Magazine Editor

In the 2006 film “The Devil Wears Prada,” Actress Meryl Streep plays the part of Miranda Priestly, the tyrannical Editor of a New York fashion magazine who spends her days berating employees, barking orders, and binging on glamour.

Although Streep’s character is loosely based on Anna Wintour, the real-life Editor-in-Chief of “Vogue” magazine, it’s a mistake to use her as your model for a Magazine Editor. Unless you’re playing one in a movie, your job as a Magazine Editor isn’t cruelly controlling people; it’s creatively commanding pages.

As someone who publishes a periodical —a consumer magazine, like Cosmopolitan, a special interest magazine, like Cat Fancy, or a trade magazine, like Convenience Store News — you’re paid to plan, manage, and produce magazines for readers. Depending on what type of Magazine Editor you are — an Associate Editor, for instance, a Senior Editor, a Managing Editor, or, like Wintour, an Editor-in-Chief — your duties will include a wide range of activities. You might create editorial calendars, develop story ideas, or managing Writers. You may also assign, write, or edit stories and managing the production process by delegating tasks to Editors and Art Directors.

The more junior you are, the more likely it is you’ll spend your days doing tactical tasks like writing and proofreading. The more senior you are, on the other hand, the more likely it is you’ll spend your days doing strategic tasks, like editorial planning and management. Always, however, your goal isn’t creating an office that scares people; it’s creating a magazine that engages them!