How to become a book editor
Official title: Book editor
Also called: Children's book editor, Commissioning editor, Manuscripts editorial director, Children’s book editor, Manuscripts editorial director
Book editor reviews and evaluates manuscripts of novels, biographies, collections of short stories, essays and poems, encyclopaedias, textbooks and other books submitted by authors and literary agents. He/she makes recommendations to publishers regarding the acceptability of material for publication and specifies the conditions of publication contracts. He/she also proposes the rearrangement, reduction or revision of manuscripts where necessary and negotiates the abovementioned with the respective authors.
Main tasks
- Conducting research to establish factual content and to obtain other necessary information
- Selecting material for publication, checking style, grammar and accuracy of content, arranging for any necessary revisions and checking proof copies before printing
Ways in
- University: Communications & Media degrees, Offered by 1 universities in Singapore
Pay · Outlook · AI and this job
- Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become a book editor?
Ways in include: Communications & Media degrees.
Will AI change the work of a book editor?
Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
Updated 4 October 2026