Work-Life Balance
"Balance" is a Mythical Creature for Book Editors
The question of the working hours of a book editor is more appopriately reframed as a question about non-working hours.
Book editors, especially in large publishing houses, tend to work all the time. Michael Bourne writes in Poets & Writers Magazine detailing the life of a book editor, illustrating that once a book editor clocks out for the day, it's typical to meet other publishing insiders, authors, etc. for cocktail parties, dinners, and other networking events. These events may be meant for networking and strengthening relationships, but often, work, planning, and managing projects continues over wine and desserts well into the night.
Book editors have a tough job, in and out of the office. Business relationships maintain to be of great importance to maintaining the process of publishing. People thinking about this job must be prepared to clock out of a long day of writing e-mails, proofreading and marking manuscripts, having meeting after meeting — then put on the charm at a business dinner with important people in the industry.
At smaller-scale publishing houses, you may expect less cocktail parties and business dinners, but you can expect the same amount of work. As mentioned before, these social events are how work is carried out. Once your hours in the office are over, you can expect to have a few phone calls on the way home and a few emails to write when you take your shoes off.
It's fair to say that a book editing job isn't for the faint of heart. A report from Zippia shows that about 52% of book editors keep this job for only two years or less (yikes).
In Summary, the Average Day for an Editor is...
Job Growth:
Will This Job Still Exist by the Time I Finish College?
Yes! Er, most likely. If this job disappears it's probably because every job has disappeared. Unemployment in this field has dropped about 5% from 2010 to 2019, signaling a growth in jobs available over time.
Here is a graph from Zippia, which compiled the info from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Keep in mind that this data represents people who call themselves "book editors" whether employed or unemployed, meaning the unemployment rate could be addressing people who have previously worked as a book editor and who were simply looking for another position.
It is difficult to say whether there will be job growth in the future for book editors. The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that job growth for editors will decrease another 5% from 2020 to 2030, but that is using the umbrella term rather than specifically talking about book editors.
The job is also a pretty rare find. If you search on Indeed right now, you'll probably get about 100 results for a "book editor" job posting, and only a small fraction of the postings will actually be for book editors. While this job will exist in the future, and the trend for book editors has been positive in terms of finding employment, entry into the job of a book editor is almost as mythical as "free time" in a book editor's life.
Credits:
Created with images by deagreez - "Photo of beautiful business lady look notebook screen paper stats on table analyzing money income standing near chair wear specs green turtleneck yellow pants modern office" • Blue Planet Studio - "Successful business people drinking wine in ball."