Reply to Wanted: Career Advice

[Phil Brittenham <pbritten -at- TECHREPS -dot- COM>]

Ron -

Your question is an interesting one.  My career began in commercial
publishing and eventually moved into academic and technical publishing and
into corporate technical writing.  For much of my career, I was called an
editor, and happily so.   In a business where the product is books or
magazines, editors at various levels make all the key decisions and run the
organization.  The learning opportunities for editors span the corporate
structure, from finance and marketing to whatever. In the corporate
technical writing arena, on the other hand, it seems that in most companies,
editors are usually writer trainees, the documents are not the product but
support for the product, and publications people are rarely the key
corporate decision-makers.

To finally approach  your questions, I would say that whether you persevere
as a editor or try to become classified as a  writer depends on whether you
want to be in the publishing business or in corporate technical
publications.  I am aware of very few of those corporate tech writing
situations in which "editors" are sufficiently valued and compensated that
one would wish to labor long in that job category.   If you want to get
involved in publishing industry as an editor, then you should try to get on
with a large publisher because that will expose you to many new challenges
that you won't likely encounter as a lone free-lancer.  However, if you want
to get into corporate technical publications, you'll probably want to ditch
the "editor" label as soon as your qualifications will permit and follow the
advice that appears frequently on this list for beginning writers.
It sounds to me like you need to decide which way you want to go with your
career before you decide on the specific tools to help you accomplish your
goals.   Best of luck.

pb