How To Become An Editorial Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is an editorial specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Allison Harl Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an editorial specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $28.3 an hour? That's $58,855 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -5% and produce -5,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an editorial specialist?

Allison Harl Ph.D.

Associate Professor of English English Program Coordinator, Ferrum College

Develop as many multimedia skills as possible. Writing in the 21st century is about visual rhetoric as well as just words on a page.

ScoreEditorial SpecialistUS Average

Salary

4.6

Avg. Salary $58,855

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.27%

Asian 5.00%

Black or African American 3.65%

Hispanic or Latino 8.32%

Unknown 4.61%

White 78.15%

Gender

female 70.19%

male 29.81%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.3

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an editorial specialist

Explore editorial specialist education requirements

Most common editorial specialist degrees

Bachelor's

74.4 %

Master's

12.2 %

Associate

8.5 %

Start to develop specific editorial specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Subject-Matter Experts	63.85%
Proofreading	15.51%
Press Releases	10.54%
Proofread	4.42%
Adobe Acrobat	3.11%

Complete relevant editorial specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New editorial specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an editorial specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real editorial specialist resumes.

Research editorial specialist duties and responsibilities

Contribute through blogging, copy editing, participating in weekly editorial meetings, and managing social channels
Edit and proofread all print and online marketing and advertising material.
Support multiple digital marketing initiatives including online advertising, social media management, and SEO creation.
Collaborate with teachers, administration and technology support to troubleshoot ongoing problems and foster a highly productive and efficient learning environment.

Prepare your editorial specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your editorial specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an editorial specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable editorial specialist resume templates

Build a professional editorial specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your editorial specialist resume.