What does an editorial writer do?
Editorial writer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real editorial writer resumes:
- Manage website by uploading and scheduling articles, fixing errors, proofreading, optimizing for SEO, and polishing content.
- Compose, edit and proofread copy for obituary and life celebration announcements.
- Research, pitch ideas and write editorials daily, including a community award-winning editorial and recognition for a four-part editorial series.
- Research and identify public-policy issues and craft the paper's editorial opinions.
- Write and edit fiction and non-fiction text to accompany products release and distribute internationally.
Editorial writer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 36% of Editorial Writers are proficient in Editorials, SEO, and Opinion Pieces. They’re also known for soft skills such as Teamwork, Technical skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Editorial Writers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Editorials, 36%
Researched, pitched ideas and wrote editorials daily, including a community award-winning editorial and recognition for a four-part editorial series.
- SEO, 8%
Edited photographs and wrote headlines that adhere to SEO principles for a news blog with more than 900,000 unique monthly visitors.
- Opinion Pieces, 7%
Contributed music reviews and opinion pieces
- Editorial Content, 6%
Contribute ideas for editorial content and identify legislation and current events of interest for written materials.
- Blog Posts, 5%
Transcribed and fact-checked interviews, and composed headlines and photo captions for daily blog posts.
- Press Releases, 4%
Write press releases, talking points, columns and Letter-to-the-Editor correspondence on behalf of legislators.
Most editorial writers use their skills in "editorials," "seo," and "opinion pieces" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential editorial writer responsibilities here:
Teamwork. The most essential soft skill for an editorial writer to carry out their responsibilities is teamwork. This skill is important for the role because "technical writers must be able to work well with other writers, designers, editors, illustrators, and the technical workers whose procedure or product they are explaining." Additionally, an editorial writer resume shows how their duties depend on teamwork: "create a list of original article ideas to send to the editor weekly to encourage teamwork and help select writing topic. "
Technical skills. Many editorial writer duties rely on technical skills. "technical writers must be able to understand complex information," so an editorial writer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways editorial writer responsibilities rely on technical skills: "gained technical camera experience wrote broadcast news stories anchored a news show edited video daily learned valuable knowledge about news editing software"
Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of editorial writers is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday editorial writer duties, as "technical writers create instructions for others to follow." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "published detailed editorial reviews of contemporary events and music. "
Writing skills. For certain editorial writer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "writing skills." The day-to-day duties of an editorial writer rely on this skill, as "technical communicators must have excellent writing skills to be able to explain technical information clearly." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what editorial writers do: "covered all phases of local sports in northern virginia, writing mainly in feature style though doing some spot news coverage. "
The three companies that hire the most editorial writers are:
- Lincoln Financial Group99 editorial writers jobs
- NBCUniversal4 editorial writers jobs
- DoorDash3 editorial writers jobs
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Compare different editorial writers
Editorial writer vs. Columnist
A news anchor is a journalist who informs the public through reports of events and news stories. News anchors educate the public about the world, local, and national events. They interact with the reporters while they are in the air. Their job includes gathering, verifying, and analyzing data from different sources. They produce news and coordinate reports. Skills necessary for this job include verbal communication, the ability to improvise, collaboration, and reading comprehension.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an editorial writer are more likely to require skills like "editorial content," "blog posts," "press releases," and "content creation." On the other hand, a job as a columnist requires skills like "student newspaper," "mental health," "conduct interviews," and "writing articles." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that columnists earn slightly differ from editorial writers. In particular, columnists are 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an editorial writer. Additionally, they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Editorial writer vs. Anchor
A Correspondent is the backbone of every news agency today. It is through the correspondent experts write the news of a particular topic. Through Correspondents, a news agency can get an in-depth report of happenings and events which may not be possible through ordinary reporters. Correspondents are expected to have versatility and command on a particular topic. They are resourceful in finding newsworthy articles and getting the necessary interviews and data for a well-balanced informative report.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, editorial writer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "editorials," "seo," "opinion pieces," and "editorial content." Meanwhile, an anchor has duties that require skills in areas such as "story development," "local news," "news coverage," and "develop story ideas." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, anchors achieve lower levels of education than editorial writers. They're 5.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Editorial writer vs. Correspondent
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an editorial writer is likely to be skilled in "opinion pieces," "editorial content," "content creation," and "editorial board," while a typical correspondent is skilled in "news coverage," "instagram," "financial statements," and "develop story ideas."
Most correspondents achieve a similar degree level compared to editorial writers. For example, they're 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Editorial writer vs. Freelance reporter
Types of editorial writer
Updated January 8, 2025
