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The differences between story editors and copy editors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a story editor and a copy editor. Additionally, a copy editor has an average salary of $62,599, which is higher than the $52,975 average annual salary of a story editor.
The top three skills for a story editor include fiction, story development and ABC. The most important skills for a copy editor are proofreading, house style, and digital publishing.
| Story Editor | Copy Editor | |
| Yearly salary | $52,975 | $62,599 |
| Hourly rate | $25.47 | $30.10 |
| Growth rate | -5% | -5% |
| Number of jobs | 11,458 | 4,866 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 82% | Bachelor's Degree, 83% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
An editor selects and edits the best news and stories to prepare them for publishing. Similarly, a story editor confers with their production chief to select writers and materials. Hiring, assigning, and supervising writers is also the responsibility of a story writer. They review the writers' work, read material, and assesses its potential development into scripts.
The primary job of copy editors is to check for misspellings, incorrect punctuation, and consistency in typography, words, and style. They also act as fact-checkers, proofreaders, and project managers, overseeing the workflow and communicating with other departments. A copy editor's other duties and responsibilities include checking content for readability and compliance with editorial policies, rewriting text to improve readability and clarity, and arranging page layouts of articles, photos, and advertisements. Formal training is not required for this role, but copy editors generally have a firm grasp and love for the English language's proper usage.
Story editors and copy editors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Story Editor | Copy Editor | |
| Average salary | $52,975 | $62,599 |
| Salary range | Between $32,000 And $86,000 | Between $39,000 And $98,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New York | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | The New York Times Company | PayPal |
| Best paying industry | Media | Finance |
There are a few differences between a story editor and a copy editor in terms of educational background:
| Story Editor | Copy Editor | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 82% | Bachelor's Degree, 83% |
| Most common major | Photography | English |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between story editors' and copy editors' demographics:
| Story Editor | Copy Editor | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.7% Female, 46.3% | Male, 39.2% Female, 60.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 7.3% White, 76.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 7.3% White, 76.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |