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Editorial internship vs content writer

The differences between editorial interns and content writers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become an editorial internship, becoming a content writer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a content writer has an average salary of $58,918, which is higher than the $32,356 average annual salary of an editorial internship.

The top three skills for an editorial internship include fact-check, editorial intern and web content. The most important skills for a content writer are digital marketing, wordpress, and web content.

Editorial internship vs content writer overview

Editorial InternshipContent Writer
Yearly salary$32,356$58,918
Hourly rate$15.56$28.33
Growth rate-5%4%
Number of jobs51,66719,621
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 86%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age4442
Years of experience42

What does an editorial internship do?

An editorial intern is responsible for assisting the editorial team in publishing digital and media content, writing articles, and managing readers' reviews. Editorial interns must have excellent knowledge of the industry they work for, suggesting the latest trends and featured topics, taking notes of the tenured employees' advice and observations, and actively joining brainstorming sessions. An editorial intern must be detail-oriented and take constructive feedback as an opportunity to learn. It is also crucial to have outstanding communication and proofreading skills and keep all the materials confidential until release.

What does a content writer do?

The job of content writers is to create the best possible written or visual content ranging from blog posts to press releases. They produce the content for various types of websites, including social networks, news aggregators, and e-commerce sites. The job of content writers is not limited to writing, but also ensuring that the content connects or is relevant to the website pages. They are expected to set the tone of the website and revise the content upon customers' or clients' requests. They are also responsible for assisting in the creation of style guides.

Editorial internship vs content writer salary

Editorial interns and content writers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Editorial InternshipContent Writer
Average salary$32,356$58,918
Salary rangeBetween $26,000 And $39,000Between $40,000 And $84,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyOxford University PressCisco
Best paying industryMediaFinance

Differences between editorial internship and content writer education

There are a few differences between an editorial internship and a content writer in terms of educational background:

Editorial InternshipContent Writer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 86%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common majorEnglishEnglish
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Editorial internship vs content writer demographics

Here are the differences between editorial interns' and content writers' demographics:

Editorial InternshipContent Writer
Average age4442
Gender ratioMale, 26.4% Female, 73.6%Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% Asian, 7.3% White, 76.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 6.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 5.0% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage12%16%

Differences between editorial internship and content writer duties and responsibilities

Editorial internship example responsibilities.

  • Manage content uploads onto corporate website for continuous relevancy and improve SEO rankings.
  • Contribute through blogging, copy editing, participating in weekly editorial meetings, and managing social channels
  • Upload all content into the CMS and assume all editor responsibilities
  • Upload, edit and maintain articles on the websites' CMS.
  • Create 15-30 seconds teasers to post to social media, specifically Instagram and Facebook.
  • Fix technical problems with uploading files to Lexis-Nexis through basic HTML coding and working with technicians over the phone.
  • Show more

Content writer example responsibilities.

  • Implement and manage Salesforce and Marketo for client to establish lead nurturing campaigns.
  • Maintain guest blogging strategy and policies to achieve a consistently diverse authorship and to grow readership.
  • Manage the editorial production of the pamphlets, brochures and graphic material to target worldwide audiences including china.
  • Manage proposal process from RFP (request for proposal) receipt to writing and editing various contributions to final RFP submission.
  • Collaborate with overseas team and manage documents using SharePoint to conceptualize and generate new marketing content.
  • Produce a wide array of literature ranging from poetry to short stories.
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Editorial internship vs content writer skills

Common editorial internship skills
  • Fact-Check, 13%
  • Editorial Intern, 8%
  • Web Content, 6%
  • Twitter, 6%
  • Instagram, 5%
  • Press Releases, 5%
Common content writer skills
  • Digital Marketing, 10%
  • WordPress, 9%
  • Web Content, 6%
  • Blog Posts, 6%
  • Digital Content, 3%
  • Content Marketing, 3%

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