What is it like to work as a publishing editor?Utsudo has observed that popular-fiction editors work long hours, handle tons of chores and endure pressure from above and below, yet their pay isn’t high and turnover is high, often due to health problems. Still, many people with dreams join the field. She believes the future will need more “agents” who can connect creators with resources.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

A high school freshman’s dream is to become an editor

　　Recently I chatted with a high school freshman.

　　To my surprise, I heard from this promising (?) young person thattheir dream is to become an editor，— and that’s knowing full well what editors’ working conditions and salaries are like?!

　　Oh my god, there really are such naïve — I mean, such heroic people willing to sacrifice for their ideals in this world. How amazing!

The reality of a publishing editor’s job

　　But I still have to say that being an editor (in popular fiction) is really thankless work. Long hours, lots of chores, and you need high stress tolerance, since you deal with both those above and those below at once — in short, you’re the filling in a sandwich cookie. It’s really tough.

　　And the pay is low… truly the standard combination of lots of chores, little money and lots of trouble QQ

　　Among the novel editors I’ve met, especially at big publishers — I don’t know if it’s just my luck or really the norm — turnover is really high (scary

　　And the reason is usually —falling ill and having to quit.

　　People who want to be editors probably all love words and stories and hold dreams — wanting to bring the stories they love to a wide audience of readers. That’s a truly wonderful thing.

The future of publishing and the role of agents

　　Though facing a shrinking print market, the publishing industry will surely respond — by developing e-books or transforming in other ways. But with ever more powerful media rising and reading habits declining, you can imagine the future isn’t all that rosy.

　　But authors and editors with dreams keep flocking to this industry wave after wave. After all, writing is the creative form with the lowest barrier — all you need is a pen and paper, or a computer, to start weaving your own story. It’s very free.

　　In this era, more and more people want to speak out and express themselves. That’s a great phenomenon and means more works will come into the world. But the awkward part isthe environment is even less friendly to creators, and with so many voices competing, the chance of being seen is even lower.

　　You need to spend more time and energy building yourself up, or have jaw-dropping talent, to stand out. But I believe that even so, all of you with dreams will keep working hard — and so will I.

　　Frankly, rather than publishing editors, I think the future needs “agents” more — using connections to link capable creators with investors and create more visible works. It feels like that will be the trend.

　　So, anyone want to sign me? Hehehe.

Speaking of which, an editor I hadn’t heard from in ages actually came back recently

— there really are people who hold onto their dreams,

rest up, recover, and then come back for more torment (?

Looks like in this era,

writers and editors alike are pretty masochistic (X

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #61 (in Chinese)
• Next: #63 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

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