So, What Does an Editor Actually Do?
Editing has been referred to as the invisible art, as only the editor, the writer and the designer ever truly know what the editor brings to the book, magazine, newspaper or website on which they collaborate. It may sound paradoxical, but the better an editor is at his work, the less likely a reader will notice his contribution. That’s an editor’s badge of honor.
Below is a list of eight core competencies — Strategy, People, Editing, Accuracy, Quality, Writing, Production and Operations — at which an editor must be adept. For each I describe the decisions and tasks that fall under that heading and how I personally manage those responsibilities. I’ve included case studies in the margin to illustrate outcomes.
Strategy
I’ve spent my publishing career in the nonfiction sector, editing mostly magazines and books. While deadlines differ, the overarching publishing strategies are similar — own your niche, identify and grow your audience, champion the brand and, most important from a business standpoint, identify reliable revenue streams. Those may be executive-level, 40,000-foot concerns, but a wise editor keeps an eye on them nonetheless, if only to keep from being blindsided.
For a magazine editor the strategy begins with a focused mission statement. Our shared goal at HistoryNet — the world’s largest publisher of history magazines, with nine titles — was to engage, educate and entertain readers.
Over my 17 years (2007–24) at HistoryNet I was in the unusual position of concurrently editing Military History and Wild West, as managing editor of each for 15 years and top editor until the 2024 close of the company. That required me to wear two very different hats, as dissimilar as a helmet and a Stetson. My top priority was to know our readers. More than anything, that meant listening — through letters, emails, conferences and countless conversations — to understand what fascinated them, what they truly wanted to read and how we could continue to earn their loyalty.
A magazine editor’s long-range strategy looks similar across the nonfiction segment. Begin with the editorial calendar, mapped out at least three issues in advance (my benchmark) and possibly longer to accommodate targeted ad sales. A deep story well for each title gave me several months’ breathing room. That buffer enabled me to “shuffle the deck” if, say, a freelancer retracted an article, a current event called for a historical comparison or — as happened once — another magazine in the niche ran the same image on its cover.
When approaching each issue, I first identify a compelling cover topic. Anniversaries of such historic events as D-Day or the Battle of the Little Bighorn were natural entry points, though I preferred to surprise readers with offbeat topics. That done, I would cobble together either a lineup that covered the world map and timeline (a winning strategy for Military History) or one that dovetailed with the cover story. The final issue of Wild West (see “Editing: A Case Study”) came together nicely as a paean to Western entertainers.
The concerted industrywide push in the mid- to late 2000s to expand digital offerings proved challenging from the standpoint of bandwidth, but it also enabled us to better track reader demographics and get instant feedback on what was — and wasn’t — resonating. That takes a lot of the guesswork out of strategizing.
Publishing has weathered every technological disruption of the past half century, and AI is simply the latest. The tools will continue to evolve; the editor's responsibility will not. As long as there are writers with stories to tell and readers eager to discover them, there will be a place for the thoughtful, forward-thinking editor who serves them both.
People
Readers are paramount. They are, after all, the reason a publication exists. Earning their interest and trust is essential. The strongest publications foster a genuine connection with their audience. I witnessed that firsthand while editing guidebooks for Lonely Planet. We received fan mail from around the world, including a memorable photo from one traveler who’d had the Lonely Planet logo tattooed on his calf — a striking testament to the power of a trusted brand.
Readers also like to participate. Whether through letters, email or other channels, they often shed further light on a published article, thus benefiting the publication, the writer and fellow readers. Communication is a two-way street, and I’ve made it a priority to respond to every letter or email from readers.
Maintaining strong relationships with freelance writers is equally important. Speaking from experience, freelancing is a demanding profession that depends on reliable communication and scrupulous scheduling. Editors who keep their contributors informed and engaged are more likely to retain talented writers and receive their best work.
At HistoryNet my fellow editors and I also sought every opportunity for our contributors to earn peer recognition by entering them in writing competitions in the history field. The effort proved worthwhile. Over the 17 years I edited Wild West and Military History, our writers earned an astounding 26 awards, listed here.
Finally, there’s the publishing team. Successful publications depend on collaboration among editors, designers and fellow production team members working toward a common goal. I have been fortunate to spend much of my career alongside exceptionally talented colleagues in the travel and history publishing niches. I’m proud of the work we accomplished, and I maintain and value many of those professional relationships.
Editing
This competency is at the core of what an editor does and is the one I’ve worked hardest to refine. Awards earned by publications I’ve edited offer one measure of success. But the quality of the finished product is the true standard.
Content begins with strong story selection. An editor generates content by assigning or accepting articles or by writing material in-house. As the editor of Wild West and Military History I maintained a network of more than 150 freelance writers. Whenever the story well for either title dropped, I would email a “call for entries” to our writers. Other times, in anticipation of a milestone anniversary or responding to a current event with historical resonance, I’d assign a story to a subject matter expert or a freelancer whose writing was consistently excellent no matter the subject.
My role begins with a developmental edit — to structure the narrative, identify or write a lead paragraph, assess the adequacy of sourcing and work with the writer to address any gaps in the narrative. Next comes a methodical line edit, which incorporates copyediting and fact-checking (see Accuracy, below).
With the article in layout my attention shifts to detail work (see Quality, below).
Accuracy
Accuracy has been a cornerstone of my process from the beginning of my career. I subject every article that crosses my desk to a rigorous fact-check and close copy edit. My first boss, Atlanta magazine editor Lee Walburn, once jokingly compared me to a pit bull for my copyediting and fact-checking intensity. I credit the late Professor Raleigh Mann of UNC–Chapel Hill for instilling that rigor, though I recorded my worst grade in college in Raleigh’s news editing class!
Particularly in the history niche, accuracy is paramount. Our exacting readers held us accountable, particularly for factual errors. Our error rate at HistoryNet was minimal. Each issue of Wild West and Military History comprised some 25,000 words, yet we logged only a handful of grammatical or punctuation errors per year, while factual errors were rarer still. While perfection is always the goal, careful editing and thorough fact-checking helped us come very close.
Quality
This competency begins with talented writers and skilled editors and depends on attention to detail at every stage.
An editor recruits the best possible contributors, strives to perfect their articles, seeks to produce a compelling and coherent lineup, collaborates with the design team on a beautiful layout and, above all, aims to please readers.
The process continues straight through final printer proofs, the editor weeding out every misspelling, misplaced modifier or missing punctuation mark and then copyfitting to remove bad paragraph breaks, widows or gaps in text.
Again, these are details the average reader might not notice — unless, of course, we fail to correct them!
Writing
Across the publishing industry, editors are required to fill or fill out pages, writing cover copy, a table of contents, headlines and decks, sidebars, captions and an index. In the magazine niche the writing load can include an editorial, news, interviews, departments and features. Digital outreach efforts add semiweekly or even daily writing quotas. I joined HistoryNet amid the industry-wide push by publishers to expand their online presence. While we had a dedicated digital team, editors were soon tasked with posting articles and writing monthly online newsletters.
Over more than three decades in publishing, on staff and as a freelancer, I’ve written two nonfiction books and hundreds of articles of all types for all forms of media. The experience has given me a strong appreciation for both sides of the editorial relationship — the writer's challenge to craft a compelling narrative and the editor's responsibility to refine and strengthen it.
For representative samples of my work visit the Author and Writer pages on this website, as well as my author pages on History.com and HistoryNet.com.
Production
For most of my career, in addition to my editing and writing duties, I’ve taken responsibility for managing production, overseeing the process that transforms ideas, manuscripts and artwork into finished publications.
Each issue of a magazine is a jigsaw puzzle, including a cover story, features, departments, columns, reviews, letters, headlines, sidebars, maps, photography, captions and a score of other moving parts. Once all the articles are in-house — sometimes before — I huddle with the staff to map out the issue. Weeks in advance of the production cycle I write up a multipage editorial/art outline, with the article titles, contributors (including contact info), summaries and potential design elements (photos, illustrations, maps, etc.). That document serves as a production road map, ensuring everyone shares a clear understanding of priorities, responsibilities and deadlines.
At the HistoryNet magazine group no more than 30 of us were producing nine bimonthly and then quarterly titles. In the final two years of publication only nine of us remained to roll out the same nine magazines, in addition to online content. As everyone on staff worked on more than one magazine, it was mandatory to stay out ahead of the schedule.
To keep on schedule, I rely on a tried-and-true production chart I developed as copy chief at Atlanta magazine. It incorporates several rounds of proofing by all stakeholders, often including a final review by the writer. There’s flexibility to add another round if necessary, but I consider an article ready for publication once it clears any round with no further corrections/changes.
Across more than 300 lifetime production cycles, I have never missed a printer deadline.
Operations
To be honest, I find the operational aspects of publishing about as stimulating as Mile 340 of I-80 through Nebraska (with apologies to Cornhuskers). The creative side has always captured my interest. That said, publishing requires a solid operational foundation, and over the years I’ve taken on many behind-the-scenes responsibilities, including hiring and staff management, budgeting, soliciting printer bids, and coordinating with sales, marketing and other departments. That, in turn, has broadened my understanding of organizational goals and constraints and deepened my appreciation for the teamwork required to produce a successful publication.
People: A Case Study
Letters to the Editor
When I edited history magazines, my favorite type of letter to the editor was from readers in search of answers to historical riddles.
One Military History subscriber emailed an image of his father posing with his unit somewhere in Italy during World War II and asked if I could tell him where exactly the image was taken. After studying the unit’s shoulder patches and digitally enhancing a poster and writing on the wall of a building behind them, I was able to research the unit and identify the town in Italy. The man’s father had served in the Italian army, and the poster was propaganda from the Mussolini regime. One never knows where a rabbit hole will lead.
Over the years several Wild West subscribers emailed us images of men they were convinced were Billy the Kid. One snapshot purportedly caught Billy playing croquet. We forwarded such images to experts on the Kid and the Lincoln County War. Inevitably, we then shared their regrets with readers. As yet, there remains only one authenticated image of Billy — the circa-1880 tintype he posed for in Fort Sumner, N.M., the very town where, months later, Sheriff Pat Garrett would shoot down the Kid.
Still, I always encourage history buffs to keep digging, as you never know how new research or discoveries may change what we know — or think we know — about “settled” history.
Editing: A Case Study
The Final Issue of Wild West
In 2024 the HistoryNet magazine group ended publishing operations. As difficult a time as that was for the staff, those of us working on Wild West pulled together in those final weeks to craft what was arguably the consummate issue of the magazine’s 36-year publishing run.
As I’d anticipated Wild West’s swan song, I chose to put Buffalo Bill Cody on the cover. Cody was not only the world’s first bona fide celebrity, but also a relative of mine — at least according to the Irish storytellers in our family.
The cover story, by Italian writer Lorenzo Barruscotto, related the showman’s 1890 and 1906 tours of Italy, fueling a fascination with the American West that decades later gave rise to the Italian replica firearms industry and spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and ’70s.
A brainstorming session with our design director resulted in a cover depicting Cody superimposed in front of Rome’s crumbling Colosseum, which, Buffalo Bill had quipped, was an unfit venue for his Wild West troupe.
On the strength of that cover story, I went all in on an Entertainers theme, plumbing our story well, assigning articles and personally writing a few departments. The resulting issue included features on playwright Oscar Wilde’s 1882 promotional tour out West, the Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Wild West, popular Victorian actress Sue Robinson and rodeo standout “Booger Red” Privett. A feature-length portfolio showcased author Will Grant’s 2019 horseback endeavor to retrace the 2,000-mile route of the Pony Express, for which Cody dubiously claimed to have ridden. Nearly every department aligned with the theme in the most cohesive and, yes, entertaining issue in memory. It published on my birthday. What an unforgettable present!