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Publishing editor vs content writer

The differences between publishing editors 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 a publishing editor, becoming a content writer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a publishing editor has an average salary of $61,550, which is higher than the $58,918 average annual salary of a content writer.

The top three skills for a publishing editor include web site, feature stories and edit content. The most important skills for a content writer are digital marketing, wordpress, and web content.

Publishing editor vs content writer overview

Publishing EditorContent Writer
Yearly salary$61,550$58,918
Hourly rate$29.59$28.33
Growth rate-5%4%
Number of jobs4,56219,621
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age4442
Years of experience42

What does a publishing editor do?

Publishing Editors tend to earn around $56K per year in a career that demands creativity, language, and writing skills, as well as being detail-oriented and possessing good judgment and interpersonal skills. Though not required, most will have at least a bachelor's degree in English, communications, or journalism for this career, which calls for deciding the style and content of various publications or even the entire publication content in managerial roles.

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.

Publishing editor vs content writer salary

Publishing editors and content writers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Publishing EditorContent Writer
Average salary$61,550$58,918
Salary rangeBetween $44,000 And $85,000Between $40,000 And $84,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Cisco
Best paying industry-Finance

Differences between publishing editor and content writer education

There are a few differences between a publishing editor and a content writer in terms of educational background:

Publishing EditorContent Writer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common majorJournalismEnglish
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Publishing editor vs content writer demographics

Here are the differences between publishing editors' and content writers' demographics:

Publishing EditorContent Writer
Average age4442
Gender ratioMale, 52.6% Female, 47.4%Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.5% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.9% White, 77.0% 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 publishing editor and content writer duties and responsibilities

Publishing editor example responsibilities.

  • Supervise all editorial activities, including developing editorial story boards, managing freelance copywriters and directing contract photo assignments.
  • Use HTML encoding when formatting content.
  • Drive readership through the use of professional and social media and SEO.
  • Oversee corporation s digital marketing strategy: SEM, SEO, PPC.
  • Implement emerging social media platforms (Facebook, MySpace) as a marketing tool.
  • Hire and direct staff of Facebook, Pinterest, writers, account executives, photographers.
  • 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.
  • Show more

Publishing editor vs content writer skills

Common publishing editor skills
  • Web Site, 11%
  • Feature Stories, 10%
  • Edit Content, 7%
  • Graphic Design, 5%
  • Content Development, 5%
  • Digital Photography, 4%
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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