;

go to Monday morning meetings with more suits, plus the art and marketing departments, each of them having an opinion you hate, working in lunch with agents trying to sell you stuff, then it's back to your desk for a non-stop influx of e-mails, and more and more MS coming in and stacking up;

dealing with snarky, ego-controlled writers like myself who are PO'd that the publisher changed the book's title or hair color of the hero or forgot to include the epilogue of her magnificent novel to end all novels. Multiply that by however many writers have books placed with the house and you'll find out why editors like to hang in bars.


Are you sure editing is that bad?

Heh - it both is and isn't as bad as that sounds. Like I mentioned earlier, I was an editorial assistant for two years, and I had to do all of the above. *But* (and it's a big but), I loved doing it - you have to if you're willing to accept low pay (get used to it in publishing) for a lot of (often) mind-numbing work.

Slush, for example, is bad. Slush is usually boring. *But* slush gives you an opportunity, no matter how small, to find and develop exciting new writers. And even though most MSs that come through slush are dreadful, some are so dreadful they're funny (which is enjoyable in itself). I read (literally) thousands of bad slush, but I also personally bought four new authors from that slush pile. Not bad, I think.

Meetings can be boring whatever industry you're in. And some are surprisingly fun (like when you have to present a fantasy novel at a weekly buying meeting).

Whether you're an editorial assistant or assistant editor, you'll likely have to file too. I hate filing. Haaaaate it. But it's part of the job and the job can be great :)

[Kristen King]

At the risk of sounding like my mother, or at least older than I actually am, if you think every job is boring, you will never find a job that interests you. Editing is a wonderful, fascinating, stimilating, rewarding profession and I absolutely love it--even right now, when I'm taking a break from editing possibly the worst medical article ever written.

But it's hard work, and a lot of what you're going to be doing, especially starting out, is going to be, well, boring. You're going to be shuffling papers and filing things and carrying around stacks of manuscript and probably making coffee for people you don't particularly care for while accumulating dozens of papercuts on a daily basis and coming home at night to find that through the course of the day you've stuck about fifty-two bajillion red pencils in your hair (which explains why you couldn't find any in your desk).

If you're not willing to deal with that, you'll find editing just as boring as force feeding cocaine to caged and numbered murine mammal specimens.

[nicegrrl]

I would like to apply for the assistant editor position at Generic Publications. I have a B.S. degree in psychology and a strong interest in creative writing. I worked as the assistant editor of the "Arts and Living" section of my weekly university newspaper and I also received an award for excellence in writing for an article commemorating the campus reaction to September 11th.

My previous roles on the media teams for the World Economic Forum and British Parliament gave me excellent experience in working in a publishing environment, working with many different people and handling many different tasks. I love to read popular non fiction, romance, fantasy and most other mass market fiction genres. I am excellent at critiquing work and am familiar with common concerns such as handling point of view and developing compelling story structures. I also have the basic office skills, patience and organization required to function efficiently and independently in an office environment.

I am very excited about the opportunity to work as an assistant editor. I hope to hear from you soon.


Sincerely,

Me
Contact info below

I want to work as an editor because I want to be a writer and I need some way to pay the bills. So why not editing? Does this make sense?

There is no way reading second rate chick lit is worse than editing a paper about pancreatic toxicology written by a Korean professor that knows no English, which is what I last edited.

[nicegrrl]

I have no idea why this doesnt format properly.

[nicegrrl]

Anyways, I never met anyone that liked their entry level job. I dont think such a job exists. I know a girl that works for Random House as an editor and she has done it for years, but she did not like the entry level.

What can you do? It's a grind. Just how it is. Even being an entry level rock star is filled with a lot of boring stuff to do.

[Lauri B]

Hi Nicegrrl,
I have been an editor forever, and it's a great job. Sure, sometimes it's boring, but not very often, and usually with publishing companies you can move up quite quickly. The pay isn't great--you should be aware of that up front, but the perks are that you are around other people who also love books and writing.
On your cover letter, could you play up your editing experience with the media teams a little bit more--maybe explain what your role was in these jobs? Otherwise, I think your cover letter sounds fine.

Good luck!
Lauri at Nomad

[nicegrrl]

Description:Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishing Group L.L.C. is a confederation of these unique publishing houses: Bedford/St. Martin's, W.H. Freeman & Company, and Worth Publishers. Focusing on the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, each of these three companies pursues its own publishing program independent of the others. Each boasts in its portfolio a number of landmark books, as well as innovative electronic and multimedia products, and each is known throughout the educational publishing world for superior text development and production.

Requirements:W.H. Freeman & Worth is seeking an Editorial Assistant for our Psychology list. Responsibilities include assisting in the development and acquisitions of psychology textbooks, preparing manuscripts for transmittal, conducting market research, coordinating review projects, and
interacting with academics as well as the production and marketing departments, along with some administrative responsibilities.

Qualified candidates must be comfortable handling multiple projects while maintaining attention to detail. Excellent written, verbal and computer skills required. This is a great opportunity to learn about academic publishing, educational technology, and to gain editorial experience. Location:New York, NY How To Apply For This Job:Send resume, cover letter INCLUDING salary requirements, and writing sample directly to jobs@hbpub.com. Only resumes indicating salary requirements will be considered. Please indicate Editorial Assistant - KF in the subject line and attach your resume as a MS Word or PDF attachment. CONTACT US: Holtzbrinck Publishers E-mail: jobs@hbpub.com

[nicegrrl]

thanks Lauri!

This last job I posted is perfect (obviously I need a different cover letter)

but i just want to know what is a reasonable salary requirement.

I am going to call about whether or not it is an entry level position. In my field, you cant ask for salary reqs in an entry level job.

[Lauri B]

I don't know what the going rate in NYC is for editorial assistants, but it'll be low, whatever it is.
Anyone out there in NYC in editorial positions who could pm nicegrrl, or give us a ballpark of salaries? Publishers Weekly recently had their annual salary review (I think it was mid July), but I recycled my copy.

[mistri]

I want to work as an editor because I want to be a writer and I need some way to pay the bills. So why not editing? Does this make sense?

There is no way reading second rate chick lit is worse than editing a paper about pancreatic toxicology written by a Korean professor that knows no English, which is what I last edited.

While there's nothing wrong with wanting to be both an editor and writer, I'd caution against going into editing *purely* because you want to be a writer. I'm not saying don't do it - just think about it carefully.

Generally, unpublished writers have no way of knowing if they'll ever be published, never mind published well enough to give up their day job. So what you have to consider is whether you can handle editing as your main career, for however long you pursue it.

I went into editing wanting to do both, and I did learn a lot from it. I also found out editing so much fiction in the day made it difficult to focus on my own work at home (especially if I'd taken a slush manuscript with me). I now work in magazines, where - for whatever reason - the editing I'm doing doesn't affect my fiction writing.

I'm well aware that's just a personal example. There are plenty of happy editor/writers.

The other thing I want to say is that publishing can be extremely competitive. It can take a long time, even with the relevant experience, to grab a job - you have to stand out from all the other candidates in the area, chasing the same jobs with similar qualifications. So just make sure it's something you want to do :)

I don't mean to sound so miserable. Like I said, I loved my time in book publishing and I'm sure doing it has really improved my writing. I'm just wary whenever (not saying you're like this) people think it's easy to get into, or will guarantee writing success.

[Gillhoughly]

If you want to be a writer, then write.

My best friend wanted to be a writer, but took a degree in accounting so she could have a day job to support her habit. When she wasn't at work she was writing.

Now she's got a good 12-15 books in print, is contracted to at least two new series, in demand for anthologies, AND next in line for a VP position at the company were she works.

At times her day job requires 60-80 hour work weeks, overseas travel, and being on call 24/7 to put out fires. With all that going on she kicks out at least four books a year and they're dang good reads.

Last year she did it while fighting off a bout of breast cancer. She won.

Whenever I think I can't do something or it's too much trouble or too boring, I think of my friend, belt up, and get on with things.

[Kristen King]

There is no way reading second rate chick lit is worse than editing a paper about pancreatic toxicology written by a Korean professor that knows no English, which is what I last edited.

I agree 100% percent. Insert "hematologic and translational oncology" in place of "pancreatic toxicology" and "any non-native English speaker anywhere" and that's what most of my ongoing freelance work is. :] Thank God for the projects!

kk

[nicegrrl]

I dont want to be an accountant.

My job is not so bad. I like research. It is at least predictable. Not at all stressful unless you mess up an experiment. But my job leads nowhere unless you get a PhD and that is a big commitment. At least editing is some sort of a career path.

If I knew that I would get published and be able to quit my day job, then I would stick to research and write. But 10 years from now, I would still be doing the same thing basically if I didnt become a full time writer.

I am mostly going for jobs in scientific publishing, but I saw one for editing fantasy, romance, popular non fic and chick lit and I thought it looked interesting at least.

[mistri]

Good luck with it all!

I'd probably still be in book publishing if I was willing to commute (but I'm not, so meh!) :D

[Gillhoughly]

Oh, to be young again.

After 20+ books and putting in my time at the publishing grindstone I'm only just barely able to make a living at being a writer. I still have a day job to make ends meet and deal with emergencies like my car needing some Rx. (Words to live by: I cut up all my credit cards in the 90's and am almost debt-free.)

Writers with a lot more books and bigger advance checks than mine have day jobs. Only the ones with an understanding spouse/family supporting them during their million words of drek phase get out of it.

A day job has health insurance, dental plans, 401Ks and financial SECURITY. Only the "lottery winners" of publishing (the NYT Big Name Writers) are earning enough from their wordsmithing to quit and go full-time. Mid-listers like myself would love that sort of thing, but it doesn't happen to everyone even if they are good writers and can deliver 4-5 books a year.

As a personal snark to myself I got to edit a NYT Big Name Writer. I don't know HOW she ever got published in the first place since it was clear she failed fifth grade English. I KNOW I am a much better writer, but she makes the sales and them's the breaks.

I spent 11 hours on her novella, pointing out VP shifts, eyes darting/floating/driving/drifting around rooms, sentence frags, plot holes you could drive a hummer though, and a LOT of word reps (try, just try on purpose to use the word "stroke" 15 times on two pages of narrative)--all for naught.

The other editor let it pass as is. I'm not going postal as I tried my best to fix things, but some Names are too NAME to edit, apparently. Humph. Yet another fun thing about being an editor.

My resume is a patchwork: fast food slave, office temp, piece-work sewing, ticket taker at a movie house, checker at a drug store, manager at a hobby store, retail, more office temp jobs, one really good office job but they fired me anyway, house-cleaning service, with stretches of frustrating, frightening, soul-killing unemployement in-between. I was scarily unprepared for life in the real world, and this was after putting in several years at a university.

Fresh out of college and having to start at the bottom rung on, well, everything, is what's called "paying your dues." It sucks, and no one escapes. It is boot camp. No one likes it much, but not a lot of respect happens for you later if you waste years trying to avoid it.

And when you DO get some success, you appreciate it more. You know you've earned it fair and square. That's how I'm wired, anyway. It was tough, it still IS tough, but I ain't trading for anyone else's life. :)

[nicegrrl]

I'm 24, not 12. Been working for the last decade and it doesnt seem to get any better. Whatever. You go to work. Do something and come home. I wont do some 80 hour a week finance job, no. I prefer 40-50 hour a week jobs that require college education. If my boss doesnt suck then I dont hate my job. No one goes to work expecting glamor and excitement.

Anyways, I do make sure I date wealthy guys. It's very important for someone like me that really doesnt want to work at all.

[Kristen King]

I'm 24, not 12. Been working for the last decade and it doesnt seem to get any better. Whatever. You go to work. Do something and come home. I wont do some 80 hour a week finance job, no. I prefer 40-50 hour a week jobs that require college education. If my boss doesnt suck then I dont hate my job. No one goes to work expecting glamor and excitement.

Anyways, I do make sure I date wealthy guys. It's very important for someone like me that really doesnt want to work at all.

I'm 24, too, and I've had a very different work experience from yours in every way except the time line. I started babysitting and nannying when I was 12 and did it through college and a little beyond and loved it. Wiping small butts isn't exactly thrilling, but it's rewarding. I also worked in a deli wearing every hat you can think from from ages 16 to 18, and then managed an ice cream parlor during my freshman and sophomore summers of college.

During undergrad, I worked 40+ hours a week while carrying an 18-credit course load for all four years (except my first semester--I was only allowed 16) and working as many as four jobs at a time, including government documents checker-inner at the campus library, phonathon caller, resident assistant, residence hall supervisor, coffee barrista, bartender, waitress, nanny, obituary writer, tutor, and copyeditor. And I loved all of them (except the government documents thing--that totally blew even though my boss was the nicest. person. ever.). Was it hard? YES. Was it worth it? YES.

Then, I started a full-time proofreading job that required an almost-four-hours-a-day commute, freelanced 30 hours a week on the side, and started a grad school program (night classes--two a semester) and did that for two years before quitting my "real job" and devoting myself full time to freelancing. Hard? Harder than anything I've ever done. Glamorous? Not particularly. Worth every second? Absolutely.

There is very little glamour in having a small child throw up on you, being covered in ice cream from wrist to bicep, having your a** grabbed by drunken rednecks, or lugging cases of YooHoo up and down a staircase that can barely support its own weight let alone yours. The trick is to bring your own glamour and excitement to everything you do. You can't let your job satisfaction be determined by whether your boss sucks, just like you can't decide whether to eat lunch today versus starve yourself to be skinnier based on how cute-boy-in-the-next-cube responds to your form-fitting skirt. That's dumb. It's doesn't make you dumb, but it's still dumb.

Life is too short to base your happiness on other people's reactions. Find something you love and then find someone to pay you to do it--don't just do whatever pays, because that will never be fulfilling. And if you hate your job, go find something else. Seriously. You're too young to be unhappy. Figure out what you want, and then go get it. If what you want is to be an editor, be an editor. But it's not going to happen tomorrow. Like Gillhoughly said, the things you earn are the things you appreciate.

Editorial assistant is the right place to start. That Bedford job sounds perfect for where you are experience-wise (although, as others have pointed out, you need to be careful about grammar, punctuation, and spelling, or you will have a very hard time securing a position in this field).

Whatever job you decide to go after, know this: Once the novelty wears off, it's up to you to keep it exciting, not your boss or your coworkers or your fabulously rich boyfriend. And if you're not excited about the idea of working toward eventually being an editor, or completely on fire about filing, you will not like this job.

You can do it, and if you want to, you should do it. But if you just don't want to work in a lab anymore, find the thing you really love and do that.

Kristen

[Gillhoughly]

find the thing you really love and do that.

High five, sister! :snoopy:

[Lauri B]

Guys, mellow out. Nicegrrl is talking about trying out a job in editing, not contemplating taking orders at the convent.

And it's not a contest about whether or not she is worthy to call herself an editor based on anyone else's past experiences. She wants to try editing; thumbs up to that. She may not like or be good at it, or she may love it and it might lead to something terrific. But the bottom line is it's just a job decision. Not life and death or even the answer to "what am I going to do with my life?" She's 24--still a pup. Now is definitely the time to try a bunch of different things and see what might be fun or fire a passion. You're not supposed to know what you are going to do with the rest of your life when you're 24.

I thought her comment about only dating rich guys might just have been tongue-in-cheek. If not, then at least she's thinking ahead. . .

[Kristen King]

Guys, mellow out. Nicegrrl is talking about trying out a job in editing, not contemplating taking orders at the convent.
...

I thought her comment about only dating rich guys might just have been tongue-in-cheek. If not, then at least she's thinking ahead. . .

Nicegrrl, you're not thinking about joining a convent and dating rich guys, are you? That might pose a conflict of interest. ;]

Point taken, Nomad. I don't think we're trying to weed out the weak ones from the herd here--just trying to figure out what exactly Nicegrrl's looking for.

kk

[nicegrrl]

Nicegrrl, you're not thinking about joining a convent and dating rich guys, are you? That might pose a conflict of interest. ;]

Point taken, Nomad. I don't think we're trying to weed out the weak ones from the herd here--just trying to figure out what exactly Nicegrrl's looking for.

kk

I know what I want to be. A writer. if I could just hire myself to write, then I would. Since that aint happening, I'll try editing. It's a respectable career path with possible room for advancement. Sounds fine to me. What are the alternatives? Advertising? No thanks. Finance? Misery. Biotech? Fine, but no room for advancement without a grad degree. I really like to read about scientific research more than I like to do it. I mean, it's fine to do and all, but a lot of experiments require repeating the same tasks for months or years on end and that is tedious for even the most patient people. So, I'll try editing for academic journals or popular science journals or textbooks. It's sort of what I like about science without what I dont like about it. But hey, I like reading period, so I'll take any editing job to get me started.

And about the rich husband deal, well what is more likely? A rich dude footing my bills so I can write full time or a publisher paying me 30K advances per book so I can write full time?

Besides, I'm Indian and all my parents do is try and arrange me with surgeons and silicon valley stars. Sometimes I think, why do I fight against my parents and try and date on my own? I just end up broke and single.

[Kristen King]

I know what I want to be. A writer. if I could just hire myself to write, then I would.

Sweetie, you can! If writing is your passion, do it! Editing is great and developing your editing skills will make you a better writer, but if it's not what you want to do... It won't be a waste of time, but it won't be what you want to do either, you know?

You're probably not going to make that $30,000 advance on the first book, but you may on one down the line. And there's a ton of writing work out there for you to use to support your novel (?) -writing habit.

Check out these books to get a feel for some of the options:
Make a Real Living As a Freelance Writer (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097220265X/102-5770484-5796902?v=glance&n=283155)
Six-Figure Freelancing (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375720952/sr=1-1/qid=1154567221/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5770484-5796902?ie=UTF8&s=books)
The Well-Fed Writer (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0967059844/sr=1-1/qid=1154567260/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5770484-5796902?ie=UTF8&s=books)
The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0967059852/sr=1-2/qid=1154567302/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-5770484-5796902?ie=UTF8&s=books)
How to Start a Home-Based Writing Business (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0762728345/sr=1-1/qid=1154567345/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5770484-5796902?ie=UTF8&s=books)
Bob Bly's Guide to Freelance Writing Success (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932794034/sr=1-1/qid=1154567393/ref=sr_1_1/102-5770484-5796902?ie=UTF8&s=books)

If you're interested in biotech writing, check out DC Craigslist for some leads to build your credits and your confidence. For instance, medical professional organizations often have trade journals for their members, and those publications need writers who know the industry and know how to break down complicated concepts and make them interesting. There is a lot of money to be made there. For instance, I have a gig writing an article or two per issue for a bimonthly mag like that, and it starts at $1/word--and that's really on the low end.

And if you just want someone else to hire you, depending on where you are in the country, there are any number of possibilities for full-time writing positions, both in biotech and in more mainstream publications.

There are SO many options for you. If you want to write, that's what you should be doing. Being an editorial assistant will never hurt a career in publishing, but it's not writing. You're the only one who can decide what's right for you, of course, and it's always challenging when parents (and their friends who have cute sons who you'll just love) don't really understand that at times. Just remember that you are the one who has to live with your decision. You're the one who will have to get up and go to that job every day, or wake up next to that surgeon every morning :], so make sure that you're going to be okay with the path you choose.

Kristen

[Lauri B]

On the other hand, the first job I took out of college was as an editorial assistant at a group of scientific journals. It was truly the most painfully boring job I have ever had--but at the same time, I started writing articles for a variety of local and regional mags. The job didn't interest me but it taught me some really valuable editing skills (which carried over nicely into my writing), and when the editors of those small pubs for which I was contributing the equivalent of filler and sidebars moved on, they remembered me and hired me for bigger assignments. The editors at the journal house also promoted me, and both my resume and clips files grew. I had zero interest in writing about the subjects the journals I edited covered, but working there gave me an inside look at the process of magazine/journal production, and in the end really helped me hone my pitches, avoid some dumb mistakes, etc.
I don't think taking a low-tier job in editing and writing on the side are mutually exclusive at all. Half the people you'll meet in the publishing biz are writers, too. It's a great community--everyone is jaded and cynical but still optimistic, in a very weird way.

[nicegrrl]

Thanks so much! Maybe one day I can be a freelance writer of some sort. But really, I like the 401K idea and job stability. Guess my upbringing doesnt let me stray too far from the beaten path. I look forward to meeting people in the editing community. Hopefully they are just as cool as people in the biotech world (and those are really great people).

[mistri]

I thought one of Miss Snark's postings today was quite relevant :) Miss Snark on working in publishing (http://misssnark.blogspot.com/2006/08/gainfully-employedmisis-snark-shivers.html)

[Kristen King]

Thanks so much! Maybe one day I can be a freelance writer of some sort. But really, I like the 401K idea and job stability. Guess my upbringing doesnt let me stray too far from the beaten path. I look forward to meeting people in the editing community. Hopefully they are just as cool as people in the biotech world (and those are really great people).

Oh, man, 401(k) and health insurance are AWESOME. If it weren't for my husband's benefits, we'd be paying a fortune for health/vision/dental. I totally get that. But you know, you could always freelance a little on the side if you wanted. Like I said, there are so many options open to you. I just don't want you to limit yourself, you dig? It's a big, big world, which although obvious is often easy to forget when it comes to job stuff.

Keep us posted. We'll help you however we can. :]

Kristen